I knew this would happen, he left his maps here. He left, I watched him go, but he hasn't made it to Surrey yet. 10 days, you think he'd be able to make that, wouldn't you? It's only 3000 miles or so.
If anybody sees him, let me know. Heck, he could be in Cancun by now....
In other news...
Part of my job involves searching for news stories related to the wood industry. Yes, I get paid to surf the web. Lemme know when you are over your jealousy and I'll continue.
All set? OK. Here in N America we have an issue with this tiny little beetle that likes to eat pine trees, likes em so much that Beetle Killed Pine has become a lumber species. Some people specialize in it.
Problem with dead pine is dry dead standing trees and dry dead pine needles on the ground. We've always had some beetles, but the population has exploded recently. Is it any wonder we've had so many forest fires lately? It took a couple years and a multi billion dollar satellite to draw a relation between beetle kill and forest fires.
Wow.
It gets worse- now the alarmists (environmentalists and lumber guys too) are jumping up & down yelling that we are going to lose all our pine trees, lamenting the potential loss of genetic diversity, watershed damage etc etc etc.
Take a break and jump over to the pallet and crate industry. In order to use a piece of wood for a pallet or crate that will go overseas, the lumber has to be heat treated (can you see the path?) It seems if you heat a piece of lumber to about 160 degrees F it kills any bugs and their eggs; the idea is to keep your species to yourself.
Shouldn't the beetles all be dead where there were fires? If the fires were concentrated where the beetle populations were worst, then most of the beetles should be dead. Major buzzkill for the beetles, but good for the remaining forests, whose seeds survive the fires, typically.
If only I had a multi billion dollar satellite so someone could hear me...
Hey, the blog IS titled Whittling and Other Affairs.
BfloBif
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