Need Opinion

[Sandybayes1]

Speaking of opinions NOT politics, what do future Cybertruck owners think is the root cause of the forest fires threatening population centers on the west coast of the US again this summer. I personally believe bad Forest Management is the immediate cause not global warming. I’m a part time resident of ME for the past 42 years and even though peak temperature were frequently as hot as South Florida this summer we’re not plagued by Forest fires. We have active logging industries in ME and Florida. Keeping the Forest from encroaching on the family homestead is kind of a family tradition in these parts. Felling trees against the lean using wedges is kind of generational education to many of us.

Sorry, ME is a totally different eco climate system and has not been as fire prone as the dry, arid west. There was an early period of fire suppression (recall the comic “Smokey the Bear of the 1950’s). Then more recently the efforts of clearing the debris off the forest floor especially around cities. You are just so wrong my friend (as is Trump). Nature’s role has been to let trees catch fire and naturally thin the overgrown forests. You can actually see photos of our forests taken by Powell taken in the 70’s which show a much thinner forest in the 70’s when forest fires were allowed to rage. We now pretty much doing just that while thinning continues closer to populated areas. The primary problem is the drying of the western side of the US due to climate change. Old growth trees are so stressed they have become vulnerable to scrounges like the notorious “bark beetle” which weakens and Either the tree has become vulnerable to forest fires or the beetle finally kills its host. We also see this cycle occurring in Canada’s forests. Please check the history of our forests before you second guess causation of what is threatening us in the West now.

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[ajdelange]

Holding individual stocks for more than a year helps make up for the costs of maintaining a trading account by lowering your tax bracket to the capital gains rate, which is now 15% of net gains.

There basically aren't any costs associated with maintaining a simple trading account any more. eTrade if you want to do it yourself or Schwab if you want free advice and management. And others too. I eventually found out how Schwab makes money but still haven't figured out how eTrade does.

 

[Sirfun]

Speaking of opinions NOT politics, what do future Cybertruck owners think is the root cause of the forest fires threatening population centers on the west coast of the US again this summer. I personally believe bad Forest Management is the immediate cause not global warming. I’m a part time resident of ME for the past 42 years and even though peak temperature were frequently as hot as South Florida this summer we’re not plagued by Forest fires. We have active logging industries in ME and Florida. Keeping the Forest from encroaching on the family homestead is kind of a family tradition in these parts. Felling trees against the lean using wedges is kind of generational education to many of us.

Anyone living outside of the southwest has a hard time understanding our Westcoast weather. I live near the coast in Ventura County. I just looked at our season rainfall summary to get numbers. This year is close to an average season with only 1 out of 23 reporting locations below 100% at 98.6%. most are around 120%. Here's the problem, since June 1st. most of those areas have had 0.00 inches of rain. Over 100 days of no watering the plants. This is totally normal for here. So, we have a dried out ecosystem and around this time of year we get weather patterns that get extremely hot and low humidities down to the single digits. Along with that there are high winds. So, even on the good years there are fires. On the bad years there are historical event fires. Regardless of what some people say, our overall weather is changing. Look at the volume/area of these fires in recent years. They are MASSIVE.
To a degree I think AJ is correct. Except, the problem is our population as a whole just keeps expanding. All population centers have their own natural disasters to deal with. Here on the westcoast it's fires and lack of water. On the Eastcoast its hurricanes and flooding. In the midwest its flooding and powerful thunderstorms with Tornadoes. We have to realize that regardless of how wise we are as human beings, we can't control the weather. We can influence the weather a bit, but we can't control it yet. So, those are the cards we've been dealt. We just need to decide how to play them. AJ, I think you have the right idea. Even the Native Americans would move with the seasons, and they didn't have our transportation.

 

[Handy Artie]

FYI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logging_in_the_Sierra_Nevada

 

[ReddykwRun]

Speaking of opinions NOT politics, what do future Cybertruck owners think is the root cause of the forest fires threatening population centers on the west coast of the US again this summer. I personally believe bad Forest Management is the immediate cause not global warming. I’m a part time resident of ME for the past 42 years and even though peak temperature were frequently as hot as South Florida this summer we’re not plagued by Forest fires. We have active logging industries in ME and Florida. Keeping the Forest from encroaching on the family homestead is kind of a family tradition in these parts. Felling trees against the lean using wedges is kind of generational education to many of us.

Current news reports several "peaceful protester types" out setting fires, not surprised, it's what they do.

 

[ReddykwRun]

Anyone living outside of the southwest has a hard time understanding our Westcoast weather. I live near the coast in Ventura County. I just looked at our season rainfall summary to get numbers. This year is close to an average season with only 1 out of 23 reporting locations below 100% at 98.6%. most are around 120%. Here's the problem, since June 1st. most of those areas have had 0.00 inches of rain. Over 100 days of no watering the plants. This is totally normal for here. So, we have a dried out ecosystem and around this time of year we get weather patterns that get extremely hot and low humidities down to the single digits. Along with that there are high winds. So, even on the good years there are fires. On the bad years there are historical event fires. Regardless of what some people say, our overall weather is changing. Look at the volume/area of these fires in recent years. They are MASSIVE.
To a degree I think AJ is correct. Except, the problem is our population as a whole just keeps expanding. All population centers have their own natural disasters to deal with. Here on the westcoast it's fires and lack of water. On the Eastcoast its hurricanes and flooding. In the midwest its flooding and powerful thunderstorms with Tornadoes. We have to realize that regardless of how wise we are as human beings, we can't control the weather. We can influence the weather a bit, but we can't control it yet. So, those are the cards we've been dealt. We just need to decide how to play them. AJ, I think you have the right idea. Even the Native Americans would move with the seasons, and they didn't have our transportation.

Maybe I can UPS some of the 30" of rain we are predicted to receive courtesy of Sally over the next three days on the Gulf Coast and help you fellas out. Mama taught us to share our toys. Looking at a 9' storm surge, a mild hurricane.

 

[Sirfun]

Maybe I can UPS some of the 15" of rain we are predicted to receive courtesy of Sally on Tuesday on the Gulf Coast and help you fellas out. Mama taught us to share our toys.

(Some) would be great. Hurricane Sally can't be related to Mustang Sally. Why do they call it a hurricane? That storm doesn't seem to be in a hurry at all. Hope she doesn't dump on you too much rain, 15" is a lotta water!

OMG, that's our annual average rainfall.

(from Google)
15 inches

Oxnard, California gets 15 inches of rain, on average, per year. The US average is 38 inches of rain per year. Oxnard averages 0 inches of snow per year. The US average is 28 inches of snow per year.

 

[Crissa]

Current news reports several "peaceful protester types" out setting fires, not surprised, it's what they do.

Those aren't news reports.

-Crissa

 

[ReddykwRun]

(Some) would be great. Hurricane Sally can't be related to Mustang Sally. Why do they call it a hurricane? That storm doesn't seem to be in a hurry at all. Hope she doesn't dump on you too much rain, 15" is a lotta water!

OMG, that's our annual average rainfall.

(from Google)
15 inches

Oxnard, California gets 15 inches of rain, on average, per year. The US average is 38 inches of rain per year. Oxnard averages 0 inches of snow per year. The US average is 28 inches of snow per year.

This morning's update, she has shifted a bit to the east and is sparing NOLA, they need a break, and heading our way towards Baldwin County, AL. Looking at a 9-foot storm surge and 30 inches of precipitation over the next three days. No problem. I grew up here on the Gulf Coast (20 miles inland and high and dry) and built my house like the 4th Little Pig, an ICF structure with a metal roof and NO trees within falling distance on my 5-acre plot in the country. Diesel Generator on standby just in case. Doubt we will need it, only looking at 85 mph winds but it is going so slow so it's gonna be a soaker.

About the names, originally they were female names cause you know how they can get all wound up and all but then the PC crowd got offended and the names were changed to reflect "diversity". Well, there was that gay hurricane back in September 1998, Hurricane Georges, pissed a lot of rain everywhere, a real "scratch your eyes out" storm. I was stationed here in the area ( yea, home town boy) with the USCG in Mobile, HU-25's, and we had to fly our aircraft out of the area, went to Barksdale, LA, we got up there and the next day we were flying cases in our neighborhood in the Gulf and then flew back to roost at Barksdale. BTW they have good BBQ up that way.

 

[ReddykwRun]

Anyone living outside of the southwest has a hard time understanding our Westcoast weather. I live near the coast in Ventura County. I just looked at our season rainfall summary to get numbers. This year is close to an average season with only 1 out of 23 reporting locations below 100% at 98.6%. most are around 120%. Here's the problem, since June 1st. most of those areas have had 0.00 inches of rain. Over 100 days of no watering the plants. This is totally normal for here. So, we have a dried out ecosystem and around this time of year we get weather patterns that get extremely hot and low humidities down to the single digits. Along with that there are high winds. So, even on the good years there are fires. On the bad years there are historical event fires. Regardless of what some people say, our overall weather is changing. Look at the volume/area of these fires in recent years. They are MASSIVE.
To a degree I think AJ is correct. Except, the problem is our population as a whole just keeps expanding. All population centers have their own natural disasters to deal with. Here on the westcoast it's fires and lack of water. On the Eastcoast its hurricanes and flooding. In the midwest its flooding and powerful thunderstorms with Tornadoes. We have to realize that regardless of how wise we are as human beings, we can't control the weather. We can influence the weather a bit, but we can't control it yet. So, those are the cards we've been dealt. We just need to decide how to play them. AJ, I think you have the right idea. Even the Native Americans would move with the seasons, and they didn't have our transportation.

That's what we call in the landscape management trade "extreme evapotranspiration" the water is wicked right out of the leaf by the dry wind.

 

[Sirfun]

That's what we call in the landscape management trade "extreme evapotranspiration" the water is wicked right out of the leaf by the dry wind.

Yep, the evaporation also means you can hose stuff down and 20 mins. later the water/moisture is gone. Plus when we get strong Santa Ana winds blowing, the hot embers blow beyond any fire break. We've had fires consume the landscape at easily 15 miles in one hour. A 6 lane freeway doesn't even slow it down, because embers are jumping ahead and igniting fires out front of the fire. This is not a new phenomenon, just like hurricanes are not new. But we are getting more, and the intensities seem to be ratcheting upwards.
I'm glad to read your comments, that you have planned ahead on your property, for what you have come to expect as a possibility. Hang in there, we all just gotta learn to deal with the cards we've been dealt.

 

[Crissa]

Yeah, the CZU complex started in five locations they couldn't get to it, and when the winds hit, the fire was jumped almost ten miles from one side of Bonny Doon to the top of the ridge behind the college.

How do you fight fire like that?

In one day the fires all raced about 15 miles and went from a place almost outside of my bike's there and back range to threatening my house from where I go hiking behind our neighborhood.

The fires in Oregon were worse, and the wind hit them was worse... hence blowing up those orange skies. The weather service literally had no models to account for so much smoke pumped into 10k feet altitude.

-Crissa

 

[TI4Dan]

I am not a fancially person so advice on that subject I refrain but, on cars I will say this don't purchase vehicle you don't plan on keeping even if it's a Tesla. Very hard to recoup monies on used cars, better to buy a low cost alternative until your desired vehicle comes into the picture. I have bought and sold vehicles
with minimal loses, but it was a rare circumstance that I did not foresee or plan. I have used 3k dollars cars to carry me over the threshold. Best laid plans have failed but do some homework
before embarking on big commitments. I certainly hope you prevail like a proverbial rose.

 

[ReddykwRun]

Yep, the evaporation also means you can hose stuff down and 20 mins. later the water/moisture is gone. Plus when we get strong Santa Ana winds blowing, the hot embers blow beyond any fire break. We've had fires consume the landscape at easily 15 miles in one hour. A 6 lane freeway doesn't even slow it down, because embers are jumping ahead and igniting fires out front of the fire. This is not a new phenomenon, just like hurricanes are not new. But we are getting more, and the intensities seem to be ratcheting upwards.
I'm glad to read your comments, that you have planned ahead on your property, for what you have come to expect as a possibility. Hang in there, we all just gotta learn to deal with the cards we've been dealt.

I hear you, overhead canopy fires can spread faster than ground undergrowth fires. OUCH.

I have relatives in Phoenix and they utilize flood irrigation to better use the water resource for citrus and pecan trees because like you said foliar application is "gone with the wind" and wasted in just a few minutes.

Would you believe our oak trees also suffer from extreme evapotranspiration in a wet hurricane wind? Thankfully they are not flammable. After the storm has subsided what leaves that are left on the trees will be dry as a powder house and in a few days will drop, it's really a surreal landscape scene with all the trees being bare naked for several weeks following a severe storm kind of like when a poodle gets a short hair cut, these trees are naturally evergreens, they normally drop leaves in stages so the tree is always green for the most part and provides shade. Laurel Oaks (Quercus laurifolia) and Live Oaks (Quercus virginiana ) make up the majority of our local oaks. I have seen pine needles driven into the bark of trees, so watch out for those flying projectiles. In 2008 to break up the local monoculture I changed my acreage from a former empty field to a mini forest by planting 15 different types of hardwood and pine stock using 100 rooted saplings of each variety, we would plant on average about 200-300 each weekend in the winter. I obtained the saplings form a local large scale tree nursery that only deals in rooted sapling stock. Made me my own little forest, now I don't scare the neighbors as much and I hang a hammock in there in the non-mosquito season and enjoy. On the entire perimeter, I planted 1-gallon size shrubs of Silver Thorn (Elaeagnus pungens). From a liner nursery I started with 3" rooted cuttings, bumped them into trade gallon containers for 18 months to develop the root system then planted the shrubs on the edge of the property, they are currently about 16' tall and about 12' thick, worked out fine as a maintenance-free privacy fence.

Our current hurricane is moving at the pace of a child through a candy store, at about 2-3 mph, and is just going to dump a mess of water on us and pile a bunch more up into Mobile Bay and the river system. Oh well, kind of like us we all need a good flush now and then. I won't be touching the oysters for a while as a result.

 

[ReddykwRun]

"This is not a new phenomenon, just like hurricanes are not new. But we are getting more, and the intensities seem to be ratcheting upwards."

I grew up on the Gulf Coast and I can say without question hurricane seasons come and go like the tides. Sometimes they are steered right up into the Gulf before they make there turn and sometimes it's the eastern seaboard that takes the hit, I've seen one a few years ago leave the Gulf and come full circle and hit us again. Since records have been kept (1851) there have been some real killers but as far as them getting worse I disagree. I think about the Keys Hurricane ( or the Galveston Hurricane to name a few. When the conditions are right off the coast of Africa there is a strong possibility of the conditions to come together to make what we call a Hurricane. We accept the nice sunshiny days so why don't we take the storms with it? Given, too much of one thing gets us out of balance. Too much rain, too much wind, too much sun, snow......get it. I think the media has a tendency to make people hypersensitive to weather events and fails to look back at records and show it's always been this way and will be in the future. True in some regards we can make things worse for ourselves, like building on a barrier island and then crying when our house gets washed off the island, (seen it many times). The lesson to not build your house on the sand but on the rock. It applies to a lot of things in life.

The eye of Sally is crawling off the coast at a painfully slow pace, come on why don't ya, let's wrap this one up. Darn, So fitting, I just lost grid power and now on battery back up and going out to crank the standby generator. Oh well, nothing like the sound of a purring Genset to rock me to sleep. Good night all.

See:

https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/articles/deadliest-us-hurricanes