2015 IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

POST # 196

It's the final blog post of the year.  In a few short days, 2015 will be history.
   
This year, the Thoughtful Wanderer began his journey in the land down-under, Australia.  I was there for just over four months of 2015, roaming around four states, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland, and my time was spent visiting with friends as well as house and pet sitting.  I had the pleasure of caring for eight different critters, which included four dogs, Pippen, Ali, Bam Bam and Baxter, and four cats, Chloe, Ruff, Tumble, and Tilly.  I would be very hard pressed to chose a favourite amongst this group.  Each and every one of them had lovable characteristics, and I would be happy to care for any or all of them in the future.   However, I think that the odds of that happening are fairly slim, as I don't expect to make another trip to Australia.  But one never knows for sure.

Arriving back in North America in May, I spent time in Oregon at my friend Mary's place, followed by the first of two visits back to Orcas Island to take care of three of my favourite furballs, Oscar, Felix and Ziggy, prior to returning back to Vancouver in June.

Once in Vancouver, I met up with my friend, Guy Mcpherson.  Guy was on a two week long speaking tour of the west coast, and I offered to go along as his personal assistant.  It was an amazing two weeks, and I felt extremely fortunate to be able to spend so much time with him.  Once the tour was over in late June, I decided that I may as well continue on to the Mud Hut in New Mexico for my fifth visit.  I remained there until early July, and then headed back once again to Orcas for my fifth visit there as well.

I was back again in Oregon in August, visiting with Mary, and while I was there we had a very short house/pet sit just south of Bend.  Mazey the dog, and Rascal the cat, kept us company.

September and October found me back again on Vancouver Island.  First stop, was a return visit to my furball friend, Chumlee in Nanoose Bay, followed by a new housesit just west of Duncan, where I had the pleasure of spending time with new furballs,  Ringo and Bella.

Part of the month of November was spent in Vancouver, taking care of Shadow the cat, in a new venue close to Granville Island.

Then, I decided to make another visit to the Mud Hut in late November until the middle of December.   Each time I have been there, I think that it will be my last visit, and so far I've been wrong five times.

And now, I am back again in Bend Oregon.  I think this will definitely be the last visit here.  My friend Mary is moving back to Washington State early in the new year, and I have come here to help her with the move.

I'll be  back in Canada in January, en route to my old home in Dawson City to take care of four Border Collies and one cat.  I am looking forward to that.

How much longer this wandering can go on is anyone's guess.  I continue to be amazed that this whole set of living arrangements that we call industrial civilization hasn't crashed and burned by this late date, and if I were a betting man, I would probably predict that before 2016 is out, life as we know it will be profoundly different, and certainly not as comfortable as we have it now.  It will be an interesting year. (As an example of just how different things might be, I read today that this week, the North Pole could be much, much warmer than normal.)
 "By Wednesday, the North Pole is expected to see temperatures in the range of 1-2 degrees Celsius or 41-42 degrees C above average (73-75 degrees Fahrenheit above the normal daily temperature of -40 F for a typical Winter day). Such an extreme departure would be like seeing a 120 degree (Fahrenheit) December day in my hometown of Gaithersburg, MD. Needless to say, a 1-2 C reading at the North Pole during late December is about as odd as witnessing Hell freezing over. But, in this case, the latest wave of warmth issuing from a human-driven shift toward climatological hell appears to be on schedule to arrive at the North Pole in just a few more days." - Robert Scribbler
Like I said, it's going to be an interesting year, in more ways than one.

 Finally, I still have the means to wander around.   So I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing until I can't.

Happy Trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

PACKING UP IN BEND

POST # 195

The plan for today's blog, was to add a few photos from my recent journey to New Mexico, but instead I will keep this short, as I am helping my friend Mary pack up her place here in Bend, Oregon, in preparation for her move to Bellingham, Washington.

I doubt if you could find very many people who actually like to move, but it always feels good to help out a friend.

       BOXES, BOXES, BOXES.







AND MORE BOXES!!!!!!!

PLUS...

GREAT MOVING WEATHER AS WELL.

 Winter Solstice begins tonight at 8:49pm local time.

Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

MUD HUT TO BEND OREGON

POST # 194

December 11th was my departure day from the Mud Hut in New Mexico, after an extended visit with my friends, Guy and Sheila, and Mike and Karen.

I had intended to fill this blog with a variety of photos and videos from New Mexico, however I am having difficulty downloading them via this computer.  So I will wait until next week and give it another go.

Since leaving the Mud Hut, I flew from Tucson, Arizona, to Los Angeles, and due to a crew mix up, I was late departing there for my flight to Portland.  This made me miss my connection to my destination of Redmond Oregon.  I spent the night at a hotel (courtesy of Alaska Airlines), and continued on my journey the next day.

I am in Bend, Oregon to help my friend Mary move back to Bellingham Washington.

More news next week.

Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

FINAL(??) POST FROM THE MUD HUT

POST # 193

The standing joke around here is that this is definitely my next-to- last visit to the Mud Hut. The reason that it is a joke is because I've said the same thing ever since my first visit back in February 2013. To date, this is my sixth visit.  So I guess only time will tell whether or not I get to seven.

By the time I leave, later this week, I will have been here for the better part of three weeks.  My hosts, Guy and Sheila have been absolutely wonderful, and generous with their time. And time, as we should all be aware, is our most precious asset.   I am extremely grateful to have had the chance to spend so much time with them, and even more grateful to count them as friends.

In addition to Guy and Sheila, I've also spent time with other friends, Mike and Karen and their wonderful little furball, Pouncer Bouncer, who had a sleep over here last night.

Of course I'll be sad to say goodbye later this week, but such is the life of the Thoughtful Wanderer.  However, I am reminded of a phrase I came across many years ago which goes like this:
" Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again, and meeting again after moments or lifetimes is certain for those who are friends."

If that last sentence is true, then I guess I should start to plan for my seventh, (and next-to-last?) trip to the Mud Hut.

                                  THE PROFESSOR AT WORK

                                        POUNCER BOUNCER

               MIKE, KAREN and POUNCER BOUNCER

                                   SUNSET AT THE MUD HUT

WALKING UP THE ROAD WITH GUY AND SHEILA ON DECEMBER 7TH, 2013


Happy Trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

THE MUD HUT, POUNCER BOUNCER AND A FEW OTHER ITEMS

POST # 192

A week ago I was in Vancouver, preparing to board a flight to Los Angeles, and then from there to Tucson.  After an overnight at the airport, I was picked up by my friends Guy and Karen, and we drove to the Mud Hut, where I've been located ever since.

THE MUD HUT AND GUY

As an added bonus to spending time with my friends Guy and Sheila and Mike and Karen, I was asked to do some pet sitting for a few days.  Mike and Karen have recently adopted a wonderful little furball named Pouncer Bouncer.  They were going to be away over the long weekend, and needed someone to care for him.  Enter, the housesitter.

POUNCER BOUNCER

During this past week, I was fortunate enough to participate in the latest Nature Bats Last radio show which can be found here.

In addition to that, Ivey Cone produced a short video with regards to the 7th stage of grief.  I was one of the participants.  The video is embedded below.

I think that will do for this week.  More news from the Mud Hut on December 7th.

Happy Trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS; Dad's birthday today. He would have been 99.

THOUGHTFULLY WANDERING- AGAIN

POST # 191



November 21st is always a memorable date.  It was on this day in 1978 that I flew to Antarctica.  Today isn't anywhere near as spectacular, but I will be flying again.  This time it will be from Vancouver to Tucson Arizona, via Los Angeles.  I'm en route to the Mud Hut in New Mexico to visit my friends Guy and Sheila, and Mike and Karen and others.

Digging through some old photos during my time here in Vancouver, produced this gem from October 1979.  Spot the Canadian.  Hint- white skin.  This was on board a freighter from Ambon to Surabaya in Indonesia.  Five days, on the Banda Sea, with nothing to eat but plain boiled white rice and dried salted fish.  But the crew were great.  Just don't expect to beat them at the game of chess.




Happy Trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

DOES THE DAMN THING WORK?

POST #190

Being back in Vancouver for a while has allowed me to comb through the extremely limited collection of things that for one reason or another, I still have some difficulty parting with. Among that collection are a few books, including a rare book of fiction.  Rare, in the fact that fiction is not something that I spend much time reading these days.  However, this book made the cut many years ago when I was focused on everything Antarctic.  I was in the planning stages of a solo expedition to that continent, so anything even remotely related to Antarctica, caught my attention.  It was easy for this book to do so, because the title of it is "Antarctica."  Included in this work of fiction is a flow chart (see below), and having come across it again, I now realize why I have held on to this book for so long.  No matter how often I look at the flow chart, it makes me laugh, and that's a good thing.  Plus, I think there is some wisdom to be found here as well.  Now that the chart is here on my blog, it will be easy to let go of the book.  One less thing to own.  Bit by bit, my road to simplicity continues.

Maybe if humans had had the wisdom of this chart 10,000 years ago, or 5000 years, or even prior to the discovery of fossil fuels, we wouldn't find ourselves in the predicament we are now in.

Now, here we are in late 2015 and I think that there are an ever increasing amount of humans who might be feeling like the goat in the photo below.

A PHOTO I TOOK WHILE ON A BIKE JOURNEY YEARS AGO IN NEW ZEALAND

The goat is trying to convey to all those condo owners in Miami Florida, that maybe it's time to get to higher ground while they still can.

I think that's enough for today.

Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

BABY BOOMERS AND SHADOW

POST # 189

On a stroll to the market this morning, I passed by the local news agent.  A headline in the "Globe and Mail" caught my eyes.  Above the fold, there is a photograph of a smiling older couple, and the two captions read as follows:
"SO LONG SUCKERS" and "GOOD LUCK WITH THE NEXT COUPLE DECADES"

Silly, silly me.  After reading the above quotes, for a brief moment I began to think that the editors at this national newspaper had finally come to the acceptance phase of NTHE (near term human extinction), and decided to make it front page news.  After all, it should be front page news.

Alas, it was just an article about the aging baby boomer cohort, and even though I didn't read the article, it's easy to work out the gist of it.   In other words, it's the baby boomers saying to the younger generation, too bad and tough luck that you weren't born when we were, as we've got all the assets now, and you're left holding the bag.  It kind of reminds me of the Charlie Brown Halloween, where all the other kids get the goodies, and poor old Charlie Brown ends up with a rock.  A comment by lwa at Nature Bats Last sums it up pretty well:

Mom, Dad … there seem to be no jobs after university in this new globalized world you voted for, and also no possibility for me or any of my peers to purchase a home to live in either, like you and guys had in your generation’s era.”

Oh shucks Henry, this new generation sure does do a lot of complaining doesn’t it? Say dear, the real estate value of our two cottages and three rental apartments just rose again, isn’t that swell?” How about you and I go to the coffee shop and celebrate by getting one of those grumpy University grads to make us a nice double latte?

.

 I imagine that the article doesn't mention the fact that it was cheap energy via fossil fuels that we have had the use of for so many decades (certainly all of the decades that the baby boomers have been alive for), that has provided for all of this accumulation of assets, and now that the cheap and easy to get at energy is long gone, so are the dreams of the younger generation, even though I doubt that very many of them understand just why things have been going sideways for them.  After all, they managed to get their University degree, and they all have smart phones.  Life's good, right??

However, much more important than that, is the fact that as a result of the burning of all of these fossil fuels, we have now managed to destroy the very habitat that we, humans, and all other life on the planet depend upon for our very existence.  Fossil fuel usage has increased dramatically in the past few decades, and the baby boomers of the world most certainly have burned up a significant part of what was available.

So, a better article perhaps, could have been written about the effects of industrial civilization, its imminent demise, and the catastrophe that it has wrought on the earth, but of course, that will never happen.  Pretty soon, I think that we're all going to be feeling like poor old Charlie Brown, baby boomers included. "Hey Charlie Brown, what did you get?"  CB: " I got a rock."

So as I have stated before on this blog, it's always about the economy.  That's what makes the headlines for now.  However, I don't imagine that it will be too long into the future, where most people, including all of those baby boomers, are going to have more important things to worry about than just how they're going to spend all of those assets in their retirement years.

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On the house/pet sitting front, I have a new furball to care for.  Actually this is my third time with Shadow the cat.  He's a real treat, and very easy to spend time with, so I will try to keep him as happy as possible while I am here. On day one, he lived up to his namesake, just a shadow of his former self.  I went out for a while and when I returned he was nowhere to be found. Eventually, after my third look under the bed, I saw his eyes staring back at me. Phew!!!  I wouldn't want to lose him on the  very first day, or any day for that matter.

A BIT BLURRY, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA- HE'S ONE BIG FURBALL

Shadow has moved since our last visit.  He's gone from a single family home cat, to a CONDO CAT. He has always been an indoor cat, so this transition doesn't seem to have bothered him one bit.  And now, he's on the third floor, and surrounded by trees which are usually full of birds.  So he literally has a bird's eye view.  Let's see, a warm place to sleep, food on demand, a cat friendly house sitter and a bird's eye view.  What more could Shadow ask for?

Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

ON THE ROAD

POST # 188


On the road and in between house sits.  Back on November 7th.

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos, and one video.

 LAST VIEW OF BELLA AND RINGO, AT LEAST FOR NOW

A VERY LARGE AND VERY OLD MONTEREY PINE TREE

NATURE ON AN AUTUMN DAY

Happy Trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

ANOTHER POINTLESS ELECTION THAT AVOIDS THE REAL ISSUES

POST # 187

Canadians turned out in droves two days ago to vote for a new federal government. Apparently over 70% of eligible voters made their way to their respective voting centres to cast a vote.  I imagine that most if not all of those who voted (and I'm certainly not one of them) felt that their vote could "make a difference."

The four main choices were, Conservative, Liberal, NDP, and the Green party.  Even for someone like myself who spends next to zero time listening to the mainstream media, it was still difficult to not be bombarded with the pre-election party hype about how a vote for "them" was going to be the right choice going forward.  Every party, including the Green party had at the very top of their agenda, jobs and growth.  Jobs and growth, jobs and growth, it's all about jobs and growth.  "Just vote for me and I'll make sure to provide more "JOBS AND GROWTH."  Now, you would have thought that at least the Green party would  put the environment ahead of jobs and growth, but if you thought that, you would have been wrong.

Not once did I hear Stephen Harper (Conservative), Justin Trudeau (Liberal), Tom Mulcair (NDP) or Elizabeth May (Greens) bring up the fact that it is IMPOSSIBLE to have infinite growth on a finite planet.  I guess they all figured that we can just keep on digging up, burning up, trashing up the planet, without any consequences.  After all, "we've got technology, dude."

 If any of these "leaders"  spent a few moments to actually THINK, they would have to understand that you just can't continue to use up any particular "resource" no matter what it is, and expect it to be there forever and ever in order to maintain ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.  (On a small side note, it's interesting how the word SUSTAINABLE, has now wiggled it's way into the narrative.  Continued development = bad, sustainable development= good.)  Of course, if any of them were to admit to that truth,  ( the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet), then they would also have to question the concept of ECONOMIC GROWTH AND  SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.  And if they questioned that, then they might have to question just why they're up there in the first place asking for your vote?  But we are way, way too far into this set of living arrangements called industrial civilization to make any significant changes at this point.  This makes all political parties, irrelevant.  The system will continue to pulverize the living world that we and all other species depend upon for life, until, in the end, even life itself won't be possible.  But you won't hear those politicians talk about that.  As far as I can see, politicians have two primary goals.  The first is to get elected, and the second is to stay elected.  Harper managed to keep the second goal going for quite some time, but now it's Trudeau's turn.  The slogan for his party was "real change."  I'm not sure what the difference is between change, and real change, but perhaps the Liberals didn't want to align themselves too closely with the Obama, "hope and change" mantra.  We've all seen how well that has worked out since early 2009.

Maybe a much better slogan for any politician to promote would be the words of a painting that is hanging on the wall here.

I'm not holding my breath to find a politician that would have these words as their campaign slogan.

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Aside from that lovely painting, I have a few more photos and videos to share this week from my location in the woods on Vancouver Island.

A BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWER IN THE GARDEN

RINGO, LOOKING SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE BILL THE CAT FROM MAPLE BAY (see below)

MY CURRENT "HOME"


And to round things out for the day, a few videos of my friends next door who love to eat apples.

Next week, I may or may not be able to do a blog as I might be on the road.  Check back on the 28th to find out.

Happy Trails,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

NEW DIGS

POST # 186

Chumlee's history!  Actually he's still doing fine back at his place in Nanoose Bay, but The Thoughtful Wanderer has moved on to his new digs, here on a farm out West of Duncan.  It's just a short sit for only a couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to it.

En route to this location, I spent a night at my friend's farm which is only about 15 minutes from here.  Accommodation was the WOOFER'S shack.  It's even smaller than SNUG in the Yukon.  Very cozy indeed.

But it was much preferable to spending time in the city.

Here is the approach road to downtown Vancouver.

Here is the approach road to my current sit.  Which would you prefer?

And here is the house.

There is a good supply of wood, and with two wood stoves, I shouldn't have any problem with keeping warm over the next couple of weeks.

My house companions will be Bella, and Ringo, the two resident furballs.  Jack the dog is off to a kennel for the duration.  It would have been good to have him around, however I'm sure that the two furballs will be enough to keep me company. Plus, Jack will have time to spend with his dog friends, so it's all good.

RINGO

BELLA

JACK

That's about all there is to report for this go around, and I'll be back typing away next week.

Happy Trails,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

THE DATE GUY and THE SEVENTH STAGE OF GRIEF

POST # 185

I have been told on countless occasions that I am "the date guy."  For what ever reason,  dates seem to stick in my head.  And it doesn't really  matter how far back the date is.  The only condition, is that it was significant for me, in one way or another.  It's kind of weird, but lots of things are weird, especially in this day and age.

Yesterday happened to be one of those dates.  October 6th, 2007 was the day Madonna died.  No, not Madonna the singer, Madonna the mother.  My mom. Even though I think about her from time to time, it certainly isn't as often as it used to be.  I feel that I've worked through the grief as a result of her death, and I'm left with pleasant memories of the times we shared.

In an odd coincidence, there was an essay posted by my friend Guy at his website yesterday, and the title of the essay is, "The Seventh Stage."  If you're interested, you can read it here:
http://guymcpherson.com/2015/10/the-seventh-stage/

In short, Guy has added two additional stages to Elizabeth Kübler-Ross'  five stages of grief.  Stage 6 is gallows humour, and stage 7 is  fuck it.  Now I imagine that a few readers won't appreciate the fact that I've dared to use the "f" word on my blog, but I find it both funny and appropriate.

In fact, it takes me back to thinking about my mom, on the last day that I saw her alive which was one week before she died.  A broken hip had put her in the hospital, and at the age of almost 92, the odds of her coming out of the hospital weren't very good.  In spite of her advanced age, modern medicine "came to the rescue" with a hip replacement.  I could go off on a rant about whether or not a hip replacement was appropriate, but I won't.

So the day that I'm there at her bedside, a young lady arrives to get mom out of bed, in order to "get that new hip working."  At this stage, mom was mostly just skin and bones, and to me it seemed almost cruel to get her up and out of bed and positioned in front of her "walker" in order to exercise this new hip.  But I guess the young lady was just doing her job.  Anyway, I'm now getting to the funny part. Her plan for my mom was to have mom walk to the end of the bed, and then continue on out into the hallway.  Mom made it to the end of the bed, then a few steps more past the foot of the bed in the direction of the doorway, and it was here that I think in her mind, she just said, "fuck it" and made another left and bee-lined it back towards her bed.  She had had enough of this walking business. As painful as it was to watch her struggle along, my lasting memory was the look on her face, which implied, that she wasn't going to let some young woman tell her what to do.  I find myself chuckling right now, just thinking about it.

She died a week later, and even though I wasn't there by her bedside, perhaps she had decided to call it a day, and say, "fuck it" and drift off into a peaceful, painless, forever sleep.

Never in my life, did I hear my mom use the "f" word, and she only heard me use it once in front of her, which ended up causing both of us to laugh out loud, but that's a long story from a long time ago, so I'll leave it at that. Another happy mom related memory.

Getting back to my friend, Guy's essay, and in light of the bleak outlook going forward, it seems like a good time to be in the "fuck it" stage.  Don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean giving up, it just means trying to appreciate even more, each moment.

So on that note, here are a couple of photos and videos showing how I appreciate the moments.  Enjoy.

A WEST COAST BEACH HERE IN NANOOSE BAY

_KAIN, THE HUSKY I MET A FEW DAYS AGO

QUALICUM BEACH B.C.

CHUMLEE PLAYING WITH HIS GREEN STRAW

Spending time with animals like Kain, and Chumlee, helps to reinforce the idea of how valuable being in the present moment really is.  It's not easy (for us human animals), but it is certainly worth it.  And just look at how much fun you can have.  Right Chumlee?

Happy Trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

BRAIN IN NEUTRAL AND THE SUPERMOON ECLIPSE

POST # 184

With my brain in neutral this morning, I will just post a few photos and videos to cover for today.  Enjoy.

My slack blog writing assistant. "Is it blog day again, Paul?" "Can't we just sleep?"

Neighbourhood friend.

Chumlee has finally decided that the housesitter has a safe and comfortable lap to hang out on.

A short video of last night's Supermoon Eclipse.  This was taken about the time when the moon was only half visible, near the latter part of the eclipse cycle.
If you listen very carefully, you can hear the sea lions barking in the background.


Below is a link to the Supermoon event.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11895539/Incredible-blood-supermoon-eclipse-time-lapse.html



And last but not least, here is a cartoon I came across in Portland Oregon.  It might make you think twice, the next time you order at a restaurant.

Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

HOT AIR

POST # 183

As our season turns from Summer to Autumn we are given a couple of options for the use of hot air.

Here is a good use of hot air:




And here is a waste of hot air:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/the-globe-leaders-debate/article26377613/

The majority of the "hot air" that spewed forth from these three "leaders" contained the words "jobs" and "growth", and the oxymoron, "sustainable development."
As has been demonstrated in the past, and is true in this debate, the Economy trumps Ecology every single time.

Here is Chumlee's reaction to the debate:

Maybe the comedian, Louis CK has it figured out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOojbp8ptWI

Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

A PROFOUND SADNESS

POST # 182

One of her* favourite times of day was just before the sunrise.  It was peaceful then, and the lack of light made it easy to forget her location.

The concrete slab that she had slept on overnight, soon reminded her of where she was, and it made her extremely sad. She had a vague memory** of her life before this place, but it had been such a long time ago, that the memory of what life used to be like was now almost non-existent. The memories that had survived were of wide open spaces, with plenty of food to eat, an abundance of clean water to drink,  along with a variety of comfortable places to sleep, much more comfortable than last night's concrete slab.

After the sun was up, she could see exactly where she was.  It was the same place she had been for almost as long as she could remember.  While she was surveying her surroundings, she heard a familiar sound coming from the corner of her enclosure.  A few moments later, the animal*** which she had come to know as the food provider entered, and within moments, this animal had dropped on the ground a variety of different types of food.  Her favourite food looked like this:




The animal had left behind a generous amount of this food for her and her three companions, and so for a while, they could focus on the enjoyment of eating.

Later, she took a nap, and when she awoke,  everything had changed.  The peacefulness of the early morning was now gone, and as she looked around, she could see huge numbers of the same type of animal that had provided her with food that morning, surrounding her enclosure.  For some reason, which she didn't have the mental capacity to understand, none of these animals were able to enter the space that she was in.  She could look them all straight in the eyes, and they were close enough to touch, yet some invisible barrier prevented physical contact.  The vast majority of these animals, both large and small appeared to be quite excited to be there, and made all sorts of different sounds, especially the small animals.  She then noticed the facial expression on one of the large animals who was standing directly in front of her.  It looked deep into her eyes, and the expression on its face seemed to reflect her mood.  It was a mood of profound sadness.
Eventually, the animal walked away in silence and was replaced by some of the smaller noisy ones.  She had seen enough for the day, and retreated to a part of the enclosure which had at least a modicum of privacy.  Here, she would remain, until the darkness of the night enveloped her.

It was quiet now.  She gazed up into the sky and could see the sparkles of light scattered throughout it.  For a brief moment, she remembered that it was like this in the place that she had come from so very long ago.  It helped her to forget about where she was.

*
http://www.oregonzoo.org/discover/animals/orangutans


**
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(13)00708-2?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982213007082%3Fshowall%3Dtrue&cc=y=

***
Animal/s in this piece refers to the human animal.

Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwqhdRs4jyA

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES

POST # 181

SMOKE, SMOKE, and more SMOKE.  Yes, that certainly seems to be the case here in Oregon, and in fact the entire west coast of the USA, as well as Canada.  The world appears to be burning up right in front of our eyes.

This situation has been going on for months now, and it only seems to have gotten worse as the time passes.  With the monster El Nino parked off the West Coast, and the High Pressure Ridge that has been there for an extended period of time helping to exacerbate the drought conditions, it looks like fires and the smoke associated with them, will continue into the Autumn season.
A couple of links that show the fire situation can be found below.
http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

http://fires.globalincidentmap.com/home.php

Even though I am still here in Bend, Oregon, for a little while longer, I was scheduled to do a house/pet sit in Grand Forks, BC, which was meant to begin on August 22nd.  The location was right next door to the place I housesat at in early 2012, however the owners cancelled their vacation,  so my services were not required.  This appears to be fortunate for me, but not for them, as I read recently that there has been an evacuation alert issued for that area due to a wildfire burning in Northern Washington State.  See below.
http://globalnews.ca/news/2187170/wildfire-threat-prompts-evacuation-alert-near-grand-forks/

And there is still plenty of summer weather to go.  Things seem to be going from bad to worse on the fire front.
Here is a short video from the top of a hill in Bend called Pilot Butte, which normally offers a CLEAR 360˚ view of the surrounding area, including mountains to the west of town.  As you can see, it was anything but clear when I took this video five days ago, and these smokey conditions have persisted day after day after day.  Even the little kid "whining" in the video doesn't like all the smoke.

Perhaps, The Platters said it best all those years ago, even though they weren't singing about forest fires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2di83WAOhU

Happy Trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS.  I will be in transit to my next house sit on September 7th, so I may or may not get an opportunity to write on that day.  However if that is the case, I will write my next entry on the following day.

Latest update.  I have decided to cancel my September 7th blog entry due to time constraints. I will write again on September 14th.

SHORTEST HOUSE SIT TO DATE- JUST OVER 24 HOURS

POST # 180

This may be one for the record books, at least as far as house sitting goes.  And unexpected as well.
My friend Mary has friends south of here that called her up the other day to see if she/we would be available for a short term house sit.  Soon after, we were out the door and on our way.  It was anticipated that we would be there for two or perhaps three days, however from start to finish it lasted just over 24 hours.
Here are some photos and videos of where we were during that time.  Enjoy.

THE MAIN HOUSE

PART OF THE INTERIOR IN THE EVENING

SOME UNIQUE FURNITURE

THE HIRED HELP ON THE PROPERTY, TAKING A BREAK FROM THE HOT SUN
(in case there's any confusion, this is just a mannequin)

MAZEY- THE RESIDENT "BONEHEAD"

TWO PHOTOS OF RASCAL-THE RESIDENT "FURBALL"

And last but not least, a couple of videos to round out the picture for today.

The owners arrived home yesterday afternoon, so we were on our merry way shortly thereafter.
I doubt if I will ever have a shorter housesit than this one.

Happy Trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

DEAD WHALES AND MORE CLIMATE ENGINEERING

POST # 179

Four more whales died off the British Columbia coast this past week, and the experts seemed to be perplexed as to the cause.  This always seems to be the case.  They will suggest a variety of potential causes, but rarely is the connection made to the fact that humans have heated up the planet to such an extent, that this excess heat is having a very negative impact on life on earth.
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/four-dead-humpback-whales-found-off-b-c-coast-in-one-week-1.2514429

The last time the planet was this hot was 252 million years ago, and at that time ancient carbon was being released into the atmosphere at the rate of 1-2 billion tons per year.  Today, due to industrial civilization and the massive burning of fossil fuels (more ancient carbon), we are releasing 11 billion tons each year.  That fact alone should be enough for the marine biologists to at least ponder the idea that all this extra heat generated from the burning of fossil fuels will have a very negative impact on marine life.  But if that were to be admitted, then of course industrial civilization would have to be put into question.  So instead, the "experts" continue to look for other causes, like perhaps a rare virus that may have caused the whales to die and be washed up on the shore.

Speaking about tons of carbon being released each year into the atmosphere, I came across an article in The Province newspaper, http://www.theprovince.com/technology/environment/Squamish+site+will+debut+device+that+pulls+carbon/11285512/story.html
which talks about a Calgary based firm which is about to open a plant in Squamish that will pull carbon out of the air.   So let's see, it expects to pull 500 tons/year out of the atmosphere, and industrial civilization dumps 11 billion tons/year into the atmosphere.  That's 0.0000045% of the carbon emitted.  The firm "hopes" to build an industrial scale plant in the future that will pull 1 million tons/year out of the atmosphere.  That would put the percentage at a whopping 0.0091%.

The company was founded by "climate and engineering expert" David Keith.  This is the same David Keith who thinks that we can just spray particles in the air to slow the rate of global warming.  More pie in the sky engineering solutions to a predicament that can't be solved.  We're way past the point of no return on this topic.  But the new company gets the headlines and the tax deductions and the "green washing" continues.  Of course the article doesn't mention a word about how much fossil fuel energy went into building the plant in the first place, plus how much additional fossil fuel energy is required annually just to keep it running.

Even if this plant and others like it (which don't exist at this point) could theoretically capture all of the carbon emitted annually, it still wouldn't matter at this late stage in the game, because the methane "monster" has now been released and there's no putting this genie back in the bottle.

The problem with this kind of news article in a mainstream newspaper, is that it gives the impression that "we're serious about climate change and we can tackle the problem".  In other words, someone else is out there taking care of things, and you dear reader, can just go about your business as usual.  I think it won't be too long before the general population realizes that business as usual just won't be viable any longer.

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

A PHOTO OF THE RECENT BLUE MOON TAKEN ON ORCAS ISLAND
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A late update from the Arctic News Blog.  Could the sea ice be gone this September??
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/

FROM ORCAS TO BEND VIA BELLINGHAM AND SEATTLE

POST # 178

CLUNK!!!!! Now that wasn't normal.  I was sitting on board a 737 at Bellingham airport just a couple of days ago.  We had just pushed back from the gate in preparation for our short twenty three minute flight to Seattle, when the clunk sound happened which sent a shudder through the aircraft.  We sat there, not moving, and I for one was wondering just what was going to happen next?  I was relieved when the captain announced over the intercom what had caused this sound.  Apparently, the tug that pushes the aircraft back from the gate, had detached itself from the front nose gear in a rather abrupt manner, and that's what caused the  "clunk" that we all heard.  We would now have to go back to the gate, so they could assess any damage to the landing gear.  It wouldn't be a good thing to land at Seattle and have the front wheel collapse.

Unfortunately, there was no mechanic available so we had to wait for a while until they could find someone to check out the landing gear.  Now, because of this delay, we  missed out on the arrival slot that had been designated for us in Seattle.  Eventually a mechanic did arrive, and it appeared that the gear was ok, however now, there was going to be another hour delay (getting slotted back in at Seattle) before we could take off.  When it looked like we were about ready to go, another message from the captain told us that there was a complete shut down of all flights arriving or departing Seattle.  No reason was given for this, and in all the years of flying, I have never had this experience.  So our delay continued.  Finally at 10:30pm we departed Bellingham, a mere three hours and fifteen minutes behind schedule.  Unfortunately for me, and many other passengers, we would be arriving too late, to make our connecting flights, so I would spend the night in a hotel room courtesy of Alaska Airlines, and continue my journey the next day. See below.

This is a major upgrade from my normal accommodation at Sea Tac airport.  See below.

I had a few hours to hang around Seattle airport waiting for my next flight, and while there, I would be subjected to the regular boarding announcements as time went on.
For each flight there would be the pre boarding announcement, which included people with babies  and military personnel and, included in the announcement after mentioning military personnel, were the words, "we thank you for your service."  For some reason this began to bother me, because I don't think the person making the announcement even gave the words a second thought.  It was just part of the script.  Perhaps a more appropriate set of words might go something like this:
"We thank you for being brainwashed enough to join the military in the first place, in order to go kill innocent people in a foreign land all under the guise of freedom and democracy", or something to that effect.  Perhaps words like that might cause a few people in the crowd to begin to question why on earth the US needs to have any military going anywhere overseas.  But this is a question that rarely gets asked.

Eventually it was time for my flight, and I was happy to be on board and away from Seattle en route to my final destination of Bend, Oregon.
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In other news, I see that the Arctic sea ice continues to decline, and each day we get closer to September we get closer to a time when there will be no ice in the Arctic.  When that happens, it won't be long afterwards that the methane escape which has been going on for quite some time now,  really ramps up and the potential 50 gigaton "burp" of methane takes place.

http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2015/08/arctic-sea-ice-collapse-threatens-update-3.html

Things on the climate front are already chaotic, and this is only just the beginning.  Once that ice is gone, I can't imagine that we as a species are too far behind.  At some future point in time, even the military machine will be irrelevant.  At least that, would be a positive outcome.

Happy Trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS: Another tree goes extinct on Orcas Island. :-(

DROUGHT AND A WISE PASSIVENESS

POST # 177

An unusual event happened this past week here on Orcas Island.  IT RAINED!!!!  Normally, rain wouldn't be unusual here in the Pacific Northwest, however,  the drought seems to have a firm grip on the entire west coast, from California right through to British Columbia, and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight, at least for now.  You know it has to be dry, when even Vancouver is under water restrictions.
Here is a photo looking outside from the back deck of the house I am currently at.  This blue sky has become the normal view this summer.

There is no telling how long the drought will last, and of course most people think that it's great weather for their summer vacation, without giving a thought to the larger picture.  It will be interesting to see how the rest of the year goes, what with a super El Nino brewing off the coast.  It appears that the Pacific is going to be pumping out plenty of heat later this year, and that should have some interesting effects, none of which can be considered good at this point.

(A NOAA comparison shows the 1997-1998 El Nino at peak heat during November of 1997 [left frame]. The right frame image shows the 2014-2016 El Nino during its mid July ramp-up. Note the hot blob of water off the US West Coast in the July 2015 image. Heat in this region tends to drive an atmospheric feedback that continues to push more warm water into the Eastern and Central Equatorial Pacific. Note that, due to this and other factors, the 2014-2016 will likely also hit a peak intensity during October or November. An intensity that could exceed the monster 1997-1998 El Nino event. Image source: NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory.)

  In fact, all that extra heat might just be the thing that tips the balance in the Arctic, and causes the sea ice to disappear this September.  We'll see.

TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015

Storms Over Arctic Ocean

The image below shows sea surface temperature anomalies over the Arctic on July 27, 2015.

The extra sunshine has had an impact on the local fruit as well.  I picked this apple a couple of days ago, and I'm no expert on apples, however, July seems to be somewhat early for apples to be ripening on the trees.  In addition to the apples, I've been eating blackberries for quite some time now, and I seem to recall that they are usually ripe in late August or early September.

My first time house sitting here on Orcas was in the month of October, back in 2011. I was picking apples like this off of the trees then, which is the month that one might expect to be apple picking, not July.  Nothing is normal any longer.

Even the furballs seem to be struggling with the heat.  Here we see the youngest of the tribe, trying to stay cool in the bedroom window.

ZIGGY AT REST

Not to be outdone by his older brother.

OSCAR CHILLING OUT

In fact, all of the animals at this house (including the author) have been feeling pretty relaxed of late.  I think I'll blame it on the heat.

And finally, I came across some words written a long time ago by none other than William Wordsworth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth

The eye it cannot chose but see;
We cannot bid the ear be still;
Our bodies feel where'er they be,
Against or with our will.

Nor less I deem that there are powers,
Which of themselves our minds impress;
That we can feed this mind of ours,
In a wise passiveness.

Perhaps in this world of texts, tweets, Facebook and Smart phones, it might be beneficial to go sit on a beach, or under a tree, and spend some precious time in wise passiveness.  
I'm just sayin'.

Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer