Quick daily posts

[Serinde]

We grow almost everything in raised beds which we have been cultivating for about 15 years now, so the soil is wonderful and well draining. The natural soil here is 4 inches of thin acidic stuff over heavy clay with lots of stones over sandstone, so if it can be broken up with organic matter, it has the potential to be very good. Peas and beans, alliums, brassicas (for which Scotland is famous-- kale yard of the world!) and, of course, soft fruit. Almost everything else needs either more heat or shelter from the winds.

[rcperryls]

Don't know if this link will work, but it made me smile this morning and anything that brings a smile is worth sharing, especially these days.
10 Fun Facts Tat'll Bring You Some Happiness.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Fact 10 makes me proud of my native country!

[SteveM]

Normally when the sky gets dark and the wind picks up you stop what you are doing and go inside because a big storm is about to hit. This happened Monday afternoon, but not a drop of rain fell. A summer wind storm is rare around here, but we were expecting it. What was not expected is that smoke blew in with it from one of the few forest fires that was burning at that time and turned daylight into dusk. The hot, dry wind blew for three days and in that time numerous forest fires started and have burned out of control since. In our state alone there are 38 fires that have burned 861,000 acres (3484 sq. km.) and an estimated 500,000 people have evacuated their homes. Several small rural towns have burned to the ground and those that haven't burned but are evacuated are having to be guarded to prevent looting.

The silver lining in the cloud of smoke is that while we are said to currently have the worst air quality in the world and have been forced to hide in our houses, the thick smoke has taken what was supposed to be hot 90F/32C days into a much cooler 70F/21C high temperatures. Unfortunately while that strong East wind was blowing it blew a trail of smoke 1000 miles long out over the ocean. And now that the normal West wind pattern has returned we have to endure 1000 miles of smoke blowing back across us again before it clears out. Needless to say, the year 2020 is not very popular around here.

[rcperryls]

Glad to hear that you are relatively safe (I'm sure it doesn't quite feel that way with all the smoke blowing) from the fires. The pictures and videos are terrifying. I have family in the LA area who have had to evacuate during previous wildfires and it's horrible. And so difficult, especially this year, with pandemic all around us. We watch the tropical updates on this Coast wondering what we will do since the states around us are not in the best shape (nor are we either) for evacuating to. I don't know of too many people who are fond of 2020. There are some bright spots (my new nephew has been a bright shining light for my family) but so much is tarnished. I never knew before how thankful I would be for the technology which keeps us together. I hope the fires are put out soon. Stay safe.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Steve I'm sorry to hear of the bad time you're having with the forest fires - hope it will soon turn around!

[SteveM]

The smoke every summer is unfortunately becoming the new normal so we just need to equip with N95 masks and better air filters for the house to help knock the smoke down. The crazy part is where the fires are burning and how quickly they spread. We are far enough into the city to not be at risk from the fires.

[richardandtracy]

... You hope!
It's obvious from a number of Australian towns that their towns are not much less flammable than the countryside in really dry, hot conditions. I hope it's different for you, but it's not something I'd like to see put to the test.

So long as you and your family are safe, Steve, that's what matters most.

Is there any discussion about putting fire breaks around towns yet? It might work if they are maintained. I can remember one summer as a kid in Germany (1976?) when there was a massive fire and the absolutely huge conscript German Army was mobilised to smash a mile wide break through the forest in 3 days to stop the fire getting to a huge NATO arms dump. It was feared that if the dump went up it'd precipitate WW3 as NATO would have lost 3 months of ammunition and would run out during a Warsaw Pact invasion. The state of the cold war at the time was such that this was considered a real possibility. As it was, the fire break stopped the fire dead in its tracks and was wide enough not to be jumped. And WW3 was avoided - that time.

The other thing that occurs to me.. In the mid west many houses have shelters to escape to during tornadoes. Is it worth considering having a family size underground shelter with a manual air pump and filter in the garden? It appears (from thousands of miles away and consequential hazy idea of the actual detail and real risk) that these events are becoming more common and realistically, it's not impossible for an evacuation to be too late or the roads become so clogged it fails. So, being prepared for an unlikely emergency is safer than not being prepared. It may be an idea worth mulling over, coming up with a few alternatives and possibly implementing one.

Stay safe,

Richard.

[Serinde]

We get some of the news on the fires in the US here in the UK, and it looks awful, beyond words. As if you all don't have enough to contend with! Look after yourselves.

[SteveM]

Richard, our buildings are wood framed and often times the exterior siding is wood as well and we've already seen "small" scale evacuations cause hours long traffic jams so you are correct on both of those points. Should a fire hit the city we live in there would be no easy or fast escape and the hope would be that enough resources would be applied to the fire to put it out before it reached us. We are about 15 miles (24 km) from where the city turns into forest where fires like these are burning or could be burning.

Until now local governments have always assumed that a large scale emergency would only come about by a large earthquake so we spend our time and money preparing for that claimed eventuality. Many of our most important buildings are slowing being converted to being earthquake resistant. But since we have few other threats to life and limb from nature there is little else done and only "crazy" people have large food and water stores and emergency shelters. Maybe this will get people started thinking about how to better prevent these fires and respond to them. When I was a kid there were constant reminders about fire safety and prevention of wild fires. You don't see that much these days and two years ago we lost a huge chunk of some of the most beautiful forest around because some teenager thought it fun to throw lit fireworks off the trail as he hiked.

No, I'm afraid that as a country we have transitioned from a mindset of personal responsibility and preparedness to one of dependence on the government to handle things. I know of a small group of guys that are experienced wildland firefighters that on their own went to go defend homes of friends and family members and some critics told them to "Leave it to the professionals". However, none were anywhere to be seen. I have just read of another community near where I grew up where about 100 people from all over the area pooled their resources, self organized, and put out a fire that was going to destroy several homes. They say that in the three days that they were there they didn't see any government sanctioned firefighters. Most of these volunteers are hiding their identities for fear of getting into trouble for operating outside of the official chain of command as many have day jobs as firefighters.

[Serinde]

Manpower deployment must be a real issue with all the fires, and working as a community to protect your lives and property seems a sensible thing to do under the circumstances, especially when you have experienced firefighters working with you.

I remember Smokey the Bear (Only YOU can prevent forest fires) which seemed quaint to me in Illinois, where there weren't any forests to speak of. But we all had the drills and got the message.

[SteveM]

I remember Smokey the Bear (Only YOU can prevent forest fires) which seemed quaint to me in Illinois, where there weren't any forests to speak of. But we all had the drills and got the message.

That is exactly what I mean. You weren't even near a forest and know of Smokey the Bear. I don't think we've heard from him in decades.

[richardandtracy]

It's strange how people in government/local government authority seem to be mono-maniacs, only able to worry about one threat at a time. And then they do too little, too late. Fortunately not every organisation is like that.

When this Covid-19 thing became a pandemic, where I work the top managers got into a bit of a fluster for 24 hrs. The company had all sorts of contingency planning, but not for the right contingency. We were prepared for suppliers to be unable to supply goods, the pound to collapse/inflate enormously, the factory to burn down, half the staff to be lost due to some reason, a terrorist attack etc etc. Almost the only one not considered at all was a worldwide pandemic.
Must admit our top level managers/directors were very sensible, got staff input by talking to everyone, looked at government advice etc & within 24 hrs formulated a plan that enabled maximum possible distancing for those who had to remain at work (basically everyone was more isolated from anyone else than they would have been at home - the factory had 500 staff when I first joined in 1987 and now has 45 producing the same quantity of stuff, so it's not hard to isolate), and those who could work from home did so. One of our customers got us put on the register of critical suppliers (we make boxes - who'd have thought they were that important!) so there was no chance of being closed down by the authorities enforcing a lockdown and we carried on production at close to normal rates with all design work taking place at everyone's home.

Come to think of it, since I returned to the office in mid June, I don't think there has been anything I've done that I couldn't do at home, except possibly the video conference calls. Our internet connection at home is OK for Zoom, but most of the other systems need too much bandwidth and Microsoft Teams is utterly impossible to use for video calls - it kills the PC and a re-start is needed.

Ah well. I think the company is now ready for anything. Well, except the next actual emergency, as opposed to the next theoretical one.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

The company had all sorts of contingency planning, but not for the right contingency.

That made me both laugh and groan - it sounds far too accurate!

[Serinde]

The company had all sorts of contingency planning, but not for the right contingency.

That made me both laugh and groan - it sounds far too accurate!

Really!

[rcperryls]

The company had all sorts of contingency planning, but not for the right contingency.

That made me both laugh and groan - it sounds far too accurate!

Really!

I have a lot to say about preparation or lack thereof, but rather than go into my general rant, I think I'll just say I agree (as I sit here laughing and groaning with y'all)

Carole

[richardandtracy]

I would like to say 'Ow, Ow, Ow'.

I am mow far enough from the weekend to be able to say that in language fit for the board.

We did a fair bit towards the garage roof we're changing over the weekend. Not as much as I had hoped, I must admit. We did in 2 days what I'd hoped would take 1. However we managed to remove all the old corrugated cardboard, and replace 9 undersized roof beams with ones of adequate size. Due to the lack of strength of the roof, I had to cut the boarding away from underneath with a circular saw and let the board drop on top of me. Even in the areas with 2" (5cm) of composted soil on top. We drained the pools by piercing the roof and collecting the birdbath water in three buckets (lovely toxic green frothy water...). The bitumen board 'sawdust' stuck & smeared black all over everything (me in particular). Then I had to use an angle grinder to cut the joist attachment nail heads off, lift the beams out of their hangers & replace with 8" deep beams weighing 15kg (35lb). All in all I had to go up the step ladder at least 15 times to change each beam. Felt like I climbed a moderate size mountain during those 2 days while doing everything else as well.

Anyway all the gripping has made my hands hurt, standing on the ladder has made my feet hurt, and Tracy who cleared up all the bits & gave me tools all day long aches all over to the point where she could hardly sleep last night. Hence the 'Ow, ow, ow'.

So now our garage is roofless and open to the elements. There is no rain forecast - just as well as the garage electrics are still live! We hope to be able to put the sheeting on next weekend. Until then our maroon & black 2CV Charleston (same colour as the one in the main picture: https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/373108181767) is basking in the first sun she has seen since 1999. One day.. one day we'll get her on the road again.

Regards

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

I'm sure your poor 2CV (known as "Ugly Ducklings" in Dutch ) is grateful for a bit of fresh air and sunshine to keep her going until she's back on the road again!

As for you and Tracy, hope all the muscles and other achy bits soon feel better.

[SteveM]

Richard - I've done some nasty jobs, but I've got nothing to top your misery.

[richardandtracy]

Steve, it's not a competition. And if it was, I'd much prefer you to win...

Regards,

Richard.