LET 'EM BURN!

LET 'EM BURN!

During the summer of 2015, fires burned an awful lot of land in the American West. I have to ask WHY. I have written two previous articles here showing how fires are simply allowed to burn. (See Fire Circus and This...is What Makes America Exceptional in this blog.) They seem to like to call it "fire management." In This...is What Makes America Great posted in August/September, I displayed the front page of the Bonners Ferry Herald newspaper in Bonners Ferry, Idaho which details citizen efforts to stop a fire that the US Forest Circus refused to fight. Had these farmers not acted on their own initiative, the fire would have been in a position to create catastrophic results. It could have spread across the Idaho Panhandle and into Canada.

     This is a problem all over the west. Fires are simply allowed to burn and when a wind comes up, it becomes a firestorm. Sometimes it just cannot be helped, other times it is done on purpose. Everyone in my area of existence says the same thing, that fires are NOT being fought. Even some fire fighters agree! Pictures posted from various fire scenes show men in the latest uniforms with the latest equipment often just milling about. Seldom shown are pictures of actual efforts. When I ask why, the farmers call the Forest Service "Stupid" which I do not doubt. However, most will say "I don't know." My take is: it is a part of the destruction process our regime engages in. The purpose is to drive  people off the land and into cities. It is an example of planned conflict. Too much emphasis is placed on "Evacuation" which is not the business of anyone other than the individual. For illustration purposes, in this article I will discuss the "Tee Pee Fire" on the Kootenai National Forest in Montana. It was a small fire, but illustrates the problem. It burned for months and burned about eleven hundred acres. There was NO need.

As can be seen above, damage was relatively minor and mostly appeared to be near the ridge-line. The rest of the fire consumed the forest floor and underbrush with an occasional flare into tree-tops. 

 What I found curious about it, was that it was first attacked by helicopter and heavy equipment. Then it seemed to take on a life of its own. It should have been held to less than forty acres.

However, it was NOT fought at night, so basically the fire has its own way during night-time hours. Then regional headquarters banned all travel: all "being upon a trail or road," was punishable, allegedly in the interest of public safety. It might be that, but why ban travel on  thousands-of-acres and on all trails and roads leading to the fire? Well, most likely to keep nosy, suspicious, investigative-minded public eyes like mine from seeing what is done or more correctly what is NOT done! When the area was opened to travel again I went up there. It was OCTOBER 26th, several months after it started when I found it STILL  BURNING and took these photographs!

I made my trip up there after the rains had started and as the picture above shows, smoke was still  coming out of the woods adjacent to the road! Most of what was on fire was what we call  "duff" or organic material that is often six inches to a foot deep. When it burns, it smolders and is hard to put out. Next to live trees, it burns deep in the ground and often kills those trees. The following pictures will illustrate the circumstances and the problem it creates.

Here in the above photograph we can see the duff is burning in irregular patterns with the most damage done next to trees.

In this above photograph we can see what is happening next to tree roots. The little tree is a dead (dry) snag burning red hot at the base and gradually sinking in altitude as it burns! Next to the small tree, the duff is especially deep and standing there causes a boot to sink a foot or more. It can result in serious burns. The big live tree probably will die as a result of the fire damage. Worse yet, such hot spots may OVERWINTER and flare up again next year! Nothing like job insurance!

Here we see actual flame at work on the forest floor, burning mostly garbage and is of little concern, but the fire creep in the duff continues.

 Much of the "Tee Pee Fire" just burned the forest floor here as indicated by our last photograph. As long as no huge downpours occur, the area will regenerate next spring with minimal damage.

 This little series of pictures will illustrate what happened this summer over all of the Kootenai National Forest and many others in the West. It is a disgusting practice that has a lot of people angry and some simply buying fire trucks and water trailers to help themselves if it becomes necessary. The Boy Scouts are right: BE PREPARED!

Written, Photographed and Posted by 

Harald Hesstvedt Scharnhorst

TRIBUTE TO JOHN ALAN COEY

JOHN ALAN COEY

 a White American Hero

I once spent time in the American military. Therefore, I often feel a kinship with those who also served, whether by necessity or by design. John was someone I never had a chance to meet, but a fellow whose feelings, thoughts and pains I readily understand. He was a pacifist by deep conviction, just like me. But we both served. He out of principle and me out of necessity. He volunteered. Although I did too, my volunteerism was necessitated by the draft. There really was no other choice. Neither of us wanted anything to do with the Vietnam War, a completely unnecessary one that was not in the best interests of white men. So I simply went the way that was correct for me.. In this tribute which was published in the November/December Edition of THE BARNES REVIEW history magazine, I give John both the respect and acknowledgement he deserves......

The Barnes Review $46 per year for six issues: www.barnesreview.org

 What follows is the Front Page of John Alan Coey's book "A Martyr Speaks" which was published posthumously by his family, based on his notes and letters home....and the letters of friends and associates.....

 

Posted by Harald Hesstvedt Scharnhorst

November 2015

FALL BLOOMS!

FALL BLOOMS! 

While I am “partial” to ALL seasons, there is something unique and special about the coming of Fall…..

    
      I suppose it has something to do with harvest. If you are a farmer or a gardener, fall is a time when the crops are in and the landscape gets ready for a winter nap. So, while Spring may be a time of promise, Fall is a time of fulfillment. In warmer climates the nap is not a long one, but in the colder regions it can be lengthy.
In some parts of the world, fall is just a passing thing, but in the temperate and colder areas, the transition from summer to fall is something to behold. Depending on where you live, fall can last from two weeks of spectacular beauty to as much as six weeks. It all depends on the number of species that turn color. Most turn one species at a time, so the season is longer! For instance, Birches and Aspens may turn first, followed by Maples and other deciduous trees. Where Larch grows, they turn last of all. As the lighting and cloud cover changes, the moods change as well.What looks one way in the morning becomes something else in the afternoon!

Here we post some scenes that are pleasing to the eye. They are taken in the Western United States in the states of Utah, Idaho and Montana. Enjoy the spectacular “Blooms of Fall!”

All photographs from the Blogger's Collection.
     Posted by Harald Hesstvedt Scharnhorst

PART "G"

"NOBAMACARE" 

PART G

 This absolute gem of a parody on so-called "healthcare" was undoubtedly written by an American, but it came to me by way of a friend in Europe. While the suggestion herein is not recommended you try for all the obvious reasons, it nevertheless makes fun of a typical bad situation. Enjoy it for a good laugh, which is always "best medicine!" Here is the joke:

  Say you are an older senior citizen and can no longer take care of yourself and need Long-Term Care, but the government says there is no Nursing Home care available for you. So, what do you do?  You opt for Medicare Part G.

   The plan gives anyone 75 or older a gun (Part G) and one bullet. You are allowed to shoot one worthless politician. This means you will be sent to prison for the rest of your life where you will receive three

meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating and air conditioning, cable TV,  a library, and all the health care you need. 

   Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That’s great. Need a hearing aid, new hip, knees, kidney, lungs, sex change, or heart? They are all

covered!

   As an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you at least as often as they do now!  

    And, who will be paying for all of this? The same government that just told you they can’t afford for you to go into a nursing home. And you will get rid of a useless politician while you are at it. And now, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any more income taxes!

Is this a great country or what?

If I discover who wrote this gem, I will give him the credit he deserves! 

Sunrise Photograph taken at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho and brief comments by Blogger Posted October 2015

  

HARALD and the BEANSTOCK!

    
              HARALD and the BEANSTALK!

                  These beans were just getting started!

    We have all heard the fairy tale about "Jack and the Beanstalk!" But this is a different beanstalk story and definitely not a fairy tale! Once upon a time, Harald developed a friendship with a couple who were displaying and selling their wares at a craft show. As Harald was displaying professional photographs and they had booths next to each other, it was inevitable that they became friendly. It turned out they were avid gardeners as well as entrepreneurs, so information was traded on many things, especially gardening! 

    Harald's friends had originally lived in Jacksonville, Florida and had a store there. As is often the case with stores in big cities, they are victimized by criminals who have nothing better to do than vandalize, steal and in general make a total nuisance of themselves. With government's tendency to cater to such primitives these days, this kind of individual became a constant nuisance. So Harald's friends decided to sell and move to a part of the country where people looked and acted more like them, had more things in common and not hostile to each other. They settled in a rural area of Montana. 

    Harald's friends loved to garden, and pretty soon everyone was sharing methods, experiences and preferences as to how to grow, can and prepare all garden goodies! In the process Harald learned about an exciting new bean variety. It had no name really, but may have gone by numerous names over time. It may even have originated in Portugal, something confirmed by a Portuguese friend of Harald's. Well, the bean was supposed to grow to a huge height, develop pods that were a foot long, one inch wide and almost a quarter inch thick! To top it off they were supposed to be the sweetest and most tender; the most amazing pole bean ever! They gave Harald some seeds and he was excited to try them out!

     He planted them! 

     They Grew!

     And they kept Growing!

     And Growing!

    After a while they grew all the way to the top of the greenhouse! Since this was a short season climate, Harald grew them in there! There were absolutely NO beans on them! Even worse was the few flowers that appeared, all fell off! Harald was disappointed and disgusted that the beans did not mature. But, they had been planted late and so he planted them again the following year!
     That year the beans grew again to eight feet and crowded the top of the greenhouse!  But these things still kept growing and when they could grow no higher, they simply grew back down half way to the ground and kept growing some more! There were absolutely NO beans on them, either! Even worse was the few flowers that appeared, all fell off again! Disappointed for the second year, Harald stopped watching them regularly to see how they produced. He simply ignored them! He had so many other duties to attend to that Harald needed to focus elsewhere!

     One day when Harald had finished other work, he decided to part the leaves on his new beans which had now grown into a solid wall and was absolutely stupefied to find dozens of beans hidden there! They were huge and getting larger! He inspected more of the row and....HEAVENS!...the vines were loaded! In short he had never seen so many beans in his whole life! Harald started picking and cooking them for dinner. Yes, they were the most tender and sweet beans he had ever eaten. Every time he picked, it was a two gallon bucket full! He canned a whole bunch, salted some, saved some seeds for the following year and finally wondered what he was going to do with the ones he had left over! 

     It is amazing how nature works. Here Harald had wished for sweet beans.... He had wished for tender beans.....  He had wished for a big crop of beans....  He was impatient when they did not develop....   And then when least expected, the vines went into full production and Harald was in pole bean heaven! One thing he had forgotten was simply to let beans grow and develop in their own way, which is the nature of all growing things. Getting impatient is not the way it works!

     The lesson here is a simple one: when you SOW GREAT THINGS, be careful and patient of what you sow! You may REAP FAR MORE than you sowed!

    Written, photographed
           and posted by

Harald Hesstvedt Scharnhorst

      September 2015