A Parting Shot and The Rising Storm

     Poster children for the unvaccinated enjoying the fog and drizzle between rain storms that have left us with 12 inches of rain in two weeks while our brethren and sisters up in Sierras are buried under record snow.

    We take the good where we can find it and we'll be tightly gripping our "cup of kindness" as we limp more deeply into the '20's. 

    We've wandered many a weary foot children, so drink up the cup and remember the good old times, stingily parsed these last couple of years. The trusty hand of a friend is a companion wise on the rough road ahead.

    Maybe it just me, but there's something regal here.

    Sunny and Hemingway making the best of it, on a rare moment to be in fresh air, as crises of nature and the human kind beat the old year to a pulp. 

    Another variant, bad behavior and now our precious care givers are beset again. Putin is up to little dictator games, and it's suddenly election year in America. Pass me another cup of kindness there and then I'm headed for safety.

        Whoops! Well, any box in a storm! 

    I've been paying attention the animals around here because people are either disgusting, or they are my friends, who I rarely see except on Zoom or masked, or at social distances and they too are worried about the rise of the disgusting. My tennis pals are an exception as we can put all human foibles out of mind as we rock and roll on the court-except two weeks of rain have stopped that. 

        So Auld Lang Syne 2021. You were supposed to be the year of healing and normalcy. Do you think humanitie's karma is catching up with us?

    

        So I've been looking up, as the storm clouds clear, and I can't stop from trying to make my phone work like a telescope.

        These are meager offerings especially when we have some genuine astrophotographers living in these parts, but they point you in a good direction. We can celebrate the launch of the Webb telescope this month. That will do more for human knowledge than all of the weasel heads in congress, all of the unmasked, and unvaccinated combined.

        Grasp this, Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977 are still moving through the heavens. In about 14 thousand Years V 1 will be leaving the Oort cloud. Give it another 280 thousand years and it will be approaching our next nearest star, still in our galaxy of course and we just don't know how many billion galaxies there may be. So there's a perspective to apply to 

the life and times of planet earth in these days of uncertainty. 

        A friend who worked on the Hubble telescope, one of the brightest scientific minds around said often as he aged, "you've got to have a sense of humor in this life." Frank was frequently bemused when it came to how the inhabitants of this planet conducted themselves. 

        So let's take a right good draught for auld lang syne and for the good old days to come.

        Slainte'

    See you down the trail. 

EXTRAORDINARY

    Perplexing matters are just ahead but first we marvel. 

    You are looking at snow, an extraordinarily uncommon sight here on California's central coast.

    In northern San Luis Obispo County the Santa Lucia mountains run from about 1,700 to 3,700 feet though they get taller as they climb toward Big Sur. We are a Mediterranean climate and snow is rare.

     By standards practically anywhere else this is not a lot of snow and they pale as snow capped peaks, but they were a shock to the system as I gazed out of the window while sipping coffee. 

     The jolt was more incongruous since these are the scenes we've been viewing since the rain has abated.

     Bee boxes so they and the birds can do their spring magic.

      Grazing slopes with an abundance of grazing material.

    The snow was gone by late morning and a warming trend is expected.

OOPS

      Who to feel the most sorry for-The Moonlight crew, La La Land's happy and celebrating crowd or Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway?

       Oscar history there. You can imagine the conversation over the production crews ear phones, or in the network offices, or the ATAS office. What a header and plummet of emotion on one hand and bizarre ascension to the top on the other. Maybe the Russians hacked something!

Stooge Patrol

      Donald Trump and his minions should know their obituaries will be written by journalists. 

      The game the White House is playing with restricting access is foolish. But it is also the sort of thing dictators, strong men thugs and Russians do. Combined with his childish "fake news" retorts and his labeling the free press an "enemy of the people" it is also a jab in the eye of a free and open democratic republic. As we have noted "enemy of the people" is an old Russian communist tool designed to silence free thought. 

      Over the weekend I was published on the New York Times on line site raising the concern that Trump treats his followers as a movement and they respond as such, getting further out of the mainstream of American political behavior and history. They disregard the truth, are willingly mesmerized by a con man and ignore the unprecedented amateurism, missteps and blunders. One could question if they and Trump are not the true "enemies of the people."

    This photo of Stephen Miller has been discussed and dissected for several days now. The photo is real, but there is disagreement about whether he is throwing the white power salute sign or is simply fiddling with his coat while doing a television interview. 

      People who know him say he's off the deep end and has been for years. They sight his odd political thoughts while in college and his behavior since. His recent statements have convinced many he's a fascist and white nationalist. He's part of the Bannon gang. What do you think?

     See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER-DRIVE

DRIVING & DRIVEN

   As another weekend of winter blasts much of the US, these snaps from the drive and street of our Indiana home, in a winter past, are enough to bring back bad memories and trigger my sympathy to those of you who must endure.

     Picturesque though winter may be, driving was always a royal pain. Notice that ice where the tire treads are?

  So we continue our exploration of California, but select trips in a time of the year to avoid snow. Maybe some year we'll venture into the Sierra during ski season. Maybe.

  Our Weekender video prompts a question this week. How would you like to drive this bridge?" Enjoy.

    Hats off to the Norwegian engineers and road builders.  See you down the trail.

SNARK, QUIVER AND COUNTING

SNARKING THE BROS

     Just a brief word to add to the debate volumes.

     For a 90 minute exchange on foreign policy, they certainly spent a lot of time on the economy and they missed most of the world.  Sure, people vote on economics and social issues, but in a troubled world they ignored too much.  A deeper discussion might have surfaced some real differences in attitude, approach and application.

Photo Courtesy of CBS News

     What a tough time to moderate!  Bob Schieffer, an old pro indeed, has been mugged by the insipid society of the snarky. Those who are guilty of such are probably the same crowd who suddenly have thrust the word "trajectory" into presidential politics. They are, most probably, people who spent more time tweeting, than actually listening, and who know in their hearts that all presidential politics really is about them, their twitter stream, face time and Facebook activity.  If you don't really have anything intelligent or important to say, then be snarky about the moderator.

       The last debate I moderated was the gubernatorial debate in Indiana 4 years ago. I escaped better than Lehrer, Raddatz, Crowley or Schieffer, though there were a couple of bloggers who went after me. One was experiencing their first governors race while being of voting age.  The other was a reporter whose work, I thought, always betrayed his lack of savvy, understanding of complexity and even more troubling his relative lack of intelligence.  So it is for those who practice snarky instead of real journalism.   

       

READING THE SNOW DEPTH

Photo Courtesy of cserc.org

     Autumn dried Californians wait for the snow season to

paint the Sierra Nevada range. An early storm is expected to leave 8-12 inches along the Sierra Crest and 4-8 inches below 7,000.

      At 700 sites in the Western US, where water supplies are dependent on snow melt, such as here at Mt Tallac, you will find SNOTEL technology.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates Snow pack
Telemetry sites (SNOTEL) utilizing meteor burst technology.

     The USDA's National Resource Conservation Service set out precipitation collectors, snow pillows, depth sensors 

     and temperature gauges. They relay data that is used to calculate water levels from snow melt.
     Alpine ski altitude gets 300 to 500 inches a season. 125 fall on the lake at 6,400 feet.

    16 remote SNOTEL sites stand sentry in the Lake Tahoe basin alone.
     The image below is from a web cam frame grab Tuesday afternoon at Heavenly Dipp above South Lake Tahoe.

ARCHIVE PHOTOS

This is the kind of accumulation the SNOTEL stations will measure.

Photo Courtesy of weather.com

Photo Courtesy of kqed.org

    The next time you read about the snow fall or accumulated depth up in California's high country, you can picture one of the little SNOTEL sites, enduring the wind, cold and depth while transmitting data.

BEFORE YOU GO

A HALF MOMENT OF AUTUMN

Quaking Aspen

See you down the trail.

TINGES

A PARTING OF THE SEASONS

     In the mid-west and east people will begin looking for hints of color in the maples, sycamores, oaks, hickories, and other deciduous trees, now that we are getting deep into September.  
    Out west we spot the color in the aspen, oak and madrone trees, especially in the Sierra. As a former mid westerner one calculates the connection between color in leaves to leaves on the ground and then the arrival of snow.  While we hope for a lot of snow in the Sierra, that part of the equation-snow-changes when you get to the coast. In fact autumn may well be THE season here on the central coast.  
    We still have blooms, the sky is blue, the temperatures are moderate to warm and it stays that way. The only variance are those few days when rain allows for more blooms and a renewing greening. Nominally the rainy season, October through March, means a lot less rain than elsewhere.  24 to 26 inches is a good normal year. Spread that over a 5 to 6 month span and you see rain is a precious and indeed a somewhat rare resource. 
    So, for now, more color from those things that don't require much water.  And we'll be on the look out for color in the leaves and reports of the first snow, high in the mountains or back east.

DAY FILE

Tinges of Pink 

& other shades

See you down the trail.

AREN'T THERE PALM TREES AT THE SUPER BOWL?

OR SO THE ROAD ADVENTURE CONTINUES

(Indianapolis) Part of the mission here is to get an

early look at the Superbowl festivities. Oh boy are

some Super Bowl partiers going to be in for

a shock, if the early February weather is

like this. Indianapolis is great at hosting,

staging mega major events, making sports fans

feel right at home, putting on a party, but...

Most Super Bowl revelers equate the big party down

with palm trees, maybe even leisurely strolls along

the beach, or avenue.

Here is a quick thought about that in the form of

MORE FROM THE ROAD

Finally got out of the Phoenix airport into the air

a little before 8PM.  Arrive Indianapolis at 1:02 AM.

The jet gateway was frozen, so there was that time 

when all the folks, eager to deplane, are standing

tummy to fanny balancing carry ons and craning their necks

to see the front of the line, as if that might by some

power, expedite the process.

That first blast of 12 degree weather was a balm of 

sorts on this weary traveler who started his forward process

at 3:45 am PT.

Thank you for rapid reservation service at the car rental, except I'm stopped at the gate by the security guy who

radios in to the main office that Mr. Cochrun is in a car without paperwork.  A few minutes of back and forth

and I end up backing up, finding the "right" car in the

"right slot" and off onto the freeway which is

snowy and ice covered.  It's been a while for that experience as we don't get snow or ice on the Pacific Coast Highway, Highway 46, aka The Green Valley Road, or our stretch of the 101. I keep looking for pavement and

believe the signs that war of ice on bridges and overpasses.

To the hotel, finally, knuckles a little tight from

the grip on the wheel and to the room. Lights out at

3 AM.

DAY BOOK

SUPER BOWL AND SUPER WEATHER?

 The walkway to the parking  garage

gave first glimpse of the wonderland outside.

 Morning dawns.  12-14 inches of snow an

hour north.  School delays and icy roads

here.

Ah, the joys of travel.

See you down the road.

MORE FROM THE ROAD

MISERY MUST LOVE COMPANY

Update

Arrived Phoenix with prospects of a seven hour wait and

the best plans of the day- radio and tv interviews and

dinner with friends-down the drain.

US Airways could take us to Pittsburgh and then in,

saving two hours but still missing the events, or through

Charlotte with the same outcome.  We opted to avoid

flying directly into a snow storm or through one so we could

enjoy the thrill of two more plane changes.

Delays?  Phoenix is the capitol of misery today.

As the harried but cool customer service rep told us,

"we are down to just one runway today.  We have planes sitting on runways and people missing connections all over the place."  Don't you wish you were here with all these happy campers?

Maybe it is good then that people traversing airports

 go into this kind of zombie mode?

 Stunned, bewildered, confused, eyes a glaze.

Maybe it is the carpets.  Something in the patterns

akin to hypnosis-some old mind control research

sold to the keepers of the nation's airways.

Maybe that explains how an airline can delay the 

first flight of a trip, making you miss a connection and

not bother to change the rest of the flight plan to 

accomodate and for this you say 

thank you.

7 Hours in the Phoenix airport?  And I say Thank you?

Oh--I understand there could be 3-7 inches of snow when

we get in early tomorrow morning.  Hope the rental car

agency is open.  I wonder if any of my fellow 

Phoenixians for a day travel with a snow scraper?

A snow scraper?  

Thank you?

See you down the trail.