Tag: weather

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ramblings of a madman

A cold spell. Has Mother Nature snapped? Have I snapped?

A cold front has transcended the United States this week. Cold, wind and snow in some places, below zero temperatures in others. Here it has been very cold and windy. I think winter has finally arrived, almost in full force. Except for the lack of snow.

The climate doomsayers constantly remind us about various days as being the warmest the earth has experienced. Never do they talk about or trend the coldest days. Or they frequently discuss the warmest year on record. They also talk about how weather phenomena continue to drive bad conditions. It is worse this year than in previous years. The situation continues to get worse year after year. People attribute the magnitude of destruction from the California fires to the Santa Ana winds. And all of the destruction that we see is because of climate change. I am certain the Santa Ana winds have been around for much longer than either you or me.

Suffice it to say, the fires are bad because of the lack of poor land management. There is a lack of reducing fuel on land. Additionally, there is insufficient investment in infrastructure because the land becomes overpopulated. Mother nature has not snapped.

The intensity of storms or winds may have increased compared to what was experienced in the past. We all likely agree on this to some extent. And I think we would all acknowledge that the human race has had some impact on those changes. However, we will all disagree on the specific conditions of the change. Increased CO2 from the emissions of cars, petroleum products, burning coal for electricity? Decreased forestation, where less trees cover the planet. Changes in water and air conditions (pollution). More buildings, roads and parking lots. We differ on where humans have played a role in changing the climate. And I am sure that we differ on how to fix it, if it even can be fixed?

Quite simply, there are too many people on this planet.

Climate and weather is Chemistry and Physics. I am reminded of Le Chatelier’s Principle. When a reaction at equilibrium is disturbed by a change in conditions, the system will respond. It will act in a way that counteracts the disturbance. Then it will re-establish a new equilibrium. Or is it the simplification of Newton’s Third law, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction?

Some interrelation mathematical dance tied to a myriad of hydrodynamics codes. Whether it is the weather, nuclear weapons design, investing in the stock market, who knows (or cares). Perhaps I have snapped!

My coworker and I were talking about this the other day. Not the have I snapped part. A conversation separates the normal workflow of the day. Schedules, reports, review reports or data, technical presentations to prepare, meetings to attend (and accomplish nothing). The status of our activities. Earned value management? She was getting things wrapped up work wise before venturing off onto another photography trip. This time it’s to British Columbia and Alberta to visit among other things, some lake that has frozen methane spheres. And if nature and conditions cooperate, animals will be photographed in their natural habitat. Hopefully, the northern lights will also make an appearance.

You can read all about the methane bubbles here: https://www.abrahamlake.com/Frozen-Methane-Bubbles-at-Abraham-Lake.html

As for the scientist in me, I wonder if you can burn the methane ice bubbles like cow dung. Or will they just explode?

She travels the world whenever time permits, which is another way of saying when vacation hours accumulate. She has photographed penguins in Antarctica, twice. She has captured pictures of volcanoes in Iceland. Stayed in an ice hotel in Scandinavia as part of a trip to see the Northern Lights. Castles in Scotland. She has documented (on film) animals in Africa. She has taken photographs of wildfires. She has photographed the crews working to contain them. She has also captured images of polar bears here in America. And of my daughter’s horse Ruby…

Our conversation was about melting glaciers and their impact on global warming. We also talked about the salinity of the water (Le Chatelier’s Principle in action). Why does one use salt to melt ice? Lastly, we discussed ideal beachfront investments for the future, as I have to trivialize everything. Does melting ice actually flood the planet and change the coastline in the future?

Her vacation travels make me think about my need to travel across this country, and elsewhere. Especially as I ponder retirement. Unfortunately, I accumulate too many vacation hours and hardly use them. OK, I occasionally travel for concerts. Early May is already set with a planned concert. A few other trips are in the planning stages. As for work, our paid time off, or PTO, combines vacation hours and sick hours. I seldom use all of it and so it accumulates and then I just take days off. As I seldom get sick, those hours also just accumulate. I might suggest that is because I take good care of myself, but we know that isn’t entirely true. However, my last physical indicated that I was in good health. There are a few things I need to work on as I get older. I will address those issues this year.

Next week, many people will snap because Trump will be inaugurated as our 47th President. Talk about a cold front settling across the nation! As for this post, I am left with many topics to detail in future posts. Until next time, stay safe, stay warm and enjoy. All is well.

Categories
life

Exploring California’s Ohana Festival and New Orleans Adventures

Welcome to early October. It has been a few weeks since the last post. This is the time of year when I often plan my vacation. Nothing extravagant like some of my friends, who venture off for weeks to Scotland and Ireland. That said, I have placed such trips on my bucket list for the future—when I retire.

More often than not, my vacations are typically long weekend getaways. They are solo trips to a music festival, usually in a place that I have never visited. This year was no exception. I decided in early April to attend the Ohana Festival in California.

I would sum up the Ohana Festival as great weather, great music, and great food. It was a fantastic weekend to sleep in, charge the batteries before returning to work. The food was delicious and aside from all of the walking and drinking, I managed to put on 10 pounds. And while the location, on a Pacific beach was spectacular, the water was too cold to enjoy the surf.

Of course, given the cell phone age, I managed to take pictures to share of the adventure.

The music lineup included Dogstar, The Breeders, The MOSS, and Turnpike Troubadours, along with DEVO, Sting, and Alanis Morissette, among others. Pearl Jam was also featured. These were just a few of the acts from the three-day event. The two Pearl Jam concerts started off explosively but, in my opinion, ended as some of their least remarkable performances. I shouldn’t have been surprised; it was the conclusion, or nearly so, of the Dark Matter tour. They seemed to lack the vigor I had seen at an earlier show in Las Vegas.

I returned from California and spent a few days at work. There it was wrapping up the fiscal year and starting anew. Of late, work has become more of a negative distraction than the whole idea of accomplishing specific goals. That trend continues and certainly has pushed me towards making this my final year. My week at work involved less actual work and more preparation for retirement, along with planning for my upcoming trip.

It was another long weekend vacation. This time, with son in tow, we ventured off to New Orleans and my niece’s wedding. Daughter, unfortunately, could not attend due to college classes.

I figure that it was a complete wedding, New Orleans style. There was a jazz band. People enjoyed dancing and music in the streets. The celebration included a streetcar trip. The wedding took It was a black-tie event and thus the need to wear the tuxedo. For me, there were relaxing moments on the front porch. I enjoyed drinking a gin & tonic while reading a book. I also spent time pondering the future.

A visit to the Crescent City isn’t complete without exploring the National World War II Museum. My son found it engaging. The ‘broken world’ exhibit felt particularly relevant as we approach this election cycle. I can’t help but think that we may be facing some challenging times ahead. The sentiment remains unchanged regardless of the election results, unless a clear frontrunner appears with policies that align with my vision for the near future.

And to that end, I have already voted. Yes, I voted early and in person. Otherwise, this election cycle has been madness. I get between 50 to 100 phone calls, text messages, e-mails, and snail mail requests for donations every day. This happens daily. I cannot believe how much money the democrats have raised. I honestly believe that the amounts indicated some illegal shenanigans that need to be investigated. However, I wonder why we cannot raise those kinds of funds to ease homelessness. We could help those less fortunate or provide disaster relief.

Well, it is Sunday. I have been at it for a few hours. I have been to the grocery store. I have taken Jewel for a walk. I have been out for coffee. The rains from yesterday have subsided for the moment, but more in the forecast. There is snow in the mountains and autumn has clearly arrived.

Until next time, enjoy the pictures, have a great week and get out and vote. I am afraid that our Constitutional Republic may be hanging in the balance. Why would Warren Buffet sit for a photo on a toilet? He must be thinking that this is the direction of the economy.

Categories
the week in review

Smokey or smoky

Well last week I wrote about the start of fire season and the fact that we were engulfed with the smoke from the Cerro Pelado fire, which started and was burning about 20 miles from us. As I left the house this morning to go to the monthly Cowboy Breakfast, the air was full of smoke and the ability to see the mountains was difficult because of the haze created by the smoke.

The smell of burnt wood was all around.

It was certainly smoky outside. After breakfast I returned home and started to prepare this weeks ramblings. Upon reviewing what I posted last week, there it was in front of me. I used the word smokey, spelled with an E, to describe what I just wrote above, which I wrote without the E. And so I wondered, what is the correct spelling or word usage? What is the correct term that I should be using?

Know I know that I am not the greatest linguist in the world. I will sometimes read my postings, especially those early on, and wonder who is the illiterate writing this. Should I go back and correct my bad English and spelling? I am constantly telling my children how it is important to learn to spell words correctly, to use words correctly in a sentence, and to be able to speak coherently. For them it is a work in progress. But for me, if I have problems, I just say that it is the CF in me. CF stands for Country Fu$&. Trying to use humor to correct my inability to speak correctly!

And so I scoured the internet in search of the correct spelling, the correct use for the word smoky, or smokey. I guess that I am not the only one who has opined about this difference in word spelling in the English language.

As an example, https://writingexplained.org/smokey-or-smoky-difference

commented on this very matter. In last weeks post I used the wrong spelling, which I corrected above for this weeks posting. I will have to check back to the website denoted above because it looks like there are lots of great words that have different spellings that people use interchangeably, and probably use them incorrectly, just as I did.

Smokey or Smoky: What’s the Difference?

But this wasn’t the only place that wrote about the musings of smoky versus smokey. I also cam across https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/smokey-or-smoky. The Grammar Girl (Mignon Fogarty) also wrote about the difference as fall fell into the western United States in September 2019. Looks like she offers lots of tips on how to write better and to project the proper use of English in speaking. I bookmarked her pages for a future visit since I find myself trying to improve my knowledge, skills and abilities. Finally, not to be outdone and not to add to the confusion, but Smokey the Bear (https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/exhibits/show/smokey-bear) is where the proper noun comes from.

Where was I, Aah yes…It is very smoky outside at this moment because of shifting winds and warming temperatures. The Cerro Pelado fire has doubled in size in a week but is still about 15 to 20 miles from Los Alamos. They have several crews working on it and the other dozen or so fires that are burning in the state at present. A concise update of several of the fires can be found at https://www.npr.org/2022/05/01/1095812382/new-mexico-wildfire-updates

Sadly, just think of all of the air pollution that could have been not created if our government did a much better job at prevention of the fires in the first place. Granted, we are in a drought , and have been that way for a number of seasons in the southwest. Water, that which is very important to humans, has been slowly becoming less and less in the southwest over the past couple of decades. Less snow in the winter. Less rain in the summer. Monsoon season has clearly dried up over the past number of years as I have lived in New Mexico.

New Mexico and other areas across the Southwest U.S. are affected by the North American Monsoon System, as the “Monsoon Season” is designated by the period lasting from June 15th through September 30th. With the onset of the Monsoon, New Mexico is typically impacted by a variety of weather hazards that can often put the population at risk for serious injury or death. Thunderstorm frequency increases during this period, while exceptionally hot days are common as well.  See the pages https://www.weather.gov/abq/prepawaremonsoonhome to become aware of the life-threatening weather hazards that affect New Mexico during the Summer Monsoon.

Not much else to comment on under the category “the week in review”. Kids are still in school. My daughter went to the prom this weekend. Gosh I feel old! Jewel is lying on the sofa next to me while I writ this post. Yesterday was the first day in weeks that I took her for a walk. We went to the vet a few weeks ago after she started limping and favoring her hind leg. And after a few week of rest, she still favors it but doesn’t appear to be in pain. I am guessing that we will have to make a return trip so as to get some x-rays to see what is really troubling her.

As for me, aside from work, I had to fix a broken fence at the stables yesterday. Ruby decided to kick the wood and essentially broke the 2 x 6 rail (photo below on the left). I was able to replace the lower rail after an hour (photo below on the right). As I get older, I notice that it gets harder to move, and as I try to do work such as this, the body aches more and more.

Needless to say, Ruby and Roman enjoyed my company, as I was able to give them horse cookies while I was there.

Ruby and Roman watching me clean up after fixing the fence. I am pretty sure that they are just looking for more cookies.

Much going on in the news over the past week. I found it very disturbing that Russia is still bombing the Ukraine. China appears to be taking their side, and yet is forging new ties with Iran. The world continues to drift towards two sides, separated by different ideologies. A separation which will only result in a death and destruction. The world remains an evil place, and I am afraid that the dogs of war are howling as time marches onward. I hope that I am wrong but I believe that I am not. The Russian leadership use the n-word, as in nuclear war and use of nuclear weapons, as if we are to shutter in fear at the mere mentioning of them. We should because neither side will gain from such an exchange. Since Russia and the United States have about 7,000 weapons pointed at each other, I think that the global annihilation of mankind is assured. And yes, China, England, France and a few other countries have about 1000 weapons as will certainly add to the destruction of planet earth.

Closer to home, the American economy if drifting towards recession, caused by inflation and supply chain issues. Yet our government fails to see the problem and relies on printing more money to solve our economic ills. I think that it is the inflation factor that still keeps me working. I was a teenager in the 70’s, when the misery index exceeded 18%. I saw my parents loose their jobs and the ills that inflation reeks on the family.

I have noticed of late that when I go out to eat, or go to the store, that I have to wait longer for service. And while the wait is longer, the service is not as good and the cost of goods and services is increasing without any restraint. Depending on where I go, a 20 oz cup of coffee is around 3 dollars, the breakfast burrito is about 7 dollars. And my splurge purchase, a Jack and Ginger was 12 dollars. Gasoline is holding at $4.29 a gallon but milk is almost 3 dollars a gallon. I went to get stamps last weekend and a roll of stamps was 58 dollars.

Yes, I still write checks to pay my bills. While you can do everything over the internet these days, you get hacked and then it is weeks, if not longer, to recover from the hack. I log onto the computer and they are always trying to save my passwords. Save my passwords on the computer. What happens when that website or that service gets hacked. No thanks, I still do it the old fashioned way. I write it down on a piece of paper that goes into a notebook.

Clearly, if I have to evacuate because of a raging fire, that notebook is at the top of my list of things to take with me. Until next time.

Categories
Family

First day of summer

Today marks the first day of summer. Started humming the Brian Adams tune “Summer of 69”, which I recall was big during the summer of 1983. I was back in Pennsylvania. I had graduated from college and was getting ready for graduate school. I recall that was a hot summer for some reason. And here in New Mexico, today is hot (mid-80’s) and windy. Low humidity, and blue sky. Yes, I was able to get back about midnight after the travel day from hell.

It was good that I was able to get home because I had lots of things to do. I had to feed the horse first thing in the morning, go to work on my day off to deal with some pressing things, pick up the dog from the kennel, take daughter riding and pick up son from nature camp. Horse and dog are fine, children are well, and I didn’t get sucked in on my day off.

Summertime usually coincides with the kickoff of the afternoon monsoon season. Monsoon season has been on again, off again over the past two decades. Monsoon season is usually when the rain clouds form above the mountains to the west during the day. By the afternoon, we have a thunderstorm with rain. They typically hit every afternoon and last about a half an hour at most. But the thunder and lightening can be quite impressive. They add their own unique set of colors to the New Mexico sky, which is a palette containing a variety of colors. The skies are often light blue or dark blue. They are some of the deepest blues that I have ever seen. And of course, the white puffy clouds. Often with the monsoons are large and very colorful rainbows. Sadly, I have yet to find a pot of gold. Another sky anomaly, depending upon the sunlight, the angle in the sky, and other weather conditions are the variety of other colors present in the sky: yellow, orange, red, and pink. These colors are often present at sunrise and sunset.

We have a quiet weekend planned. Daughter plans to work at Goose Downs. Son has nothing on the horizon but we have some work to do at the stables in terms of cutting weeds and getting the barn ready for the first delivery of hay shortly. Aside from housecleaning, perhaps I can read some more of my book.

Quiet is good. I never sleep well on travel, so I often return very tired and need the weekend to recover. Plans for July and August are starting to take shape. Two horse competitions; one in July and one in August. My 40th high school reunion is in a July. Still trying to decide if I will make it back. Sounds like a few folks that I haven’t seen in 40 years may be there. July is pretty busy already, making a long weekend trip back east difficult, but we shall see.

Categories
life

Away from home

I rushed to the airport this morning trying to get back home at a decent time to see my kids tonight. I had it all planned in advance. I had to get back when I planned. Sadly, I now find myself sitting at the airport, waiting six hours for my rebooked flight. If all goes well, instead of getting home by dinner, I am home by midnight. It’s not just my time or plans ruined. It cost my employer money because of added time for parking, meals, and since my flight gets into New Mexico after 9pm and then it’s two hours by car, I can actually stay in a hotel an extra night.

Really, you don’t have a spare plane that can reposition and get me on time? Maintenance really takes that long and you cannot shuffle flights so that I could get home sooner? It’s me so yes dammit I will be selfish. I have your app yet the technology that should of alerted me to these problems did not. It was experiencing its own technical problems so you said. Had I been alerted, I could have kept the rental car for awhile longer, returned to my meeting, or at least have enjoyed a nice restaurant away from the airport. Instead, I am here, writing about you.

Where I work, some call travel a perk. Others call it an unnecessary evil that comes with our jobs. I hate travel. Others love travel. My desire is to win the lottery with enough money so that I can travel on a private plane. You rebooked me and now I have a crappy seat. The other day I posted on my Facebook page photos at your hub, where you claimed to be making improvements with upgrades. I presume you think that these will make our travel experience better?

I think not. How is a reduced sitting area in the terminal improve our travel experience? How are places to line up based upon boarding improve my experience? You have already reduced our legroom. Perhaps you should redo the seats in the terminal to mirror the lack of space we will have when we can actually get on a plane.

When I checked in my luggage, I thanked the attendant for ruining her plans. It’s not her fault and I told her that. She agreed. Unfortunately she is the face that you put in front of me. She listened, I complained. I thanked her and we went our separate ways. Now my checked luggage is setting there, unlocked because the government searches it in the name of security. Odds are that it will NOT make it to my final destination. This is the voice of experience talking because I have been down this road before.

As I sit at the airport, I see the clouds rolling in. Yep, I am certain that I will experience additional delays this afternoon because of weather. My weather app tells me that there is a 70% chance of afternoon Thunderstorms by 4pm. Just about the boarding time for my flight from Augusta to Atlanta.

Hopefully I’ll get home based upon my revised itinerary. I’ll let you know. At least I’ll have my questionnaire that I will be sent by e-mail asking me about my experience. NOT!