Ann Bryant and her Bears; Firewood alert

       People like the bear issue, so much that the Wall Street Journal gives the topic quite a bit of coverage.  Today's issue had a nice article about the problem, focusing on Incline Village in Nevada.  There in black and white was Tahoma's own Ann Bryant, Bear League Director; this time cum shotgun.   She made a statement that it is loaded with rubber bullets/slugs that give any bruin 'what for' without any severe trauma to the body.  I'd hate to catch a rubber plug anywhere on my body.
     Residents claim that the bears are a significant problem.  Wildlife authorities state the bear populations, nationwide, have increased significantly in the past few years, owing to their proficiency at gathering human garbage.  Increased efforts at controlling access to garbage have been partially successful; but, as we know in Tahoma, the bears are now resorting to active home invasions, often multiple times at the same location.  A new bear proof garbage container runs about $800./each!
     Ahhh, wildlife.  So respected, so loved, so irascible!   But, the issue is not going away soon.  We will keep locals informed.

Buying Firewood
     Most local folks have laid up their supplies of firewood for the season.  With snow on the ground and Thanksgiving imminent, latecomers are making a last effort to stock up.
TIP: a cord of wood is measured as that material  stacked(not at rt. angles)- 8'X4'highX 4' wide-Tightly stacked!!!!!!
It's not a "nominal" measurement, but a precise measure.   Supplier tricks- 1) delivering a'load' without any stacking,  2) delivering when nobody is home, dumping a pile in the driveway(no measuring), delivering brokered loads from the Valley(almond, walnut, etc) that is precut to various lengths.   This alone causes most of the "shorting" of cords.   Valley wholesalers include various lengths, from 12" to 16" inches.   More often than not, the cut pieces average about 13"-14" inches long.   This reduces effective loads by about 15%.   So, a $400/cord actually is a $460/cord; or another way, a $400 cord is really a cord of 75% or 80% cord.
      Measure your purchase, take your supplier to task if it comes up short, as they usually do.  It's a combination of lax business practice, lax customers who are too trusting, genuine greed and thievery, and established lack of oversight by anybody.
Enough on wood.