it's been awhile...

...since I've posted. I've been busy. I've been working. I've been gone... away. Picking up pieces... solving puzzles from last summer.

This week's Monday morning I was in Olympia, in a meeting discussing several wildland fires that had occurred throughout the state last year. I asked why several of them have not yet been resolved.

A simple question. Simple questions usually get simple answers.

There were no simple answers... in fact there were no answers at all.

Monday afternoon I packed my bags and drove for 6 hours to a remote area in the North Central Cascade Mountains... on the eastern slope, the more arid side of the state. The area where Ponderosa Pine forests and small prickly pear cactus coexist with rattlesnakes, scorpions, mule deer and big horn sheep.

I left the wet, green, moderate Puget Sound area and traveled east.

As I drove past the Nisqually River tide flats I wondered. I wondered why certain people didn't follow through with their work and complete their tasks at hand... those tasks they were paid to complete... paid very well to complete over four months prior.

I'm known as being a fair, calm, understanding and professional individual. I'll work with anyone to get the job done... and preferably done right the first time. But I'm short on patience with people who "milk" systems, who have the ability, knowledge and tools to do things right yet don't have the desire or don't see the need to complete... positively complete their tasks at hand.

That definitely irks my ass.

To top that off, my messages left on cell phones and voice mails went unanswered. They're basically out of sight, out of mind... far removed from the flag pole. That's the mindset... the mentality I'm dealing with here.

They wouldn't expect me to "show up" in their work area without prior notice... which is exactly why I showed up in their work area without prior notice.

The three wildland fires I went over to review cost the taxpayers of the state of Washington in excess of $6,000,000.00 (USD) to suppress.

Two of the three fire's causes were negligent and the people or entities responsible for causing these particular fires need to be held accountable for their acts or omissions.

The third... very suspicious.

Thousands of acres were burned, standing forests... decimated. Delicate ecosystems reduced to ash...

Home's, cabins, barns, outbuildings... gone. Pets, wildlife, habitat... gone.

Careless, mindless, negligent... criminal.

I don't like doing things this way but sometimes things have to be done this way. Sometimes people need to be reminded... up close and personal that they have tasks to complete in a timely manner... properly and professionally.

So, I'm back...