Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. When I went into Tesco's lunchtime they had even more towels out at 'to clear' prices. This time though there was no one there to grab the lot so I was able to snaffle a bath sheet, even better it matches the hand towels I snaffled yesterday. I'd just got home when it bucketed down but an hour later the sun was shining.

[JohnDMJ]

There is a school of thought emerging from environmentalists and "pyrologists" (fire experts, sometimes self-proclaimed, some of them former frontline firefighters) which suggests the frequency and intensity of Australian - and by implication Californian and some European - wildfires is increasing because of human intervention.

 

It has traditionally been argued that fuel reduction burns are essential to minimise risk.  This is now being questioned.  Occasionally these burns themselves get out of control leading to devastation but more generally the thinking is turning to the encroachment upon natural ecosystems of urban growth.  This alters the natural fire-paths and is something we do not yet understand.  It is possible that leaving ground-level combustibles (leaf litter, twigs etc) in its naturally-accumulated state might actually ameliorate fire spread rather than fuel it.  Fire in eucalypt woodland typically spreads through the canopy before dropping to the ground.  Remove the ground fuel and the fire then has the run of clear ground spreading fast and furious especially if there is dry grass.  Much faster, in fact, through open grass than through leaves, twigs and the natural forest accumulations.

 

I have shared conversations with friends quite knowledgeable in their respective fields of environment, ecology and fire prevention.  Several have ventured an opinion that a significant fire will not be tamed until it is ready.  It will continue to burn and expand until a point - which again we do not understand yet - is reached at which its energy begins to wane.  We can douse with water and retardant, we can cut fire breaks and we can fit homes with roof sprinklers (which have been proven to be very effective) but we cannot contain a wild fire until the dragon tires.

 

There are, I believe, species of wildlife and vegetation which actually BENEFIT from these fires and rely on them for their propagation. Unless these fires result from an unnatural act, I maintain that 'Mother Nature' knows what she is doing and should be left unhindered so to do. There can be times when humans interfere to the detriment of the environment.

 

Typical UK example: my home floods, the authorities have to do something about it.

 

Question: why build homes on a natural flood plain?

 

Substitute 'forest fire' for 'flood plain' as appropriate.

 

Sorry folks, I've had my little rant. I bid you a pleasant evening and a good night (hopefully storm free!).

Edited August 10, 2018 by JohnDMJ

[New Haven Neil]

There's a field near friend Jayne's house at Sulby Bridge that the owner continuously applies for planning permission to build a small housing estate.  It is very close to the river and is a natural flood plain - I have seen it flooded to some depth twice in 16 years.  Why would you......just why?  Whilst there is a bank between the river and the field, it is very low lying, and once flooded, stays flooded. Madness.

 

So yes, why interfere with nature?  it is a whole lot stronger than mankind!

[Ozexpatriate]

There is a school of thought emerging from environmentalists and "pyrologists" (fire experts, sometimes self-proclaimed, some of them former frontline firefighters) which suggests the frequency and intensity of Australian - and by implication Californian and some European - wildfires is increasing because of human intervention.

 

It has traditionally been argued that fuel reduction burns are essential to minimise risk.  This is now being questioned.

I may speaking from ignorance here, but I don't believe that there are currently many proactive fuel reduction burns in the US, excepting of course the use of back burns as a fire containment strategy which is a primary tool.

 

Californian fires last year were particularly intense because a long drought was broken by heavy precipitation in the winter of 2016/2017 which led to the growth of a lot of what became fuel in the hot 2017 summer that followed.

 

Certainly property loss is exacerbated by development in forested areas and more human presence in areas subject to fires increases the risk of fires starting.

 

There are, I believe, species of wildlife and vegetation which actually BENEFIT from these fires and rely on them for their propagation. Unless these fires result from an unnatural act, I maintain that 'Mother Nature' knows what she is doing and should be left unhindered so to do. There can be times when humans interfere to the detriment of the environment.

This is certainly true for some species of fir and dry lightning caused fires in a forest of firs are entirely natural. In the Oregon forests these are mostly monitored and not heavily fought until they threaten significant numbers of people.

 

The vegetation varies significantly up and down the western states. California is more alike to Australia in terms of a lot more 'scrub' - without the explosive eucalyptus. (There is a lot of eucalyptus in Southern California, but it is an introduced species and is not in the native forests.) Further north, the forests are very unlike the Australian bush but the high resin content in firs makes them very combustible.

 

The most destructive of the fires this year are not 'natural' fires. Wheat field fires and arson or a trailer sparking (due to a flat tyre) in chaparral are not part of the natural process.  Last year's devastating Santa Rosa fires were caused by poorly maintained electrical distribution. The worst fire locally in 2017 was caused by a teenager lobbing fireworks from a hiking trail in a preserved forest area.

 

Here in the US west, development impacting forests feels relatively more gradual than the change in frequency and intensity of fires in the last couple of years.

Edited August 10, 2018 by Ozexpatriate

[JohnDMJ]

This is certainly true for some species of fir and dry lightning caused fires in a forest of firs are entirely natural. In the Oregon forests these are mostly monitored and not heavily fought until they threaten significant numbers of people.

 

 

It is only threatening those people who do not understand the environment in which they live. Possibly, potential candidates for a Darwin Award?

Edited August 10, 2018 by JohnDMJ

[Simon G]

An interesting day with a couple of unusual occurrences.

 

This morning a picture suddenly seemed to jump off the wall, fell behind the TV (having fortunately missed hitting it), and landed on the aerial socket, promptly smashing it! The picture, which I personally framed many years ago, was completely undamaged. On inspection, the string had frayed through against the picture hook. It has been restringed, and I bought a new aerial socket while in town this afternoon.

 

At lunchtime, a white van arrived in the drive, and a man came up to the front door with a delivery. It was from the infamous United Utilities, and was a beautiful bunch of flowers and a box of what look like rather good chocolates! They were accompanied by a note of apology for all the recent trouble! Picture of flowers attached, but the light doesn’t do them justice.

 

 

Edit: having attached the picture, I am not sure how to get it the right way up!

Edited August 10, 2018 by Simon G

[pH]

At lunchtime, a white van arrived in the drive, and a man came up to the front door with a delivery. It was from the infamous United Utilities, and was a beautiful bunch of flowers and a box of what look like rather good chocolates! They were accompanied by a note of apology for all the recent trouble!

Question: Which would you rather have:

 

1) The sequence of events you've endured at the hands of UU and their contractors, plus a beautiful bunch of flowers and a box of rather good chocolates

 

OR

 

2) Your problem fixed first time, no flowers and no chocolates?

[The Stationmaster]

Mike, you certainly get to see some aesthetic travesties of interesting naval architecture in your voyages.

 

A consequence of North Sea operations I believe.  The ships need ample space aft for whatever they're doing from anchor handling to supply ship or whatever, they have to operate in all weathers in an area known for extremely bad weather conditions, and in some cases they need to carry considerable numbers of passengers beyond their crew numbers.  All good work for the East Coast ports of course although the amount of work overall has declined as the increase in wind farm servicing hasn't balanced the loss of oil and gas work but the latter in turn means that only the newest and most efficient vessels are able to survive in what is now very much a buyers' market for North Sea servicing ships.

 

Some have suitable paint schemes to go with their 'wonderful' looks, and surely either the name means something else in another language or somebody was having a laugh -

 

 

[southern42]

' Evening all from red dragon land.

 

Interesting few days...Phone call Tuesday saying parcels will be collected early Thursday.

So, we were clear to go out Wednesday but...

came home to find card saying parcels could not be collected - because we weren't in, of course...

Stayed in all day on Thursday...

and no collection...     

Friday, early this morning, phone call to say parcels will be collected in 15 mins...

and they were!  

 

 

I thought we would get a day out, today, instead, but guess what?  It rained and when the sun did come out we had a strong cold northwesterly…I put the hoover round. 

and tomorrow?  Well, it was going to rain tomorrow, then it wasn't, then it was, then it wasn't, now it is...I think I will go and get a pine cone or piece of seaweed or, maybe, look out the window...    .I cannot do any worse.    

 

 

Not to worry, more important things afoot.

Decoder added to 47xx, runs smoothly and no bits falling off.     It just needs renumbering and a dash of appropriate weathering to account for its run outshopped from Swindon to GWRd followed by spit and polish by dedicated shed staff - looking pristine in the bright sunshine.     Don't you just love it?  Some might say I have a vivid imagination...

 

Have a good weekend...

Edited August 10, 2018 by southern42

[TheQ]

Evening Awl,

Just back from the MRC where we have another new member, ex of the other club next door...

We also had a good turn out of 10 on what is our clubs quiet night..

 

All My planned work was carried out as board 1 was removed, from the left, board 2 shuffled up and board 3 installed on the right. 14 leds on stalks were removed, at a much later date some will be replaced by waving arms.

Next week parallel metal bits will be installed for the purposes of fiddling about... Followed by framing for terraforming.

[Horsetan]

There's a field near friend Jayne's house at Sulby Bridge that the owner continuously applies for planning permission to build a small housing estate.  It is very close to the river and is a natural flood plain - I have seen it flooded to some depth twice in 16 years.  Why would you......just why?  ...

The need to make a quick buck?

[Tony_S]

I did some “decorating”today. After the extractor fan broke there was a bit of staining from mould on the bathroom ceiling. I previously treated it with bleach and stain cover paint. Aditi could notice the different shades of white so I said I would eventually paint it. Dulux bathroom paint is not my favourite paint but the job is complete. I was rather messy but Aditi helped with the clearing up! I only intended to look for the paint and brushes this morning and paint another day but Aditi looked so pleased,at getting a job done I didn’t want to diapppoint her.

Possibly a small amount of shopping tomorrow.

Tony

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all.

[southern42]

The need to make a quick buck?

 

I reckon you would need to buck out pretty quick

 

 

 

' Night all and nos da.

.

Edited August 10, 2018 by southern42

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

Well today went a lot better than we’d expected, the kids on the whole behaved very well, with only a couple of tantrums from Ava. But, to defuse the situation, she came into the kitchen and helped me make tonight’s curry sauce, which she enjoyed greatly. Later in the afternoon James and Amelia turned up, we were expecting them and so we had quite a house full by teatime. The curry went down well as always and so did the cake, although we still have a small piece left, but that won’t last long at all!

 

We had some rain this afternoon, which lasted for a couple of hours, but by teatime the sun was out again, still it meant that I didn’t need to water the garden. Once everyone had gone home, we sat and opened a bottle of red and chilled out on the sofa.

 

Goodnight all.

[Ozexpatriate]

... But, to defuse the situation, she came into the kitchen and helped me make tonight’s curry sauce, which she enjoyed greatly. ...

I'm not inviting a spelling/grammar discussion, but I just wanted to note that I am delighted to see you use the word "defuse". I have often lately seen people use the word "diffuse" instead (in a professional setting) intending the same meaning. It's becoming a bit of a pet peeve.

 

With a recent ER grammar spat here there's no need for anyone to comment - thanks!

Edited August 10, 2018 by Ozexpatriate

[pH]

I'm not inviting a spelling/grammar discussion, but I just wanted to note that I am delighted to see you use the word "defuse". I have often lately seen people use the word "diffuse" instead (in a professional setting) intending the same meaning. It's becoming a bit of a pet peeve.

 

 

Or 'flushing out' (the elements of a problem) and 'fleshing out' (the outline of the solution to the problem).

[TheQ]

However diffuse the situation, I intend to defuse it. I flushed out a spider from its hiding place, after it awoke me by walking up my leg at about 03:15. Once captured it exited stage right, ( OK bed right) into a bin, it won't be doing that again. After that I fleshed out a plan in my head, namely to descend to the sofa and attempt to sleep again.

 

With that stated, good morning or is it good night...

[BR60103]

Hectic day,but now complete. Dayle managed to get all the RV stuff washed and folded and it was somewhat reloaded. We need to get the roof looked at as it dribbled on the bed again. I took the screen cover off the exhaust fan to clean it and then could see the results of 11 years of use on the fan blades. And Dayle thought we were done when I brushed the cat hair off!

 

There is a major Highland Games in Fergus this weekend but we probably won't go. The site is not picturesque and the "attractions" do not attract (bagpipe rock?). 

[AndyID]

 

There is a major Highland Games in Fergus this weekend but we probably won't go. The site is not picturesque and the "attractions" do not attract (bagpipe rock?). 

 

Thanks for letting me know. I'll be giving it a very wide berth (or even a wide birth )

[AndyID]

Edit: having attached the picture, I am not sure how to get it the right way up!

 

Here you go

 

[AndyID]

Spent the day mucking around with IT chores. It's been so bloomin' hot I was quite happy to stay downstairs in front of a computer.

 

Two items arrived today. MrsID's new phone and her new camera. She's been whining about proposing an upgrade of her phone for some time. It only works at our house on Wi-Fi and the service is a bit spotty in town, but it works fine in the UK, Germany, Austria and Italy, but what do you expect for $8.00 a month? Works for me. The only decent cellular coverage in this area is provided by an outfit who's name starts with a V, and it's pretty expensive. But, our Internet/Cable/Phone service supplier recently offered a mobile service to their Internet customers that runs on the big V network for $14 a month, so I caved in.

 

We even managed to get it to work and transfer her old phone number - phew!

 

The camera (Nikon) works fine but the woopdidoo wireless Bluetooth application to transfer the pics seems to be pants. It works with some platforms but not a Chromebook (which is the one we really want it to work with.) Judging from the comments on the web I get the impression Nikon's wireless communication test department is staffed by one new-grad and a Jack Russell.

[pH]

I get the impression Nikon's wireless communication test department is staffed by one new-grad and a Jack Russell.

And, as the old joke goes, the new grad's job is to feed the Jack Russell.

[AndyID]

Or 'flushing out' (the elements of a problem) and 'fleshing out' (the outline of the solution to the problem).

 

That might tend to exasperate the situation.