79: Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires | Pumpkin Spice Latte | Introverts

From hurricanes to forest fires, the U S of A is being ravaged by Mother Nature. She can bring beautiful gifts, like introverts, in one moment, and then the next she's reminding you why They call her Mama. Returning in this Superhero Friday installment are The Nightfox and Shear Terror, where we talk about so so much. Not just natural disasters, but also introverts (it won't surprise you that I, your fearless blog post author, match about 95% of the facts about introverts), and the Pumpkin Spice Latte, and about aggressive drivers.

In This Episode

Forest Fires (The Western U.S. is on fire)
Pumpkin Spice Latte is back. Already.
The Introvert video... and 10 facts about introverts. Where do you fall?
Snakes, spiders, scorpions, oh my.

Forest Fires

The northern border of the USA has been rather smokey for several months now, but in the last week more fires in the Pacific Northwest began popping up and contributing to the seemingly endless haze. Here in Minnesota we get a small taste of that fire, appearing like fog across open plains and highways, but I know that it's nothing in comparison to the real thing. Oregon looks pock-marked right now with the various fires wrapping the state, and over 1 million acres of Montana burned this fire season.

Interesting fact, Smokey the Bear and his infamous slogan first made an appearance in pop culture back in 1944. It was during this WWII era when paying attention to fire was most important because all of the able-bodied men who typically attended to such forces of nature were over seas serving in the armed forces. The black bear standing on his hind legs and wearing his signature jeans and a campaign hat became an American marketing staple.

All over Minnesota we have Smokey standing next to a Fire Danger sign (with Low, Medium or High warnings). In my life, I cannot recall there ever being a High warning, but I've seen a few Medium warnings. Barring instances, asThe Nightfox mentions, where lightning starts a fire, humans are the leading cause of forest fires (some national reports say about 84 percent are caused by humans, others say as low as 60).

It's just another reminder to be constantly vigilant! Pay attention to what you're doing and don't be negligent! The same goes for driving, eh?