07-28-2006, 09:44 AM
[cool][#0000ff]I fixed dinner, but no cake. We are more careful about what we eat these days. The waist is a terrible thing to mind.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We are in a "wet cycle" in the west this year. This is the second year we have had plenty of rain and snowfall, to keep things green and to keep our water levels up. Before that we had several years of drought. That not only had some of our lakes almost dry, but it was hard on trees and other plant life too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There are quite a few places in our western states where the prolonged dryness weakened older pine trees. When they do not produce enough sap, with the turpentine and other natural repellents, it allows bark beetles and other pests a chance to invade them. They burrow under the bark and destroy the ability of the tree to carry sap and nutrients. The trees get brown and die.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is not possible to detect the bark beetles until after the damage is done. It is also prohibitive (cost) to spray the vast areas of forest that MIGHT be affected. Once the trees die, they are sometimes harvested by lumber companies who contract with state agencies. Mostly they are allowed to remain standing, where they look bad and create fire danger. Just a spark and they literally explode into flame.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When we lived in Arizona, there were some areas of the Mogollon Rim country where there were huge areas of forest that were totally brown. Two years in a row there were terrible fires that completely cleared thousands of acres of formerly beautiful forest. The good news is that Mother Nature usually comes back strong and the newly burned areas are quick to turn green again when the rains return. It takes many years to regrow the pines, but the earth is more patient than people.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We are in a "wet cycle" in the west this year. This is the second year we have had plenty of rain and snowfall, to keep things green and to keep our water levels up. Before that we had several years of drought. That not only had some of our lakes almost dry, but it was hard on trees and other plant life too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There are quite a few places in our western states where the prolonged dryness weakened older pine trees. When they do not produce enough sap, with the turpentine and other natural repellents, it allows bark beetles and other pests a chance to invade them. They burrow under the bark and destroy the ability of the tree to carry sap and nutrients. The trees get brown and die.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is not possible to detect the bark beetles until after the damage is done. It is also prohibitive (cost) to spray the vast areas of forest that MIGHT be affected. Once the trees die, they are sometimes harvested by lumber companies who contract with state agencies. Mostly they are allowed to remain standing, where they look bad and create fire danger. Just a spark and they literally explode into flame.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When we lived in Arizona, there were some areas of the Mogollon Rim country where there were huge areas of forest that were totally brown. Two years in a row there were terrible fires that completely cleared thousands of acres of formerly beautiful forest. The good news is that Mother Nature usually comes back strong and the newly burned areas are quick to turn green again when the rains return. It takes many years to regrow the pines, but the earth is more patient than people.[/#0000ff]
[signature]