Finally Back!

Wow! What a whirlwind couple of weeks it's been! I had the privilege of traveling to Potomac, MD for some training for my work, and it appears that I've finally recuperated. It was a great class, held at an established facility and attended by many wonderful people. The best part? The food, of course!! How can anyone turn down real Maryland crab cakes and all-you-can-eat steamed snow crab? *grin* But the best part of all? Wheeeee!!!! I got to spend the weekend with my brother and his family at their new home in south Jersey! I am truly blessed.

It looks as if work will be starting soon on my house, I'm excited to get that new covered front porch so I can spend the autumn days out front enjoying the neighborhood from my rocking chair. All that will be missing is the white picket fence, which isn't on the list of things to be done. I have to sacrifice that in favor of a new garage roof, and finishing the interior of the garage. Sometime this winter the bathroom will undergo a total renovation, as well. If I hadn't wanted this house so badly (because it was otherwise perfect), the condition of the bathroom might have been a deal-breaker.

The big news on this side of the world is that Washington state is beginning a new program through which prisoners eligible for early release are being "paroled" and given housing vouchers worth 3 months' rent. The savings to the taxpayers with this program is estimated to be several million, and as long as they're being selective in their choices about who should be released, I'm all for it. Not everyone who is in prison is a high risk to reoffend, and if it opens up prison beds for those who absolutely should be there, it's a good thing. I hope those released under this program are able to receive and benefit from outside support to help them reintegrate as productive citizens.

The other big news is that Idaho has now approved controlled wolf hunts, due to the dangerous increase in population of the Canadian Gray Wolf that was introduced awhile back as an attempt to prevent wolves from going extinct. The current problem is that previously Idaho forests were populated by the smaller Timber Wolf, and the Canadian Grays (while both being wolves) are much larger and considerably more aggressive. The Timber wolves generally weigh around 50-75 lbs, and the Canadian Grays are weighing in at between 130-170 lbs. Some research on my part led me to the understanding that while these are the same species, the differences in sizes are related to the areas where they're from. The problems in Idaho and eastern Washington are that the wolves are becoming more aggressive, less wary of humans, and are preying at the outskirts of towns. See the following links:

http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-may1508-wolf_attack.10298c47a.html

http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-feb2308-wolf_attack.202c7783.html

http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/idaho/stories/NW_030209IDN-AP-wolf-attack-LJ.1bcf8b45.html

http://www.citizenreviewonline.org/nov_2006/28/wolves.html

Now... I DO NOT hate wolves. My issue is that once again, "man" has decided to play God with our environment and our ecosystems, making decisions about what animals "should" live where and assuming that their studies and assumptions are the best answers to the problems caused by "man." I support population reduction, not population elimination, and I also support that sometimes nature should be allowed to take its course without US jumping in and trying to make it be what we think it should be. What next... will "man" decide that we should reintroduce the mammoth too, just because pretty soon we'll be able to create one from the DNA remains of fossils?

At any rate, those are the big news pieces from this side of the Continental Divide. Any comments agreeing or disagreeing are of course always welcome :)