A sobering sight

"Our gift to the future is
keeping it like it is" 

Nature Conservancy slogan

I took this picture from the car window as we drove by the Oso landslide area on Sunday. They've shown this view on television countless times, but it's impossible to comprehend the scale until you actually see it.  Dozens of houses vanished and a mile of highway buried under 25 feet of debris.

One-way traffic just recently opened, snaking slowly behind a pilot car between high banks cut through the mud.   From there, the highway travels on toward Arlington through the broad river valley past more denuded, logged-off hills that look pretty much like this one did. An uneasy thought.  Nothing in nature stays the same, but we've certainly increased the rate of change and the potential for disaster.

Speaking of nature, it's been raining all weekend and now the strong June sun is back. That means Jungle Time in the Garden of Terrible.  I have to remember  that 20/80 rule for conserving effort because unfortunately I have a lingering hand problem. It's more annoying than painful, but discouraging when I have important things to do like play my ukulele and pull weeds :-)  I'm trying some acupuncture treatments this week since my surgeon had nothing to offer me except what he does: surgery.

Mom is still in hospital but appears to be slowly improving.  Dad is staying down in Colorado Springs so he can be with her during the day.  We hope they are both back in Cripple Creek within a few days.