California Apocalypse

[Cudedog]

I hadn't heard about that fire but it is two mountain ranges away from me and along the coast south of La. It is a highly populated area between the ocean and the mountains. Catherine lives in that area. I hope she is ok!

Just very high winds here.

I just saw a news update from one of the local tv stations there, KTLA.

It was a meeting of the fire people, evacuation orders are up to 90,000. Not a typo. The city of Irvine is threatened.

Anne

[BarbaraRose]

Yep. 2 fire fighters were badly burned in that fire. There are actually 2 fired burning out of control in that area now.

[Cudedog]

"California wildfires force tens of thousands to evacuate Orange County amid strong winds"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/ ... nty-winds/

[Cudedog]

Still no rain here.

The prediction on Weather.gov shows a 10% chance of rain for tonight (I'm not holding my breath - there isn't a cloud in the sky) 20% for tomorrow during the day and tomorrow night, and 20% for Saturday night, 20% for Sunday morning.

Loosely translated this means "no rain".

I have never seen it rain here if less than (at least) 50% chance was predicted, and usually not even that. Sometimes rain doesn't come even when it is 80% - 100% predicted.

So I am not looking for any rain. It was 90 degrees here at my house the afternoon, supposed to cool off some over the next week.

I guess I need to start thinking of running a garden hose from my washing machine out the laundry room window to water my (pretty much already crispy) outdoor plants. The reservoirs around here drain pretty fast when there is no rain.

At least the fierce winds we generally have this time of year have (thus far) not come, so that is a bit of good news.

The North Complex fire, which has been burning up in the Sierra foothills since mid-August, not too far from me, is now listed at 318,935 acres burned and at 96% containment. Full containment predicted for November 30.

And so goes another summer, another year of massive California fires.

Anne

[MandysMom]

I'm surprised it's 90 there when it barely hit 80 here. And of course, my well insulated house stays cooler. Clear blue skies here today too. Good news here was my front yard sprinklers are almost done being rebuilt. So at least I can protect my trees from further damage .
Hoping for rain.
Velda

[Cudedog]

I'm surprised it's 90 there when it barely hit 80 here. And of course, my well insulated house stays cooler. Clear blue skies here today too. Good news here was my front yard sprinklers are almost done being rebuilt. So at least I can protect my trees from further damage .
Hoping for rain.
Velda

I think my house is in kind of a "bowl", so it isn't unusual for it to be warmer here than in surrounding areas. The local weather station where the temps are measured is about 5 miles from me, and across the river. Kind of a micro-climate thing, I guess.

I have an outside thermometer that I keep on my sheltered front porch - the sun never hits it. Anyway, I can more or less tell the temps by my incredible calibrated thumb. When it feels warmer than I think it should, I always check the thermometer for verification.

Here it is, scooting along towards mid-November, and I have yet to fire up my furnace. I wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt around the house, with thermal underwear underneath. Just now it is 69 degrees inside my house (yep, another thermometer for inside, too) so dressed the way that I am I am comfortable.

Over the last week I have just opened the door in my living room to the back yard (I have one of those metal screen-type doors so the bugs can't get in) and have just propped my big box fan in the door and blown the warm air into the house.

I did a garden this year, and I am still getting butternut squash! In November! Some tomatoes are still back there too, but they are still green, don't know if they will ripen. Same with my bacon plants .

Weird weather year.

I am seeing a few wispy clouds this morning, but they will need to thicken up quite a bit before rain will come.

Velda, you seeing any clouds in your neck of the woods?

Bummer that we didn't get to do the GTG with Karen and Laura in Redding this year like we did last October. I had so much fun last year!!

Anne

[MandysMom]

I use a Professional grade Davis weather station with sensors outside and inside. Have a panel in my room and living room showing everything from indoor and outdoor temperature to humidity, wind, barometric pressure, etc. at moment it's 58 outside and 72 indoors. I see some clouds to the north though not a thick layer , I can see blue between them, and from south windows clouds less thick. Hard to say what weather will do. My bedroom has 6 inch studs filled with insulation, the rest of the house standard 4 in plus very heavy insulation in attic. I am comfortable most days so far with short sleeve tshirt and jeans. I've never worn thermals except decades ago when I skied! Occasionally a sweater towards evening in winter. My heater has popped on a few times for a few min but nothing consistent needed to maintain temp in here.
Velda

[BarbaraRose]

Anne, let me know how those bacon plants do. I would love to plant some here!

[Cudedog]

Anne, let me know how those bacon plants do. I would love to plant some here!

Barbie, truthfully they didn't do too well. I don't know just what it was - maybe it was too hot, maybe too much ash, I just don't know.

I got the seeds from a seller on Ebay:



The plants seemed to come up ok, but some of the pieces were kind of limp, the others were a little too crispy. Tasted pretty good with mustard, though.

I'll probably try again next year. Thanks for asking!

Anne

[snowball]

so I gotta ask what is a Bacon Plant????
sheila

[JudyJB]

Glad to see some rain in northern California!

[Cudedog]

Glad to see some rain in northern California!

Me too!

It started raining yesterday morning shortly after I got up about 7:00 a.m. It rained off-and-on most of the day - only light rain, but we'll take whatever we can get at this point.

As others have said on other threads, Covid cases are really taking off in my area as well. My county had done a little "opening-up" over the last few weeks; what with the sudden surge in cases here (and in surrounding counties as well) I understand we will be going back into the most restrictive tier in a couple of days, with everything closed up again.

I had a friend contact me and invite me and several other friends to meet at a local restaurant for breakfast "before they closed everything down again". All of us are retired ex-co-workers, before the pandemic we would get together for lunch or dinner about once per month. It was really enjoyable.

I politely declined the invitation.

Barbie, I think your comment about a non-swimmer jumping into the deep end of the swimming pool just to "see how it goes" was spot on, and extremely appropriate. It actually made me laugh out loud. Good one, Barbie!

Even now, with covid cases surging here, mask-wearers here are STILL very few and far between. My street is pretty heavy with pedestrian traffic - I sometimes sit at my front window, watching people walk by. Out of maybe 20 people going by, one (more often none) will be wearing a mask.

I am planning a nice Thanksgiving with my kids - I had a medium-sized turkey delivered from one of the local grocery stores yesterday, am looking forward to cooking it along with many of the side dishes that I love, and only have at Thanksgiving. . . I don't expect we will be wearing masks. . . . . . because we will be doing dinner together via video chat. My son-in-law makes his living as a computer whiz, he is helping to set this up. He says we can even watch a movie together (a family tradition) after dinner via video chat!!

I am quite looking forward to it!!

Although there is no way I can eat my way through the 12# turkey currently sitting in my freezer, my sweet Joe will be happy to help me out. I will give him small portions with his regular food, so as not to upset his tummy. This might seem like a waste to some - but with turkey (an excellent meat protein source) at sixty-five cents a pound, and dog food around three dollars a pound, it is actually a pretty good deal.

Stay safe, everyone. Wear your masks and be sure to social distance. I'm hearing that things are going to get worse before they get better.

Not a good time to be out and about.

Anne

[snowball]

If I am out walking probably wouldn't be wearing a mask but if in a store do so... perhaps that is the way more people do it... now if it was really a busy walk and lots of people then I would consider wearing one.
sheila

[MandysMom]

Sheila, I agree, if outdoors and no one near, no mask, but if people approach, mask goes on. Always mask on when indoors where there are others. Some wear mask during Curves, some don't, as it's allowed to be no mask during exercise where 6 ft or more distance is kept. I keep my mask on at Curves, because that makes me feel more secure. When we arrive at Curves, our temperature is taken, then we go to bathroom and wash hands, before being assigned work out station to start, which are nearly 12 ft apart. We rotate on signal so distance is maintained and each machine is wiped with sanitizing solution, between users. Curves, I feel safer than in a Drs office!
Velda

[Bethers]

I have a mask with me (around my neck) when I'm out walking. But it's not on unless I'm getting close to anyone. But, no, I don't wear one when outside and I'll able to social distance. And yes, if people are coming my way, my mask is on in a flash.