A Rant

Ok, this one did me in.  In a Seattle newspaper there was an article that the Seattle Park Department staff are recommending that beach fires at Alki (in West Seattle) and Golden Gardens (below me) be prohibited because they (drum roll here) contribute to global warming!  

Now, while I complain during the summer about all the litter and mess at Golden Gardens (I run through the park five days a week) caused by all the users on the few nice summer days, I have to say the five fire circles at Golden Gardens and the how ever many at Alki which burn wood are not in any way what so ever, causing global warming.  

Perhaps if the Park staff were willing to give up driving all over in their HUGE Ford trucks, stop using the mongo-leaf blowers to blow sand from one end of Golden Gardens to the other, or better yet, not use leaf blowers to blow the leaves off paths in Discovery Park...and I mean gas powered huge leaf blowers...then I would appreciate their efforts, albeit on a small scale, to stop pumping carbon into the atmosphere.  But beach fires?  

Like I warned, this is a rant.

So, banning beach fires because of global warming makes absolutely no scientific sense, but it sure makes a Seattle Park staff member's job a lot easier.  Not as much litter to pick up, not as much patrolling for teenage keggers, and in the morning, no one has to search for the homeless who are trying to stay warm.

Several days ago I paid for Murphy's dog license.  It was a leap of faith between us, because I renewed for two years.  But, the "bill" sent by the city was amazing.  It warned in bold letters that if I did not renew on time a uniformed officer would come to my door.  It threatened all sorts of dire consequences if Murphy was not licensed.  There was nothing on the bill thanking me for my previous payment (at least the phone company does that), nothing telling me what my money goes for, nothing commending me for helping prevent lost dogs or whatever.  I read the bill and felt disappointed in my government.

The update since I wrote the above paragraphs is that after nearly 300 comments on the Seattle PI web site below the article about banning the beach fires, the head of the Seattle Park Department announced he would not ban them, this summer.  It's so cold today I might light a fire in my fireplace just to celebrate!

Sorry for the rant.  Murphy already had to listen to it.

Murphy's day.