Why the helicopter?

3pm - I'm sitting in the study at my computer and I notice a large plume of smoke rising into the sky. I go to the window and can see that on the other side of the railroad tracks there is a controlled fire burning. There is that distinct smell of a ditch burn. I always think it smells like marijuana. Seriously.

4pm - I hear a helicopter outside. I look out the window and notice it is hovering right above the fire. I go back to the computer and wonder why a helicopter is hovering over a ditch burn. It occurs to me that from the height the helicopter is hovering at it could be filming traffic on I-94.

4:15pm - The helicopter is still there. I go out on the deck and position myself for a better view of the fire. I notice nothing extraordinary, but I do see that it isn't a ditch burn. There is a mound of plants burning and I notice some men fueling the fire with additional greenery. There is a thick smoke surrounding our whole apartment building.

6pm - The fire dies. The helicopter has left.

9pm - I'm watching the local news with Kate. The lead story is about a fight on a school bus in Milwaukee today. Everyone on the bus was fighting. When three kids couldn't find the boy they were looking for in the mess they turned on the driver and beat him up. The second story is about a drug bust in Oak Creek--where we live. The cops uncovered a massive homegrown project. The marijuana found--its worth estimated at over $3 million--was grown using the traditional heat lamps and fans to maintain the humid environment necessary to grow the plant. All the walls had turned black from mildew caused by the humidity in the house. We were shocked by the amount of cannabis that was grown in the house featured in the story. It is enough to fill a small warehouse.

At the end of the story they show a beautiful aerial shot of a small fire in a field. The reporter says that the cannabis was moved to a "remote location" and burned. The "remote location" was pretty much our back yard. The mystery of the helicopter comes full circle and I regret not spending more of my afternoon outdoors.