I'm always amazed by how rapidly time seems to fly these days. I haven't been on this site for months...been keeping my whining mostly to myself. I'm still writing about Bretz, and just recently made what I hope will be the breakthrough that will let me get this publication monkey off myback. More about all that as it develops - in the meantime, if you are interested, check out this LINK. It will take you to a podcast by Nick Zentner of Nick on the Rocks.
One of the issues I deal with continually is the surprising fact that I simply don't have time to get to everything I've loaded onto my plate. What makes this so surprising is I am fully retired, and am the master of at least 95% of my time. There are so many possibilities, some of which are purely pleasurable, but others more focused on "paying it forward."
The work on the Bretz material falls somewhat into both categories, although the pleasurable component has been somewhat strained for the last few months. Many very busy people gave me so much of their valuable time during the early stages of research, and I feel so indebted to them that I absolutely must deliver a final result. I also feel miserable about the poor progress I've been making since I finished my first rough draft.
Another activity, one which is more "community contribution" focused involves a nearby salmon stream. Beatty Creek it's called, and I'm going to try to put together a Friends-of group to work for its welfare. It is so small and so relatively remote that it isn't even on most maps of the area. It is also intermittent - a status which generally puts it more at risk than its cousins, the so-called perrenials. But every late November-early December it litterally teems with chum salmon, many of them over three feet in length. Up until now, I've tried to leave the advocacy work behind me - I had pretty much shot my bolt with the publication of Up Fanno Creek...or so I thought.
At any rate, the rains have begun, and the chum will not be long behind. They are already in the lower reaches of Mclane Creek, the major stream into which Beatty Creek flows. It is only a matter of a few more inches of rainfall before they will be able to ascend the 200 verticle feet they must travel before they appear in our neck of the woods. Meanwhile, we wait...