Getting back to it...
Blogging has taken a back seat for the last few months as life has kept me quite occupied. Now that the winter rainy season has set in, I have a bit more time to penning some thoughts.
As you, the reader, have already concluded, I am not a technical guy
Smoke and Fire
The camp fire over in Butte county is now fully contained, but has become the deadliest fire in California history. Although the investigation is still in the preliminary stages, there is some speculation that an arcing PG&E power line during a high wind event may have been the culprit. The greater question is how could the fire grow to such monumental proportions in such a short time. I do know that heavy winter rains encourage lush vegetative growth and then when the dry season comes, the heavy growth dies off leaving very dry brush that will ignite instantly under the right circumstances. Climate change may be a major factor.
I don't think there is much doubt that there have been significant shifts in climate worldwide, but nobody seems to know what change is in store. Some experts say global temperatures are warming and there may be some evidence of that with shrinking glaciers and ice caps. See this for your dose of doom porn.
Others say we may be on the verge of a mini ice age as a result of what is termed a grand solar minimum.
Although the jury is still out with regard to causation, the correlation seems to be there. The current consensus among climate scientists regarding the last mini ice age is that the cause was increased volcanic activity. The electric universe model provides an interesting explanation about volcanic activity
"Large 'telluric currents' have been found circulating through Earth's crust because our magnetic field induces current flow in conductive strata. Thousands of amperes flow beneath the surface, varying according to conductivity. Since the Sun can affect Earth's magnetic field through geomagnetic storms, fluctuations in telluric currents can occur when there is an increase in sunspots or solar flares, because they create oscillations in the ionosphere."
Who knows? What I do know is that this past summer here has been on the cool side, but also dry. Our tomato crop, which usually does well has been disappointing as tomatoes require good heat to flourish. Not so this year, but admittedly its a tough call since other parts of the country have experienced record heat. There may be many things happening simultaneously which has resulted in unusual weather globally.
Meanwhile, back at home, the rains have finally started to everyone's relief. Things are greening up and I am hoping the peas, carrots, beets, spinach and onions we have planted will winter okay. We have had a few days of light frost in the mornings, but thus far they seem to handling the weather okay. Onion shoots have been nice to have with our breakfast pallack paranthas.
Mmm...
Tags: climate-change, wild-fires, food
Fire Update
Fall is making it's gradual transition to winter, but we have yet to receive any significant rain and this at a time when firefighters have been battling epic wildfires both in northern and southern California. As we have now seen, wildfires are now an ever present danger not only to rural communities, but also to suburbia as we saw in the Sonoma fires last year. To add insult to injury, (so to speak) it appears the Woolsey fire in SoCal May Have Ejected "Incredibly Dangerous" Radioactive Particles Into The Atmosphere. Sigh...
Cal Fire recommends 100' of defensible space around the dwelling and I intend to hold firm to that recommendation. In addition, it would probably be wise to install a fire hose connection to the tank drain valve so fire trucks can fill up if required. Although we do not have any trees over hanging the house, it is always wise to prune away the low hanging branches up to around 8-10'. As for the brush that invariably grows during the rainy season, the venerable scythe is the tool of choice.
Most of the clearing will have to wait for the spring, but the scythe really works it's magic when the grass is wet. Consequently, during the pauses between rain showers, I can cut the grass and weeds down low and hopefully catch them before they start seeding.
Rodent Update
It appears our rodent abatement program has generated some results. Unfortunately the result has most likely expired in one of the walls or under the floor....pretty ripe. :-|
Well Update
Thus far the deep well is producing okay and keeping the tank full, but we continue to be cautious about our water use. As I had mentioned in the last post, I turned off the the tank inlet valve from the shallow well, so it has had about a week to recover.
Tags: wildlife, wild-fires, hand-tools