I seldom struggle to find subjects about which to write, but right now most of the subjects give us a fright! They sometimes cause us to kick, scratch and bite, we all seem to be a bit quick to turn our differences into a fight! Roe vs Wade, Trump and his tantrum on trial, immigrants trying to find a better place to live, China chiding us for Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, crazy war in Ukraine, climate change, affordable housing, yeah, the subjects go on and on, which do I choose?

About all of these matters I could write what would make most of us snooze, or take up drinking booze, no, these subjects are not as nice as a Caribbean cruise. Maybe I should just write about something simple and local, like local weeds both noxious and toxic.

We’re supposed to control Canadian thistle and poison hemlock, but there they are, on shoulders of roads, ditch banks, dikes and fields. Japanese knotweed, Tansy ragwort, blackberries and may others are allowed to seed and blow across the land, or be carried by birds to sprout in the fertile silty sand.

Yea, the county weed board should probably take a stand, maybe help set up a management strategy and goal. Many of our weeds could be made into very good compost, hay that gets rained on, weedy crop residue, it is not as complicated as it sounds, we could make it happen, if we but would! There are a few of us that could make it happen, if we had the money to “make it so.”

Instead, we admire the art and car shows, sit and watch the sunset over the Salish Sea and wonder where the salmon are, that we cannot see. These iconic creatures are about to no longer be, yea, these subjects are very bothersome to me.

Glen S. Johnson

Skagit Valley