New View

As a GLAD TO BE ALIVE present to myself, I bought a digital SLR camera.

Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave

When first we start kidding ourselves.

I wouldn't be caught dead in polyester. Only natural fabrics for me, you dig?

Now, my kiddo, Extreme Wilderness Girl, introduced me to some high-tech backpacking pants made with a new technology fabric that is all things to everybody.

Light-weight. Tough. Resilient. Water-Proof. Sun-Resistant. Walk 30 miles and have the stove lit before you can unbuckle your belt.

Well, I loved my high-tech backpacking pants so much, I bought more than one pair.

They are light-weight. One remains cool while covered. They have extra material at the knees because, apparently, we, Extreme Wilderness Types, squat down a lot.

I may look like I just tumbled out of the laundry bag, but I am hip because I am HIGH TECH.

But it occurred to me the other day, as I was hanging up my lovely, high tech pants, you know what these feel like ... ?

Ta-Daa

The Three Bears minus One Greenhouse is having a better year.That's right.
In freeze-your-ass, burn you-down Montana,
I grew a red tomato.

Eureka.

We're #1

The Meriwether Fire is now the nation's top priority fire, jumping from 20,200 acres to 31,238 acres overnight.

Purists,

who insist wilderness areas be managed with no human interference,

to preserve natural areas the way God intended,

for the sake of our grandchildren,

can point to the blackened Gates of the Mountains Wilderness

and devastated Beartooth Wildlife Management Area,

and say to the kids,

Here's what the forest looks like when God has a really bad day.

This Just In ...

The view through the smoke at 8 AM today.

Meriwether Fire now at 20,000+ acres. In today's newspaper, Forest Service officials complain civilians don't understand the semantics of managing a forest asset.

Let It Burn.