Deflection

The sky is filled with smoke this afternoon, with the high of 79 degrees

After picking mom up from Respite this afternoon, I drove out past the Parson’s old farmstead (the farmstead that mom grew up in), and this does stimulates mom’s mind, as I have previously commented on in these journal entries. But, during the ride, two things really struck me as interesting: the drought and the smoke. Although I am sure that I will cover the drought in more detail in future entries, I will cover the smoke for tonight, since it is more relevant. But, before I leave the drought topic, I will make this simple statement that have never seen such poor corps in my life.

The smoke is similar to fog, but it hang on the ground and around the drumlins. And, of course, the sun is blocked by the smoke. At times I feel that I can smell the smoke, but it is a faint odor. They advise people with repertory issues to stay inside, but I have found no issues breathing.

We hear the Woke people are up set with Canada, since they do not have policies that would eliminate forest fires. But, the truth to the matter is that forest fires like these were common up until about 100 years ago. It was a way that the earth rejuvenate itself. Since mankind as become involved with the earth, these types of fires have been kept to a minimum. As with Canada, without controlled burning or selective cutting, these forest are ready to burn. And, with so much wood ready to burn, it makes the issues that we are seeing today.

One might ask why these types of fires are so important. The biggest reason is that the burning of vegetation and the deterioration of vegetations make the top soil that plants grow from over the earth. Without these forest fires and the deterioration of vegetation, there is no way for top soil to form on the earth. So, since mankind has cleared the forest and stopped the burning of vegetation, there is no top soil being added to the earth. Furthermore, if one takes a look at the erosion that goes on every year caused by either mankind or Mother Nature, it is not being replaced and this could end up with a problem of having enough top soil for agriculture. Without the replenishing the top soil, this no good for mankind. As for the mid-west, the top soil is now in the Mississippi River delta and it is impractical to haul it back to the mid west and spread it on the agriculture fields.

These types of fires were common up to the last one hundred years or so. In the Dakotas, they referred to the burning hills. Even Lewis and Clack mentioned the burning hills in the diaries. As the grass would burn in the plains, it would lite the coal seams on fire in the eroded soil cuts, like river valleys. As these cuts eroded, these exposed the coal seems. Then every year there would be more coal to burn and smolder through each year. This can be seen in the cuts today, with the fires turning the soil to a pink color above the coal seams. By visiting the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, these seam make for a colorful cuts through the parks. But, without the plains being on fire anymore, the seams are no longer lite and there is no smoke coming from these coal seams.

Since I will be looking at building my house in the spring, I cannot help but wonder if these fires will have an effect on the logs for my house, since the company that is to mill the logs for the house buys some of the logs from Canada. I thought that it would be best to wait until the housing industry settled down to build my house, but I keep wondering if I did the correct thing by waiting. It is challenging times.

It was to get up into the eighties today, but it only made 79 degrees. With the smoke shielding the sun, it seem like it could cause the earth to stay cooler. On days when the jet planes leave condensation trails, it is felt that the condensation does keep the earth cooler. But this smoke has a bigger effect on blocking the sun than condensation trials.

I am sure that the smoke is not over for some time to come. With the drought, it seems like this would just make the Canadian Forest easier to burn. Therefore, it seems like we can expect more smoke until there is enough rain or snow to put the fires out for this year. With the current conditions of the forests and the drought, it seems like these forest fires will be around for years to come.

Roger