Good Morning!!!! 74F @ 6:45AM. Partly cloudy skies. High 104F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
The air's not too good outside this morning, but it's much better than yesterday. It did eventually clear out by late afternoon on Friday, so I opened up the garage and shared a margarita on the back porch with my bodyshop neighbor. Then remembered to close all the doors in the garage on my way in for the night, and the inside filter has been quiet ever since.
I'm of mixed mind about the electric cars, Drew. There's no doubt that Tesla can build a performance car that leaves most gas guzzlers in the dust, and it would be fun to drive one. But I don't believe for one second that they're better for the environment once you include the energy cost of mining and refining the materials for the batteries, and the fossil fuels burned to generate the power to charge the batteries. And I'm not buying the argument that we can build enough solar, wind, and wave energy farms to keep electric cars on the road, either. Same problem: the cost of producing that infrastructure is a high mortgage to pay, both dollar wise, and resource/CO2 wise.
I hope you have a successful gig tonight, Paul. You know you're going to forget to bring something; hope it's not your hearing protection.
Did you get the two battery blower? Hang on tight when you hit that high setting! I'm curious to hear how long the batteries last in the string trimmer. I'm good for about two or three tanks of gas worth on the Stihl, maybe a couple of hours, and wonder how many sets of batteries that works out to.
I think I read that story last year, as people were recovering from the Bear/North Complex Fire, Ron. That was one of many started by a band of thunderstorms that ran from Monterey, through here, and then farther north. I ignored evacuation orders for about a week, during which the solar system and generator earned their keep because PG&E had turned off the electricity. What that cattleman failed to mention, probably because it was so obvious to him, is that the browsing cattle keep the brush down so that when fire comes, it stays on the forest floor and out of the trees. The fire cleans up the sticks, branches, and leaves on the ground, and the trees stay alive and green. Too many of our forests aren't managed that way, and after years of accumulation, the fuel loads are so high there's nothing left but ash when a fire goes through. And like this Dixie Fire, they're too big to put out, and the fire fighters stand by helplessly as hundreds of thousands of acres go up in smoke.
As far as the Dixie Fire goes, as of last night it had grown to 162,000 acres, with 18% containment, and over 4200 assigned to fight it. Most of what's burning is on the edges at this point, which spreads the firefighters even more thinly. Yesterday's heavy smoke kept air attack on the ground most of the day, and when they could get up, they were only flying on the flanks because of the heavy smoke at the head of the fire. More evacuations on the western edge of the fire, and on the eastern side as well. All places of much natural beauty, snowy peaks and beautiful green meadows, many high lakes, many campgrounds, including the one at Bucks Lake my friends enjoyed this past weekend. I wonder if they'll have the repairs done in time for us to use next year.
Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!
