Good Heavens, California!

Rhodie Ranch

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She's not involved...its further north of the City of SF. We drove up 680 and then I5 yesterday from SAn Jose to Grants Pass. It was smokey the entire way.

Mary certainly has smoke tho...it even drifted down to San Jose.
 

ninnymary

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There are fires up in Napa and Sonoma Counties which is wine country. Entire neighborhoods of Santa Rosa are gone. I've occasionally gone up there to buy chicken feed but usually go to Petaluma which is about 15 minutes south of it. Santa Rosa is where Marshal is working at a blueberry farm.

Monday morning I checked facebook before I went to the gym and people were being waken up by the smoke in Alameda. I didn't smell anything in my house but as soon as I opened the door it hit you. There is an air quality alert and air was hazy but it is improving.

One of the hospitals up there burned down and some nurses lost their homes. My daughter and 2 other nurses went up there last night to do a shift and help out. She did a last minute post on FB saying she was going to Target to get things like underwear and other stuff that they desperately need. There was such a good response in the short notice that she rushed back to make another trip. I haven't heard from her yet to see how it went.

Mary
 

aftermidnight

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It seems there's just one disaster after another, and each year it seems to be getting worse, climate change? I'm more and more convinced this has a lot to do with it, what can the individual do, not much. Something I've been thinking about is installing a sprinkler system on our roof, we're surrounded by tall first growth trees. Now if only I can get hubby on board.

Annette
 

ducks4you

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I am praying for them in California. It wasn't just the vineyards who lost their homes bc whole communities have grown up around them.
I was curious about the survival of the vineyards and I found this:
http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agric.../options-for-managing-fire-damaged-grapevines
SO SAD!!! Those vines are cultivated for YEARS before they produce and we know that vineyards require a lot of vine maintenance. Here is a photo of a burned vineyard, and, I Think a vineyard greenhouse to start them, photos 26/61 & 28/61:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...fuel-Wine-Country-12269146.php#photo-14320394
I am hoping that vineyard owners in other states may donate vines. In the same vein, horse people have been known to ship hay to people in other states who suffered severe drought to keep their horses alive, and their other livestock alive. A horse forum friend read the "tea leaves" in the Farmer Almanac in 2012, bought all of her hay in May and by November NOBODY locally had ANY. I know of at least one instance of hay sent to Arkansas years ago when They had a severe drought. Perhaps the wine industry might step up to help their CA neighbors.
I know that my vines are probably 50+ years old, maybe older. People migrated from Europe over 100 years ago and travelled with vines to transplant here. Some of the vines in the vineyards are THAT OLD.
I know that they carry insurance, but I wonder how many vineyards will just give up.
One of the reasons that California has such horrible fires every year is bc they have bought into the idea that you don't clean up debris bc that debris is habitat and you will kill wildlife. I can guarantee that the wildlife in the way of those fires didn't survive so by leaving dead debris in an already very dry state habitat and wildlife have NOT been well served.
Where WE live there are miles and miles and miles of farmland ribboned with small forests and small prairies. We have a healthy and growing deer population and support a healthy Fall deer hunting season. Some wealthy Cook County (Chicago) have bought farms further south just so that they can provide habitat for deer and hunt their own deer.A deer is pretty big (200 lbs+) and they have plenty of habitat to thrive and breed.
(Iroquois County is a very popular county for this and one owner built a mansion and invites the local high school to have their prom there every year, in an effort to have good relations with their new neighbors.)
Farmers here own most of the land in IL and they maintain those areas.
Such a shame.
Please remember to pray for people in CA. Just one more disaster in 2017.
 

digitS'

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The WS will tell us soon if they think that it will be a la Niña winter. They have already suggested that there is a good chance.

My first thought was, "Boy! I hope so! Our forests can use that snow again." Then, I thought about what do other locations experience with la Niña? It isn't just us with the 2nd wettest Water Year despite 80 days of no measurable rain.

California had a February snow pack average 180% of normal and more than 160,000 people evacuated because of the danger of the spillway damage at the Oroville dam. And, I think it's sub sahara Africa that has drought ..!

It's the extremes.

Steve
 

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