You guys are back onto forest fires, huh?

Back when our kids were still at home, we took a driving vacation. We stayed with some friends in Medford, OR, fished the Rogue River, saw Crater Lake, and headed west toward the ocean.

Whatever highway we were on ran parallel to a river, and the river was choked with logs they were floating down to the ocean. I thought that was kinda neat to see.

When we got to the ocean at Coos Bay, there were several Japanese freighters loaded up with those logs. I thought it was strange how they were loading those ships, logs were stacked so high on the decks the ships looked top-heavy. They were clear above the bridge - I dunno how they could see.

We had lunch in Coos Bay, and I asked someone how they could make it across the ocean with cargo stacked so high. They said those ships weren't going far - the Japs had an enormous floating sawmill a few miles offshore, whatever distance put it legally in international waters. That way, they didn't have to pay American wages or taxes or observe any environmental laws.

Those folks said the shoreline all along there was choked with washed-up bark and sawdust because the Japs just dumped the stuff in the ocean. I guess that's not much of a "pollutant", but that don't seem right - and it'd piss me off if I was in a boat trying to fish around there.

From the floating sawmill, the boards got loaded on other ships and went on to Japan. I guess that's why I paid $3.29 apiece for 2"x4" studs last time, and I used to buy 'em for 99 cents.

Ya know, if that's what happens to American trees - I'd just as soon all them sumsabitches burn up in forest fires first.