Friday, June 29, 2012

Good News, Bad News

It's been a long day...I was up early to watch the Supreme Court's Healthcare Decision. I kept an ear to the wildfire rail, did a COSTCO run, and watched yet another great SF Giants game with another happy ending, and yes another Team record!

Giants' 22 year old lefthander, Madison Bumgarner pitched his first complete shutout game against the Cincinnati Reds, gave up but one hit, walked two and struck out eight. MadBum even got a hit in the 7th, and scored on a Gregor Blanco triple. The Giants won it 5-0.

The Giants tied a record that goes back to July 26-30, 1948! The Giants have played 36.0 innings without allowing a run to score! Tim Cain, who pitched that Perfect Game 15 days ago didn't even pitch in those 36 innings! He starts tomorrow's game...

Tonight's game was the fourth shutout in a row by the Giants, and they are now in sole possession of 1st Place in the National League West for the 1st time this season. Since Cain's Perfecto, the Giants have gained six games on the Dodgers. The Giants have not pitched four consecutive shutouts in the entire history of the club, until tonight.

There's something magical happening with this team, and it's been pure joy for us fans. Tonight while MadBum and crew were setting more records, the New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, sending the Giants one game ahead of their SoCal rivals. The go-ahead RBI in the Mets/Dodgers game was hit by Andres Torres, the Giants' 2010 center fielder.

In the background all day were the twitter updates on the Waldo Canyon Fire. Colorado Springs had a good day in the main. Winds were civil overnight, and popup thunderstorms were not in the offing. Some evacuated neighborhoods were OK'd for the return of their residents. Unfortunately, the Devil's Due included 347 homes destroyed and one confirmed death. Nine souls are still listed as missing.

During the Giants game,  @R5_Fire_News (National Forest Service Region 5) took to twitter and let it be known that:

"23 U.S.Forest Service Hotshot crews from California are  battling wildfires in 4 western states including Colorado. Twenty wildland firefighters per crew."

"1,346 California based US Forest Service firefighters and support personnel on western wildfires including: CO, UT, NV, MT, NM, AK, WY, and AZ"

"54 California based U.S.Forest Service Type 3 wildland fire engines +5 assigned to wildfires in CO, NV, UT, and MT"

Box scores for fires? I mused before @rgj (the Reno Gazette-Journal) sent a chill down the back of my neck:

"Third of Sierra Front fire force tapped for other western fires"

Independence Day comes on a Wednesday, so the celebration will last all week long, instead of a long weekend. Some cooling has been forecast for the Tahoe Sierra, but the 4th is still five days away, and conditions change fast in the mountains this time of year. We're already into a bad fire season so be extra careful like Smokey Bear says...our ability to do heavy initial attack on wildfires is already compromised by some 33%

Another chill blew down the ol' posterior from this report of how truly depleted the Forest Service Air Tanker Fleet has become.

This is all so much Perfect Storm Arithmetic. Sub-par winter precipitation across the West, and shortages of initial attack resources could spell disaster. BajaBabe reminds me that western forests have been severely stressed by the Pine Beetle, turning evergreens into fuel. Expect the worst this Fire Season, and give a call to your congress people to get the ball rolling on bolstering the Fire Air Force

2 comments:

  1. Pine Beetle is one of the epidemics that the Forest is facing. Another is the prolonged drought. Another is human encroachment. Another is geographic fragmentation of Forest habitats. And so on and so on.

    Remember the Dust Bowl? Well, it's kinda like that.

    Plus, a few years back the warning went out of "terrorist" attack on the forest. The weapon of choice, arson.

    Why not strike at an Air Force Academy where the surrounding population are retired "spooks"?

    We "the people" voted for Obama on the principles The Democractic Party set forth in his agenda. One of them was health care.

    You all LOST. It's NOT a constitutional matter. THEY should have rejected it on that premise alone.

    Go after the ATF that sold the guns to the Mexi-Cartel. Oh, can you say "withdraw" our tax dollars from supporting those governments that don't and won't support our principles?

    Wow!

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  2. And in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights we, as the people, and for the good of us all, have the RIGHT of Freedom from Fear, and so on.

    The RIGHT to health care, especially preventative health care, would do well for the good of the people.

    Let's get over it and move forward to rebuild our economy that was put in the dumps through a "conflict" that has destroyed our nation.

    "Our Nation, One Country", Abe Lincoln.

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