Occupation of Independence

Under the right circumstances, taking your dog out for a short walk in the forest can be very satisfying.  Along our nearest forest road, the forest has been thinned.  Thus you can actually see into it for a couple hundred yards. And there is certainly nice stuff to see: grass, flowers, wildlife, sharp ravines, and large snow-capped mountains in the distance.  Normally, you can't see any of this -- you just see a wall of bark and needles about 20 feet from your face. You feel something else, something wonderful: a breeze can actually blow through the forest.  Even a 10 mph breeze keeps you cool and brushes off some of the bugs.  Bugs have not been a big problem for me, much to my (pleasant) surprise. The goodies of a thinner forest are the reason to aim for ponderosa forests, but the ponderosa altitude-band seems pretty narrow to me in the inland Northwest. Most of the forest is thick spruces and firs. They are magnificently tall, though.  I can't help myself from looking at th

Many people in the USA are in denial about the new world order that is emerging with the war in Ukraine.  Are Americans hostile towards or fearful of a multi-polar world?  They shouldn't be.  America has been hollowed out during the post World War II era.  We should see a multi-polar world as an opportunity to liberate ourselves from war-worship, and thus throw our energies into better things. Look at all the projects that are waiting for us: 1. Rebuilding an industrial base. 2. Affordable health care and education. 3. A first-world infrastructure of transportation and energy. 4. Strong families. 5. A sense of national unity, rather than "Balkanization" along lines of gender or race. 6. An uplifting philosophy not based on superstitions, be they ancient or modern. 7. The best composers of music, breakthroughs in science, and innovations in the business world. (I am not referring to financial engineering games.) 8. An enjoyable way or style of living.  9. Non-corrupt gover

I saw my first black bear (in the Northwest) a couple days ago. He was only half-grown, and ran across the road 100 yards ahead of my van. Today Q.t. π   tested out the latest iteration of her bike/dog interface device. A herd of 30 elk cows crossed the road ahead of us. There was only one calf and one skinny buck. I've seen plenty of elk before, but not a herd this big. _____________________________________ Maybe it sounds easy to other people, but I did something yesterday that was a new experience for me: I walked around in 92 F sunlight, and enjoyed it. There had to be an explanation. The weather station says that the relative humidity bottomed out at 25 % when the temperature was max. Much of the day had a relative humidity of 30--40%.   In other words, moderate humidity. That is a rare and precious thing. The sun is noticeable, but not murderous. Skin, fingernails, and hair don't spall off the body. Ordinary sunglasses are good enough -- you don't need to wear welding

I seem to have a talent for camping right in the way of invading hordes of sheep.  It happened again yesterday.  Once again I met and talked a little bit to a Peruvian shepherd.  But this time I met the employers, a ranching couple, who showed up with a camper/trailer.   The shepherd used 10 dogs, supplied by the rancher of course. Half of them were big Anatolian shepherds: The shepherd didn't know the name of the Anatolians.  Perhaps he only knew the name of a couple of the dogs who acted more like pets. There were 1800 sheep!  They were intended for meat, not for wool. The shepherd was from Peru -- from a small village at 14,000 feet in the Andes.  He spoke Spanish and whatever they call the indigenous Indian language there.  I was glad to hear that he has a smartphone with a Translate app on it. The rancher told me a story about one of his former shepherds. When you leave the USA, you can only take $10,000 with you. One of the shepherds had $11,000.  The customs office put on so