Well Progress Update - none.

More Gunky-Eye.

The End of Humanity in Ten Tiny Steps....

"Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet"

This was an interesting film based on a 2001 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The report predicted average global surface temperatures to rise between around 2 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (or nearly 6 degrees Celsius) by the end of this century. Degree by degree, this film depicts the projected results, with a couple of degrees taking out most coral reefs and glaciers. The next few degrees would destroy the Amazonian rainforest, the Greenland ice sheet and usher the spread of deserts across the American Mid-west and Southern Africa. At 10 degrees, most all life on our planet would be wiped out.

If you have a few minutes to gaze into our collective potential future, and don't mind being totally bummed out, I recommend checking it out. If you mind being bummed out, consider changing your lifestyle.

DEMOTED from the court of Champions
 

We are definitely snow-bound this week and some of the elk and deer folk have headed down to lower elevations till this mess melts off some.

In the steep mountains, a few miles can mean a big difference in elevation - and consequently a big difference in snow pack levels. Hopefully, the herds will find more accessible forage down in the valley. Elk don't browse like deer, they graze and have to paw at the earth to uncover food. But, even for deer, this winter a lot of the easier browsing is made more difficult because many of the lower-growing brush is covered in snow.

For the last ten years or so, we've only experienced maybe a foot and a half of snow on the ground this time of year. But this year, a few recent storms have caused that to about double, and it's made foraging tough on the herds.

If forage isn't available at lower elevations along historic migratory routes, this could be a tough winter-kill year.

Because of the recent snows we've gotten, which have overwhelmed the tiny snow plow, I decided, today, to declare the mountain in an official "state of difficulty". With some significant kicking and scuffling, I managed to clear the snow off the driveway in time for the last half of the last quarter of the Superbowl. How great to come in from the bitter cold, stomp the snow off my boots and commence to yell myself absolutely hoarse! What a great finish!
 

In The News:

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel  [01-29-08]

"Oil, gas rules under attack: Lawmakers say proposal ‘missing the mark"

A group of lawmakers attack the proposed rule changes and warn the Governor that changes to permitting could harm the multibillion dollar oil and gas industry.

According to the article, Republican Representative Gardner of Yuma said, “The path they’re going on will overregulate Colorado and push resource development out of the state,”

Republican Senator, Josh Penry of Grand Junction and and handful of other Republicans plus a couple of Democrats joined ranks to oppose the rule changes now being considered by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission under important legislation enacted in 2007.

Here, I quote the article: "According to state campaign finance filings, six of the 11 letter signers received a total of $8,200 from energy industry donors and political committees last year.

Gardner and Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, accounted for the lion’s share of the contributions, taking in $2,500 each. Penry pocketed $1,400 from energy industry donors, lobbyists and political organizations.

In contrast, three Western Slope lawmakers who did not sign the letter — Reps. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, and Ray Rose, R-Montrose — received a total of $400 from energy industry-related political committees, lobbyists and donors.

Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, who also did not sign the letter, received $1,850 in energy-connected contributions last year." End quote.

The legislation in question was enacted under mounting pressure from citizens living with industry at ground zero. Why the citizen pressure? Because the COGCC closely guards their jurisdiction over all matters oil and gas - even keeping the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Division of Wildlife at arm's length, under nifty little "Memorandums of Agreement". Yet, in our opinion, the COGCC habitually fails to provide ANY protections to either human health and safety or the environment.

For years we have personally begged the COGCC to consider these issues and all we've gotten is ignored. That's because the former makeup of the COGCC board were all industry-types. And back then, Governor Owens was an industry lobbyist. Do you think any people or critters factored into the mandate of the COGCC to "conserve" Colorado's natural gas resource by drilling the crap out of it? Not so much.

The only reason EnCana got busted for the seep in 2004 - as environmentally devastating as that event was - was because they were found to have 'wasted' the resource. Did the health department even come out to take a look around? Not to our knowledge - and believe me - we begged them to. I do not use the word begged loosely. We begged. The health Department  just took their orders from the COGCC based on this "Memorandum of Agreement". And all of us people and critter folk back here in the boonies were on our own.

We have never believed that the 2004 gas seep was investigated properly. But what are you going to do when you're trying to convince a governmental structure fortified by political bias?

We did the only thing we could. We mounted a massive pubic awareness campaign and retained an attorney. The result? This ignoramus group of lawmakers flapping their yaps about harm to industry by enacting rules to protect the public and the environment.

Give me a break.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel  [01-31-08]

"Stressed cow elk runs into man's dining room"

A guy in the hunting business tried to get the DOW to investigate a cow elk that has taken up residence on his porch. She is growing weaker, and dashed into the man's living room, but falling and later finding her way out half an hour later. The DOW, however, does not seem to want to help this critter, even though the man has suggested that all she needs is a penicillin shot and some food and water. The DOW has said that the cow will have to be killed if she continues to show no fear of humans. I have to say. I'm a little disappointed in the how DOW handled this. It sounds like she may have simply been separated from her herd - perhaps she has found some bird seed nearby and is trying to either subsist or simply seek what seems a reasonable shelter? It is hard to say, but leaving this situation to deteriorate is irresponsible.

A hitching rail Blackcloud built twenty years ago. Used to be, cowboys would periodically ride through here to round up cattle or catch a wayward stray - usually a bull. A lot of times, these guys would swing by for a cup of coffee. But cowboys and horses are quick becoming a thing of the past. A few years ago yuppies in the Colorado state legislature passed a law classing horses as pets. So, folks that kept them as working farm/ranch critters found that they could no longer claim them in the same way as a farm expense. Brilliant move, that. Now, cowboys ride ATV's. Doesn't quite conjure the same image does it? That blue and white lead rope hanging in the middle? Thirty-four years old. Yuppies have made sure ropes don't last that long anymore either.

This is our porch glacier.

Rabbit, here,  has come to munch on the seeds passed out to the birds. We're all happy to share. [01-31-08]

"Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper."

-- Francis Bacon

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