Salton Sea

[Cudedog]

Good morning, everyone.

Barbie, I was doing my usual news-junkie thing this morning, and came across this article. It made me think of you. A while back, if I remember correctly, there was a bit of a discussion on here about the "smells" you were having in your area; you have often posted about the various odd health issues that you have been having since you moved to your new place.

Anyway, here is the article about the Salton Sea:

'"The air is toxic’: how an idyllic California lake became a nightmare"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/23/salton-sea-california-lake-dust-drought-climate

And, of course, there are the Salton Buttes (volcanic domes on the south-eastern shore of the Salton Sea) that are not "extinct", but are continually off-gassing, adding their own fumes to the delightfully toxic mix in the area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Buttes

Have a good day, everyone.

Oh, yes. The Dixie Fire. . .
https://yubanet.com/regional-fires/dixie/
. . . which started near the town of Paradise (Paradise is the Sierra foothills town that was destroyed by fire in 2018), and is now burning north-east, looks like it might surpass Paradise in it's destructive capabilities (it is the largest fire currently burning in California, at more than 181,289 acres, and counting. . .).

Allegedly, the Dixie Fire, too, was ignited by a malfunction of PG&E (our northern California utility provider) equipment. If proven to be true, PG&E may now be toast (PG&E agreed to a payout of $13 billion dollars after being found at fault for the Paradise fire). Not looking good for northern California electricity rate-payers (like me).

'Interesting times' we live in, eh?

Anne

[Colliemom]

Afternoon Anne and all who follow. Short break here from my morning project. We have been having heavy rains here this morning. Areas to my west are having flooding problems on the roads etc. It’s moving out and heading East. O’Sharon, be sure your gutters if you have them, are clear. The rain is anywhere from2 to 5 inches in very little time.

Anne, loks like some interesting stuff you posted this morning. Will read it later after I’m done with my kitchen. Wonder if the Dixie fire will hit Paradise again. Hopefully not. My neighbor has a friend who was in the Paradise fire, but her house survived. From what neighbor told me, this lady is original from MI and moved out to CA a number of years ago. She told my neighbor that she is having a time, trying to get the smoke smell etc., out of her house from the Paradise fire. She has bought 5 acres of land over toward Lake Michigan about halfway down the state from here and is moving back. Enough fires, drought, high temps, smoke etc. said she wishes her house had burned, then she would have had insurance money, but now has to try to sell it. That is going to be really hard, especially in light of this new fire.

Decided this morning to tackle a little project in my kitchen that I had been putting off. When I got my new countertops installed, the backsplash from the older tops was a bit higher than the new ones, so left a white line about a half inch wide all across the new ones backsplash, plus I took off a piece of paneling on the wall next to one cupboard, so a bit more countertop could be added. So hauled out the paint and am painting that little section of wall and also along the backsplash of the new countertops. Got a bit of detail to do and then will give kitchen a good cleaning. So best get with it and get er done.

[BarbaraRose]

My coworker and I were just talking about that yesterday as we left work. We could see the brown haze to the south. When the winds come up from the south (like they are now), it brings the dust, sand, odors, etc from the Salton Sea. Some days the smell is awful. Smells like rotten eggs and garbage.

"They" keep talking about how to fix it and have big plans but nothing ever happens. It is a concern to me but most people in this area are not too concerned yet.

The only fish that have been able to survive in the lake over the past decades have been tilapia. Now the lake is so salty that they have all died and there are no fish left in the lake at all now. The Salton Sea is along the migratory fly zone and the south end is a huge bird refuge originally set up by Sonny Bono. Thousands of birds have died in recent years due to the toxic fish and plants in the lake, or just from starvation.

A sad situation for sure.

[MandysMom]

Good morning all.
What I read repeatedly about the Dixie fire, is, PG&E got a signal that a transformer was out. Sent a worker, who found a tree has fallen into pole with transformer, and was leaning against it with a small fire at the base. He immediately called it in, only to be told the fire crew was on the way. Is it PG&Es fault a tree fell? Depends on how much line clearing they had done, which I know they have been doing (have seen the videos).
Sue, why is that woman not calling in the companies that use Ozonators to remove smoke smell. They are available here in CA. The fire is moving North East, and Paradise is West of the fire, so unlikely to hurt Paradise again, and lots of burn scar (reduced or no trees or undergrowth) to act as barrier in between. Paradise is busy rebuilding, and has housing shortages.
I don't know why the woman would have trouble selling the house when there is a massive housing shortage all over CA including ESP Paradise, since 10,000 buildings burned.
Salton Sea has had periods in history where it dried up completely. For over half a century, It was fed by farmer run off, and became contaminated further, and now between drought and more efficient water use, it's going dry again. Man made ineterference strikes again!
Starting late Thursday we began to have smoke from up north, from various fires. So far it's not too bad, but can quickly get worse depending on winds. I try to stay in with my AC with its two types filtration , because we have both heat (today another 100 degree plus day) and smoke to contend with.
Realizing this IS the Saturday morning coffee post, I'm editing to add. We watched opening ceremony for Olympics starting around 4 yesterday. It really was well thought out and well done. Learned there are several new sports being contested at this Olympics, including 3x3 basketball, skateboard, surfing, and a pairs form of archery plus Taekwondo. Probably another I missed. I did not realize each chosen city has over 40 sports to choose from and each Olympics some are not included. Example, softball and baseball will not be at the Olympics in France coming in 3 years as those are not popular in Europe. Japan created the first recognizable icons for each sport at their Olympics in 1964. They did a spectacular showcase last night of all of the more than 40 icons representng all the sports which can be included at choice of each Olympic committee. We added Olympics channel and a extra virtual DVR for the Olympics so we can catch all tne lesser known sports. We enjoyed watching US women win in softball, and 3x3 basketball between Russian and Japan, archery, and some rowing events before calling it a night after midnight. Soon as Chris is up moving we will see what is on for today. Our favorite, gymnastics starts Sunday, but we will watch as many events as we can each day. It's the only sports besides NASCAR that our family has consistently watched together for decades. Between smoke and hgh temps outside, now s a good time to stay in and watch the Olympics!
Velda

[Othersharon]

Good afternoon all. I’ve been outside trying to pull weeds and jumping at a bush/vine that I planted years ago and it has taken over and sends shoots out into the yard. If I had only known! Plus trying to pull thistles too. As fast as I pull one two more pop up! Or so it seems! Sue, thanks for the heads up on the rain coming. Tomorrow isn’t slated to be a very nice day. Rascal and I need to go walking once it cools down a bit and before the rains maybe start later. Scattered they say! Interesting about the Salton Sea. Guess it proves that all this climate changing isn’t real recent and was starting generations ago. Beth, I like your perm. Looks nice. Judy, did you ever find a campground around Gettysburg? Martha, got to be frustrating when you pay to have something fixed and it quits so quickly. I’ve been pretty lucky so far and not run into that situation with Lola! I read in our local weekly paper yesterday that the borough is having a scrap metal pick up the next two Tuesdays so I need to get some stuff together and ready to go out. I still have a microwave from the RV and the one from the house that I’ve never gotten to the transfer station in State College so hoping they’ll take them. Said they’ll take stoves etc so figure microwaves should be okay. I’ll call on Monday to see if they’ll be taken before I put them out. So more purging in the attic too. We had a brass and glass phase and somehow they got broken down and stored in the attic never to be used again so out they’ll go too! Never to return! Yay! So, no that I’ve cooled down guess I should get back outside and continue my weeding. Have a great weekend and stay cool and safe.

[Acadianmom]

I was out messing around with the motorhome and had to come in and cool off. I didn't put it under the shed yesterday because I have to pull up into the yard a little way to back it in. The yard is so wet I didn't want to get stuck so the motorhome is in the front drive way. I need to back it to where I can plug it in or run an extension cord so I can plug it in. The coach batteries will be dead by Monday if I don't.

Barbie, I would have given that Raccoon a ride to the country but not in the middle of the night. Maybe getting caught will keep him away from the traps. Thank you for taking the time to help the cat population.

You should get a whiff of my toxic air. I live about a mile from a plant that makes fish meal and oil. The first time I smelled it after moving here I was looking around for something dead. The plant is not allowed to put any water that comes in with the fish into the river. It has to be loaded on a boat and hauled off shore. That's the part of the operation that stinks the worst. The smell from them cooking the meal isn't good either.

I'm bored today but not bored enough to go to Lafayette on a Saturday. I washed the bath mats and some towels and that's about all I have done. I bought some of the country style pork ribs and have been cooking 2 at a time in the air fryer. Pork chops get too dry in the air fryer but the ribs are good. I might try to go to the pond on the mower when(and if) it cools off.

Martha

[BarbaraRose]

Woke up to cloudy skies this morning. Has stayed that way all day so far, but no rain yet. A little cooler today but humid and no wind.

Finally got to my laundry. 3 big loads. I realized that the laundry room is, in fact, air conditioned. So that is a bonus. Last summer, they closed this small one near me and just had the large one in the clubhouse open which was across the park from me. They are permanently closing the clubhouse laundry to use that space for something else so they kept this one open this summer.

After getting rid of so many clothes I was happy with what I had left. However, I forgot about all the laundry and now I think I need to go thru more clothes once I put these away. Will look at it as I put it away and see if there are things I don't want, altho if I wore it recently, I probably like it. I could actually use a few more tank tops. They are much cooler than regular t-shirts, especially at work, since they keep it warmer in there.

Now I need to get to my kitchen mess.

[Cudedog]

Good morning all.
What I read repeatedly about the Dixie fire, is, PG&E got a signal that a transformer was out. Sent a worker, who found a tree has fallen into pole with transformer, and was leaning against it with a small fire at the base. He immediately called it in, only to be told the fire crew was on the way. Is it PG&Es fault a tree fell? Depends on how much line clearing they had done, which I know they have been doing (have seen the videos).

Hrm. I have not read that was a transformer, but was rather a blown fuse, that is, it was actually three blown fuses.

Here is a paragraph from "PGE Incident Report 20210713" filed by PG&E with the California Public Utilities Commission. (the report is in .pdf, link to this report can be found on the California Public Utilities Commission website at
https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/search#q=dixie%20fire&sort=relevancy):

Summary: On July 13, 2021 at approximately 0700 hours, PG&E's outage system indicated that Cresta Dam off of Highway 70 in the Feather River Canyon lost power. The responding PG&E troubleman observed from a distance what he thought was a blown fuse on the PG&E Bucks Creek 1101 12kV Overhead Distribution Circuit uphill from his location. Due to the challenging terrain and road work resulting in a bridge closure, he was not able to reach the pole with the fuse until approximately 1640 hours. There he observed two of three fuses blown and what appeared to him to be a healthy green tree leaning into the Bucks Creek 1101 12 kV conductor, which was still intact and suspended on the poles. He also observed a fire on the ground near the base of the tree. The troubleman manually removed the third fuse and reported the fire, his supervisor called 9-1-1, and the 9-1-1 operator replied they were aware of the fire and responding. CAL FIRE air support arrived on scene by approximately 1730 hours and began dropping fire retardant and water.

There is more to this report, if anyone is interested, check under the link above.

The fire is moving North East, and Paradise is West of the fire, so unlikely to hurt Paradise again, and lots of burn scar (reduced or no trees or undergrowth) to act as barrier in between.

Paradise is still under some amount of threat risk. Part of the fire in an area near Buck’s Lake seems to have turned a bit, and is perhaps again moving south and slightly west - this remains to be seen. The small town of Pulga, the place in the Feather River Canyon where the Paradise fire began, is currently under "Evacuation Warning", even though it was pretty much burned over during the Paradise fire.

Here is the current evacuation map – Pulga is in the left-hand yellow area, at bottom right (enlarge the map to see Pulga) Paradise is directly to the left of Pulga on this map. The bottom of the Evacuation Warning area covering the town of Magalia (which also burned during the Paradise fire) abuts the town of Paradise.

https://buttecountygis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9c92e0a2d2e0415fa5248d70cd644a82

It has been three years since the Paradise fire - Manzanita, an extremely flammable native shrub, is native to the Paradise area, there is a lot of it up there. Manzanita can grow up to about a foot a year. Even though much of the Paradise area was burned to the ground, manzanita is one of the California plants that needs fire to germinate, so although it was thoroughly burned over, three years later there is likely (due to fire germination) a plethora of young 2 or 3 foot tall manzanita shrubs growing thickly mashed together, as they tend to do - along with a lot of dry grass and remaining trees – just waiting to burn again.

Paradise is busy rebuilding, and has housing shortages. I don't know why the woman would have trouble selling the house when there is a massive housing shortage all over CA including ESP Paradise, since 10,000 buildings burned.

Living where I do, I talk to a lot of people, so I might have an inkling as to the why of it.

I belong to a rock club that traditionally draws members from around a wide area – primarily from Paradise, Oroville, Cherokee and points south. This is how that I personally know four different families that were burned out in the Paradise fire. All of these people I know have told me forcefully and unequivocally that they will never live in Paradise ever again (one of these is a woman whose son died in the fire).

Why? Because, as noted above, grass, brush and trees grow back and it is a constant battle to keep new and fast-growing underbrush in check. And, even if one keeps their own property cleared (a never-ending battle), what if your neighbor refuses to? Paradise had – at least partially – burned before the 2018 fire. It will undoubtedly burn again.

One of the issues responsible for the deaths of the 86 victims of this fire is that Paradise is built on a wide ridge above the Feather River Canyon. The 3 roads in and out are each only two-lane, narrow and in many places very twisty (if I recall, one of these 3 was blocked by fire at the time, so was impassable). I have driven to Paradise many times, it is not too far from me; I know the area well (there are many ancient volcanic features in the area, if one knows where to look - I enjoy looking for them).

The pre-fire population of Paradise was an estimated 26,800. When everyone hit the narrow roads at the same time to escape being burned alive, it was instant gridlock, as can be seen from many videos posted to YouTube at the time.

But I suppose that, as time goes by, people forget. Especially as the great many who experienced the terror and tragedy of those days first-hand are no longer there, so are unavailable to share their memories with any new people coming in.

Salton Sea has had periods in history where it dried up completely. For over half a century, It was fed by farmer run off, and became contaminated further, and now between drought and more efficient water use, it's going dry again. Man made ineterference strikes again!

The Salton Sea is not a natural “sea” at all, but rather a man-made lake (although the making of it was allegedly accidental). Historically, it was a dry lake bed. Since the creation of the “Salton Sea” in 1907 (before that it didn't exist) I find no reference that it has ever since gone dry; geologically speaking it was probably once part of an inland sea, an extension of the Gulf of California, which is located (I mention this for our out-of-California members) between the Baja California peninsula and Mexico.

Here is a document, from the University of California San Diego, explaining the history of the Salton Sea, should anyone be interested. This document was produced by the university in 2005; it is fascinating to note that many of the predictions made in this document back in 2005 have come to pass in 2021.

http://saltonsea.sdsu.edu/

Starting late Thursday we began to have smoke from up north, from various fires. So far it's not too bad, but can quickly get worse depending on winds. I try to stay in with my AC with its two types filtration , because we have both heat (today another 100 degree plus day) and smoke to contend with.

I am having a bit of smoke overcast here at my house today, which has the odd benefit (?) of holding the temps down a bit. I don’t smell smoke, or see wafting smoke in the air – but there is definite smoke overcast in the sky.

Stay safe, everyone.

Anne

[snowball]

we drove over to Sultan Lake one day early on in our stay in Q can't say that I was overly impressed with it... but can image how bad it can smell
I used to live in a town in Iowa by the name of Muscatine...there was a factory there used hops if I recall correctly whatever they worked with sure stunk!!!! big time
A did nothing day again.... although I did put one the first coat on the outside of the box it has to wait several hours and then you can go and sand it and put the next coat on the inside I only did two coats of the 'varnish' but think the outside is going to have at least 3 coats.... then will decide it I am going to decorate it up as I've done some of the others... I got some stuff that I thought it was a stick on but can't get it off the stuff it's on.... so thinking now that it's not a stick on... not sure what I will do with it... might just take it back to the store and she will just get it plan and in actuality I think it suits her better... I may talk with her about it
I didn't even fix supper went to Wendy's got me a salad and mom a hamburger thought she would prefer one with bacon to thinking it would be smaller as one it was cheaper got the son of a baconator she still didn't eat the whole thing and it was two patties of meat had I remembered that there were a couple pieces of bacon in the fridge I would have gotten a small burger warmed of the bacon and put it on it... may have finished it up... maybe ....
you all have a great day
sheila