It's fire season again

So, California's 2021 fire season if off to a fast start with 4x the average burned year-ro-date over 2020;

Incidents | CAL FIRE

www.fire.ca.gov www.fire.ca.gov

On top of that, there was a 'swarm' of earth quakes along the Walker Lane fault zone. This area straddles the CA/NV border starting about 60 miles to the east of us. Today's max quake is reported at a 6.0 with rock falls along nearby highways. We felt the quakes for over a minute here at the house and actually took shelter under open doorways just in case it got worse.

I had finished my 25 mile loop around town about an hour before the 'swarm'. Wonder what it would have felt like on a bike?

Glad (?) We're back in Nor Cal for the summer...🤣
 
Sierratim said:
So, California's 2021 fire season if off to a fast start with 4x the average burned year-ro-date over 2020;

Incidents | CAL FIRE

www.fire.ca.gov www.fire.ca.gov

On top of that, there was a 'swarm' of earth quakes along the Walker Lane fault zone. This area straddles the CA/NV border starting about 60 miles to the east of us. Today's max quake is reported at a 6.0 with rock falls along nearby highways. We felt the quakes for over a minute here at the house and actually took shelter under open doorways just in case it got worse.

I had finished my 25 mile loop around town about an hour before the 'swarm'. Wonder what it would have felt like on a bike?

Glad (?) We're back in Nor Cal for the summer...🤣
Click to expand...
I spent many years in California. Somewhere along the time line I discovered Mountain Home State Forest. It's partly a Giant Sequoia grove near the headwaters of the Tule River. All the magnificence of the big trees without the tourist pressure of the National Park on its northern border. This was a long time ago in human lifetime years. But a bit over a decade ago I got the chance to go back there on a motorcycle trip with a friend. My friend was of another generation. It was difficult to distract his attention from bikes and tomorrow's road goals and get him to focus on the magnificence of what surrounded us amongst these trees. I did manage to get him to take a bit of a hike with me above our campsite to see the many wonders of this area. I was astounded at what we saw. It had been thirty years since I had been there. The forest litter amongst the trees was two to four feet deep. That's two to four feet of kindling. All dry and ready for a spark, or a lightning strike. California is managed by idiots living in ivory towers who never get out of their cubby holes and favorite restaurants.

Make that craven idiots.
 
Sierratim said:
So, California's 2021 fire season if off to a fast start with 4x the average burned year-ro-date over 2020;

Incidents | CAL FIRE

www.fire.ca.gov www.fire.ca.gov

On top of that, there was a 'swarm' of earth quakes along the Walker Lane fault zone. This area straddles the CA/NV border starting about 60 miles to the east of us. Today's max quake is reported at a 6.0 with rock falls along nearby highways. We felt the quakes for over a minute here at the house and actually took shelter under open doorways just in case it got worse.

I had finished my 25 mile loop around town about an hour before the 'swarm'. Wonder what it would have felt like on a bike?

Glad (?) We're back in Nor Cal for the summer...🤣
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that. How is the water issue where you are? I read about rationing today.
 
Sierratim said:
So, California's 2021 fire season if off to a fast start with 4x the average burned year-ro-date over 2020;

Incidents | CAL FIRE

www.fire.ca.gov www.fire.ca.gov

On top of that, there was a 'swarm' of earth quakes along the Walker Lane fault zone. This area straddles the CA/NV border starting about 60 miles to the east of us. Today's max quake is reported at a 6.0 with rock falls along nearby highways. We felt the quakes for over a minute here at the house and actually took shelter under open doorways just in case it got worse.

I had finished my 25 mile loop around town about an hour before the 'swarm'. Wonder what it would have felt like on a bike?

Glad (?) We're back in Nor Cal for the summer...🤣
Click to expand...
Fire Season, Luck´s holding for now in WA. Inslee has ordered a burn ban here. He musta bin reading my
mind. There are some areas here that should have guards on duty, places that are so much kindling.
Being sovereign, he couldn´t stop firework sales on the Rezs, but at least the worst threat has past.
( I hope.) No worry as far as the Makah are concerned, They´ve completely isolated themselves. No
non-tribal people allowed into the rez. I managed to pass on a copy of Moermanś ¨Native American
Medicinal Plants´ for their library to a supply truck going in, the most comprehensive book on the subject.
I mean covid´s bad, but every year thereś a new bug & a new vaccine. We can´t hide forever.
 
J.R. said:
Sorry to hear that. How is the water issue where you are? I read about rationing today.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the new four seasons...fire, flood, quakes, and mud...may be here for a while. 😥
The farm land around here is very productive b/c of all the rain this year, but also very hard to work. Tractors get stuck in mud up to the axles.I wish we could send you some rain.
 
reed scott said:
I spent many years in California. Somewhere along the time line I discovered Mountain Home State Forest. It's partly a Giant Sequoia grove near the headwaters of the Tule River. All the magnificence of the big trees without the tourist pressure of the National Park on its northern border. This was a long time ago in human lifetime years. But a bit over a decade ago I got the chance to go back there on a motorcycle trip with a friend. My friend was of another generation. It was difficult to distract his attention from bikes and tomorrow's road goals and get him to focus on the magnificence of what surrounded us amongst these trees. I did manage to get him to take a bit of a hike with me above our campsite to see the many wonders of this area. I was astounded at what we saw. It had been thirty years since I had been there. The forest litter amongst the trees was two to four feet deep. That's two to four feet of kindling. All dry and ready for a spark, or a lightning strike. California is managed by idiots living in ivory towers who never get out of their cubby holes and favorite restaurants.

Make that craven idiots.
Click to expand...
The vast majority of the population has never heard of this place. A little slice of heaven, a lone plateau in the southern Sierras that has two forest roads up and down from it.
I've taken a few groups up there over the years and it never ceases to amaze.

In this photo, at the base of the huge tree at the back of the lake, although hard to see, there are two people standing there for a size reference...



 
Browneye said:
The vast majority of the population has never heard of this place. A little slice of heaven, a lone plateau in the southern Sierras that has two forest roads up and down from it.
I've taken a few groups up there over the years and it never ceases to amaze.

In this photo, at the base of the huge tree at the back of the lake, although hard to see, there are two people standing there for a size reference...



Click to expand...
Ahhh, a compatriot! :p Balch Park and the Tule River swimming hole at the main campground. That water is literally ice cold let me tell ya.👍👍👍

I've also hiked way up to the top of the Sierras from MHSF. Can't remember which trail but somewhere not too far up there you come across a basalt outcrop of those fantastic hexagonal columns stacked up like huge fence posts. Just above the swimming hole there is a huge downed Sequoia Gigantica ( these are not your smaller coastal redwoods folks ) or at least there was 30 years ago. Pretty amazing to see one of these giants laying on its side, passed on so to speak. I always get a 'spiritual' feeling when amongst these trees. Or something anyway. You feel like you are truly in God's forest.
 
reed scott said:
I spent many years in California. Somewhere along the time line I discovered Mountain Home State Forest. It's partly a Giant Sequoia grove near the headwaters of the Tule River. All the magnificence of the big trees without the tourist pressure of the National Park on its northern border. This was a long time ago in human lifetime years. But a bit over a decade ago I got the chance to go back there on a motorcycle trip with a friend. My friend was of another generation. It was difficult to distract his attention from bikes and tomorrow's road goals and get him to focus on the magnificence of what surrounded us amongst these trees. I did manage to get him to take a bit of a hike with me above our campsite to see the many wonders of this area. I was astounded at what we saw. It had been thirty years since I had been there. The forest litter amongst the trees was two to four feet deep. That's two to four feet of kindling. All dry and ready for a spark, or a lightning strike. California is managed by idiots living in ivory towers who never get out of their cubby holes and favorite restaurants.

Make that craven idiots.
Click to expand...
Yep, we have what the locals call 'metered water' from the water district. They've announced 20% cutbacks. Tough for us since this only supplies the house for the 2 of us. With low flow fixtures, etc. We'll see how they react when our usage doesn't drop...

We also have a well that's dedicated to outside watering. Everything is on timed drip systems that's worked well for over 30,years. Our electric bill was higher than expected, aside from the local utility getting a big rate increase. Turns out the well pump was running 24/7. The pump's only a couple of years old so I had the installer come out to check. Turns out the standing water level has dropped 15 feet since the install. The pump max output pressure at this standing water level was below the 60psi shut off switch set point so the pump just kept running. We reset this to 50psi and now the pump shuts off after each sprinkler cycle. Local well drillers are busy drilling deeper wells for those that have gone dry. Keeping my fingers crossed that ours won't be on their list.

Weather forecast is for 108°F in nearby Grass Valley, CA by SUN. Could be a record...
 
Sierratim said:
Yep, we have what the locals call 'metered water' from the water district. They've announced 20% cutbacks. Tough for us since this only supplies the house for the 2 of us. With low flow fixtures, etc. We'll see how they react when our usage doesn't drop...

We also have a well that's dedicated to outside watering. Everything is on timed drip systems that's worked well for over 30,years. Our electric bill was higher than expected, aside from the local utility getting a big rate increase. Turns out the well pump was running 24/7. The pump's only a couple of years old so I had the installer come out to check. Turns out the standing water level has dropped 15 feet since the install. The pump max output pressure at this standing water level was below the 60psi shut off switch set point so the pump just kept running. We reset this to 50psi and now the pump shuts off after each sprinkler cycle. Local well drillers are busy drilling deeper wells for those that have gone dry. Keeping my fingers crossed that ours won't be on their list.

Weather forecast is for 108°F in nearby Grass Valley, CA by SUN. Could be a record..
Click to expand...
The ground water level dropped 15 feet in a few years. Wow.
 
Art Deco said:
The ground water level dropped 15 feet in a few years. Wow.
Click to expand...
At 2,600' elevation local wells don't tap ground water. My geologist wife explains that we tap into cracks in the underlying granite that allow water to flow from the high Sierras to the valleys below. Still, a 15 foot drop in static water level is a lot...😱
 
The high-pressure system that hit PNW last week must have slid south a bit. It actually got hot up there for a few days.
We're 80-90 at the coast, about normal. Using AC in the middle of the day. 12 miles from the beach = 10-15 degrees warmer. Most homes at the coast don't have AC, most inland do.
 
UV index here on the Olympic Peninsula has normally been low for years, 1 or 2. In the last few days in went
to 7 & is currently 8.5 or 9 depending on the source.. This is just a teensy bit disturbing. I tossed my
8 yr. old bottle of sunscreen 50 & got a bottle of 100. 😡
 
AleksR said:
Its all quiet on the Western Front for now...................
Click to expand...
Not exactly. I'm evacuated at the moment. My house is somewhere in that distant smoke cloud:

IMG_0187.jpeg


And no, the bike is not okay.
 
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