Smokin'

News blues

The surge in pediatric infections worries doctors as Delta makes a growing number of kids very sick. On the cusp of flu season, doctors say Covid's potential impact on kids is "beyond what flu would ever do." 
The Best Way to Keep Your Kids Safe from Delta? Get the adults in your community vaccinated. 

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Couple of weeks ago, I wrote of the Lambda variant. Sorry to say, it is heeeere…. First cases of COVID Lambda variant reported in north Louisiana 
Buckle up.
More importantly, get vaccinated….

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The Lincoln Project, Last Week on the Republican Party (part 2) (1:28 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

So much bad news. It’s time for some unexpected news – about birds. Gotta love ‘em.

Hair from dogs, raccoons and even humans has been found in the nests of birds, which scientists believe makes the nests better insulated. For a long time, scientists assumed that birds had to collect hair that had been shed or scavenge it from mammal carcasses. However, a new study, published last week in the journal Ecology, shows that several species of bird, including chickadees and titmice, don’t just scavenge hair, they steal it.

Read >>  “Sneaky Thieves Steal Hair from Foxes, Raccoons, Dogs, Even You It’s simple: Mammals have hair or fur. Birds want it.” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I rose early to apply the first coat of roof paint to the houseboat. As I painted, I noticed the weather wasn’t conforming to the weather report. The day, instead of bright and sunny, appeared foggy or overcast. I continue to work until I’d applied the first coat then, bathed in sweat, I packed up the tools, cleaned the brushes, and made my way to the shower. After that, I consulted the online weather forecast. What I’d assumed was fog or low clouds was smoke from the fires burning around California. This time of the year, until now until mid to late October, the wind blows offshore. This means Californians will be subjected to smoke for the next several months.

Our quality of healthy life will nosedive. 

And the Air Quality Index (AQI) shows that. Earlier in the day, the AQI reached 187, then dropped to 157, then 107. (AQI increments by 50 so from 1 to 50 is classified “good”.) 

Interestingly, as I write this, it’s at 93 - “moderate” - although in this area the smoke haze is actually thicker than an hour previous and the air smells of smoke.

I was out of the country last year when Californians hunkered down under vast clouds of thick smoke so it’s a new experience, not pleasant but the sign of the times… 

That news deflates… 

and that's perfectly expressed by what was, two days ago, an astonishingly lovely blossom on my barrel cactus. Today? Deflated. 

Not sure if this is its regular lifecycle – I’ve never seen it blossom before.)

Nevertheless, I’ve applied the first coat of roof paint. Tomorrow I plan to do the second coat. Smoke permitting.
It’s hard work … both to paint and to breathe.

Hyacinth as virus

As fog rose off the water, I captured drifting water hyacinth.

Doesn't it look like illustrations of the coronavirus?

Worldwide (Map) 
August 5, 2021 – 200,670,800 confirmed infections; 4,264,000 deaths
Vaccinated worldwide: 4,303,804,250
June 3, 2021 – 171,746,400 confirmed infections; 3,693,300 deaths
Vaccinated worldwide: 2,002,900,000

US (Map) 
August 5, 2021 – 35,392,700 confirmed infections; 615,150 deaths
June 3, 2021 – 33,308,000 confirmed infections; 596,000 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
August 5, 2021 – 2,497,655 confirmed infections; 73,875 deaths
June 3, 2021 – 1,669,300 confirmed infections; 56,610 deaths

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The Lincoln Project, Made  (0:55 mins)
Trump’s North Carolina Speech in 70 Seconds  (1:05 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Fires, drought, and Covid plague California and the Pacific Northwest.
Scary.
Fires: The Dixie Fire is still uncontained after burning for several weeks and taking down towns  .
Another, newer fire near Auburn in the Sierra foothills  brought evacuees to share friends’ home in Grass Valley.
Even small Bradford Island in the Delta – population estimated at 15 to 20 individuals - was alight. Three residents were assisted by the fire district to evacuate via ferry boat.

Bradford Island was flooded to put out a brush fire that started early Monday morning on what is a reclaimed peat wetland in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The fire was reported at about 1:30 a.m. on the 2,100-acre island, according to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District and prompted evacuations. As of 5 a.m. the fire had burned 212 acres and two structures, but no injuries were reported.

Drought: As irrigated crops compete with fish for scarce water, farmers in the Klamath Basin lose hope as drought closes in. ‘It’s like a sad country song’ and they lament they may be the last generation to work the land. >> 

Covid:

Worldwide, more than 200 million people have been infected with COVID-19, more than 4.2 million people have died from the virus, a staggering figure that includes more than 614,000 Americans, 558,000 Brazilians and at least 425,000 people in India.
…remember that those figures are only the known accounts of infections and deaths associated with COVID-19. Various studies have estimated that the true toll of the pandemic is much higher in some areas. In India, for example, experts suggest the official death toll could be one-half, one-fifth or even less than one-tenth of the actual figure, which may never be known.
It took about 12 months for the coronavirus to infect the first 100 million people worldwide; the next 100 million were infected in just a six-month time frame.
Read more >> 

And yet, in the US, particularly Florida, politicians continue an idiotic path. Florida’s governor chooses to squabble with the president instead of the virus… 
Louisiana’s Attorney General Jeff Landry advises how to invoke the Bible to object to face masks in schools and encourages employees to undermine COVID restrictions.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Based on a lower temperature forecast for today, I began, soon after sunrise, to patch the houseboat’s deck roof. I’d picked up materials while visiting the inner Bay and had my schedule neatly planned. Alas, 88F has the same effect on this human body as 98F: just too hot to tiptoe around with tools.
I’d swept dust from the deck last night and this morning I schlepped up a hosepipe to wash the deck then I patched assorted cracks and holes. While waiting for this material to dry, I prepped other sections and, alas, had to destroy a nest of wasps ensconced in canvas. By the time I was ready to paint, the heat had blossomed, and it was just too hot to continue.
I’ll wait until late afternoon after the heat dissipates to continue.
Best lain plans of mice and (wo)man, etc., etc.

Seeing red

News blues

In the US, the summer COVID surge is predicted to get worse before it gets better. We the People can either take precautions and get vaccinated, or allow the surge to accelerate. Read >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

With many of the world’s pollinator insects in decline, what does this mean for global food production? Just how much of the world’s food production is dependent on pollinators? 

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Seeing red:

• Why are patches of snow in the French alps taking on a garish red hue during the summer months? 
• The red tide has been an issue on Florida’s coast since 2017. This year, hundreds of coastal sharks are sheltering in Florida canals to avoid it.  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Departing my idyll on a relatively slow-moving tributary of the San Joaquin River to visit friends in the inner Bay Area, I noticed the next step in California regulators voting to restrict water access for thousands of California farmers amid severe drought.
Background: The Sacramento Delta – ‘the Delta” - is California’s largest surface water source, supplying two-thirds of Californians with at least some portion of their drinking water. The state is going through what is expected to be the second driest two-year period on record. April, May and June were the warmest and driest on record since 1896.

The California State Water Board unanimously agreed to issue an emergency order that bans some farmers from diverting water from rivers and streams in the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds to irrigate their crops.
Amid one of California’s worst droughts, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed has been suffering from low supply as demand continues to climb.
Under the new order, Californians who plan to divert more than 55 gallons per day from rivers or streams in this region must submit a petition and proposal to the state’s deputy director for approval. All water rights holders must also report their water use and submit a certification to comply with the new standards.
Any person, business or group that violates the order will be subject to possible penalties and fines. The water board said enforcement will be incremental and focused mainly on high-grade water violations that significantly impact water flow.
The order must be approved by the Office of Administrative Law and filed with the Secretary of State before it becomes effective, according to a news release from the state water board. The regulations are expected to go into effect August 16.

Read more >> 

Any water from the Delta earmarked for drinking must first be thoroughly de-contaminated. It’s a long way from potable. My mistake, when I moved onto the houseboat, was drinking water that came out of taps. A day later, I vomited outside my office at work, into the garden of the hospital emergency department. Naturally, emergency workers noticed – and brought me inside for diagnosis. Cure? Get a clue, girl and do not drink Delta water. Now I carry potable water into the boat and carefully monitor its use.
Moreover, I hope the water board monitors  the effects of their diversion plans. Or I, and others, might end up living, not on houseboats, but on a tiny houses on deep mud.
Quelle horreur.

Babes in the water

News blues

Vaxed, yet feeling The Covid Angst?
Not surprising. It’s a Covid-angst-provoking time….
Too many opinions, too much contradictory messaging from officials, and way too much deeper, thicker, stinkier … mulch… from The Whackidoodles. Take this Whackidoodle in Tennessee …
Meanwhile,
Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser and The Whackidoodles’ most-hated scientist, warns, ‘Things are going to get worse,’ and shares his COVID-19 Projections >> 
How did it comes to this? The Delta variant is winning, for the moment, and the CDC’s coronavirus map shows that we’re failing to fight it >> 
Some sanity from South Africa: Things to know about vaccines and Covid :

• Vaccines will give you near-complete protection against severe illness and dying from Covid.
• Vaccines are safe. All vaccines used in the vaccination programme in South Africa have undergone extensive trials and have been proven to be effective and safe.
• The risk of serious side effects is similar to the chance of being struck by lightning, and side effects are treatable and generally go away on their own.
• It takes time for vaccines to start working well — usually about two weeks, and their working steadily improves after this.
• Vaccines differ in how well they protect against infection and mild Covid. Most vaccines will require at least two doses and provide good protection against severe illness from Covid two weeks after your first shot. Until you are fully vaccinated you should continue to take the same precautions as if you are unvaccinated.

Healthy planet, anyone?

As heavy rains and floods around the world displace people and those living in conflict zones – from Asia, Latin America and Africa (not to mention the “heat domes” over North America continent) – a Malawian farmer visiting the US wants to know: ‘Why not do more on the climate crisis?’ >> 
What not, indeed?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Even as I settle into my floaty life – my version of a tiny house and living gently on the planet – I rise to new challenges. The latest challenge suggest a parallel between babes in the woods and a babe on the water.
Background: with help, I attached the heavy 1983 15 HP Johnson/Evinrude outboard motor to the transom of the Sea Eagle inflatable. Alas, I had trouble starting the motor with the rope pull. Turns out the fellow that I hired to “service” – and check, replace if needed, the pull rope – instead simply greasing various joints after he - strong, healthy, young - easily started the motor.
Trustingly, I paid him… before he dashed off to Las Vegas… and after learning he couldn’t help attach the motor as he has “a bad back.”
I found someone else to help to attach the outboard. Even then, I wasn’t able to start the outboard. Instead, I switched out the gas/petrol-fueled Evinrude motor with a small, light and easy to manage, battery-powered electrical trolling outboard.
I hopped into the inflatable, pushed off from the pier, and… ran into weeds. Yes, I know there are weeds, after all I swim through these long stringy weeds every day. This babe in the water, however, never guessed a motor would be beaten those same weeds!
For, alas, the trolling motor cannot handle the long strands of water weeds that tangle in the propeller and prevent it from propelling.
Additionally, the outgoing tide simply carried away the inflatable. Trying to paddle with oars, I watched the houseboat until it was out of sight.
Invasives to the rescue! Tangling with invasives slowed the vessel as I entertained scary thoughts (carried willy nilly into fast water? arriving in San Francisco Bay … then under the Golden Gate Bridge …then into the ‘potato patch’  ?).
I noticed nearby a lovely boat with a large 120 HP outboard - and a trolling motor - piloted by two confident fishermen.
I called out, “Can you tow me home?”
I explained the weed/outboard/lack-of-experience experience. Generously, they towed me back home.
Back to square one.
A short while later, I noticed another, smaller Sea Eagle inflatable with a man, woman, and young girl aboard, struggling with their similar-sized trolling motor succumb to tangling weeds and outgoing tide. That family, too, was towed to a pier.
Babes on the water….
The reality? If I’m to enjoy the inflatable, I need to fix the rope pull.
You Tube to the rescue. As always, You Tube offers great, on the ground information. I found a detailed demo on how to replace the rope pull.
A new challenge. And, a name for the inflatable? The Challenger.