are you…Flagstaffist?

Or does it look like GW is holding hands with “his” (our?) general?

The library of congress is massive.

Sorry all, this is the most random post ever, but it serves a purpose for right now.

Bear with me.

Something’s amiss here.

Since the beginning of July, more than 1 million acres of national forest land has been burned in Idaho and Montana. Whole communities have been evacuated. On any given night, 1000 Montanans are sleeping somewhere other than home as firefighters try to prevent more damage.

5% of Idaho’s public lands have burned this year alone.

Last night homes were burned IN the Missoula valley.

This is worse than it’s ever been. 1000 hour fuels (the big stuff) is drier than kiln-dried lumber - the stuff you buy at the lumber yard.

Mann Gulch, where 13 firefighters were killed in 1949, burned again this year.

And the media isn’t touching it, save local papers. Instead we hear about the poor trapped miners, the economy, and the NBA referee.

This is an environmental disaster, driven by climate change and driving a whole shift in ecosystems…and nobody wants to say it.

Scream it from the rooftops. the west is afire. people are dying. people are sleeping in gyms. the west as we know it is gone this year.

peace.

-pd

Some good changes are happening here.

i’ve put in some code which will allow a nice new image viewer on the site. scroll down to images below and click on them, and then watch the magic happen.

i’ve also made Mozilla Firefox available to you all. it’s the best way to view this site. get it by clicking on the link in the sidebar to the right. 23% of you are using Internet Explorer 6, 20% are using IE 7.0, and 16% of you are using Mozilla.

The site may not view well on IE 7.0, as IE doesn’t like the format the site uses (Wordpress). And the Carbon Calculator doesn’t work with IE 7 at all. So at least 20% of you are having trouble viewing. Try Firefox - you may just like it better. And you’ll be able to read more sites.
-pd

What do you think of the new banner? more is to follow. hope you like.

-pd

Late last week i rode my bike to the wilderness boundary of the Weatherford Trail, ditched my bike, and ran the remaining 9 miles roundtrip to Doyle Saddle. My running legs are really coming on-line. i was sore after the run, but mostly in my shoulders and back…the legs and hips responded amazingly well.

My eating was interesting that day, for i was gifted a PopTart by sweet Joy over at WholisticFitness. Poptarts were my food staple during my downhill skiing days in MT, both lift and non-lift served. One poptart pack in the breastpocket of a coat and i could go all day.

This poptart was special though, because it was a gift, with an Om…

i broke into the wrapper at the top of Weatherford. i ate a little, after climbing for almost 2 hours on my bike.

mmm good. then i ran. up and down. and when i got back to the bike, i just wanted to go home. so i changed my shoes and started back.

Five hours later i was in my living room, and eating the same lovely poptart.

See, you can train your body for glucose debt. you can buy expensive endurance bars, and gels, and drink strange colored tonics providing all kinds of nutrients and minerals. but when you get down to brass tacks, if your food is blessed, and you appreciate its presence, regardless of its quantity or color or complex carbohydrate composition, it will get you there.

This run opened things in my body i haven’t felt EVER. i finally discovered what nadic energy lines meant…they felt like little ribbons of paper, running deep within me, and their little wave-like motions were a DEEP source of strength to me as my surface muscles began to fatigue. The power’s within. Find it. And when you do, you won’t think i’m the nutter you do now.

-pd

Just haven’t been posting to the site lately, have i?

it’s hard to have something to say. i’ve been tired and grumpy lately. lots has been going on.

An article in the NY Times got me roused today to write something.

Sometimes things aren’t fair. My good friend and otherworldly teacher, “Coach” Steve Ilg, has been struggling to breathe well lately. He’s a good man who has done right by the world. His presence and his teachings have enlightened people in cities and countries around the world. He has also competed in 5 world championships in 4 different sports.

Bo don’t know Steve.

Steve without lungs is like an elephant without a trunk. Doctors say it’s asthma. They give him inhalers. He self-healed a crushed pelvis and broken spine…he’s not interested in inhalers.

Imagine this: people like Steve, who have helped keep cars off the road by “cardio-commuting” may be suffering from the very emissions we reduce.

The Solution to Pollution brings misery. 

The people who are saving our world are paying the price. And going into a gym!! AAAGH!

My cousin in law Paul is a doctor. One day i was saying to him that while he is obviously involved in people’s health, i feel like ecosystem science is too - because it studies things like this. He said that people who exercise in the city have lungs that look like smokers’ when they die.

Damn.

Not gonna stop me from riding to work though. Don’t let it stop you. Strength in numbers.

-pd

So i work at 5 am some days. i go out to the fire site

and work early so i get done early. Ain’t no shade out there. and when the AZ sun comes up at 8000 feet…it becomes an EasyBake oven.

On the way back i see this guy walking up HWY 180. People don’t walk up HWY 180. first of all, it’s narrow. Second of all, it’s 90 miles to the Grand Canyon. So i’m thinking, “what’s this dude’s deal?” until i get closer to him, and i see he’s wearing a big sign, and i think about a news story i heard on KNAU, about a fella who’s walking to help the homeless. He’s walking from his home in Texas to LA.

Sure enough, this was the man. hat’s off to him.

And then, not knowing this, Val sends me this:

it’s one of those days. sign of the times. i’m blessed. i just need to be reminded every once in awhile. Still got a home? You’re blessed too.
-pd

Thanks to “Coach” Steve Ilg, author of Direct Lines, coach of world champions, 5 time participant in 4 different world championships, yoga instructor, dharma-teacher, and my good friend, for supporting the COMMUTER CARBON CALCULATOR on his blog, Direct Lines.

Anyone linking to this site from DL can feel free to fill out the survey at the right and log how many miles they’ve not driven.

And how many miles have we not driven?

351!

that’s 296 pounds of CO2 saved from our skies.

Thank you to all the participants so far and to Coach for getting more people involved.

I’m currently working on a form which will tell you how much carbon you save every time you fill out the form. if anyone has experience with this, feel free to contact me.

-pd

This guy’s got it figured out.

Bless him. May there be more who overcome and persevere.
-pd