Always Something New

Always Something New.

Here's something new; A "Footnote" at the beginning.

New Shoes for triple digit temperatures.

They tell me it's going to get warm here. It got down to 90° last night.

The 100 plus temperatures are really a test of endurance for the thousands of firefighters battling Californias wildfires. I cant praise them enough.

This was the Motion fire yesterday while water bombers and helicopters knocked down the flames with water and fire retardant.

Air support

This is the same fire today around noon.

The wind shifted during the night and fanned it into a blaze again.
The bigger problem was just to the south of this one.

The fire, rekindled by the nights north wind, was now headed for Keswick.

From Shasta dam

Looking west from the dam road

Looking west from just off I-5.

This is from Keswick Dam Road, where I have been taking photos of this fire over the past two weeks.
You will find those pictures in previous posts. The time and temperature;

Time 1:04 pm. Temperature 107° on Keswick Dam Road.

This picture was taken from my apartment building at 4:25pm. The thermometer on my balcony read 115°.

I took this with my cell phone Monday July 7th.

I took this with my cell phone today, Tuesday July 8th.

This last weekend, after Cal Fire spent two weeks bringing hundreds of lightning sparked fires under control, FEMA arrived and took command. First they set up a headquarters with computers and desks and began requiring paperwork and inspections of firefighting equipment so they could assign them to places they thought would be most effective.

One of the most effective tools we had was a Martin Mars super water tanker airplane from Canada. It could fly to lake level on Shasta Lake, scoop up 7,000 gallons of water at 80 miles an hour and drop in on the Motion fire in minutes. Once it arrived, it helped the firefighters begin to control the fires in a matter of days. One of FEMA's command decisions was to send it away to the Big Sur fires. You can see in the Monday picture, what a terrific compliment to our firefighting team it was. You can see by the next day without it, the result. I can only imagine the less apparent bungling of resources these paper pushers have initiated.

Many people questioned the wisdom of putting FEMA in charge of the already successful efforts of Cal Fire in coordinating and deploying firefighters from all over the country. The first thing that came to mind was Katrina and the job they botched there. We were told that if we wanted the 30 million dollars from the Fed's, FEMA was part of it. Maybe they won't mess things up too badly.

On the brighter side, some musicians want to form a band to back me up at festival's and concerts. Tomorrow, a popular blues guitarist is coming over to develop leads for my songs that will relate to my style and showcase his talent at the same time. Thursday at the blues jam I am to hear, and jam with, possible band members. Should we get it together in time, we will play at the upcoming Shasta Blues Festival. That sounds like fun. Something new.

Just when I think I have read all the mosquito repellent techniques, I find another. Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away. I haven't tried this because I haven't been hanging around mosquitoes lately, but if you try it and it works, let me know and I will post it right here ✖.

That's it for tonight. My new computer chair is great.