Tasty Tourists

Tourist try for that perfect picture of a feeding black bear.

Sometimes I think we've gotten too far away from nature for our own good. This is an all too typical sight. Visitors to bear country want to get a good picture and forget all common sense in doing it.
Bears, no matter how engrossed they are in their food, simply cannot be trusted. These men are doing something that no one should do.
As for my pic of them, I have a healthy respect for any bear. I used a zoom lens, shot quickly, and knew that the bear would have to eat his way through both of them before it got to me. I had plenty of time to get away.

Nature's Automatic Dryer

Some rules are just plain stupid.
I’ve read recently about some condo association rules in Edmonton that the forbid the use of clothes lines. I read about this in a newspaper column devoted to venting. I have only this complaint to go on, not the original rule as written. All the more reason to go off half-cocked, I say.
The concern is aesthetic. Laundry is ugly. It’s unseemly to hang one’s wash out as citizens will see it.
Condos have all manner of rules. I presume the bulk of the rules are grounded in logic and reason.
Except for the no clothes line rule. That’s just stupid.
Why?
Because hanging the laundry out is good for the environment. It saves energy. The sun is Nature’s automatic dryer. It kills germs or bacteria or something so it’s good and healthy. I’d check and find out, but I’m lazy.
And it smells great. No dryer sheet can match fresh air.
We’ve been hanging our laundry on a clothes tree off the deck since we moved into the house 13 years ago. Not only do we not own a dryer, during some renovations years ago I had the plug for it removed.
In winter we commonly hang them on a laundry line downstairs, but if the weather is dry and not too cold I’ll put them outside.
Dryers are convenient. They’re easy. Clothes fresh from the dryer are warm and snuggly.
They waste energy and are an expense, but apparently this doesn’t matter. Looks are more important to the condo associations than silly health and environmental concerns.

In The Presence Of The Important Ones

I must be ever-vigilant. I’ve seen this happen so much that I’m beginning to think it’s okay to cross the centre line to park.

I saw this twice yesterday morning as I was headed up the street northbound. Some driver ahead of me whipped over and parked along the west side of the street. Within seconds someone else immediately ahead of me followed suit.

Rocky is built on a hill and crossing traffic to park, illegality aside, is stupid. We had fresh snow so it was slippery. This doubles if not trebles the stupidity of it. Both these drivers crossed in front of downhill-bound drivers on a slippery street. I’d hate to see anyone hit, but it is hard to muster sympathy in these situations.

This maneuver used to be know as a “Farmer’s U-Turn.” I always found that offensive as farmers are smarter than that, they do not believe the world owes them a living, and they care for the variety of really expensive equipment they drive in the normal course of running a farm. They also don’t think it’s their Dog-given right to park immediately in front of the business they’re visiting.

Rather it’s the busy people who are Very Important and understand that their convenience trumps all. Why should I walk across the street in the cold? I pay my taxes!

Of all the traffic offenses I’ve seen this one grates me the most. I don’t know why other than it’s to do with the mindset of drivers who do it. They’re lazy, they think they’re better than everyone else, and their time is too valuable to waste.

Maybe I should change my attitude. Instead of being upset maybe I should be grateful for being allowed to be on the same street as these Very Important People.

From Out of Stupid

I did something stupid yesterday.

I was carrying a wooden stepladder back to the garage. It was horizontal at about shoulder level and I’d hooked my arm in it upright with my left hand bent back comfortably supporting the top bar.
That was fine. I’d done this several times already this summer. Nothing unusual here.
Then, for reasons I plain don’t get, my arm got stuck. It was wedged firmly. My hand was bent back toward my wrist at such a sharp angle it hurt.

Slight panic started to set in as there was no one nearby to help. I had visions of screaming down the street with a stepladder held out like a lance of courtesy in front of me.

Every squirm I tried made it worse. I tried pulling my hand free. No luck.
Rather than give into the panic I decided to think. It went in. It can come out.
As soon as I realized that the solution flowed into my mind: Change the angle.
So I did. I dipped it down and it took the pressure off. My arm slipped out easily.

Instead of freaking out and worrying about taking an ax to the problem I gave it calm thought.
Where did the solution come from? Me? Maybe. A guide? I don’t know, but it seems likely.
I credit my calmness to meditation and self-hypnosis. Altered state work teaches calmness and balance. Those qualities help us to think and to heed messages from Spirit.

I was reminded once again that when faced with a problem I should turn it over and tickle its tummy until the solution flows out.