Snakes and Fire

How are things with you?  I'm still aggrieved, agitated and appalled by the Supreme Court and their arrogance and atrocious behavior.  Today, they ruled in favor of the republicans in Louisiana.  The population of Louisiana is about 30% Black.  The pub-tards created a redistricting that only had one district favorable to Black voters.  The governor vetoed it, and the pub-tards over rode the veto.  The SC ruled in favor of the pub-tards, so now the Black population has less of a voice than they did.  I hate these people.

We've been out doing some things.  There have been a couple of rides to the lake.  We rode up to the Deep Creek Overlook.  Last year I wrote that this should be full of water, but I think I was wrong.  There is still no water, and the river is running pretty high, so I guess it's a canyon.

Look mid-photo on the horizontal axis.  That's a good sized snake.  Google Lens identifies him as a rattlesnake.  I looked them up and learned that after they molt, they have to re-grow the rattle.  I'm pretty sure this is a recently molted rattlesnake.  Identification would have been better if I'd leaned over the rock and gotten a shot of his head, but I decided not to do that.

When we used to ride in Bend, OR we would see these piles of tree debris everywhere.  They are also along the Centennial Trail here.  We always wondered why that was.  There were some fire guys out picking up branches and putting them on the piles, so we asked them why the piles and what were they doing.

They don't want stuff like this all over the forest floor.  So, they pile it up, and then other fire people come out an set fire to it.  It's not clear to me how they burn these piles without setting fire to the woods, but apparently they do.

Yesterday it was hot, it hit 93F.  We were up and out early to ride to the lake while it was still cool.  There's a lot of shade on the trail so it was pleasant.  Then, when we got home we decided we would stand out in the blazing sun and dead head the rhododendrons.  They're lovely when they bloom, but then they make work.  Jim and I worked on them together, using scissors instead of pruners, so it went fairly quickly.

The muck bucket full of pink.

Today was extremely windy.  Windy days when it's hot are bad.  Below our neighborhood there is a facility for children between the ages of 10 and 18.  They're kids whose parents can't control them, but they're not bad enough for juvenile detention.  So, they live there.  It's an open campus, you can't force the kids to stay there.  In the last four years they've set four fires.  They set one today.  I will say, that once 911 is called, the fire fighters are out here in the twinkling of an eye.  Between the sick and dead pine trees and the build up of pine needles on the forest floor, there is much material to burn.  The people across the street are at the most risk.  Fires never really entered my head when we moved here, now it has. 

Anyway, I was out on the deck this afternoon and I smelled smoke.  Went in to the house and asked Jim what kind of idiot burns on a day like today?  Right after that we heard the fire trucks coming up the street.  So, we all went out to gawk.

A fire person dragging the hose to a hydrant.  This is how they fill up the truck.

Now he's going back, running flat out.

There's a fire down there.  I was standing on a neighbor's patio; we could see the flames, but the camera could not pick them up.

Fire people are going down the embankment with shovels.  They will put dirt on the hot spots and we also saw them digging a trench, which I am assuming is a fire break.

More fire fighters with shovels.

So, that was today.

Twitter has informed me of more fall out from the SC decision about Roe v Wade.  Women who are pregnant now have to be very aware of in which state their connecting airport is when traveling.   If a pregnant woman is in an anti-abortion state on a layover, she's subject to their draconian laws, including no abortion to save the mother.  There are many worst case scenarios that can happen very quickly in pregnancy.  Professional conventions in anti-abortion states are now fraught with peril.  It appears that the OB-Gyn boards will be held in Texas.  In person attendance is mandatory.  If you were pregnant, would you set foot in that state?  Anti-abortion states are going to attempt to pass laws forbidding pregnant women from leaving the state - this is an unbearable burden on people who allegedly live in a free country. 

In closing, here is a happy thing.  Remember James Mattis, former Secretary of Defense and four star  Marine general?  Did you ever see him smile? No, no you did not. "Mattis, who served as defense secretary from January 2017 until December 2018, wed physicist Christina Lomasney on Saturday, Garrett Ross of Politico first revealed. The couple were reportedly married by a priest and then they had a second ceremony at Las Vegas’ Little Church of the West that involved an Elvis impersonator in which Retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward was the best man. Politico posted pictures of both events."  The article is here.  Look how happy they look.

So, that's it.  That's all I've got.