Good morning. 🔥 Fire 195 4.16.25

Good morning from the front of fire 193. I leave for the mail trail in a half hour. It's 44 out there. Not supposed to get much warmer than that today. I stepped out at 3 AM and heard a few spring peepers peeping. A waning moon was shining brightly high in the southern sky. April (our horse) stood calmly in the pasture facing north. Calm. No wind. I called her over to the fence to pet her face hoping it would help me sleep. It didn't. So it goes. Been here before. Eventually sleep comes. Got a cup of coffee in me now and ready to hit the mail trail. I hope you have a great day! 4.14.25

Dear Son, The Tao Te Ching Says: "The world is sacred. It can't be improved. If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it." Take a ride to town and back. Have we lost it?

Dear Son, The world will work on your heroic ego every minute of every day. Let it in. All of it. Stay true to the grief and joy it has to offer.

I see Bitcoin as a safety valve in what seems to be inevitable future financial instability. It's better to have a little than none. #Bitcoin

"Bitcoin is competitive cooperation." ~ Jeff Booth #Bitcoin

6 AM. I open "A Year With Rumi" to a random page. The first 7 lines of his poem reads: "Every war and every conflict between human beings has happened because of some disagreement about names. "It is such an unnecessary foolishness, because just beyond the arguing there is a long table of companionship set and waiting for us to sit down." A month or so ago they set up a couple of long tables at the Post Office. Our Supervisor made a big breakfast for us all. She didn't get much sleep the night before. The display was better than any restaurant buffet. The tables sat empty for a bit while we all continued to sort mail like we usually do. Then carriers slowly made their way over. Pretty soon the tables were full, couldn't find a seat. The morning rush was halted. The food was delicious. And I could tell you a lot about the carriers I sat with. Things that go beyond names, that the human heart sees It was a good morning. Off to the mail trail. Fire 188 4.9.25

5:52 AM. The fire burns bright and hot this Monday morning. I stepped out at 3 AM, couldn't sleep. Flakes were falling lightly from the sky. I was happy. A chance of a blanket of snow to cover our little blue stem seeding in the front meadow. As I type this, 3 hours later, there's no accumulation. Bummer. Last evening Hayden (15 yrs. old) and I burned a small patch of little bluestem in the meadow at my mom's. The wind was blowing across the field to the west in gusts over 15 miles an hour. The perimeter of the patch was mowed last fall . . . a good fire break, about 6 feet wide all the way around. In a matter of minutes the fire jumped the break and ignited another patch of blue stem and other prairie plants ten feet away. We put the whole thing out with our backpack sprayers leaving a burnt patch the size of a car hood. Before we bought a couple of backpack sprayers we would go into the DNR station and borrow theirs. One time DNR John explained what would happen if the fire got away from us. Whatever it takes for us to get that fire put out, he said, you pay for. That means men, bulldozers, and airplanes if we need them. We've been a little more careful ever since. Off to the mail trail. Fire 186 4.7.25

6:15 AM. I leave for the mail trail in a few minutes. My 6th and final day of work for the week. "One day off isn't enough" is a common saying among us carriers. I don't know how it is for them, but it feels like life is slipping away. All were given is time, and once it's gone it's gone. It's a conscious sacrifice though. I can quit anytime I tell myself. At 50 years old I look back on my schooling days. The designers intended them to prepare me for a lot of things. One of them was to wish away my time. To prepare me for factory work. They still do that, but the factories are gone. I often wonder what's going to come of it. Fire 184 4.5.25