What are you doing today?

[Innesfan]

Couldn’t be outside for very long. I was choking on smoke from the Canadian wild fires. Hard to believe the smoke wafted all that way. The sky is gray and hazy.

We had a news report here in NYC that being outside for any length of time was the equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes. It's just vile. The view from our windows is eerie.

 

[jaylach]

We had a news report here in NYC that being outside for any length of time was the equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes. It's just vile. The view from our windows is eerie.

Actually the Cleveland/Pittsburgh baseball game today was canceled due to air quality due to the fires in Canada.

 

[GaryE]

Where I was wednesday, we got smoke in the morning. There's a small fire near here, under control but not yet out.

The rainfall and climate patterns have been so insane - and now we have fire patterns spreading smoke everywhere. We had a wind shift in the middle of the night, and for a bit I could smell that terrible destruction. Then it shifted away.

Forest fire air colour is so strange. I was in my 30s before I saw it for the first time - now it's a yearly phenomenon.

 

[Salamandra]

Where I have moved to I have seen lots of garter snakes but nothing much else.
I never heard of the Kenyan sand boas until then, now I hear there are Saharan sand boas, look similar to a Kenyan but lay eggs vs live bearing.
Also the Kenyan aren't really in sand, but sandy soil. I am sure the Saharan is in more sandy substrate than soil mix.

When Sis was entertaining snakes a few years ago she wanted a milk snake. We were at the Tinley Park reptile show in October and saw the sand boas and fell in love-they were so small they fit in a little condiment cup! Unfortunately her male didn't make it, so I got her another one for her birthday in December (she picked, I paid)- it was a bit older than the original one. I didn't know she would loose interest a little after that.

Reptiles but mostly snakes were incredibly popular until roughly 20 years ago and boom most breeders , sites disappeared .

I recall when albino reticulated pythons were 20,000 dollars would say 10 years later they were a couple hundred dollars only.

 

[jaylach]

Where I was wednesday, we got smoke in the morning. There's a small fire near here, under control but not yet out.

The rainfall and climate patterns have been so insane - and now we have fire patterns spreading smoke everywhere. We had a wind shift in the middle of the night, and for a bit I could smell that terrible destruction. Then it shifted away.

Forest fire air colour is so strange. I was in my 30s before I saw it for the first time - now it's a yearly phenomenon.

Are you in any danger? A summer or two ago we had a mountain fire that ate something like 130,000 acres but my area in the foothills was never in danger, just smoke and ash falling. Fires go more uphill than down as a large fire creates its own convection.

 

[GaryE]

I should be safe - I'm not in the forest. Fire is possible, but we've had much more rain than regions inland. There, a big fire danger is how dry the ground is, after little snow all winter and minimal rain. These are pine lands, and needles are everywhere.

This is more the massive forests north of the Great Lakes at the moment. No one's going to be brush clearing in places maybe no one has walked on in a generation.

 

[jaylach]

I should be safe - I'm not in the forest. Fire is possible, but we've had much more rain than regions inland. There, a big fire danger is how dry the ground is, after little snow all winter and minimal rain. These are pine lands, and needles are everywhere.

This is more the massive forests north of the Great Lakes at the moment. No one's going to be brush clearing in places maybe no one has walked on in a generation.

I take that to mean that the worst of the fires are in Ontario.

 

[GaryE]

Ontario and Manitoba. So 1500 km from me. But we are having record heat to dry things out, climate changes in rain and especially snow patterns, and have forest monocultures in many regions, with one species planted for harvest (around here, it's for toilet paper). That creates unstable forests with quick growing, resinous trees. That's a southern problem for us, as access matters. Those are regions the fire equipment can easily get to, as they're where people live. Farther north the forests are more natural, but oh so dry. We joke about evading snow all winter, but the smart money's worried. We know how dangerous this climate is becoming, in spite of the energy that goes into denying the problem.

I wouldn't want to have a house in the woods surrounded by nature. That's become a high risk dream. Even here, I have about an acre of meadow behind the house. I would love to let it rewild, and I know as it is, it's excellent habitat for a lot of life. But I may have to mow it down if rainfall patterns don't hold. It only takes 3 weeks of dry and sun for that meadow to become kindling.

I saw my first brown sky in 1991, and thought it was exotic and weird. I didn't think I'd ever see another. Now, every summer we have this. Over the past couple of years, even in this populated region, we have had a few large wildfires. It seems it's the cost of doing business to those doing business.

So today I'll cough a little and take care of fish. Water. I like water!

 

[Back in the fold]

I first saw forest fire smoke in Missoula Montana in the summer of 2000 . A big fire was burning in the Bitterroot Valley about twenty miles away and the street lights came on in the afternoon . Usually forest fire smoke dissipates quickly but lately it lingers . Fire season hasn’t really gotten underway here yet but I anticipate a real humdinger of a one this year . Most of Montana , and especially where I am , is in the grips of a full blown drought .

 

[jaylach]

Actually, for a while today, I spent time reflecting on my life and experiences. It dawned on me that I did more in my first 20 years of life than most do in their entire life.

How is this for a first 20? Actually more like 12-20 years old.
1) Retired US Navy (medical)
2) Save a guy's life from drowning.
3) Followed the Hudson Bay explorer's 750 mile route by canoe.
4) Had a camp site investigated by a pack of Timber Wolves. Actually they were like puppies and friendly. There has never been a documented case of timber wolves attaching a human.
5) Had a bull moose (really big beast) calmly escort out of its area.
6) Helped roll a Beluga whale off of a sand bar.

Skip 2-3 decades...
1) Saved a toddler from being hit by a car.
2) Even though totally self taught I have 5 awards from Microsoft.
3) Saved a young lady from a drug over dose situation.

And I wonder why I'm often bored these days. Shoot, I've already done the big stuff.

 

[GaryE]

That doing stuff early scenario is one a lot of us old geezers think about. Most of the 'write about it' things I did were before my kids were born. I was a late starter there, at 33. But raising those kids, while 'ordinary', was deeply rewarding. It just gave me similar stories to the ones everyone else who has raised kids has.

I bet there are a bunch of us here who have had adventures, saved lives, needed courage, seen wonders of nature, etc. Maybe some of the younger ones post less because they're having lunch with grizzly friends, publishing poetry and learning how to speak dolphin. That's old stuff for us seniors.

If you are reading this and around 20 - do it. I don't know what it is as we're all different, but if it harms no one and maybe helps society, you should realize there's a time limit and it ain't your lifespan! It's way shorter.

 

[Back in the fold]

Geez Jay ! You’re Batman ! I’ve done stuff that I thought was exciting and all that when I was younger . Rock climbing and ice climbing and overland backpacking trips and really long bike rides and running marathons but now that I look back on it , it wasn’t THAT special . That’s just what young bucks do . Each time of life has its uniqueness . Right now I want to see how fit and healthy a 70 year old man can be . I can’t compete with the young bucks but it’s like @WhistlingBadger said a couple weeks ago when he ran his race . I only have to beat the guys my age . And I don’t want to just beat them but I want to destroy them and everything they believe in !

 

[anewbie]

but I want to destroy them and everything

Dont' destroy everything - it creates such a mess - just look at what happened when the trade towers fell. Kaboooom.

Besides you're not young enough to rebuild EVERYTHING...... it would take forever.

 

[Back in the fold]

Besides you're not young enough to rebuild EVERYTHING...... it would take forever.

I plan to live until 120 . Plenty of time .
Let me quote Teddy Roosevelt . “ It is far better to dare mighty things than to take rank with those poor timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat “ .

 

[anewbie]

I plan to live until 120 . Plenty of time .
Let me quote Teddy Roosevelt . “ It is far better to dare mighty things than to take rank with those poor timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat “ .

Maybe he was right but look at where he ended up. Dead as a door nail. Perhaps he would have lived forever if only ......