Steev's stuff

[philagardener]

Challenging times. Arguably the most valuable skull in the collection will be driving the p'up. Be safe, steev !

[steev]

Nah; there's a loose screw behind the wheel.

[walt]

Good luck Steev.
This summer I've been trying to hoe up a wider firebreak around my garden, in case of fire.  I've tried to widen the firebreak by a quarter meter a day.  But then I'd have more tilled land and I'd plant it.  But I was planting things it would be nice to have but still expendable.  My important stuff was inside and the tilled and planted area won't carry a fire.  So my breeding work is safe now.  I think.
I wish I could mulch the garden, but most mulches available could burn.  But the old thatch and sod are mixed together enough that they won't burn, I think, and they do reduce evaporation some.

[richardw]

Fires are a growing worry for many around the world as seen during this current NH summer, for me any grass fires would could come from the west which is why i planted my orchard that side of the house, its kept watered so is always green.

[steev]

Yes; I wonder whether the Bear Valley road will be open this weekend; I missed it last week, it being closed; driving that being the cherry on my sundae. I've gotten no calls from farm neighbors, so I assume I've not been burned out, but they might all be evacuated; I'll find out on Saturday. There's something aggravating about wondering whether you've lost twelve year's work and investment, but it is what it is; one must soldier on. I wonder whether the road will be more monitored, so I can't get in. So many questions; I'll find out on Saturday. Think I'll take my weed-whacker, just in case.

I hear New South Wales is in dire conditions. We really need to join together to deal with global climate change, instead of hunkering down to nationalist BS.

[steev]

Checked the fire map (latest posted Aug 10); fire was ~2 miles from the farm by Lodoga; there are 'dozer breaks, so the fire may be impeeded, but it's so close to the road that it's got to be blocked. Oh, well, prolly a waste of time to drive up, but I've got to check.

[steev]

Called a local, who said the fire-blocks were "soft"; what I'd seen last week: signs without prowlers, so I went up; pretty much all good. When the day heats up and the humidity drops, three or four fires kindle in the Coast Range; most of the real fire being north-west, so not much threat to me; lots of helicopters, sometimes hauling buckets, but mostly just checking things; lots of smoke in the air.

The back road was open for coming home; I was pleased to see not much fire having been along it; most of the traffic was fire trucks and water tankers; there's never much traffic on that road, but they were numerous.

In any event, the arbor grapes, Flame Tokay, are looking very productive; the un-knowned rootstock grapes are already coloring. They're not much worth eating, but will be fine Concordish for juice, eventually.

[steev]

Checking the CalFire info on the Range Fire/Mendocino Complex, there is a listing of co-operating agencies; I was surprised to see NZ and Oz contributing; damn!; thanks for the help, guys; Cali is really stretched thin; there was a commentator on NPR saying Cali hasn't had a month without at least one wildfire since 2012; we used to have a fire season, now it's open season.

Last weekend, all the spiderwebs were full of ash; I wonder at the ramifications of that: they are very visible and prolly not very sticky; many spiders recycle their webs, eating them and re-spinning; the spiders may not be able to recycle the ashy webs, nor will they catch much prey until they can spin effective webs on short rations; it's kind of a vicious circle; I predict a burgeoning population of annoying insects that should have been spidie chow. Ah, the lop-sided Circle of Life.

Saturday, I'll take Sukie and my skull collection back to the farm; the hammock is already back (one must prioritize).

I may have a trainee/potential buyer for the business.

[richardw]

The volunteers who traveled over to help are gaining wonderful experience in fighting your fires, though the scale of the fires are far far greater in intestacy than they will ever see in this country, NZ native forests are low in inflammability, thank fuck.
It all goes round, there were quite a number of folks who came over here from the US to help us with the Christchurch earthquakes.

[walt]

I remember a couple of decades ago when there was a bad earthquake in central America.  Amish farmers from Yoder Kansas drove their horses and buggies to a pick-up point in Yoder.  There they boarded a bus they had chartered to take them to the airport in Wichita Kansas.  There the boarded a chartered plane that took them to the earthquake area.  There they used heavy equipment, bulldozers, etc., to help in re-building.
After some time, they went to the airport and flew back to Wichita, took the bus back to Yoder, and were met by family in horse and buggies, and drove home.

Unlike Amish in parts of the USA, Kansas Amish use big tractors on their farms.  At least some do.  "It's not a sin to grow better wheat".

[steev]

Sounds like those Yoder Amish are verging on being Mennonites. Whatever, good people all.

Saturday, there were two smoke plumes; one south-west, prolly an island surrounded by burn-off, so no prollem; the other, west, looked near the valley floor; there was a brace of helicopters bucketing water to it; Sunday, there was no sign of either; the air was still full of ambient smoke, but it was only coming from north-west (which the Calfire map shows to be the uncontrolled area; we're talking wilderness there, very mountainous; Cali is the most populous state, but it has enormous areas of undeveloped land, a state and national treasure, crucial to the survival of Sasquatch, if not the rest of us).

Grapes are coloring; birds are working them.

When the granny-flat goes in, in November, I will definitely start upping the grape planting to out-strip the birds' predation; my family didn't start growing grapes in Cali a century and a half ago to feed feathered freeloaders.

Got Sukie and the elk skull back on the farm where they belong.

There's a feral cat coming through on a regular basis; always glad to see that.

[steev]

Saturday, the Mendocino Complex fire was still burning, though only NW/N, so not a threat, except for heavy smoke and falling ash; had a very bad time sleeping Sat/Sun due to labored breathing; felt weak and had no stamina, so made an appointment to get lungs checked out; wound up hospitalized 48 hours being tested, examined, sampled, and medicated. The consensus is atrial fluttering, a sub-group of congestive heart failure; never lift a rock if you don't want to know what's under it. Thanks to medical practice, I feel much better than I did, with hope of continuing recovery; they won't commit to getting me back to where I was at 35, though.

I'd noticed lessened vigor for weeks, but thought it just age and chronic smoke.

The feral cat has a litter of five (~6 weeks) among my stuff under tarps; I'll set up water and sometimes chow to encourage them for rodent control, maybe a refuge from coyotes.

That jack-rabbit that was in the veggie-corral for weeks wiped out near all my squash, corn, and lettuce. Oh, well, rain will come in two months and I'll start reclamation once again; there's always next year, until there isn't.

[richardw]

You poor bugger steev, hope you continual to improve.

[walt]

I'm glad you aren't worse off than you are.  

[steev]

It's not so bad, just unexpected; I've long known I'd not get out of this alive. Mortality runs in my family, or maybe just walks. The good news is that I was already on track to retire to the farm. "Sic transit stevia"