Author: wwducat

I guess I shouldn’t complain about interruptions…

Today I’m working, getting some writing done, I’m inside, not really paying much attention. Then I catch a whiff of smoke.

A moment later I hear trucks, you know… the heavy diesel truck engines.

Then all hell breaks loose!

Yes, there is a fire and I’m evacuated.

This fire started in the canyon where I often hike. There is NO source of ignition in that little box canyon.

So I’m suspecting that the fire was started due to human stupidity.

So I’m at a friends house tonight and tomorrow I’ll figure out what to do for the longer term. Maybe if we’re lucky the firefighters will have knocked this down.

God knows the firefighting response was amazing!

I swear, the trucks were so thick the road above my place looked like a firefighting convention. The hotshot crews were walking up the hill straight into the smoke and later I could hear the distinctive sound of chainsaws.

Water dropping helicopters and even a big jet of some kind were flying over dropping all kinds of water or fire retardant chemicals.

I am really impressed with the fire people.

I hope the people that started this get caught and get their butts kicked.

Here are some of photos from today.

I’m not going to be able to upload until I hit a public WiFi site.

Hopefully that WiFi will be one of my own.

 

Than being treated in a condescending fashion.

What really takes me Zero to Nuclear in a milisecond is if a guest in my house treats me that way.

Recently this happened… AGAIN!

What the hell ever happened to common courtesy?

On this occasion my Mother would have been proud. I gritted my teeth and said nothing. I recalled in an earlier time, I’d have thrown the offender out on their ass then offered the remaining guests another drink. 

Now days I just allow their visit to end, they’re not offered a second cup of coffee or any other consideration… And They’re never invited back.

It’s not like I’m asking for the moon and stars. I just ask that you treat me with respect in my home.

In the most recent example of bad behavior; the offending party was someone who seems to think that they’re wiser and smarter than the “Average” people around the town. That belief is apparently born out of their membership in an organization that I’ve personally found to be elitist and out of touch with the real needs or expectation of many of the townsfolk. The problem is that this group has a bit of control and an over inflated sense of self importance.

These are the folks that make statements like; “We published this information in the local paper and you should have read about it there.“

I should point out that the local paper is really LOCAL. It’s not like it has much information beyond the confines of the town. Also for what it is, it’s a pretty expensive subscription. I get the LA Times digitally every day for less than a monthly subscription to the local paper.

When you point out that the community by and large was not informed about a particular thing, event or request for comment, you’re hit with the statement “Well, people should take an interest in their community and should work to find out what’s happening.“

Yeah! Right! You have people commuting 40 to 70 miles one way to go to work, they’re struggling to make ends meet, they get home at 8 or 9 PM and leave again at 6 AM after getting the kids ready for school, and you have the audacity to make a statement like that?

OH HELL NO!

I’ve lived in cities that were much larger than the 3 – 10 thousand folks here. Those cities had no problem posting information in public places. They had no problem sending out notifications and informing the community at large that road work, sewage work, public park renovations, or whatever was planned and they were seeking public comment.

But here, the controlling group of people choose an elitist statement that does nothing to engender trust, or calm. Instead they make comments that are more likely to alienate the very people they supposedly serve. 

Attitudes on the part of community leaders or organizations like what I’ve experienced are exactly why people don’t participate.

When I first moved here I tried to get involved. That was 20 years ago. I was dismissed as not being able to contribute. Mind you these people knew nothing of my capabilities, they simply said we have nothing for you to do at the moment and we’ll call you if we think of something.

I checked back several times and always got the same answer. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that they didn’t want anything to do with me. I considered the possible reasons, perhaps because of my living arrangements, perhaps because I was too young, perhaps because they just didn’t like my face.

In the end I basically said the hell with them and wrote all the community organizations off. The same people in one organization were involved with all the others and if they couldn’t be bothered to accept a willing set of volunteer hands I didn’t have to waste my time.

Instead I became involved or continued my involvement with organizations where I worked, or in the communities where I worked.

There was a period of years during which I didn’t make a single purchase from any business in the town where I lived.

Why bother? I wasn’t engaged or connected to the town in any way. I could have been living isolated on top of a mountain in Oregon, or in a loft in New York. I didn’t know the people around me and didn’t care to.

That changed when my house burned. There were a number of people that were awesome. I had no idea they even knew we existed. But there these folks were, trying to help and I appreciated their efforts beyond words. Interestingly, the folks who were there for me aren’t generally involved in the community organizations.

It’s because of those people, the folks who put clothes on my back and made sure I had food in those first days after the fire, that I feel connected to the town. I want to help, and protect this place. 

Problem is, the old attitudes remain well entrenched…

I’ve been a little quieter than usual lately. 

I guess I’m mourning the B dog.

I just haven’t felt much like writing at all.

It’s been hot here even at night. So my sleep is restless too. The three things are inhibiting my creativity and sorta messing with my mojo.

My dream life has been pretty interesting though. 

I’ve dreamt of lizards, wolves, and scorpions. 

You don’t even want to know what the interpretations of those dream elements are.

Lead, change, and pain is the short version.

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I’ve thought about writing on Trayvon.

But I’m thinking that anything I’d have to say would be at best redundant and at worst inflammatory.

Lets just say, I’m over people rending their clothing and describing Trayvon as a little saint. I’m sick of the media representation of Trayvon and Zimmerman. 

The protests and calls for justice are disingenuous at best considering that the Jury wasn’t presented with enough credible evidence to “Beyond a reasonable doubt” convict Zimmerman. The Beyond Reasonable Doubt phrase is really important. 

I’m as usual pissed off at Sharpton and Jackson because they’re continuing to play the victim card & the race card while at the same time black kids are being killed all over the country by other black kids.

Where is the outrage about that? 

Where is the outrage at violence done in the name of Trayvon against people who just happen to not be black? A better question is; Why is the media not reporting these acts of violence with the same breathless excitement?

Yeah these are the reasons I’ve given up most of the news.

I did find this little survey interesting

I had seen a lot of the information well before the Zimmerman trial. The information is well… in the age of Photoshop, can we really believe what we see?

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 Then there’s this tragedy.

Yesterday we took the S dog out for a romp. First we went to Devils Punchbowl completely forgetting that by the time we got there it was really hot.

Too hot in fact for the S dog to walk on the paths for much more than 15 minutes. On the plus side he got a ton of loving from a school bus full of little girls I’m guessing none of them were older than 10 or 11.

They were fascinated with the S dog and kept commenting on how big he is. I kept thinking to myself they’d be blown away by a Weimaraner, Great Dane, Mastiff, or Sheepdog. 

The S dog is approachable and sweet, although he left a bit of drool on several of the girls. They didn’t seem to mind too much.

We were thinking about a cooler place to wander and perhaps let the S dog play in some water.

Well, let me tell you something. The drought is bad!

There are creeks and small ponds/lakes that are supplied by water from the mountains. But the past few years there really hasn’t been that much rain or snow and the creeks and lakes are drying up.

Several of the first creeks that crossed our minds were little more than sticky muddy trails. The vegetation is withering or dying as well.

We finally headed to a creek that is beautiful, or was… It had also dried to a surprising degree.

That is a tragedy, but one that nature in time will correct. The greater tragedy is the trash.

This creek is a nice place and it used to be free & clean.

Folks would take their kids swimming on hot days and have nice picnics.

Problem is, that more and more folks who don’t respect the signs, or the environment, or that someone has to clean up their mess have pretty much trashed the place.

You can see from the pictures it’s really bad. These folks have tagged rocks and trees and there’s strong evidence that they’ve even uprooted some of  trees by climbing on them then dragging them down.

The S Dog jumped in to the cool water and started making contented sounds.Eventually we found a place where the water was clean and the surrounding area was unspoiled.

All we had were small bags to pick up the S Dogs poo so it wasn’t left on any trail. Of those we were down to only two.I felt bad that we didn’t’ have any big garbage bags to clean up the mess.

By the time we go home we’d used all but one of the poo bags.

On the up side… the S dog will probably not make any work for me in the back yard for several days. (He felt he had to leave his marks and was seriously confused by us cleaning up his carefully placed marks!)

It’s this vandalism and trashy behavior that has made the Forestry service start charging via something called an Adventure Pass.

There is ongoing litigation about the validity of the adventure pass. I can actually see both sides of the issue. The hikers are correct in saying that the Forestry Service needs better funding. The Forestry Service is right and saying they need to supplement their budgets so they can provide services. 

The real problem isn’t the pass… it’s the people who are, frankly thoughtless pigs.

I’d love to see arrests and jail time for people that leave trash behind.

I don’t give a shit if they’re poor, or immigrants. They can afford to buy the packaged crap they’re eating… they can damn well carry out the empty packages and trash.

It’s a $100 fine if you don’t have an adventure pass. Hell I’d love to see a $1000 dollar fine plus 60 days in jail if you’re caught trashing a place.

If someone is an illegal after they’ve paid their fine, and served their time I’d love to see their sorry ass deported back to their shithole country of origin.

But then I’m draconian about that kind of thing.

Go on… Call me a racist! That is the “goto” defense when someone badmouths the poor undocumented workers isn’t it?

I get really pissed off when I take a side road instead of the freeway and am confronted with places where people have just dumped their trash because they didn’t want to pay the entrance fee to a county landfill.

My home, my country isn’t supposed to look like Tijuana.

I was thinking about making time when the S dog & I could go back to this area and he could play in the water & I could pick up the trash.

I swear with the tagging… I’d love to see the tagger in chains scrubbing the rocks with a toothbrush and their spit for solvent.

What on earth possesses someone to do that? They go to a natural place that’s unspoiled and beautiful… then they spoil it!

What the hell?

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Then there’s the crazy person running around Washington… No not the politicians… the one with the green paint.

Another case of someone who should be in a bright orange jumpsuit chained to a monument with a toothbrush cleaning up their mess.

I guess this time it’s a crazy homeless Chinese person on an expired visa. Why is it that we don’t send ICE agents to someones hotel, apartment, boarding house or what have you to escort folks with expired visas to the nearest Airport?

There are countries that insist you have a return plane ticket before you’re allowed to enter their country. Why don’t we have a similar policy?

Now this crazy person will cost us court time, psychiatric time, and will never have to earn the cash to pay reparations for her crimes.

I fear that her actions will cause We The People will have to go through checkpoints and fences and metal detectors and that yet another part of our cultural heritage will be compromised.

To me, part of the beauty of Washington DC is that there were no fences the last time I was there.

You could walk on the grass next to the reflecting pond. You could walk unencumbered up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, you could lean against the Washington monument and wander at your leisure inside the Jefferson memorial.

I was in awe of the Lincoln Memorial and spent a good amount of time contemplating the words, their meaning, and the greatness of President Lincoln. 

The only disappointment was that the White House had been fenced off and looked a bit more like a prison than the house provided for the President of the country. I know it is necessary but I still think it’s sad.

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Wheee!

I get to renew my car registration today!!! Oh Joy!

I can be ripped off by California once again. This year to the tune of over $300 to pay for my road use. This amount apparently isn’t used to actually maintain the roads but does get spent by California in ever so many useful ways.

Gun control laws and ordinances. feeding the poor, providing health care for undocumented workers, etc. etc. etc.

And did I mention that I’m not employed at the moment? How am I paying for this since I’m out of unemployment benefits? Take a guess… go on I dare you!

Give up? I’m paying for this out of my savings. Yep, I need to pay this bill like I need a Clorox enema! But I need a legal car on the road too if I’m going to go to interviews and try to actually find work. Did you know that some gated / secured facilities won’t let you in the gate if your registration isn’t current? After all if you haven’t paid your registration… have you paid your insurance? 

I wouldn’t mind if the roads here in California were maintained, smooth, clean and nice. But I’ve had wheels cracked due to faulty maintenance at $800.00 a crack having to pay over $300 to register a vehicle is adding insult to injury.

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OK enough randomness for today.

I’ve got to get something done.