Post #239,915
12/31/05 1:20:23 AM
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Hey Ashton! Are you keeping dry out there?
How are you doing out there with all the storms? Thane's probably used to that much rain, but you folks in the Golden State aren't quite so much.
The Left Coast contingent should check in, I think. Rand? Ben? Andrew? You folks in the south seem to be OK at the moment, but rain does seem to be heading your way.
Take care!
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #239,922
12/31/05 3:05:28 AM
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Nice of you to ask; matter of fact..
Sonoma 'Creek' is sounding a bit like Niagara - not heard in 15+ years.
And yep - the warnings are out for, now, a roster of Counties from Sacramento into the Valley + Coast. 1.5" here between 1 pm and 7.
(And I just finished a note to cohort who was here for that first one) {chortle} which lasted > a week. Then, we got one of the last generators from rental place, yada.. So much for "100 Year" floods (that was supposed to be) - Hah! Statisticians Suck. 'Course we've trashed the planet a bit more, since then.
Long as the power stays, it's just a matter of basement pumps online.
(What fool would put a basement in a place 100' or so from Water?)
Or is the larger fool the one who bought it anyway.. No regrets.
Necessity/Invention/Muthah story:
the first time, I spent several hours cobbling together a 'float switch' to operate a small pump - fitting into a suitable hole at basement entry area, foot of stairs.
Problem: how to make that switch, on a level-change of <\ufffd" if possible ??
Used one of those (now vanishing) Mercury light switches + bent rod, some genuine aluminum-foil tape over a guesstimated piece of styrofoam; section of square gutter drain pipe, on a base. Little weights to fine-tune it to turn Off! ..as well as On. (Good physics fun - think 'stiction' in shock absorbers. :-)
Still haven't found a superior replacement. Put a red lamp in parallel with pump power, so I can look out & down to see it functioning. Love. It. We so rarely get to make Important Stuff out of that overfilled junk box.
'Course if a tree takes out the local power ... Oh Well. Nothing like Katrina, though.
>> Luck to all those out there, with something really to Worry about <<
Cheers,
moi, des oiseaux aquatiques
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Post #239,957
12/31/05 9:54:15 PM
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Soggy saga segues; in remission.. till ma\ufffdana
Dunno how much press this-all is getting elsewhere, but it's a pretty big deal in more than just my County. Verbal descriptions are so often dry, but -
Total of 7.0" Fri + Sat (5" from 7pm-6am today.) Barometer at 29.4, amidst.
Peak of de Nile came ~ daybreak (could hear freight train all night. then: video with the sound! right about at its zenith. Boffo!) After an hour's nap, had to go see, soon as I could see. Hmmm - there just may be a use for one of those million candlepower thingies, but I wasn't sure I Wanted to know if the soundscape was because it was so-CLOSE? .. or just LOTS of 'it'.
Saw:
Rapids ~ 2/3 of the way from top of normal vee creek bank, to a big walnut tree near house. Instead of a modest creek, surface ~15' down from bank, it was a torrent filling the cut and at least 3x the normal bank-bank width.
Clearly aces out the earlier event. A fitting marker for a year of soggy bafflegab and wet-nosed fuck-ups.
Seems best to love the Cosmic Humor; too damp to light that proverbial candle, anyway.
Then a bit later .. rain just stopped. Like a cel-fone er, cell. Pumps could about match the percolation rate from various strata. Windows open / fans on, yada. But since it'll be Baaack, no point in swabbing the deck and rearranging the doilies.
Peanutbutter, near-resident miniature horse came by next, with her "staff"/owner - seems that her pad had about 6' of water in it, so neighbor had to do some late-night improvising, too. Earth(men) Abides the megaton-hours of Kinetic Energy! One more time.
Tomorrow, folks a few miles North (Russian River, Guerneville area) are due for 14' over flood stage, coinciding with high tide - so I have no complaints. A couple of line-voltage dips in the night; the rhythm of clearing an overload: you count 1 ... 2 ... and hope not for 3, because then the sucker stays OFF until the load drain is fixed. So do your pumps. Lucky, lucky.
May your year-end events all be ... vicarious.
(Snow is probably more fun)
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Post #239,923
12/31/05 3:13:15 AM
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Thank you for the warning
I'm fine, but that told me that I needed to move Sam's stroller so it wouldn't get soaked. Thanks for the heads up.
Cheers,
Ben
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
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Post #239,934
12/31/05 12:43:51 PM
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Not a problem - down here we know rain
As a commedian once answered when asked about his visit to Los Angeles, "In Los Angeles they get only 14 inches of rain a year. They get it all on one day. That's the day I was there".
So far all I see is what we call "Low clouds and heavy fog" - I think they call it "drizzle" on the East Coast. I suspect we may get "showers" later on.
One year, about 10 years ago, I got up at 2:00am and went out on the back porch to watch. It was stunning. There were no rain drops, it was like someone dumped a swimming pool. The noise was deafening.
The following day kids were skateboarding down the street out front, throwing up rooster tails - their skateboards submerged to above the ankles.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #239,937
12/31/05 4:01:13 PM
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Fairly damp now but visibility still supports . . .
. . beyond legal freeway speeds so I wouldn't call it real rain yet (real rain visibility supports 20 mph or lower freeway speeds).
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #239,940
12/31/05 6:02:24 PM
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legal speeds
When I was stationed in Germany, there were times when the fog was so dense (around the Rhein) that I could just see to the next stripe on the road. Germans, of course, maintained normal breakneck speed. Visibility has no relationship to speed.
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail ... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"
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Post #239,958
12/31/05 10:27:10 PM
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Rain all gone now . . .
. . we'll see if it rains on the Rose Parade tomorow as scheduled. They've been very lucky over the years, so maybe they'll be lucky again. There was just a tiny sprinkle last time I saw it, but that was 1958 I think.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #240,012
1/1/06 3:11:17 PM
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Parade JuJu works again.
Obviously someone in this corner of Pasadena is praying to the right gods/godesses, and for sure it isn't usual one - that guy hasn't been willing/able to fix the weather for generations.
Actually, it's probably the ghost of Jack Parsons, founder of the JetLab (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) down the street here - and [link|http://www.bariumblues.com/jpl.htm|dedicated occultist] - still got his fingers in the old magic he has.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #240,019
1/1/06 5:59:33 PM
1/2/06 11:58:26 AM
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WHAT! They didn't have the parade on New Years Day?
It's the Christians and their Sunday thing isn't it? Well hell, the dry slot was all set up for Sunday morning and now they're getting soaked. Serves 'em right - shows ya what good their God is with the weather.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #240,128
1/2/06 3:33:53 PM
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Yup, ol Loki has a sliding scale for weather interventions..
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Post #239,971
1/1/06 12:35:20 AM
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Must be the day for extreme weather
It's currently 45 degrees C (113 F) here in Sydney. For us - that's a hot one!
Today, I extend my thanks to the wonderful people that invented air conditioning.
Two out of three people wonder where the other one is.
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Post #239,976
1/1/06 1:46:09 AM
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I thought only 'the western desert" saw 45 C!*
Ouch, that's toasty!
Thank [link|http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/29.html|Willis Carrier] for your A/C, and [link|http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Leaded-Gasoline-Freon-CFC.htm|Thomas Midgley] for Freon.
Cheers,
Scott
* Obligatory reference to Midnight Oil.
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Post #240,013
1/1/06 5:16:01 PM
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..and legions of acid-heads for uttering the first, __Kewl..
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Post #240,015
1/1/06 5:49:56 PM
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nope for acid it was "far out" junkies were kewl
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 50 years. meep
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