Weather. That’s the topic all across the country it seems. Here locally we are having what they are calling a “once in 10-year storm event,” which means rain and more rain. In four days we’ve gotten over 10 inches of it. That in itself wouldn’t be a bad thing. The problem is this has occurred after torrential rains previously. Three weeks ago we had over 8 ½ inches of rain in less than 24 hours. So, the ground is totally saturated meaning big trees will come down...some have.
That equates to loss of electricity and cable service. So far we’ve only had an outage of several hours which happened while we were sleeping. All I had to do was reset all the clocks in the morning. We’ve had some spotty, short term flickers of the juice going off then back on again after a few seconds during the day. That is merely annoying as everything has to start up again. The computers crash. The TV and Cable box crash. All these things take several minutes to boot up again. First world problems.
Just when everything is up and running again, it happens again. I actually dislike these “flickering outages” more than a single long one. When we get “flickering outages,” they come several times in rapid sequence. It’s like the electrical system is in the midst of having spasms.
Another thing we have to deal with when the ground is fully saturated is our septic system stops working properly. When our clay soil becomes completely saturated, percolation no longer happen so our sinks and toilets drain extremely slowly as no water from the septic tank can leach into the soil. It takes a couple days of no rain for the system to work again as intended. First world problems. Well, not exactly first world problems in reality...more like second world problems (how many of you are on a septic system?)
Then there is the cable itself. We have Comcast but really shouldn’t. They have a rule which says they can’t string a line more than a maximum of 330 feet from their main cable strung up along the power poles to your home. Any farther than that distant and they won’t hook you up because the feed to your house will be too weak. Well, we lucked out. When they first installed their cable here, they were really overwhelmed with people wanting to hook up.
DSL is horrendous here as the phone lines are mostly the original copper wires put in in the 1940’s. They can’t conduct worth beans. DSL here is literally less than ¼ the minimum speed it should be. It really doesn’t work. Have you ever seen that ad for Comcast with Chris Hardwick comparing the cable modem speed to DSL speed? Imagine that DSL speed being more than four times slower than what they show on that ad. First world problems.
A couple of college kids came to install our Comcast cable when it was first available. Comcast was so swamped at that time they simply hired college kids. These guys connected a wire over 1100 feet from the main line to our home. Since they did that, we are “grandfathered in” and will be able to get Comcast as long as we never stop the service. They’ve let us know should we ever do that, they’ll no longer give it back to us, even though the line is already in place.
Our signal was so weak they later installed our very own booster right at our house. So, we have top-notch speeds. We are very lucky as no other people here have it. The strange thing about Comcast is parts of it go out while other parts still work. Two days ago, the phone and internet services went out, yet the TV cable part of it still worked. Other times just the phone part goes out or just the internet part goes out. Weird. First world problems.
So far several trees have come down here and there, but they’ve only blocked roads or brought down power and cable lines. The worst situation locally I’ve heard about is down in Chico where a big oak tree came down across Highway 99 closing the northbound lanes entirely for an hour while they cut it up and removed it to the side of the road. Fortunately only two cars where smushed by that tree without anyone getting hurt. Of course, the cars were totaled.
Here’s an interesting story. I attended the University of Colorado in the mid to late 1970’s. In the winter they get extremely strong winds called “Chinooks” that come down from the mountains. Chinook winds come from the top of the Continental Divide down the front slopes of the mountains. As they do, they heat up due to friction. I’ve experience the temperatures change from the mid-teens up to the mid-40’s in less than an hour as these winds come roaring in. It’s really something! In Boulder, CO there are three valleys that come into town from the mountains. When Chinook winds blow, they are funneled into these valleys which serves to increase the speed of the wind even more.
I’ve personally experienced winds of over 120 mph in Boulder. That is not a typo nor an exaggeration. These winds were so strong that small people (as in weighing 110 pounds or less) cannot walk outside or they’d literally be swept off their feet and blown away. I’m not kidding. What we’d do is get two big guys on each side of a small person holding their hands so they could walk outside when needed. This way they wouldn’t blow away. I was just heavy enough to get by (about 150 pounds then. I weigh 158 now). And no, I’m not exaggerating one bit!
Another “weather front” that’s blowing in is called “a Trump.” Trumps are known to be completely erratic and cause massive damage to everything. They are unpredictable and therefore impossible to actually forecast with any certainty. There is a little ditty said about Trumps (the first two lines are from a tweet by George Takei. I added the rest. It’s fun. Give it a go):
Tinkle, tinkle little czar,
Putin made you who you are.
Up above the world he creeps,
Golden showers on some sheets.
Russian blackmailed compromise,
American values he nullifies.
How’s the weather in your neck of the woods.
What’s the worst weather you’ve experienced?
(excluding Trumps)
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
Nationwide: January 21, 2017
Find your march here and start a group effort to march together, it will be listed here in CUA.
Women’s March on America, inspired by the Women’s March on Washington, calls on all Americans across the political spectrum to hold marches on the same day, at the same times, in communities across the country.
Together, we will send a message to our leaders and the world that the United States of America stands for values of human decency, equal rights and freedom from discrimination.
Our vision is that on January 21, 2017, the day after the Inauguration, Americans will unite in towns, cities, and schools across the nation to march in solidarity with communities affected by hate, intolerance, and acts of violence.
Many of us will not be able to make it to the march in Washington, DC. But we can come together in our local communities to march for our shared values.
The New York City & New Jersey Kos groups are joining in on the already massive Women’s March on NYC on Saturday, January 21, 2017 and marching together with the Daily Kos banner, shown just above. They’ll likely meet afterward for food & drink, stay tuned for those details. NYC March details here.
RSVPS
1. joanbrooker and film students
2. kathny
3. belinda ridgewood
4. gchaucer2
5. ericlewis0
6. FreeBeer
7. grannycarol
8. kishik
9. adigal
MAYBEES:
sidnora
karma5230
Alastriona
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Dinner afterward at 7:30 PM (could be 7:00, restaurant is flexible) at Patriot House, an American gastropub, 2 Embarcadero Center, Level P, walking distance from Justin Herman Plaza, .3 miles to be exact.
RSVPS
1. navajo
2. Meteor Blades
3. citisven
4. Lorikeet
5. kimoconnor
6. dsb
7. sfpcnik
8. sfpcnik’s husband
9. boatsie
10. side pocket
11. jpmassar (dinner only)
12. crowjane
13. Liberated Spaces
MAYBEES:
Tara the Antisocial Social Worker
Mrs. side pocket
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RSVPS
1. Radiowalla
2. smileycreek
3. mimi2three
MAYBEES :
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RSVPS
1. no way lack of brain
2. Elisa Batista & Eli
3.
MAYBEES :
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RSVPS
1. Kascade Kat
2. jabberwoky
3. RevKatie
4. gizmo59
5. gizmo’s squeeze
6. BDA in VA
MAYBEES :
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RSVPS
1. jck
2. maggiejean
3.
MAYBEES :
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RSVPS
1. 714day
2. susans
3. gmats
4. Joe Bacon
5. Just Saying
6. bandchoirmom
7. murphy
8. otoelbc
9. Zack from the San Fernando Valley
10. Mereed3929
11. Mereed3929’s daughter
12. Mereed3929’s sister
MAYBEES :
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RSVPS
1. GreyHawk
2. GreyHawk Wife
3. Ellid
MAYBEES :
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RSVPS
1. randallt
2. Joieau
3. LamontCranston
4. Mrs. LamontCranston
MAYBEES :
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RSVPS
1. asterkitty
2. OregonOak and a bunch of students
3. Angela Marx
4.
MAYBEES :
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RSVPS
1. remembrance
2. Glen The Plumber
3. TheLittleOne
4. SanJoseLady
5.
MAYBEES :
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