Pretty much describes it.
The 70s
Wildland
I held a red card for several years and worked a couple of campaign fires https://www.dankolaw.com/blog/what-is-a-campaign-fire/
I guess combat exceeds it – (usually) no one’s shooting at you … but …
When you’ve spent 3 nights sleeping on a hose bed, you’re working a line – your buddies up and down the line nearby, the flames suddenly burst up around you, you find you’re surrounded by flames – a burnover … you’re hoping a tanker plane drops the retardant next to you, not on you.
You’re hoping the plane shows up.
On Saturday, June 27, while working on a wildfire in western Colorado, five federal firefighters were involved in a burnover incident resulting in shelter deployment. Two firefighters are being treated for burn injuries, and three others did not survive. The identities of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service and U.S. Forest Service firefighters are being withheld pending notifications.
You don’t deploy shelters unless a dire emergency – dire as in the “you’re dead but don’t know it yet” stage, but that baked potato sack might help you survive anyway. Or at least help us find your bodies afterwards.
I still have my potato sack laying around here someplace, packed up and never used. It’s old and of no use anymore except for memories.
The fire, originally started June 26, was caused by lightning near the Colorado-Utah border. Saturday saw extreme fire behavior, which is expected to continue on Sunday, according to the the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit. Firefighters are evaluating conditions and determining the “safest and most effective suppression tactics.”
Damn! RIP brothers – Hell of a way to go …
Summer Grasses
A Sign – Of Too Many People
General Notice
Hey all
I’m heading back east for something between two and three weeks for a variety of family events, some happy events, some not so much so. Right now, it looks like NE KY, central IN, and SE MI … possibly up the middle finger of MI as well.
I intend to stuff the schedule for that time but what I would like is to invite y’all to open up that inner muse and write a post or two on a subject more or less of your choice. It works best if you email them to me; use one of those 10min email services if you really don’t want me to know your address. I’d need to have them by say July 24 – I don’t think (I hope) to not need to leave before then. Best case, I’m gone between July 31 and Aug 19.
If not, that’s OK but y’all might get to pretend you’re watching TV after midnight in the 1960s: “High Flight” followed by a test screen.
I don’t mind admitting that for the first time since I got my drivers license, I’m not looking forward to a road trip.
Me? Not wanting to go on a road trip???
If I’m not back online by Aug 21, something happened.
I’ll be here til late July. This is just advance notice to get your homework papers in on time… 🙂
Old Highways
This was once the main highway over Raton Pass between Trinidad, CO and Raton, NM. I-25 runs over the pass these days.
Way Up High
grazes this small herd of bighorn sheep.
Someplace in the Rockies – probably Colorado.
The Old Gazebo…
posted by Jean Dec 22, 2006
Winter. Late afternoon.
The beach is empty. The air is grey-blue.
The ocean is grey-silver, scattered with foamy white waves.
At the high-tide mark is a long wooden, railed walkway leading to
an old gazebo perched on top of the highest dune.
Inside the gazebo is a picnic table with benches.
Under the table is a pair of small deck shoes.
Between the shoes is an empty styrofoam coffee cup.
The most interesting thing is on the table. An open book.
The pages on the left are flapping lightly with the breeze.
The pages on the right are clipped together by a pen.
They struggle to move with the wind..
On that first page on the right is a single handwritten line.
In the most delicate and precise penmanship. It says…
“I am going home.”
Tunesday: Hoyt Axton – Della & The Dealer
A sample of some obscure – and maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s medley selection: Hoyt Axton – “Della & The Dealer” 1979
… and a cat named Kalamazoo.
Hoyt Axton was better known as a song writer for others: “Joy To The World” (Three Dog Night”), “The Pusher” (Steppenwolf), “Southbound” (Commander Cody), and many others. He also appeared in many TV shows of the 60s – 80s.
He lived in Victor, MT and died at home in Oct 1999 after two heart attacks in the two weeks previous.
Worth what you paid for it: I’ve lived in both Tucson and Kalamazoo
Sego Lily Season
Also known as the Mariposa Lily, they are native to the area. The bulb is edible and was a food source for the Shoshone and early Mormon settlers in Utah. This version is the sagebrush mariposa lily … it likes to grow in dry climates amongst sage brush.
One day they weren’t here. The next, a few showed up. The next, the field was full of them.
Then one day – they disappear.
These are in my backyard; took the pictures just a few days ago.
Unfortunately, the Salt Lake city council adopted the sego lily to be placed on “certain” flags to avoid laws preventing “those” flags from flying on government property. Just another pleasant thing those people have tarnished with their political agenda.