American Wildfires

What are your guys bugs like out there?

I don't know if I could live somewhere that they don't die off in the winter killing the gnarly ones.



Oh btw, I finally started hearing the cicada around mid-July here. They are going strong now. (not that anyone cares, sorry random thought from earlier when they were really loud in DC/south, thinking about no fireflies out there made me think about that).

Dr.Amber Trichome said:

What is all the smoke doing to the earths atmosphere? I feel so bad for you on the west coast dealing with this. It’s truely heartbreaking and a horrible way to live . I remember trying to breath the Smokey air when I lived out there and it was so painful , that’s one of the reasons I realized I needed to leave and the reason I will never return, besides the high cost of living.
I just can’t breath that air. Are people leaving in droves at this point or do you just get conditioned to it as a way of life?

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Where do you live?

Funkentelechy said:

Where do you live?

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Suburbs of Detroit.

hanimmal said:

Suburbs of Detroit.

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Oh sorry, I was asking Dr.Amber Trichome.
The way they described where they live it's a place with a low cost of living and amazing air, so I was curious.

I also would like to see Detroit though too.

Funkentelechy said:

Oh sorry, I was asking Dr.Amber Trichome.
The way they described where they live it's a place with a low cost of living and amazing air, so I was curious.

I also would like to see Detroit though too.

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There are a lot of better places to go in Michigan to sightsee.


One thing I would like to do is rent a winter house on the shore of lake Michigan in the winter and watch the ice sheets.

That's gorgeous!

Smoke is in the sky from multiple fires around. It's pretty high, but the smell is noticeable. No visible ash, but you know it's there. It's nearing a full moon and two nights ago it was orange. Last night, it was a distinct red and really creepy. I live next to a creek that serves as a corridor for wild animals and there were some weird noises coming from there last night. Deer regularly take refuge in a small wooded area outside my fence, so I keep a bucket of fresh water for them. The raccoons regularly foul the water, but I keep up on it. I fear it's just a matter of time when we get a fire nearby.

Edit; the creek usually has a little water running all summer, but it's dry this year.

topcat said:

Smoke is in the sky from multiple fires around. It's pretty high, but the smell is noticeable. No visible ash, but you know it's there. It's nearing a full moon and two nights ago it was orange. Last night, it was a distinct red and was really creepy. I live next to a creek that serves as a corridor for wild animals and there were some weird noises coming from there last night. Deer regularly take refuge in a small wooded area outside my fence, so I keep a bucket of fresh water for them. The raccoons regularly foul the water, but I keep up on it. I fear it's just a matter of time when we get a fire nearby.

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Last summer was very smoky. Seeing the sun as a faint purplish spot under orange skies felt like impending doom.

hanimmal said:

What are your guys bugs like out there?

I don't know if I could live somewhere that they don't die off in the winter killing the gnarly ones.

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Oh btw, I finally started hearing the cicada around mid-July here. They are going strong now. (not that anyone cares, sorry random thought from earlier when they were really loud in DC/south, thinking about no fireflies out there made me think about that).

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Total absence of mosquito's where I'm at. It's been so dry there isn't any standing water for them to breed.

topcat said:

Smoke is in the sky from multiple fires around. It's pretty high, but the smell is noticeable. No visible ash, but you know it's there. It's nearing a full moon and two nights ago it was orange. Last night, it was a distinct red and was really creepy. I live next to a creek that serves as a corridor for wild animals and there were some weird noises coming from there last night. Deer regularly take refuge in a small wooded area outside my fence, so I keep a bucket of fresh water for them. The raccoons regularly foul the water, but I keep up on it. I fear it's just a matter of time when we get a fire nearby.

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Portland has been lucky with the smoke. We've had a couple somewhat hazy days but overall it's been smoke free unlike last year. We seem to be sitting in a pocket of clean air that gets refreshed by the offshore flow from the pacific. I'm not complaining.

xtsho said:

Total absence of mosquito's where I'm at. It's been so dry there isn't any standing water for them to breed.

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That would be nice to not have mosquitos. They got really bad here for a while this year with all the water here.

I still think I would rather them than scorpions or poisonous spiders though.

topcat said:

I keep a bucket of fresh water for them. The raccoons regularly foul the water, but I keep up on it.

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Raccoons love to dirty water, if I keep any open water in my garden the raccoons dig my worms out of the ground and wash them in the water before eating them.
In fact raccoons are named for this behavior in many languages, in German, Norwegian, Chinese, Hebrew, and Japanese their name translates to "wash bear" or "washing bear", the name for raccoons in Italian means "little washing bear", "rinser" in Russian and the French name for raccoon means "little wash-rat". Because they love to wash their food before they eat it.

CatHedral said:

Last summer was very smoky. Seeing the sun as a faint purplish spot under orange skies felt like impending doom.

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Yes, it looked like what I would imagine a "nuclear winter" would be like. Fuck, and that smell. Not a nice campfire smell. It must have been all the toxics burned, like gasoline, heating oil, transmission and lubricant fluids. All that could be this year, too, we're just lucky, so far. It's early, still. Then, I think of the wildlife lost.

hanimmal said:

They got really bad here for a while this year with all the water here.

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Did you have to rub it in our faces? (just teasing)

I'd take mosquitos over this drought though.

Funkentelechy said:

Did you have to rub it in our faces? (just teasing)

I'd take mosquitos over this drought though.

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I have both.

Funkentelechy said:

Did you have to rub it in our faces? (just teasing)

I'd take mosquitos over this drought though.

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Ill tell you what tru, uh, is worse than mosquitos.
The southern fire ant. Itches worse and longer than the needle-faced blood thieves.

You're right, I'll take mosquitos over fire ants any day. Luckily I don't have them where I live.
We have a bug called a "stump fucker" that I've heard hurts really bad, I've never had an encounter with one but it's supposed to be very painful.

Funkentelechy said:

I also would like to see Detroit.

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Said almost no one, ever.

topcat said:

Yes, it looked like what I would imagine a "nuclear winter" would be like. Fuck, and that smell. Not a nice campfire smell. It must have been all the toxics burned, like gasoline, heating oil, transmission and lubricant fluids. All that could be this year, too, we're just lucky, so far. It's early, still. Then, I think of the wildlife lost.

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I grew up next to a heavy industrial area and can still remember the stench of the tires being burnt and whatever else the smoke would produce. And then there was Darling international that was the worst when they would burn animals to make chemicals.

I grew up on the block with the yellow arrow pointed at it.

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I grew up playing in a lot of pollution I am figuring out as I am getting older looking back.

You feel bad, but a) what kind of idiot thought it was a good idea to farm in the desert, and b) lots of what big ag farms in the desert is exported. It's stupid that we're waiting this long before implementing prioritization. Water for privatized profit is lowest on the list.