News, winter, etc

Lots of interesting stuff in the news lately. Mostly, not good. Colorado, like my sister Sue always told me, is full of psychos. Such as the dude that killed 4 people - 2 people at two different places - out of "religious revenge" or something of the like. Jeez. Then, there's the dude that died in an avalanche... on a day when there were warnings all over the freaking place about avalanches... and keep in mind this was "at least" his THIRD avalanche he had been caught in. Ok, maybe it sounds harsh but YOU SHOULD HAVE LEARNED THE FIRST 2 TIMES! Seriously. You can learn how to avoid avalanches, and how to HOPEFULLY survive them if you get caught. Most of the articles about this accident leave out the fact that this was his third avalanche he has been caught in. These things happen when you do dangerous stuff! Hey maybe someday something crappy will happen to me but maybe I'll figure out not to do it again if it happens 2 times. It does sounds like he was an extreme sports kindof guy though, and there's the theory that those people who are good at the extreme, die in the extreme... This is why I'm taking an avalanche course this winter!

Then there's global warming. Al Gore gets a share in the Nobel Peace Prize (told ya'll to watch "The Inconvenient Truth"!!!) but it doesn't stop the now blatantly obvious problem of the arctic melting - you know, all the stuff republicans told you wasn't happening. Also note that Colorado academia people are quoted in that.

Another, more local, bit of news - the ELK CULLING PROPOSAL of Rocky Mountain National Park. Jeez, it's about time. Nothing is killing those elk, including the hunters who seemed to have a darned time trying to find those beasts on public land. Of course, they're all over residential areas, and the golf course, and the field across from my house. Which drove Logan nuts of course. Something needs to be done! And I sure hope I get to be one of those "park employees" that gets to help out. And thank goodness they've found a way to donate the meat. Donating meat is a lot more expensive than you would think, given the requirements to test for Chronic Wasting Disease and then some requirement of USDA certified processing... Hey maybe if I'm lucky I can be considered the "needy" when I'm unemployed next year and get some elk meat! I didn't sit in on the meeting and the media screws up most everything they report on, so take that article for what you will.

From Winter '07-'08

I finally finished a very belated anniversary gift to Tim... a painting of two wolves running along the mountains under the aurora borealis. Here it is as best as I could photograph it...