A wise old carpenter once told me to always clear off your workbench before you start a big new project.
Let's clear off the bench before we start the pretty big project of 2025:
COMMON SENSE - the most uncommon sense of all.
When we experienced the bark beetle infestation starting in 2007, the state of Wyoming paid land owners to cut down dead trees and get rid of them.
So in 2010 I had a young guy from Rawlins cut down 65 dead trees on my acre and a quarter.
Then I cleaned up the mess. And the state paid me for my time and the hours I put on my chainsaw, coming to about $2,000.
It was one tough way to earn $2,000, but it made my place safer from fire. Many of my neighbors did the same.
Apparently California hasn't had the good sense to encourage landowners to clear their land of the brush that went up in flames around Los Angeles last week, taking 24 lives and destroying 12,000 homes so far. One report explained that landowners clearing brush could be fined for killing rare, protected plants.
Good grief.
Here in Wyoming, we made our places less prone to fire.
Too bad California didn't encourage landowners to do the same.
They're paying the price now.
(If you want to know more about the challenges faced by coastal California, read “The Control of Nature,” an excellent book by John McPhee.)
THAT BLACK BEAR I wrote about last summer eluded Game and Fish efforts to trap it, and we're glad, because bears that hang around cabins tend to get euthanized.
In June, our bear pried off some siding to get at a spice shelf I'd built into a wall.
Across the road at my neighbor's place, he overturned two heavy, unlocked construction tool boxes and made a big mess. He got into two cabins along the Medicine Bow River. And in July he tore down my water heater chimney and bit holes in it. Several times he ripped down hummingbird feeders.
Then in September, on my porch, he bit holes in a pint can of paint and a jug of thinner about a dozen feet away from where I was sleeping inside.
I don't want that bear killed, but a critter that can bite holes in a paint can 12 feet from where you're sleeping is enough to give a guy pause.
We're hoping our bear finds new stomping grounds by this summer.
WHAT'S THAT ya say? I got hearing aids last year, taking my wife's advice that, “Nobody's going to get down off his horse to notice you're wearing hearing aids.”
She was right. (I hate when she's right.) Nobody got down off his horse to notice.
They're great, but you have to take them out when you're outside and the wind is howling, which is much of the time. And the delighted squeals of my granddaughters, ages 4 and 6, when amplified, are like ice picks into ear drums. One reader said he was surprised how loud urination can be when wearing hearing aids.
In the right settings, they're great. And nobody will get down off his horse to notice.
But, sometimes you've just heard enough, and it's a real pleasure to take the little rascals out.
AND LASTLY, in November I wrote about tearing my right Achilles' tendon last August, and the surgery to fix it in October. Staying off your feet for eight weeks can put pounds on a guy, and try the patience of a spouse, especially if you can't drive.
That said, in a world where angry people take no prisoners on social media, I was gratified at how polite and considerate folks are in the flesh, holding doors open, being patient, and helping a temporarily-lame guy get along.
The talented, wicked smart, caring young people I've met at physical therapy renewed my faith in the younger generations. And the docs at Premier Bone and Joint over in Laramie are rock stars.
I'm walking a lot less like Chester Goode on “Gunsmoke” these days.
And I've vowed that next time my mower gets stuck in a badger hole, instead of shoving it out myself, I'll yank it out with my pickup.
Dave Simpson can be reached at: DaveSimpson145@hotmail.com
