60+ year old thread.

We are getting closer and closer to a place where we will have to make some hard decisions. Eventually water use will demand making distinctions based on efficient use to produce the greatest amount of nutrition... or take the path of making nutrition a matter of financial ability and to hell with those that can't pay the price. We are on a thread devoted to 60ish people and some of us may live to see some hard facts.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earth-mass-extinction-60-minutes-2023-01-01/

13 minutes of some very cogent information for anyone willing to understand.

 

Evening all:

Interesting discussion about water and its use. There is a dam just North of us, (Francis E. Walter), that NYC was eying up to supply water to the city , thankfully it looks like that that isn't going to happen!

 

It didn't last long - had a rain storm last night and more leaves fell doesn't look as bad as it did before I cleaned it up, but I was hoping it would stay clean at least a few days. Oh, well....

Feel better.

evening boys!! All this talk about almonds and water. I like almonds.....

 

OK, OK, I confess before I get into stoopid trouble. It IS a time delay relay, piggybacked onto a 30 A relay, plumbed into the stereo amp power.



When I start the truck, it delays the amps from connecting to the battery for 10 seconds, which is how long the head takes to boot up anyway. Less starting stress.

 

In reading the back and forth on water for almonds, it occurs to me that like any other industry faced with impending government restrictions, in this case lower water allotments, the growers would likely want to inflate their water needs for the govt ears. It is pretty well known in every corner that water in the West is now and has for many years been more valuable than gold, fought over by individuals, States, and Native Americans. It would be naive to think that almond growers would be foolish enough to offer an accurate assessment of their actual needs, and in fact would likely be sure to use every drop of their water allotments to prove the point.

Just a side note on the scarcity of water in the West... The Colorado river, maybe you've heard of it? This river runs through the Grand Canyon, right? You've seen documentaries of white water rapids and dams and man made lakes on the Colorado? It dumps into the Gulf of Mexico? Not really. It is a dry river bed when it reaches the Gulf, only becoming a small stream during a monsoon or a heavy snow melt in the Rockies.

 

That's a great point and as long as there are enough calories for everyone it may work for them. At some point someone may find almonds, being so water thirsty and limited in food value (sic), less worthy than other crops. Oops, backfire... and the Law of Unintended Consequences rears its ugly head.

Yeah, it's amazing how the once great Colorado River dwindles away and the delta erodes.

 

I hope you California guys are holding up, and getting to stay home!

 

Thanks Kurt. Another windy rainy night. Wind gusts predicted to 50mph in the area I live. They are expecting downed trees and power outages tonight. Possible some flooding but nothing much like last weekend. They found a third drowning victim today on Dillard rd. Which is about 5 miles south of my home. All 3 victims were in cars on Dillard rd. and they got stuck when the water quickly rose, apparently left their cars. Dillard rd. is a usually a nice pleasant country road. Never going to seem the same again. Levies broke in that area and contributed to the flooding.
We are in good shape where we live. The house is new construction and well built. Utilities are underground. There are no large trees close enough to the house to fall on it. There are some large flood control ditches all around this group of homes.
Emergency wise we are more than prepared (we plan ahead). Looks like rain on and off (mostly on) for the next 2 weeks and some nasty winds.
As a last resort my boat is ready to go. We may rename it The Ark.

 

If you still have the old battery, take it back, as a standalone battery, to see if they will replace it for free.

Good morning. I have a PT appointment at 9am. Make a BJ's club run and put some more Christmas decorations back up in the attic. I might be able to move the Tacoma back into the garage. I am feeling a lot better.

 

Morning all:

Glad to hear you're feeling better Tom, I'm trying to be in winter hibernation mode but every time I turn around there's more "projects" that I need to do. I could just wait for spring to do them, but then I end up with a mountain of things that need to be done! I just noticed there's another tree disintegrating down by the pond in an area that I mow, MORE WORK!

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Sue! Another day out in the sun had just about done it. Feel much better today, and when I run my battery core in and errands, that means stocking up on all the meds I used. When I went to WM last week for the NyQuil pair, they were sold out of darn near everything.

Battery is tied down, the TDR relay works great - but it's the law - you can't do one thing. Fan blower didn't work. Pulled the filter, spun it easily, and there we go. And checking the battery connections - now a stripped allen head on the positive terminal! I have a spare. It had a stripped head on the other side! Put a lug on the wire I needed, and the new ones will be here tomorrow. And the little voltage regulator/fuse holder for the AGM voltage will be here in a few days. Then, I will be done.

I'm taking the core back to AutoZone, with the on-line receipt, Tom. They don't stock the batteries in store, but they had the best price with free home delivery, so the store can have the core, and I get my $22 back. It was end of warranty anyway.

 

Sorry to learn of this. Can't remember if I was watching a news report on television or online the other day, but I'm pretty sure it was a piece on location with an announcer, and they pan left, and the announcer says they verified there's a person in the car and awaiting a crew for extraction.
I think the reporter also indicated others had been found dead. And what was so strange, the ground to me looked so level. Must have been your area.

Anyway, when I was in GA, there were stories of heavy rains taking cars away when they tried to cross over some country bridge at night where they couldn't see.
Speaking of can't see and crossing bridges, as a small kid, I was in my grandfather's car which was a Volks Beetle. Remember the advert that had "And it floats?"
Well he was a SeaBee in WWII and a metal worker, and lost sight in one eye. I'm riding with him and my grandmother, and she says "Carl, the water is high up ahead".
My grandfather's car hit the water flowing over the bridge and we literally floated to the other side of the bridge with our momentum. Turns out the advert was very true, and we were lucky we made it across.

I suppose there's a lot of land and mud slides, flooding, electrical lines down, outages, road washouts, trees down because of the wind and soaked ground. Real danger.

Be careful out there.

 

I didn't realize you were out near Wilton.

My sister built a modest 1500 sq ft home out there. She had been looking at properties for her and her horses. Dad would go out and say NO and drive off. She was getting really frustrated with him. Finally, after a dozen possible locations, he went out, stopped, got out, looked around, and told her, "this will do." She had a 10-stall horse barn for five horses. He told her to store hay for 20 horses, and she was, "why Dad, why?" He smiled and just said, "you'll understand someday."

She woke up one morning to nonstop flooding and had 22 horses surrounding her house. The highest ground in Wilton. 1986?

Latrobe Road isn't far from you. About 1978, it was in the middle of nowhere, so we would take our rally cars (we competed in Pro Rally) out there for a shake-down test. A dirt road that was not much wider than a single lane was twisty and had many ups and downs. We would go out with six cars, and the lead car ensured the road was clear, with no traffic. The next five cars would leave a minute apart. The goal was to cover ten miles in under ten minutes (60 mph average). No bridges then, so down into and across the creek. One night I was a split second off, and barrel rolled (full roll cage, wearing helmets). Oh, we were a bit crazier then.

 

Great story, interesting stuff. I technically live in Elk Grove, but not far from Wilton. Wilton today consists of about 3 businesses. Love that area. One of the things I like about Elk Grove is in just a couple minutes you are in the country and farm/ ranch land. We use the tiny Wilton post offices to mail packages because they are small, never more than 1 to 2 people there and they are very friendly. Oh and Latrobe rd. is still kind of middle of nowhere. Although I’m sure not like in 1978.
It’s still pouring here right now but we get a break tomorrow. Then on Saturday more big storms. Great duck hunting if I can just make it out to my duck club. That may be challenging.

 

Duck club? Are you in a populated area? I imagine a scenario, where it might be possible to float a string of decoys out from your patio or deck (or back door) and take up a comfy position in a outdoor chair, w/rain coat and umbrella if needed,
and ofcourse, enjoy some whiskey while you are at it. I imagine, the duck calls get better after a few glasses.

More true stories - one year in a suburban subdivision I was living in, guy pulls up in the cul-de-sac a few streets over with shotgun, and takes a buck.

Two years ago, Christmas morning, I get up to look out the front bay window of a different house / different sub-division, and there was a beautiful buck, multiple points staring right back at me. I was less than 10feet from it, only the window between us.

Because wildlife is being encroached upon by so much development north of Atlanta, their wooded areas are bounded on one side by the Chattahoochee, and it's dwindling. In the subdivision I was last in before moving from Metro ATL to Upstate NY, it wouldn't be uncommon for me to pull into the driveway, and eight or ten deer were in my side yard.

 

Geese fly over my house daily, and I’ve thought about putting out some dekes. But I’m afraid first shot and I’d have SWAT surrounding the house and hauling me away. And even whiskey won’t help my duck calling. In addition if my wife ever hears me blowing duck calls again she’ll shoot me. (I use to practice calling and it use to drive her crazy)

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!!

 

Morning 60+

 

Good Morning Porch Folks.
In my neighborhood we had a geese problem but because of the fox's we only have a few geese (but the numbers are dwindling) . One day i saw a fox taking a goose across the street back to it's home for dinner .
Have a good weekend all.

 

Good morning all! Inventory done with a lot of help from the rest of the guys in the shop. They didn't have much work in some areas so they got assigned to help me. Allowed us to knock out a near 2 week chore in less than 4 days. Big thanks to all of them even though they likely hated me while they were counting fasteners in the parts room.

Half day for me today so I can go have a broken tooth extracted.