My Heros!

 Imagine the temperatures are pushing 90 degrees before it's even noon. The multi-thousand acre fire you're fighting is maybe 20%, if that, contained. There is no rain in the forecast, but maybe some dry thunder storms. The smoke hangs in the air so thick it penetrates every nook and cranny of your gear, no matter how well designed.

These are the wildfire fighters,  another category of first responder who are called forth every summer to face heat and drought and smoke and exhaustion in order to save not only our woodlands and wildlife, but also untold numbers of towns, homes and families, pets and livestock from the devastation of wildfire.

I live here.  Often I can see smoke billowing from the hills.  It hangs in the air where I live and I'm buying stock in  drops for my eyes.  My wheezing has nothing to do with Covid, but rather the inhalation of smoke that cannot be avoided.

It saps your energy.  Granted, I'm no kid and it doesn't take as much to wear me down as it used to, but I have lived here for years and it has always been the same.

How do these firefighters do it?  They carry gear and packs and face unbearable heat from the fires alone not to mention what Mother Nature adds to it.  While their contemporaries are at the beach, nearly naked, frolicking in cool water, the water these guys get is the sweat from their brow and maybe the tears from those they've saved.

People in the west love these guys with a passion.  They come in, do their job and leave.  Not just guys, either, there are plenty of young women among their ranks.  

How 'bout giving them some special accolades, too? After all, they come out year in and year out because the wildfires always pop up like clock work.

For me? It's hot and uncomfortable in my office and my eyes burn so I get little done these days. Poor me. Ha! Were it not for my heros I could well be sitting in a shelter some place, wondering if I have a home to return to, and if not, what shall become of me.

But my heros are there.  And they will be for as long as they're needed. They are heros and patriots.  They certainly don't do it for the money. Maybe one of our erstwhile western politicians could get a National Wildfire Fighters Week designated and we could fete them as they deserve.

We Will Always Have An America

I can't believe the last time I was over here on my blog was in August.  I just could not handle the decline of civility within the ranks of our media and politicians any more.  I had to walk away from it.  Uttering opinion, any opinion, became so dangerous it didn't seem worth it.  I believe that is still the case.

No matter how tattered and torn our country has become though I do see glimmers of hope.  Unfortunately it comes under the worst of conditions.  Natural disasters.  There is a lesson to be learned.

The southeast has been inundated with storm damage be it winds or floods. The west has been devastated by wild fires.  All seem to have become an annual occurrence.  So where is the hope?

It's certainly not with the fiasco in Congress over the Kavanaugh nomination nor the Russian collusion investigation which dominates the news.  That bit of nastiness seems never to stop.  While Kavanaugh is finished, at least for the time being, and Russia rolls on, the Democrats are salivating over winning the House and already boasting about the havoc they are just waiting to unleash.

Meanwhile out in the America, where I live, the people are showing that ultra politics have no bearing on the lives they live.  No politics are involved what-so-ever in the selfless acts of people helping people.  The latest example of course are the fires in California.  Where thank you signs are posted everywhere in a heartfelt hat tip to the firemen who have been on the lines for what seems like forever.  Thank you.  Imagine that!

Then yesterday, perhaps the crowning moment, was seeing the fire crews coming in from the line, cleaning up then going on to serve the fire victims Thanksgiving dinner. This, you political and media types in your bubble, is America.  It's what we're all about.  Not what you want us to be for sure, but what we are.  People.  Doing the best we can and helping those in need as best we can.  No thanks to you.

I salute all the volunteers who came out to help.  Guy Fieri and the other celebrity chefs who and lent their talents, to the celebrities in Malibu who came out to help others.  Didn't it feel good to leave politics behind?  Didn't it feel good to see the gratitude shown by the people being helped.  Not because of your celebrity status, but because you helped.

I hate to think we've sunk to the point we need these disasters to remind us what America and Americans are really all about but at least it is something good that has risen from the dregs of disaster.

Remember those signs.  Thank you. No one had to ask for the help.  It was there.   It was their job, yes.  But no one had to put a gun to the heads of those who have those jobs.  They took them because that's the type of person they are.  Just plain ole Americans who are what they are and do what they do.

Thank you!

Hey Media - The NW Is Having A Natural Disaster Too!

Hey media types, there's stuff going on elsewhere you know!

I mean this in no way to diminish the destruction of hurricane Harvey and the human suffering it has wrought but I'm a little tired of seeing it 24/7 when other areas of the country are suffering their own natural disasters.

We are in a severe drought in my neck of the woods.  We've had no rain since late June and everything is parched beyond belief.  And burning.  It has been going on for months.  Not days or weeks - months! The air quality is horrible - often dangerous.  Your throat and eyes burn, everything smells of smoke.  The sun and moon are blood red in the haze.  When you can see them.

Occasionally a dry thunder storm blows through and it's lightening starts up a whole new batch of fires.  Fronts come through with their breezes and spread them. The map to the upper left shows the active fires as of today in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and beyond.  There is no relief in sight for at least the next week and temperatures are hovering in the 90s and higher in many places. Imagine fighting those blazes with the required gear and clothing.  One must have a tolerance for heat, that's for sure. And yes, those responders are every bit the heros as those on the Gulf Coast.

Yes.  People are losing their homes, towns are being evacuated, livestock and wild life are burning to death. Our forests and farmslands are being decimated. What assets that are available all go to fighting the fires which won't be totally out until snow flies - if it flies.

Now understand, out here in the west this is an annual occurrence.  Every summer we burn yet we see little in the national media about it.  I see no celebrities nor sports stars contributing big bucks nor organizing fund raisers for those afflicted.  It affects the people in these areas no less than the flooding in Texas.

Maybe Congress would increase the fire fighting budget if they did.  It's totally depleted.  There are no more fire crews.  The fire season is no where near being over.

So how 'bout it media guys?  Give our plight some attention too.  You'll find the people no less thankful, the hospitality just as gracious and even the countryside, what's left of it, quite beautiful.

We could use the exposure too.  We aren't east coast centric so it's more difficult to get the word out. So, in that spirit - HELP!!!