Eclectic Arcania

A Little Update On Where I Am Today

2021-02-01T01:00:00.008-08:00

Since late last November or early last December I have had an appointment for mom for this Tuesday, February 2nd, set up with her first doctor since the late 1980s (when she had Delmar Greenleaf) that I got her through her Medicare Advantage Plan that I got her. One of the important and timely reasons for this appointment is so she can get the process started for getting ADA-certified for a handicap placard. This would force the city to allow us to keep her ramp to her front deck contrary to municipal building code's mandates. She knows she needs the placard just for her own convenience given how crippled she is becoming AND it would give her the convenience of the ramp AND it would make the house saleable at full market value which would benefit her AND it would mean I would not have to find her a roommate with an ADA placard whom she might not like living in her home. I made all of this abundantly clear to her yesterday because I know her well enough to know she might take off because she compulsively and impulsively avoids doing things she needs to do and seems to know when she can disrupt my life most and then do it to get attention.

When I reminded her of this she informed me she planned on day-tripping down to Altadena for the day (Sunday) to visit her parent's grave on the 24th anniversary of her mother's death. This raised alarm bells because of the proximity in time to her appointment and her aforementioned proclivity. She also had recently told me how tired she was that she claimed she had no energy to be taking trips right now. I countered that I would like to go with her because I have not visited those graves since the last time I was with her doing the same thing about 15 years ago. She counter-countered that someone from A.A. (her go-to lying mechanism about having "people" with whom she needs to do stuff) was going with her and there was no room for me as mom has her car always packed (backseat is filled) for the Apocalypse and lives out of her car even when she is at home. I doubted the truth of her story but hoped she would keep to the day-trip aspect.

I went down to her house tonight and she has not returned which means she took off as I feared. Her modus operandi would be to overnight at the Best Western King's Inn in Kingman, AZ. She probably never even went to her parent's gravesite which was a cover story for her latest insane adventure in avoidance and disruption. She still might return home tomorrow in time for the appointment but things are not looking good right now. I choose to not stress on what I cannot control. I can control my choices and I choose to focus on trusting God to keep mom from going on a bender and hurting/killing someone in a DUI accident. I also will go into Dr. Kiger's tomorrow and see if he can get mom set up with the paperwork for ADA placard via walk-in visit because if mom misses her appointment it's another two month wait and the deck ramp thing won't wait that long. Perhaps driving mom to Kiger later this week can accomplish this task for our family.

I woke up this past morning after sleeping 8 hours feeling like something bad is about to happen. I decided attending my church is not what I needed this Sunday. Instead, I elected to focus on the specific things I know I need right now for what may come soon. I have no control over other people's decisions let alone the consequences of same and I have no control over the consequences of my own choices. My own power is the power of my own agency given to me by my loving Creator who is also using the things I experience to teach me and to modify me. I chose to sit down and get still and quiet and spend some time in quiet prayer with God and got into the word reading various parts of the Book of Hebrews. I selected some songs performed by Mahalia Jackson and Tennessee Ernie Ford to listen to for this day's worship music. I then listened to a full sermon by my late maternal grandfather. After that I prepared a 4-egg omelet with veggies and Parmesan cheese and salsa verde dumped over it and ate 8 slices of bacon. After that I elected to take a 10-mile walk. Then I made a conscious decision to be around healthy people and watched all four currently-dropped episodes of WandaVision to get caught up on that TV series.

Today I lived mindfully, employing mechanisms and strategies that are healthy and helpful and move my process along despite the chaos and disruption I am headed back into with my mom. I also once again gave mom to God and asked Him to take this burden from me as I feel it is close to becoming harmful to my well-being. God is in control; I am not. Let come what may! Everything is going to be okay in the end. It is not the end because it is not okay right now.

Current CA Wildland Fires as of August 22, 2020

2020-08-22T19:03:00.003-07:00

After starting out slow, this year's fire season is quickly turning into one for the record books (again). Unfortunately, it's about to get worse as another dry lightning convective event coming up from the south as remnants of a tropical system filter through trigger more lighting and in turn more fires to go along with potential flash floods, including in recent or even current burn areas. Hold onto your balls/ovaries lads & ladies!

Great Los Angeles Earthquake of 1974

2019-11-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

Today while visiting my mother I found that she was already watching this disaster classic and not only that, but the infamous "earthquake scene" was mere minutes away so I waited for it and watched it and then got hooked and finished the movie and in turn neglected to get everything done at mom's place that I had driven nearly 30 miles round trip to do. I still find this more accurate than any other movie interpretation of this city being destroyed by earthquake. Sorry "San Andreas", et al. "Earthquake" IMDB "Earthquake" Wiki

Graphic of the Day - Oz Burneth

2019-11-11T23:00:00.000-08:00

My friend Dave Touissant grabbed this graphic from MODIS imagery and tweeted it and here it is now on my blog. The extent and magnitude of the fires in Australia just keeps expanding by the day as this is no longer merely limited to New South Wales and Queensland. Imagery courtesy of MODIS.

Word From This Blogger

2019-08-28T00:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Reader,

Thank you for following this blog over the years or thanks for visiting for the first time. This is not a goodbye but rather HELLO AGAIN! I'm a creature of habit. I used to do this out of habit, then I stopped doing it out of habit. Tonight, I'm resuming the healthy old habit of posting here nearly daily. I also have over a 1-1/2 year's worth of back posts to drop here which will be coming in on a regular basis. The best way to see them is scroll back through my posts in sequence. I'll update this blog post and keep it at the top of this blog with notices of what back-posts have been dropped here and what dates they can be found at and links to them via their hyperlinked titles. Please keep coming back and I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

See Picture of the Day - Post-Storm #3 (1/25/2019)

Last updated 6/30/2019

Highway 41 Fire Student Documentary

2019-08-27T23:48:00.002-07:00

On August 14, 2019, I had lunch in San Luis Obispo with my 7th grade history teacher Mike Burrell. He was my favorite teacher at Atascadero Junior High School (now Atascadero Middle School) when I was there 1983-1985. En route there from my home in Paso Robles it felt odd to me driving southbound on Highway 101 through the former Highway 41 Fire burn area. It was 25 years to the day after it started and that area would burn the next day. My drive included the area adjacent to Santa Margarita Ranch where the fire jumped the highway as a massive 100 foot wide fire tornado. It also included the entrance to Tassajara Canyon which experienced area ignition conditions when the fire roared through. And lastly, it included Cuesta Grade which was charred entirely, top to bottom, north and south sides of Cuesta Summit.

During lunch I brought this up with Mike and he informed me that in 1995, the year following the Highway 41 Fire, at which point he was then working at Oak Hills High School in Atascadero, he had his students put together a student documentary about the fire. After creating it they burned it on to blank VHS cassettes and sold them for $10 each for a fundraising drive. After lunch I visited his home in SLO for the first time as we were reconnecting after all these years. Heretofore we merely briefly chatted on Facebook from time to time. Mike gave me the grand tour of his library/museum/arboretum/home which was a lot of fun. Before I left he handed me the only extant version of the documentary on disk. I asked him if I could burn some copies and donate them as well as upload the documentary to Youtube to which Mike generously accented.

Back in Paso Robles I took this disk to The Blueprinter and they directed me to Gallagher Video Services in town. I made an appointment and met with Ron Gallagher and told him my expectations. I wanted several copies of this documentary burned and I wanted nice graphic design for them that was apropos in labeling the product and I wanted an mp4 copy of it burned onto a flash drive so I could upload it to Youtube. I did this last week and today it was ready and here you go. At top is the documentary on Youtube. In the middle is the old disk and directly above is a copy of the new disk version produced by Ron Gallagher. Nicely done I think.

Mike also handed me a photocopy of an old SLO Tribune article from 1995 which recounts the story of this documentary. Read it above and if need be zoom in closer so the print is legible.

2009 Station Fire 10th Anniversary

2019-08-26T20:50:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that the infamous 2009 Station Fire which ravage the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County above the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys began 10 years ago today. Where has the time gone? This conflagration remains the largest fire in the history of Los Angeles County. Above is a preview to the Alan Simmons video production for this fire which I have yet to add to my collection. Perhaps someday that will happen. This is a great sampling in the meantime. Enjoy!

Highway 41 Fire Student Video

2019-08-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today I had lunch in San Luis Obispo with my junior high school history mentor Mike Burrell. He was one of those special teachers who left an indelible impression upon me and encouraged my early interest in history. Life took my down a series of unexpected detours so the fruit of his labors with me did not begin blossoming until my 40s when I picked up an AA degree in History at Cuesta College and a BA in History at CAL POLY SLO. Given that today was the 25th anniversary of the Big Blow-Up of the Highway 41 on Day Two of its existence, and I had to drive right through the burn scare of the fire going to San Luis Obispo and back again, it seemed like a perfect coda to this day that Mr. Burrell revealed to me that in 1995 his classes at Oak Hills High School in Atascadero for the first anniversary of the event had created a video documentary about the fire centered around various local video footage taken by local residents and firefighters of the historic conflagration. He also gave me a photocopy of an article in the local SLO Tribune about the video. He has loaned me his copy of the documentary on disc which I am going to copy and upload to Youtube and share on this blog very soon I hope.

25th Anniversary of Highway 41 Fire

2019-08-14T23:05:00.002-07:00

Twenty-five years ago today the Highway 41 Fire began along the eastbound lane of Highway 41 between Atascadero and Morro Bay near Cerro Alto Campground. The fire, started by an arsonist, exploded across several thousand acres on Day One forcing evacuations, closure of Cerro Alto Campground and closure of Highway 41 between Morro Bay and Atascadero and would remain shut for days to come. The fire barely laid down overnight and reactivated the following morning at dawn making a major run to the west and southwest towards Morro Bay and Highway 1.

At about 6 a.m. on the morning of Day Two (8/15/94) it's early-morning activity caused an automatic power shutdown of the 500kv powerlines running through the area of Cerro Alto Campground taking energy from the Morro Bay Powerplant to points inland.

Day Two saw the fire go nuclear. Well-established in heavy 50 year-old chaparral with up to 40 tons of fuel per acre, most of it desiccated from years of drought (1984-1990) with lots of fallen limbs from two snow storms in 1988 and 1991, an epic freeze in 1990 and then in this year one of the driest winters (Winter of 1993-1994) ever recorded and now on this day triple digit temperatures (hundred-teens inland) with single digit relative humidities. The firestorm that ensued burned up 2 acres per second or over 7,000 acres per hour

The fire savagely tore into the west side of Atascadero, but for the grace of God, causing light damage. It then headed southeast nipping the southwest corner of Atascadero and enveloping the town of Santa Margarita but burning around it, NOT through it.

It jumped Highway 101 and burned both sides of the freeway from just south of Santa Barbara Road in Atascadero all the way down to the bottom of the south side of the Cuesta Grade on the outskirts of San Luis Obispo. The fire burned over Tassajera Ridge and lost steam heading down into Upper Lopez Canyon by which time a day days later a strong marine layer moved inland and dropped coastal drizzle on the fire dousing it.

The fire devastated Tassajara Canyon off of the bottom of the north side of the Cuesta Grade. In all 48,352 acres were charred and 42 homes, 61 other structures and 91 vehicles were destroyed. The arsonist was interviewed but there was never enough evidence to indict.

I have always wondered why a civil case was not pursued against this individual as was successfully done against the arsonist who started the Painted Cave Fire four years earlier.

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NorCal Fire Outlook - Summer Into Fall 2019

2019-08-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

Tweet of the Day - Museum Fire Plea

2019-07-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

Picture of the Day - Museum Fire at Dusk

2019-07-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Picture of the Day - Quartzy Whale Vert

2019-07-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

Picture of the Day - Dan's Ghost Dance

2019-07-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight I attended an outdoor birthday party for my friend Donnie. It had a distinct Big Sur Jade Festival vibe to it and like the Jade Festival it featured my other friend Dan The Man doing his hilarious but sincere cultural appropriation of Native American culture dancing around a nocturnal fire in a quasi-ecsatic state partly helped along by the White Man's firewater. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Noyes Rd

2019-07-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

Today I visited the South County Regional Center in Arroyo Grande late this morning to meet with the organizers of the upcoming inaugural"Gems by the Sea" Gem & Jewelry Show at that venue September 7-8, 2019. This was my first time looking at the venue and I advised the organizers of things they need to do and offered my help. We are behind the curve on this but it will be what it will be. On the way home I wended my way through the backways of A.G. and existed Oak Park/Noyes Road. For the side streets I used Google Maps on my iPhone-8 and left it on even after getting on Oak Park just to see what was around me on the map. At one point I noticed I was between Noyes Rd identifiers and had to screencapture it. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Map of the Day - Ridgecrest Quakes 7.16.19

2019-07-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

Graphic of the Day - Just Aftershocks

2019-07-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

This is not something you see every day in California.... and these are just aftershocks... this graphic doesn't even show the main shocks. Image courtesy of UC Berkeley Seismo Lab (all rights reserved).

Meme of the Week - Marianne Williamson

2019-06-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

This meme wins the Internet this week. If you did not watch the second night of the first Democratic Party primary debate two nights ago then this will make no sense so just move along. If you did watch it or have seen a highlight reel of candidate Marianne Williamson's performance in that debate AND you are familiar with Twin Peaks then this meme will make perfect sense and hit you in the funny bone unless you are humorless.

Retro San Gabriel Valley

2019-06-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

This image was tweeted HERE by Militant Angeleno three days ago. When I saw it my jaw just about dropped because it shows my hometown of Pasadena, CA, from back in the day before I was even born (1970). This is indicated by the newness of the freeways shown (Interstate 210 & State Route 134) and the lack of more buildings in many areas suggests this is circa second half of the 1960s. The section of I-210 on the right side of the image lacks freeway overpasses suggesting it is still under construction. The mountains in the background are the iconic San Gabriel Mountains girded with a mantle of wintertime snow; a scene much more common in the first 2/3s of the 20th century and earlier than nowadays. Image courtesy of CardCow.com (all rights reserved).

CA Disaster Anniversary Cluster

2019-06-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today is the middle day in a three-day cluster of notable anniversaries of disasters or significant natural history events in California history. Here are the events in descending order:

JUNE 27th

1966 M6.0 Parkfield Quake

1990 Painted Cave Fire

1990 College Hills Fire

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JUNE 28th

1991 Sierra Madre Quake

1992 Landers Earthquake

1992 Big Bear Earthquake

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June 29th

1925 Santa Barbara Earthquake

Raikoke Awakens

2019-06-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

Raikoke Volcano erupted violently several days ago for the first time since 1924. It's located on an uninhabited island in the Russian Kuril Islands along the margins of the northwest Pacific Ocean. This namesake name means "hellmouth" in the native Ainu language. This image was shot from the International Space Station. Photo courtesy of NASA (all rights reserved).

Painted Cave Fire 29th Anniversary

2019-06-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this evening marked the 29th anniversary of the Painted Cave Fire in Santa Barbara County. Unusually powerful Sundowner winds (hurricane force winds + 109° F by 7 p.m.) combined with the evil in men's hearts to create a firestorm which killed one woman and destroyed 427 buildings and scorched 4,900 acres. Above is a 25th anniversary segment on the local TV news station that aired in 2015.

The Dude Fire 29th Anniversary

2019-06-26T23:46:00.002-07:00

I still remember the Dude Fire and the epic heat wave in Arizona during the same period..... happened around the same time as the Painted Cave Fire in Santa Barbara County and the College Hills Fire in Glendale Hills started by notorious serial arsonist John Orr, a Glendale FD arson investigator. Photo by Arizona State Forestry (all rights reserved).

R.I.P. Beth

2019-06-26T23:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who never watched Dog the Bounty Hunter and its subsequent iterations this report of woe will mean nothing to you. However, for those of us who did follow this family via their reality television shows over the years, this is very sad news indeed!

Graphic of the Day - Arizona MegaFire Comparison

2019-06-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of NWS Phoenix

Although there are some areal proportionality problems with this visual comparison it is nonetheless useful in comparing in very general terms the scale difference between each of these fires, all of which are the six largest in Arizona history and all have burned within the past 17 years.