'Fireballs' seen over Flagstaff, AZ ...

Flagstaff Meteor of April 25/26 Link via Arizona Geology.

Picture (from on high) here: http://www.heliotown.com/Fireball_April_26_2009_Ash.html

AZ Daily Sun: Meteor hunters chase fireball report

Mohave Daily News: Suspected meteor lights up sky east of Kingman

More good environmental news ...

Western "Dust Bowl" possible

Plague Suspected In Death Of Man In Arizona ...

A wildlife biologist apparently died of the plague after performing an autopsy on a mountain lion in the Grand Canyon National Park area.

"The recent appearance of plague activity in two northern counties has us concerned that we may see plague in other areas as well."

Animal cases of plague in Arizona in 2007 include prairie dog colony die-offs in two separate neighbourhoods in Flagstaff in Coconino County, and a pet cat in Prescott in Yavapai County.

Arizona state health officials warned campers, hunters, hikers and others who live at 4,500 feet or higher or are visiting the area, to take the following precautions to avoid being exposed to the plague:

• Do not handle sick or dead animals.
• Don't go near rodent burrows.
• Avoid exposure to fleas.
• Stop your dog or cat from roaming as they can bring home plague infected fleas.
• Use flea control products on your dog or cat, ask your veterinarian about the best ones.
• Wear protective gloves when cleaining or skinning wild animals, for instance for cooking.
• If cooking game meat, do so at 180 degrees, until the juices run clear.
• If you get start getting symptoms like those listed above, within 6 days of a potential exposure, seek medical help at once.
• If your cat falls ill, get it checked by a veterinarian.

For more information call the Grand Canyon National Park Incident Information Center at (928) 638-7922 or (928) 638-7688.

Some photos taken in the Stoneman Lake area ...

Stoneman Lake Area

Stoneman Lake Area

Stoneman Lake Area

That's a crow center left. There were quite a few crows holding a talk-fest in some trees off the trail. I tried to get close enough to take a picture but when I raised my camera they took off --this is a hunting area, after all. Some of them did return to the area but refused to pose.
Stoneman Lake Area

Stoneman Lake Area

Stoneman Lake Area

Northern Arizona ...

I've been camping in Northern Arizona and I would still be there if I could take my computer with me.

Politically I'm a void except:

• I finished reading The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared M. Diamond.
• I saw, first hand, the magnitude of the damage being done to the area by off road vehicles (logging, ORV's and the various impacts of global warming are not doing these areas any good, to put it mildly).
• I also read 1634: The Baltic War by David Weber and Eric Flint having previously read 1632 (Eric Flint) and 1633 (Eric Flint and David Weber). As alternate histories the first two books of the Ring of Fires Series (1632 and 1633) are pretty good, in my opinion. The author(s) set their extremely human heroes on a course to correct some of history's tragedies (slavery, the Holocaust). On the other hand unless these same heroes have more insight and skill than we have in this day and age, they are going to move the global warming fiasco much earlier in earth's history.
  
• While filling up my truck at a gas station in Florence, a former (self proclaimed) rodeo guy commented on my camper, the price of gas, the price of campers and that we might as well go ahead and invade Iran. I don't know how much of his sentiment was for real and how much was a general feeling of depression or hopelessness with the way things 'are.' The impression I got was one of vicarious aggression masking hopelessness (my 2-minute psychoanalyses). When I suggested that such actions could lead us into WW III he said well, yeah, it might be disastrous but there are too many people (or those people) in the world anyway. When I said they may feel the same about us that was the end of the interaction.

The weather was really nice. I first camped in the Stoneman Lake area. When it started getting warm I drove on into Flagstaff and stayed a couple nights at a KOA camp so I could get rid of unwanted stuff and fill up on needed stuff. Then I camped a couple nights north of Flagstaff. Then I drove home.

Here are two pictures that I hope you enjoy (click on the images to see a larger version):

Stoneman Lake Area North of Flagstaff