"DR." SANCHO, HAMBONE, HARVEY, and (R.I.P.) PIPER

POST # 276

"DR." SANCHO PANZA

This past week, I had the pleasure of meeting "Dr." Sancho Panza, and his side kick, Hambone Little Tail.  "Dr." Sancho is renowned for his deep philisophical  knowledge with regards to the human condition, but in addition to that, he loves to chase after chipmunks.

I came across Sancho, and his buddy Hambone Little Tail a while back on Youtube, and I've been following their adventures across the country from time to time.  It just so happens, that they were up in this neck of the woods, and seeing that all three of us are of the wandering type, and with the odds of us being in close proximity ever again were rather slim, I decided to send out an email to inquire about visiting them while they camped on the shores of Baker Lake at the foot of Mount Baker.  The response from Hambone was positive, so we set up a time, and my friend Mary drove me to the town of Sedro Woolley, where I caught a bus to the town of Concrete Washington to meet Hambone and Sancho.

It was late in the afternoon when I arrived, and we were hungry, so we stopped in at a local pizza place, and as the pizza was cooking we had a beer and an opportunity to begin our conversation, while Sancho remained in the truck trying to find a mouse that had recently moved in.  Before long, the three of us (or four if you count the mouse) were on our way to the campsite which was situated about 25 miles out of Concrete, on the Western shore of Baker Lake.  It was a magnificent location, and we had the place all to ourselves.  The remainder of the day was spent munching on one of the best pizzas I've ever tasted, washed down with a margarita or two, as the sun set, and the darkness enveloped our campsite.

OUR CAMPSITE

The campsite was located just around the corner from the bush in the foreground  on the shore of Baker Lake.

All in all, I spent less than 24 hours visiting with Hambone and Sancho, and I'm glad I made the effort and I think they would agree.  It's always good to talk with someone who understands what's really going on in the world around us.  And on that note, Hambone is prolific when it comes to Youtube videos, so I've included a link to a video we did the other morning while I was there.  It's probably not for everyone, so the reader has been warned, however if you want to listen to these two old  wandering farts, and watch Sancho go chase a chipmunk, then settle back and have a listen.  It's just over 16 minutes in length.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRq1l47bZ7E

Now let's briefly talk about Harvey shall we?  Harvey as in Hurricane Harvey is currently dumping plenty of rain on Texas, and is expected to continue doing so this week.  Just my luck because tomorrow evening I will be flying to Houston, enroute to Belize for my second time this year.  Funnily enough, tomorrow's date August 29th, is the same date (2005) that Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.  I've been on plenty of adventures in my life and it looks as though I'm on the verge of another one.  It should be interesting to say the least, and perhaps I'll have more to say about the matter when I write my blog on September 7th.

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And finally,

R.I.P. PIPER

Yesterday I received the news that my furball buddy from Nanaimo, Piper died last Friday.  That made me sad, but I'm pretty sure not as sad as Ann Marie, his owner.  On the house/pet sit journey that I have been on over the past 6 plus years, I've had the pleasure of knowing many furballs, but I would be hard pressed to think of one that I enjoyed spending time with more than Piper.  He will be missed.  Ann Marie said that he died in his sleep.  We should all be so lucky.

living a life of simple acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

MY ONCE IN A LIFETIME SOLAR ECLIPSE

POST # 275

Well, that's over with.  My once in a lifetime solar eclipse.  Now I can get back to concentrating on more pressing issues.  Never the less, it was fun and strange to have experienced this celestial event. The strange part was watching the subtle change of morning light to more of an evening twilight.  It reminded me of the time I stayed up all night on the longest day of the year,  when I lived in Dawson City.  At that time the light change was in reverse. The long sunset morphed into the morning sunrise.

But they are history now.  I feel fortunate to have experienced both events, in this short lifetime of mine.

living a life of simple acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST DESERT

POST # 274

Until two nights ago, it had literally been months since I had experienced any rain.  And during that period of time I have been wandering around the Pacific North West, which is a rainforest.  Hmmm, something doesn't seem quite right.

In fact, since my return from Belize in mid April, I can't recall any rain, and if there was some, it certainly wasn't much to talk about.  Of course, for those of us who have been following the news with regards to abrupt climate change, this abnormal condition seems to make perfect sense, when one looks at the causes.

On a recent (in and out) quick trip to Vancouver, I wandered down to one of my old favourite haunts, English Bay (pictured above).  Moments after this photo was taken, the sun disappeared into the smoke haze which is the result of all of the forest fires in the province. Even this seagull friend of mine had to look away.

 Fires and floods seem to be the order of the day now, and for anyone interested, there is a youtube site that chronicles these events every few days all around the  world.  The site is called Climate and Extreme Weather News, the latest of which was just posted.  Watching any of these videos is enough to convince even the most hardened sceptic, that things aren't quite right on planet earth these days.  The best question to ask yourself after watching one of these videos is, "Does this look normal?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvjC40q-cj0


Getting back to the title of today's blog, here is a photo of where I am staying at the moment.  As you can see, it is looking almost desert like.  The grass crunches underfoot.  Even the poor deer are struggling to find enough to eat.

In spite of the conditions, I continue to appreciate the moments as they present themselves.  I came across a quote in a book I just read for the second time, called "Alone" by Richard Byrd during his winter stay in Antarctica back in 1934. The quote reads as follows:

 "those who survive with a measure of happiness are those who can live profoundly off their intellectual resources, as hibernating animals live off their fat."

I think that sums up my mental state.

living a life of simple acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

BUS-BOAT-BUS-BOAT-BUS

POST # 273

The title implies that I will be on the move today, so I will keep this short, and just add some photos.

SWALLOWS ON A BOWSPRIT

WILD POPPY IN THE GARDEN

HOT IN PORT TOWNSEND

And finally this curious screen shot from Flightracker24, which outlines the flight path of a Boeing 787 dreamliner, to and from the Boeing plant in Washington, a couple of days ago.  A PR exercise to sell more planes??  Probably.  That's how crazy this world has become.

living a life of simple acceptance,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

HEY SIMON...

POST # 272

Hey Simon, did you read the story that explains in great detail how much smarter dogs are compared to cats?

That's a good one, Paul.  You crack me up.  Dogs smarter than cats?  What have you been smoking lately?


Thanks for the laugh, but I think I'll go back to sleep now.

Dogs smarter than cats.  Just when I was beginning to think that humans are intelligent animals.  Considering the amount of time that Paul has spent with cats, I would have thought, after reading the article he mentioned,  he would have concluded that it must be fake news.

He's gone back to Port Townsend to play with his deer friends that hang out at the property where he is housesitting.  Perhaps the deer can talk some sense into the lad, so that by the time he returns, he'll understand how superior we are compared to those dog critters, or boneheads as he  likes to call them. Boneheads.  Now that should be a clue right there.

But he sure did make me laugh.


living a life of simple acceptance,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

WEEDS AND WOOD

POST # 271

Time marches on, and in the battle between the weeds and the Canuck, at least for the moment the score is Canuck 1, weeds 0, as can be seen by the photos below.  All I need to do now is to go on a daily weed patrol in order to keep the yard looking ship shape.

Since the weeds are now history, I have had time to chop some wood as well.  It's an activity that I really enjoy.  I spent plenty of hours bucking and then splitting wood when I lived at my little shack, SNUG, in the Yukon, and when I was splitting this pile, my mind would drift back to those wonderful days by the banks of the Klondike river.  Mind you, when I was chopping wood in the Yukon, the temperature was probably hovering in the minus 30's or below, so as they say up North, the wood gets to warm you twice.  Once when you chop it, and then again when you burn it in your wood stove.

It only took me about thirty minutes to split this pile, and it is now safely stacked away in a dry spot ready to be used for when the weather turns cooler.  But the way things are going, maybe that time will never come.

Today concludes round two of my summer sit here in Port Townsend,  however I will be back again soon for round three.  

Take it away Willie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TD_pSeNelU

living a life of simple acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

WHOOPIN' IT UP IN WEIPPE

POST # 270

GUY ARRIVING IN WEIPPE

WHOOP (WOOP)- noun: a loud cry or shout, as of excitement or joy

                               -idiom: whoop it up: to raise a disturbance, as to celebrate noisily

In a recent conversation with my friend Guy, I asked him if he would mind sending me a photo upon his arrival in Weippe.  True to his word, the above photo was in my email inbox a few hours later.

So what's so special about Weippe, Idaho?  This was the town where Guy grew up.  He is currently on another speaking tour of the USA, although Weippe wasn't one of the venues.  Whether he let out a shout of excitement or joy, or raised a disturbance during his visit, I don't know.  But I do imagine that being back there after so many years away, probably helped to bring up some long forgotten memories.  

This particular speaking tour began a couple of days ago, and concludes in Chicago on July 25th.  Some of the venues along the way will probably have a significant number of climate change deniers, but by now Guy is well acquainted with this type of individual. At this very late stage in the story of abrupt climate change, it's a curious thing to see how some people still believe that the topic is just a hoax or government conspiracy or whatever.  Perhaps one explanation can be found when looking up the definition of cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance: noun: anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs or the like...

So for example, if you were to ask the average person why there are no longer any dinosaurs roaming the planet, the answer you would likely receive is that dinosaurs are extinct.  People get that, and most of us learned that fact back in elementary school.  The dinosaurs lost their habitat.  No habitat, no more dinosaurs.  Makes perfect sense when you think about it.  But now we get to the tricky part when we discuss the human animal (and we are just another animal species).  We are rapidly losing our habitat, and so it seems rather obvious to an ever growing number of us, that without habitat, we too will go the way of the dinosaurs.  And that's where the cognitive dissonance comes in.  Other creatures go extinct, but humans?  We're too smart.  We've got technology.   Sorry folks, without habitat, we're done.  It's just a question of when, not if.  And the date for when seems to be rapidly approaching.

I stumbled across Guy's work way back in 2011, and by that time I already had five years under my belt studying this subject of climate change, so when I read what he had to say, it all made perfect sense to me.

Guy is a conservation biologist.  He understands speciation, extinction and habitat, and once you understand the significance of habitat, it's very easy to see how species go extinct when their habitat goes away.  

Now, I have had the pleasure of knowing Guy personally for the better part of five years, and I am very grateful to count him as a friend.  And in spite of the news that humans are going to go extinct, I certainly don't go around with a big black cloud over my head.  In fact (and I have to thank Guy for this), I now understand how slim the odds are of ever being born in the first place.  Now just pause and really think about that for a moment.  There was absolutely no guarantee that you or I might ever have been born. By keeping that in mind, I find it rather easy to enjoy each precious moment as it presents itself, and I now derive great joy in all the other life that surrounds me.  Life is good, and I am happy.

OK, I'm rambling on a bit too long with this post, so I'll wind things up for this week.  Guy will continue on his tour (and perhaps raise a few disturbances along the way), I'll keep weeding here in Port Townsend, and who knows, maybe they're still whoopin' it up in Weippe.

And for anyone else who wants the lowdown on abrupt climate change, you can always check out Guy's website.  https://guymcpherson.com

living a life of simple acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer