Earthquakes, Hurricanes and floods, Hurricane Maria was terrible, one equally bad 400 years ago in Jamaica read this

 It's the end of 2017, I have not spoken with anyone that regrets seeing this one go on its way, hopefully with a lot of lessons learned under our belts. I wonder what the year will be remembered as I personally think it will have to do with the number and size of natural disasters that have taken place. They all started early in the year (as we all are aware) and continued right up until now, really, I read where the Thomas fire just outside of Santa Monica is still flaring up. I don't know how unbelievable all of the disasters that have occurred this year are, if for nothing else the sheer number of them, or the intensity. It truly has been a tough year, I won't even get into the mass murders or the wildly out of control political scene we are witnessing.
  It did start me to thinking about other natural disasters that have occurred and how this year would rank with them, I did not get very far in my investigations. In fact, I was stopped completely after beginning to read about the first disaster I chose, and a doozy it is. We have all heard and read about the Volcano eruption at Pompei, and Krakatoa, huge disasters that became instant "time capsules" due to everything being buried in many meters (yards) of Volcanic Ash. The lessons learned from them are questionable, however, the history gleaned from them is invaluable. Such is the subject of this blog:
  As luck may have it, I chose to read about the disaster which occurred on June 7, 1592, in Port Royal Jamaica, it is an amazing chain of events, one which was even more devastating than the Tsumi, and Hurricane which devastated Corpus Christi on September 14, 1919. I turned on the TV to take a break from my reading and studying when coincidentally a documentary was on about you guessed it, the disaster of June 7, 1592, it added to this story.

Some photos of buildings washed into the Ocean during
the Earthquake and Tsunami

  Earthquakes are not all that uncommon in the Caribbean, many of the islands are located on major earthquake faults, and the islands themselves are not all very stable due to their geological formations. Port Royal was the wealthiest English city in the world during the mid-1500's until the decade of the 1620's. The city was constructed by Pirates, treasures and "booty" from all around the world would end up at its docks in the holds of the pirate ships. During that period England was at war with Spain, a fairly common occurrence, it was the time of "Letters of Marque", a license to be a "Pirate" or "Privateer". The likes of Black Bart, Blackbeard, and Henry Morgan walked the streets of Port Royal partaking in the debauchery that ensued in that tropical town. One out of every four buildings in the town was either a house of prostitution, or a pub, the population of the town was 6,000, many transients. June 7, 1592, started out as a beautiful morning, there were a few notable exceptions that seemed to some survivors in hindsight something that they should have taken pause at. But as things go, humans by nature don't really connect circumstances with a premonition of what is to come. These struck me as strange as well, my wife is constantly bringing up "Earthquake Weather", and I answer with "there is no such thing." (I have changed my mind after studying this disaster) On the morning of June 7, 1592, the ocean was glassy smooth, a very strange state of affairs for that Southern facing city, it was like glass. No one thought too much of it, however, a few hours later the sky took on a bronze color, extremely odd, people started thinking something was going on. The third strange effect was when the ocean rolled back exposing the shore, the water disappeared, in some places hundreds of yards (Liganeau, now Kingston) in others it retreated as far as a mile. (Yallahs) At 11:43 (a watch was found stuck at this time) the earthquake struck, fissures opened up throughout the city, people fell through the cracks by the hundreds. Some fell deep inside, others barely below the surface and others trapped up to their necks when the earth closed on them. The ground the city was built on, turned into "quicksand", water permeated the sandy foundation, buildings were swallowed whole by the liquid sand

All land mass inside the red dotted line returned to the Sea. 

coming from underground. This was just the first of three powerful earthquakes to strike the city that morning. Every building in town was destroyed including all but one English Fort, two-thirds of the town (33 acres) immediately sank into the ocean after the initial shock. All of the docks sunk at once, it only took 2 minutes for all but 1/10th of the city to be covered with water and buildings to be sunk in the quicksand and disappear into the ocean. The town consisted of 6500 residents, and around 2,000 buildings, multi-story and mostly constructed of brick. There were a number of ships in the harbor, this was a very dynamic shipping port, one of the busiest in the world for its time. In fact, there was more money in circulation in Port Royal during this period of time than there was in London. In excess of 20 ships capsized in the harbor, now remember this initial destruction took only 2 minutes to happen. During the initial shock, the liquefied sand was reported to have formed waves, helping to force everything into the ocean, when the shaking stopped the sand solidified once again, trapping many people up to their necks and burying others. 2,000 people lost their lives in this first 2 minutes, a similar number died within two weeks afterward from disease caused by the rotting bodies stacked up everywhere, an estimated 4,000+ residents met their demise.
  The earthquakes brought on Tsunamis, the water started to return filling up the harbor at first, then a wall of water in excess of 6 feet high struck the now destroyed spit of beach Port Royal occupied until minutes prior. An English frigate, the "Swan", was in the harbor until it was picked up by the tsunami and transported over rooftops down the main street where it's remains were found, the only thing stopping it was a house it slammed into.

A model of the HMS Swan, I added this to illustrate how large
the ship was, and to imagine how much force it took to fling
it a long way inland.

People climbed aboard and used it for refuge. It must be said, even if the technology to build Tsunami structures to afford people refuge existed, (which it did not), there is no bedrock or stable structures below Port Royal to anchor them to. They did not only not have the technology but the materials were non-existent at that time.
  There was nothing left of the city, however, a 4th wave was about to strike the disaster scene, looters. Before the destruction was over, survivors began to loot, running into what remained of the stores and homes carrying out anything of value, after all, they were all pirates of one form or another. They stripped the dead of everything, that was not the end of the destruction, however.
  The destruction was not limited to just Port Royal, which an attempt at rebuilding failed twice, once in 1703 when it burned to the ground and the last straw a hurricane in 1722. The rest of Jamaica was destroyed as well, Kingston (Liguanea at the time) all of the houses were destroyed and all of the water from the wells was ejected into the air, all of the houses at St. Jago were also destroyed. By the year 1725, Piracy had seen it's best days, the war with Spain was over and the letters of Marque were no longer issued, by 1730 there were no longer any Privateers in the Caribbean, or employed by the Governments of the day.
  Port Royal was the epicenter of all things evil in the 16th century, after all, it was full of pirates, the ruling powers had a real love/hate relationship with them. Religion was a very prominent force during those days and the repercussions of this event were felt all around the world. Many religious leaders attributed the destruction to "divine intervention", on the people of Port Royal for their sinful ways, and this was declared by the members of the Jamaica Council, they lived there. That sentiment was not confined to just Jamaica, the Reverend Cotton Mather in Boston "Behold, an accident speaking to all our English America." In other words look out it's going to happen to every den of sin in America now, that's pretty heavy duty stuff when your entire life is based on faith.

Queen Anne's revenge, a movie prop depicting Blackbeards
ship, no mention of Pirates is complete without mentioning
Blackbeard.

  I have often wondered what would happen if a chain of events such as this took place, it was devastating, and in hindsight avoidable. (It's never fair to say that when one is reflecting on history, they did not possess the knowledge we have today.) There was no planning commissions, building codes, or seismic engineering, There was little knowledge of the workings of the ocean, earthquakes or liquefaction, with no idea that a retreat of the ocean means a tsunami, the residents were defenseless. No matter what their occupation was (piracy) they were still victims and suffered greatly, it must have been horrifying to be swallowed up by the earth than to have it close in you, holy cow. There is an account of a man that was swallowed by the liquefied sand, sucked into the earth he was carried in the waves of sand, underground, out to sea. He surfaced in the harbor far from shore, he swam until a boat picked him up, he immediately gave up privateering and joined the clergy, he became very religious, I imagine a lot of survivors did.
 
This is ancient history now but it is important for us to know this, it could happen again, I'm not predicting it, and as usual, there are people saying it could happen at any time, OK maybe it can but it doesn't mean it will. It's good to know for our own self-awareness, and self-reliance, disasters of that magnitude remind us that things can get real nasty real quick, and we all need to be prepared. We shouldn't allow ourselves to become complacent with the feeling that sort of thing will not happen, liquefication was the main culprit, brought on by earthquakes which struck a very poorly designed and constructed town, it doesn't mean that can happen where you live, but the lesson is, do we really know all that is possible to happen in our area?

  Thanks for reading and sharing, leave a comment or a story, Thanks.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com

Divert water from Canada and Alaska to form a lake the size of Huron in Montana, fill in San Francisco Bay? read this.

  After having the flu for the past two weeks, yes I got the vaccine, (double whammy shot and flu, a guy can't beat those odds.)I finally got out of the house this morning, I assumed my coffee position overlooking the slough I live on and took in the vista of fog. California is a foggy state, I don't know how many people know that drought, heat, wildfires, and fog, the fog sometimes covers over 1/2 the state. We have not had a lot of fog yet this year because we have not had a lot of rain this year, and the longer we go without the direr the situation is. The western U.S. is notoriously dry, in fact during the years of the westward expansion people often referred to it as "The Great American Desert", It's only partially true, the dry area starts at the 100th meridian, drawing a line from about central North Dakota south through the center of Texas, it is wet to the East and dry to the West.

The drought line, yes it is just that profound. 

It is not a coincidence when a drought is in full force the entire West is in a drought, that's when moving water around becomes political.
  There have always been battles over water, Mark Twain said "Whiskey is for drinking, Water is for fighting over", and fight we do. There have been attempts to increase the amount of water available to the western states, some of them have been pretty crazy, some not thought out and others just not doable.
  One project advocated by the North American Water and Power Alliance proposed a water scheme under the guise of "Water Management", you be the judge. The "big plan", was to divert a few rivers from Alaska southward through Canada and down the Rockie Mountain Trench as well as other routes, taking place during 369 different and separate construction projects. Entering the United States in Northern Montana the water would be diverted to the source of the Colorado and Yellowstone Rivers. Originally conceived in the early 1950's it has not been seriously considered since the 1970's due to, (you guessed it) environmental, economic and political concerns raised by this proposal. however, the problem with that is the project would not be able to produce enough to run it. Others argued it would create 60-80 MW excess after pumping, I personally dought it. The proponents also claimed it would be a cure-all for water pollution, how I don't know, but it was a "do everything" project.

The Parsons Plan, wow it's a hugely bad idea.

It died reportedly by the weight of its complexity, but there is more to it, I suspect there was more than those three issues bringing this monster to its knees. In 1964 an economic blueprint was constructed, the total cost in 1975 was estimated at $100 billion, about the same cost as the interstate highway system. Referred to as the "Parsons plan", it would have diverted water from the Yukon, Liard, and Peace River systems into the Rocky Mountain Trench's most southern half, it would then be dammed creating a 500-mile long reservoir. (805km). The idea included sending some of the water Eastward across central Canada forming a waterway of which would be able to allow ships to cross to the Great Lakes. An additional benefit was billed as stabilizing the water level of the Great Lakes, as well as providing more water to produce more electricity at the Niagra Falls Hydro-electric project. It was a huge project, planning included sending water to the Missouri/Mississippi River Valley's, then pumped over the Rockies by the Sawtooth Lifts in Idaho, then running south through canals and aqueducts to the (Yep) Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers. Some of the water would go to New Mexico, the southern end of the Rockies, and from there pumped to the High Plains, supposedly to stabilize the Ogallala Aquifer. (It is probably in extreme danger now anyway due to the XL pipeline traveling right through the center of it). Increasing the flow of water in the Colorado River would allow more water to enter Mexico expanding agriculture in Sonora and Baja California. We now have at the Southern Border a Reverse Osmosis plant cleaning Colorado river water so it (the now cleaned up polluted water) can be sent to Mexico, it is a billion $ plant. Initially, the Parsons plan proposed using nuclear explosions to dig the waterways and carve underground storage caverns. The project would have provided 75 million acre-feet (93 km3) to dry areas in the North American Continent. This project would have reclaimed 7-8 times more land than the Aswan High Dam. The project would create more electrical generating capacity, but not enough to satisfy its needs.
  There was nothing but problems with the proposed project, including a number of new reservoirs that would be in the center of designated wildness areas, destroying habitat for wildlife not only in the Northwestern U.S. but Canada and would impact Mexico as well. In addition to that hundreds of thousands of people would have to have been relocated, the entire city of Prince George, British Columbia is just one.

Prince George would be under water if this plan were to become
reality.

The Salmon, Lochsa, Clearwater, Yellowstone and Big Hole Scenic Rivers in Idaho and Montana would be lost forever under reservoirs. Six Nuclear Power Plants would have to be constructed just to power the project, (hence my negativity to the idea hydro would create enough, bah humbug). Destroying the Salmon Runs not only on the submerged rivers but on many rivers in Alaska and Canada, there would be no water in them. This project would do more damage to the Western United States, Alaska, Mexico and Canada than the previous 100 years of Dam building. The Parsons project did garner some support in its early years, some politicians thumped their chest proclaiming it would end the drought cycles, meanwhile, everyone else nicknamed it the "Hydrologic Anti-Christ". The project was beaten back and shelved in the 1970's, partly due to Canada insisting water exports be eliminated from NAFTA negotiations. Marc Reisner wrote the book "Cadillac Desert", everyone in the United States should read that book, I have 2 or 3 times, in fact, it is the motivation of my writing this today. I have tried to remember everything I can that I have learned about some of these projects, this one was the worse of them all.
  There were many more schemes, Landry C. Payne, who wrote Water Resources Impact stated "the sheer arrogance and imperial ambitions of the modern hydraulic West" another author Steinberg whom wrote "Down to Earth: Natures' role in American History" called it "the most outlandish water development scheme to emerge in the past 50 years". Unbelievably there are still to this day supporters of this project, most likely the same people that have been scheming to move water from Northern California to Southern California since this Parsons project was shot down. (Link to a plan to move Mississippi River water to California.)
  I will briefly describe another project that was beaten back by the housewives of San Francisco, the Army Corp of Engineers had plans to fill in San Francisco Bay in the 1930s. It is said that the women of the city had the Bay in their view all day long, when wind of filling it in was announced, well guess what broke loose, if there is one group of people you want on your side in any dispute it is the Ladies of any country, they organized, wrote letters and fought it tooth and nail. They won, and today we still have the Bay, people with a little power want our water, some with huge power try, which brings me to the modern day battle.(Link to the Reber plan, let's fill in San Francisco Bay, shall we?)
  We have been fighting the Delta Tunnel project since the 1970's, in the late 70's it was voted down by the entire state, even Southern California that needed the water, the monster project has never lowered its head. During Jerry Browns current administration it gained a full head of steam and is full bore crashing down on us, we have one more year to fight it back, it is economically not doable, no one wants to pay for it, and the water districts won't, no matter what they promise. They don't take care of the Dams they have, (case in point Oroville Dam) they destroyed the Kesterson wildlife sanctuary and have blocked water flow to the Delta. It's an ongoing battle over water in the west, sometimes we hear of the State making offers to "buy" water from other regions.
  The pumping of water is expensive, the only reason we can get away with pumping oil through pipelines over many thousands of miles is that it is sold by the gallon, I don't believe anyone in the Southwest would want to pay by the gallon for water.

The Chrisman water pumping station, over the Grapevine
to Los Angelos, a 700-mile journey, mostly gravity fed.

  I want to get this story out because we are heading into another prolonged drought, and true to form there will be people proposing moving water all over the place. The bottom line is, if it has to be pumped over a longer distance than 300 miles, it ain't gonna shake out fiscally. So no water from the Mississippi, Columbia or Yukon rivers, the only reason the Colorado river worked in providing water is due to it's being uphill from L.A.
  Thanks for reading and sharing, water is important, to me, it's like the air and land, we do not and cannot own any of it, we are a part of it and we would do well to start acting like it.

jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com

Do you live downstream from a compromised Dam? Dam Failures in the United States, how common are they?

  17% of the 90,580 Dams in the United States are classified as either a high or significant risk of catastrophic failure. Occurring without warning a dam failure caused by an intense rainfall is able to produce a flash flood in a matter of minutes. Other causes are easier to predict such as seasonal melting snow, and the spring thaws in the North channeling the water south down the Mississippi river valley and many others.

Every Spring on the Mississippi this happens, as well as all of
the contributors upstream, Missouri, the Ohio and many
smaller ones.

  What factors can cause a Dam Failure?
 * Long periods of rainfall, especially after a prolonged drought, the reservoirs are lowered allowing the banks to dry out. The water from the rain begins to fill the reservoir washing debris from the banks into the water allowing it to float aimlessly. That is until the level reaches a level that the water rises to such a level that release is needed. When the spillways are opened and the water begins to flow the debris that was washed into the water begins to flow towards the Dam. This debris, logs, trees, weeds, docks and even boats are drawn to the spillway eventually causing a "clog" and more problems with drawing the lake down.
 * Spillways that are not designed properly or the reservoir capacity was increased without the spillway being enlarged. As the water rises the spillway if unable to handle the increased flow of water is "overtopped", the level of the lake is excessively over the top of the spillway. When this occurs the water being released is not able to be controlled as successfully as a more moderate level, the added flow may cause erosion and destruction of compromised areas of the spillway.
 * The foundation of the Dam may be eroded, Dams do leak on occasion, most leaks are harmless but when they course their way under the structure into the very material that stabilizes the Dam, it may be compromised.
 * Poor maintenance is a cause, trees must be removed, seepage through the Dam is not repaired, and poor maintenance of valves, gates, and grates may all add up to a Dam failure.
 * Improper material are used during construction, most of the Dams are 50 years or older, construction techniques have improved over the years, making inspections critical. The improper design has contributed to at least one failure in the U.S. June 5, 1976, the Teton Dam failed when the water it was holding back, escaped around one end of the Dam causing the foundation on the side to wash away. The failure caused the deaths of 11 people, 13,000 head of cattle, and damage which has been estimated at $2 billion.
 * A Dam upstream fails to add another full reservoir to an already full one, many times Dams are built on the same waterways upstream from one another. Some of the upstream dams are much smaller and weaker, many earthen and some much older than 50 years old. When a Dam reaches that age it is considered past its life, something needs to be done with it.
 * Events that cause overtopping, landslides are a good example, the side of a reservoir may collapse causing the level of the lake to rise dramatically. Hurrican Katrina is another good example, huge amounts of rain inundated New Orleans causing the levees to be overcome by the rising floodwater. Levees are a type of Dam as well.
 * High winds can cause "storm surges" causing high waves to overtop the spillways, sometimes even topping the Dam itself.
 * Terrorism, Earthquakes, or other high energy events able to cause longitudinal cracks in the structure or the banks on the side of the Dams which may lead to failure. (Link to the State of Wisconsin's Dam safety fact sheet)

 Dam Failure is a very unlikely catastrophe, however when they do happen the results are dramatic, leading to the cause of multiple deaths, extreme infrastructure failures, and the shutdown of essential facilities that may last for years. Generally, at a minimum 50% of affected structures sustain severe damage.
 Dam Failure does occur, however, of the approximate 90,000 Dams in the U.S. 33 failures have occurred between the years 1918-1958, causing 1,680 human deaths. 9 Dams failed between 1959-1965. In the year 1889, 2,209 people died when the South Fork Dam failed upstream from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In 1928 The St. Francis Dam failed to cause the demise of 500 humans. During the decade of the 1970's  the Buffalo Creek, Teton and Toccoa Creek failures caused over $1 billion in damages and cost all totaled 175 lives. Since the Federal Government enacted laws which make inspections mandatory adhering to strict safety guidelines failures have been dramatically reduced.

The Teton Dam Failure, it's very dramatic, I bet it was loud.

  One of the problems with Dam maintenance is that inspections can detect only so much if a flaw is hidden deep in the structure the chances of it being seen is not possible. That raises the reality of not knowing the flaws until the structure is placed under stress, an actual "dynamic" test, most of the time the Dam is OK. Sometimes, however, the structure fails and a massive evacuation is ordered, of which happened February 2017 at Oroville, California when the spillway faults were exposed after water was released down the overflow.
 What can we do if we live in an area affected by the flood zone of a possible Dam failure or major structural failure?
Here are a few pro-active preparatory actions.  
 * Know your risks, find out if the Dam you live downstream of is "high" or "significant" potential hazard. That information may be obtained from your state or county emergency management agency, at the National Inventory of Dams or inquire with the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.
 * The states or federal governments don't own all of the dams, some are owned by local water companies, flood control districts and some by large corporate farms. Find out who owns the Dam you live downstream of, find out if the inspections have been carried out and the remedial items resolved, in other words just be curious.
 * Find out if the owner has an Emergency Action Plan drawn up and if it is available for the Dam if so get a copy. It will help you to build a plan of your own, in it, you will find instructions specifying preplanned steps to take to eliminate or lessen property damage and loss of life. It will spell out what to do if you have to evacuate.
 * Plan your own escape, write up an evacuation plan, it can be included in your general emergency plan, as a separate section or a stand-alone document. It is easier to keep track of one document, especially in light of the fact that each member of the household will have a copy of it, we want to make it as inclusive, informative, accurate and convenient as possible. Make sure to have supplies on hand to be certain you and your group each have food and water for at least 3 days, that's the 72-hour kit. It is, however, best to have enough supplies to maintain yourself for at least one week, a minimum of 1/2 gallon of water per person is required. In my case, I must have some sort of coffee and a way to make it hot in my bag.  Never use floodwater for any purpose. (Link to FEMA's page with everything we need to formulate an escape plan)
  Be certain to include every member in the writing of your plan, I have read accounts of parents not including the children, the kids had no clue there even was a plan. That's a huge mistake, they must have buy-in, all of them, they will take ownership of the suggestions they made and run with them. The kids will be determined to show you that their ideas will work, and they will.
  Take care of the pets, in advance, find out the best you are able if your assigned evacuation post and relief center will support pets, if not a solution must be established. Don't release your pets to make it on their own, most can't and won't survive no matter how resourceful we may think they are. Link to a dogs and cats emergency kit.

The New Melones Dam, it's a good solid Dam. 

  I live downstream from the Oroville Dam, I have lived downstream from Dams every place I have lived in California. I have watched work being done on some Dams when the reservoir has been drained, I worked on the New Melones Dam in the 1980's. I also worked on the Wishon/Courtright tunnel project. What I learned from working on them is that every one of us had one thing in common, we were all human and capable of mistakes. The New Melones Dam had an engineering problem of the simplest sort, we built the trash grate from the wrong material, Stainless Steel was specified, we used Galvanized Steel, the difference is about 100 years in the expected lifespan. We also encountered engineering mistakes while building the Diablo Canyon Nuclear plant and Crows Landing in Texas. I bring this up because mistakes are made, we're human, mistakes prove we are.
 Thanks for reading and sharing, leave a comment or story and tell me what you've done to prepare for a Dam Failure. Thank you.
jacquesandkate emergencykitsplus.com

 

When should the Christmas Decorations be taken down, how can the tree be disposed of? Keep reading to see.

                    Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy Holidays!

  It is Christmas Eve today, tomorrow for many people will be a quiet day, and for others the busiest day of the year. For my wife and I it will be quiet, we have a big Thanksgiving, that way all the kids (ours) can spend the day with their kids and visit the other grandparents. We've been doing it this way for 25 years or so since the babies were born. We now have a bunch of grandkids from the age of 1-1/2 years to 23 years old and graduating from college in May. We will have one grandson, he and I both have the flu this year, yes we both got the vaccine, he's still in bed and I'm recovering OK.
 

Manzanita Bush used as a Christmas Tree. What do you
think about using one? I think I've changed my mind.

                              The tree we decided to use is:

  The tree is doing fine, I somehow convinced my wife to use one of the potted Coniferous Trees from the yard, it's in a huge pot, we moved the entire ensemble into the living room. It is working out very well, it's still green and healthy, however, I don't believe I will succeed in convincing her to leave it in the house all year around. I'm not sure what kind it is, it's a pine tree, it looks like a "Charley Brown" Christmas tree in the photo.

Actually, Mesquite looks good as a Christmas Tree,
however, they are too big for indoors.

                     Then a suggestion for next year, already:

  I suggested to my wife this morning that we should consider using a "Manzanita" bush next year, I have known people that have. It's not legal to cut them down in the National Forest or Yosemite, it is greatly frowned upon, there are plenty of other places where they are available. They grow all over the foothills, at the slightly higher levels off the valley floor, they make really good campfires, hot fire and they burn a long time. It makes good charcoal and Bar-B-Ques very well, they are not the same plants. Manzanita is classified as a bush, native to the dry lower slopes of the Sierra's, Mesquite is a Tree, native to the entire Southwestern United States, they also grow in the desert region. Manzanita has a pretty red outer wood, very thin bark, in fact, it appears to have no bark at all, when it dry's it is hard to cut. Mesquite has darker bark, more established, and is literally a tree, I've not known anyone that has used one for a Christmas Tree, I suspect someone somewhere has, if you know of someone please leave a comment.

                      A Tumbleweed works as well:

  I have known people to use "Tumbleweed" for a Christmas tree, they are OK, creative people work wonders with them. It seems like there would be a lot of cleanup with Tumbleweed, it's dry, big, seedy and brittle. I've seen people that have used them to build "snowmen" out of, that's pretty neat and attractive in the yard.

     

Tumbleweeds make good looking "snowmen", this one is
painted white.

             

  When the parties over then disposal:

  After Christmas day it's time to figure out when to dispose of the tree, all good things must come to an end. It's kind of funny how fun it is to get the tree in the early part of December, then comparing it to when the Holiday is over and impatient to dispose of them. There are groups who will pick up Christmas Trees from the curbside.
 *Our municipal garbage collection agency does, it's one of those things I have to educate myself in each year due to policy changes and my faulty memory. Our collectors will pick up the tree if it is cut into lengths on longer than 4 feet long, fairly straightforward. A lot of times the garbage company makes directions for special pickups complicated, so it's best to check with your provider to find out. In our case, we have a one-shot try, they pick them up one day if it's missed, well too bad for me.
 *The Boy Scouts will pick up the trees for a small donation, I'm a fan of the Boy Scouts and will support them whenever possible, they don't have a big presence on our island, but they still collect them.
 *We can take them to the dump, for a fee, they, in turn, convert them into "Compost" or solid fuel for an electrical generation plant that burns wood.
 *The last option is to cut it up into woodstove lengths and burn it during the winter, if it's permitted in your area, we heat our house with wood so that is a real option for us.

                          How do we determine when to get it out of the house?

  Everyone has their preferences on disposal of the tree when we use a "cut tree" it was taken out of the house shortly after Christmas day. Sometimes we leave it up until after the New Years holiday, but that is dependent on how dry it is. The threat of fire is low from a tree bursting into flames in the living room, safer lights, more safety awareness, and fresher trees are a few of the factors making them safe. When the needles dry out and start dropping from the tree like snowflakes, it's pretty much time to take it outside.

                           How apt are they to start a fire? 

  One caution is that is a dry tree does start on fire in a living room of a home, it has the ability to totally engulf the room in under one minute, we have about 3 minutes to get out of the house. But as remarkable as it sounds most Christmas Tree fires are contained in the room they started in, but that is dependent on how close the fire department is as well. All the same, if the tree is kept watered, and is inspected every day, it's probability of remaining safe is fairly high, if we keep an eye on it. Just exercise your self-reliance skills and common sense, it will be fine. (Link to National Fire Protection Association)

                          Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, most of all have fun.

  I am making this blog short, I have the flu, and I mostly want to wish everyone a very Happy New Years, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Thank you for reading and sharing, leave a comment or a story. Thank you
jacquesandkate emergencykitsplus.com

Wildfires in the western U.S. do you know how many people it takes to fight them? Keep reading and you will find out.

  As I was talking to one of my brothers this afternoon on the phone, we were talking about the fires in Southern California. He lives in my home state of Minnesota, he commented that the smoke from the fires in the Mountain States generally affects the air quality as far away as his house. I surmise the smoke was caught in the jet stream and then carried across the country, he did say he did not notice any smoke from the Southern fires. I live 400 miles north of L.A. and until this morning the smoke was visible hanging in the air, in fact, respiratory problems are common throughout the state.

It's still burning and headed South.

It was hard for me to breath in Fresno, the central valley, so we moved around the state until we landed in the Delta, we get the ocean breeze. But with all of these wildfires, it sure has a guy thinking of going somewhere else, at least for a while. All of that started me to thinking about the crews fighting the fires, I have a grandson there right now, he's been there for about 2 weeks. We haven't heard from him, I'm not too worried, concerned but not worried, he's a smart kid, hard worker and tough. He works in the Sierra Nevada's around the Lake Tahoe area, actually, his work area is halfway between Auburn and Lake Tahoe. He is not a firefighter he works for the California Conservation Corp, clearing trails, building outhouses and general maintenance of the backcountry hiking areas. He is part of the "Overhead" crews. (Link to requirements for Hotshots, long informative paper)
               I will describe the crews it normally takes to fight wildfires.
  If there is one group of people that can be defined as the glue that binds the entire operation together it would have to be the Fire Crews. There are three levels of fire crews. Types 1-2-3, each member is placed based on experience, ability to lead and availability to report for duty. There is a Crew Boss, as well as three squad bosses, over the crew of 18-20 men and women. As we can imagine there is a lot of coordination that must happen, for small fires direct contact is used, extinguishing fires with water, fire breaks or sand and dirt. Indirect contact is used on larger fires, using fire breaks, roads, trails and streams as a point to control the fires spreading by removing fuels and setting backfires when conditions permit. The crews sleep near the fire line, it's a war for these people, eating rations, sometimes staying on the fire line for weeks at a time, and being able to shower every other day or less, they are directed by the demands of the fires. The fire season is six months long, the crews are on call 24/7 during that time, normally assigned 2 weeks at a time with a few days off between assignments.

This is a young person's gig for sure. 

  Type 1 is the most experienced crew, known as the "Interagency Hotshot Crews", made up of temporary and professional career employees they have a tradition of excellence with the reputation of being professional firefighters who are multi-skilled. The interagency employing them are USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Managment, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Indian affairs, hence their name. The "Hotshot" Crews originated in California during the 1940's, in the Cleveland and Angeles National Forests, Hotshot was the name chosen due to their fighting the hottest part of the wildfires. The National Park Service started it's Interagency Hotshot Crews in 1981, starting with just three crews. Dubbed Arrowhead 1-2-3, stationed in Wyoming, California, and Arizona. 1982 brought in a name change to represent the National Park Service emblem, Alpine, Arrowhead and Bison, all depicted on the NPS logo. Alpine is headquartered in the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Arrowhead in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and the Bison was ended due to budget restraints. The crews can be sent anywhere, some even sent to Mexico and Canada, they are a National Resource. Traveling by truck, planes or helicopters, they go to where the fires are, packing everything they need for a shift that can last commonly 12 hours or longer. 15 crewmembers of highly skilled firefighters 2 squad leaders, a Superintendent along with two Assistants, make up a typical crew. The crew structure is modified based on the demands of the location of the fires. To qualify as a Hotshot this level 1 requirement is for the individual to perform a 3-mile hike in 45 minutes with a 45-pound backpack. It takes a normal person in good health 20 minutes to hike one mile unloaded, one hour to hike three miles.
  Wildland Fire Modules consisting of 4-10 people, again men, and women, they are completely self-sufficient carrying all of their equipment needed to fight the fires. These Modules are stationed at Buffalo National River, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Cumberland Gap National Park, the Black Hills, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and Saguaro National Park.
  Helitack Crews are specially trained in fighting fires with the use of helicopters, able to be rapidly deployed, typically the first to arrive on the scene of a fire. They fight fires from helicopters, rappelling into dense vegetation and rugged terrain, an important part of their job is to set up "basecamps" by unloading equipment and supplies from the airborne helicopters.
  The Engine Crew is made up of 3-5 skilled firefighters, consisting of a heavy-duty off-road vehicle carrying 800 gallons of water. The Engine Crew carries fire suppression foam to use on wildfires to protect the exterior wall of structures, they patrol, provide structure protection and these are the people performing mop-up duties. Large fires that cover an immense area, like the fires in L.A. today, take an enormous amount of equipment, these are the people that round it all up when the fire is extinguished.

Typical tired from hard work Engine Crew

  The Smokejumpers provide a means of reaching and reacting to a fire quickly, they normally provide the initial assault on the fire in very remote areas. Employed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, surprisingly the National Park Service does not have a Smokejumper division, however, they do use the services of them through these agencies. They parachute into the roughest of terrains, in the most inaccessible areas of the forests in the United States. An elite professional firefighting unit, the crews are made up of people from many different occupations. Most are seasonal, working the summer months, April until the end of the season in September, just the right timing for a school teacher. The entire complement of Smokejumpers numbers 350-400 nationwide, and they are dispatched to any spot in the country in 20 person Type 1 crews. They jump into the fire area, followed by their equipment boxes loaded with tools, food, and equipment, they remain on the fire line until the fire is out. Each member needs about 100 pounds of equipment which must be packed out on mules, lifted out by helicopter or carried out by the members of the crew to the nearest road.

Smokejumpers and Helicopter

  Overhead, most emergencies including wildfires are managed by the Incident Command System (ICS), the Overhead crew can be as small as 3-5 people or as large as thousands. An incident commander is in charge of determining how the emergency is to be dealt with, he has at his disposal heavy equipment, people, and Aircraft. The size of the crew is determined by the size of the incident, these are the "Overhead" people, just what the name implies, ordering supplies, providing logistical support, and planning for the next days' schedules and needs. They are also charged with communications and maintaining equipment. The information officer is responsible for providing media updates and generally is the face the public sees addressing the situation in press briefings.
  It takes a lot of personnel to combat a fire, years like 2017 has been an extremely busy one for these crews, and it may stretch into 2018. They deserve our combined respect, they will be in L.A. over the Christmas and Holiday seasons, all walks of life, all genders, nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. They tirelessly work to control what many times is an uncontrollable monster, they risk their lives every day on the fireline, and mostly we don't even know their names.
 Thank you for reading and sharing, Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy Holidays! If there is a time for "Silence and Prayers", this is it, for these people.

jacquesandkate emergencykitsplus.com
 

Wildfires, they don't just occur in Southern California, it is a widespread phenomenon, should we build differently?

  I woke up really early this morning, I am getting some sort of a cold or another respiratory issue, it may be an irritation from the smoke in the air. We have been dealing with various levels of smoke since the fires started in late spring or early summer. I turned on the TV at 6:17 am to see how the fires in Southern California are doing, it was not shown, all of the news was political. I couldn't handle any more politics, my tolerance is greatly reduced, so I turned to the Weather Channel, still no coverage on the fires. It was dark out, sometimes I will sit on the deck and watch what is going on around the river, today I changed the channel to How the Universe Works. I like watching the documentaries about outer space and other interesting subjects in our world and surrounding areas (like the entire universe), learning is one of my passions.

This has nothing to do with wildfires, but it did inspire me to
write about wildfires, we can send a huge telescope into space
to take brilliant photos like this one of Saturn, why in this world
can't we build homes and structures that are capable of withstanding
natural disasters?

I get a little tired of doom and gloom day in and day out, it is like no matter where a person looks he gets hit with how we're all going to meet our ending. I was watching this program and all was going well, until 1/2 hour into it the narrator started talking and describing how the world was going to end. It may be 1.2 billion years off, but it still kind of gets to a guy, we just don't want to hear about how the world will end. It did make me start wondering about how common severe natural disasters are, which are the most common, which are the most destructive and what areas in the world are affected the most by them.
  Reading about the fires in L.A. and surrounding areas is a real wake up call, they may continue burning another 2 weeks or longer. I have often looked at the Diablo Range of Mountains in view of my house, It's possible for a fire to start here, 400 miles north of the grapevine, where I-5 transverses the mountains then dives into the L.A. area. There is a lot of dry grass and weeds for the entire length of the mountain range, manageable fires seem to start and stop rather quickly in those hills.

An out of control wildfire in one of the largest urban areas in the
world, it may go on for another week or two. 

                     How common are Wildfires?
  Every year in the United States more than 100,000 wildfires occur, destroying 5 million acres as an average, recently in the past few years that lose has increased to 9 million acres. The wildfires take place everywhere, being more common in the forested areas of the US and Canada. They are common in grasslands as well, the high vegetated areas of Australia and the Western Cape of South Africa, as an example. In our country the Western States suffer especially hard after a drought, the first rains cause an explosion in growth and when they stop in late spring the grasses dry out and the fires begin, that is what is taking place in California right now. The rains are late in California, December is normally the month when the most rain falls, this year there has been none so far. There is still about two weeks left in the month so the rains may show up yet, but it looks doubtful. Even though it seems this year must be a record breaker for the fires, in the area it is beginning to look that way, up until this year the period 1994-2013 held the distinction of being the time period with the highest frequency of wildfires. Large wildfires are classified as being over 300 acres.
  Every state in the west with the exception of the state of Wyoming has at least one county that qualifies as having a number of large fires, 100 - 1300 fires per year is the highest frequency category. 21-100 wildfires are considered to be the frequency with the second highest amount. The numbers are skewed especially when compared to the Eastern States due to the size of the counties. In the East, the counties are typically smaller than in the west, so the number of fires compared to the area is a little off. However, the larger the county is the more likely it is to have more wildfires.
  Outside of the Western States, east of the Rocky Mountains, the states in the Great Plains and South experienced the most wildfires during the same period. (1994-2013). South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, and Louisiana each had at least one county or parish in the highest category of frequency.
  90% of wildfires are caused by humans, the remaining 10% by lava or lightning, there is no mention of utility responsibility. Of the human-caused fires, the causes are lit cigarettes tossed out a car window, campfires left hot, burning of trash piles, cars parked over weeds with hot catalytic converters and intentional acts of arson. Arson fires are the most difficult to assign responsibility to, they are mostly started in extremely remote areas in the middle of the night. Rock slides are also a culprit, as the rocks and earth slide down a hill, some will cause sparks and in turn, start a wildfire. (Link to causes of wildfires)
  Prescribed fires are used to prevent wildfires on occasion, however, there is always the possibility of the fire getting out of control. When a prescribed fire is planned such things as humidity, temperature, and the wind must be taken into account. If it's mid-July with a 5 mile per wind, zero humidity, and it's 105 degrees, well that's not the best time to start a prescribed burn. Smoke must also be taken into account, human health, and agricultural concerns need to be addressed as well. Early morning hours when it is cool and dew is still on the ground is the best time for a prescribed burn. Careful planning by experienced and educated fire professionals is the key to having a successful prescribed burn, even then the fire has the ability to burn wildly out of control.
  Fires are not looked upon as being entirely negative, in the 1930's research into the history of wildfires developed a new way of thinking of fires. Researchers discovered that contrary to common thought at the time, wildfires cleared the forest floor preparing it for fresh seeding by adding nutrients beneficial to adding to making the undergrowth thicker. It does add underbrush to the surviving forest and open land, the added brush, when combined with drought, can affect the frequency and intensity of a wildfire, it can be a double-edged sword.
  The fire triangle refers to the three elements that must be present to sustain the chemical reaction which is fire. (Link to understanding the fire triangle)
  *Fuel, as in wildfires is the underbrush, dry trees, shrubs, and structures.
  *Oxygen, it must be at least 16%, our environment is 21% oxygen, just right for fires.
  *Heat, that initial spark if hot enough will start a flame that is hot enough to sustain a fire.
  If anyone of these elements is removed, the fire will go out, usually, we remove the heat when fighting a fire outdoors. Some of the chemicals dropped from aircraft will remove the oxygen, fire breaks remove the fuel, but still spraying water on a fire is the most efficient way we have found to fight them.
  It seems surreal that a fire is able to burn unabated practically through a densely populated area such as Los Angelos. I say unabated, not due to a lack of effort to extinguish it, but the intense winds known as the "Santa Ana's", devilishly strong, dry and warm winds that occur this time of year in that local. It brings up thoughts of the movies of Armageddon, although I don't believe we are close to that, I do have visions of L.A. being completely out of control. When I read that the fire at one time was burning one acre per second, a rate which is difficult to comprehend, that rate is capable of destroying my neighbor's house on each side and mine in the middle in a time period of 3 seconds. One acre a second is extremely fast, those homes must be exploding into flames, they are much more densely packed than where I live. (Link to understanding the Santa Ana winds)
 

This is a brushfire resistant home, it looks like it may survive a
high wind event as well. 

  It brings to mind one more issue I have been thinking about lately, it has to do with the definition of insanity. "If you keep doing the same things you've always done, you will get the same results." Or it goes something like that, we've all mostly heard or read it as coming from the brain of Albert Einstien, whether it did or not I don't know for sure. It may be time for us to re-think the way in which we build houses and other structures in this country. Perhaps we should build housing designed for the area it is occupying, in the Midwest build for tornados, the west wildfires, the east hurricanes, as obvious examples. There may be a design or materials that are suitable to withstand all natural disasters, if we can build a space station, super-sonic jets and ships that can go 2 miles beneath the ocean, I imagine we have the knowledge to design a structure that can withstand a fire, tornado, and hurricane.
  Thank you for reading and sharing, leave a comment or story, I like to hear from you.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com

Wildfires, wind and what we can do to prevent or reduce the threats, a wildfire just now started in sight of my house.

  As the fire disaster in Southern California continues, they are nowhere close to being under control, the winds are up again today. One of my grandsons is there helping with whatever needs to be done, it appears to be a truly terrible chain of events. I'm not ignoring it, I just simply have no words for it, except to hope and pray relief comes soon, it's supposed to rain in Northern Calfornia later in the week, maybe it will be in the South as well. 

  The wind was blowing about 25 mph this morning when I woke up, not quite on the howling end of the spectrum, but a good steady wind. I was thinking, and still kind of expect it, that an arsonist may start a wildfire, it seems to happen when the wind blows.

Although the last fires in Northern California were started with some sort of an electric utility incident, fallen wires, a failed transformer, or some other equipment failure. I'm not into that 100%, it seems like a real co-incidence for so many to start at one time from one source of failure. Some of them most likely were caused by the equipment failures, but I suspect some were arson as well, the hardest type of fire to prove. The utility that services Northern California from about Fresno north to the Oregon border, there is a lot of infrastructures involved. It's up to the agencies investigating the fires to determine the cause, lawyers are advertising like crazy for clients. The legal people all jumped on the bandwagon when PG&E was first mentioned as a cause, the lawsuits will take years to shake out. In the meantime and even afterward during the reconstruction of the areas affected the cause doesn't mean very much in so far as helping to recover. There is a lot of damage, a lot of structures destroyed, people killed and residents severely injured, so fault does have to be placed somewhere, if for no other reason than to help prevent further fires. I read an article in the newspaper, I apologize I forget the source, it stated PG&E is contemplating shutting down electrical service during periods of high winds. I am wondering today if that is what is the cause of our power outage today, I've been trying to find out but it's tough during the event. With the wind and so many compromised trees, it is probably more than not caused by at least one fallen tree. (Link to PG&E's wildfire and prevention efforts.)
  I was sitting in the garden earlier today watching the wind, I am always amazed at how strong the trees are. I don't think modern engineering with all of their knowledge could design and build a structure as strong as a tree. There is one outside the window I sit in front of writing blogs and working on the website that rock and rolls fiercely, I've been watching it for years, it's a Pecan Tree. Fruit and nut trees are notoriously strong, the wood is prized for furniture making, it doesn't stop me from watching and try to predict which branch will break off. The squirrels are inactive in the wind, they stick to the ground and I don't blame them, I watched one run across the road, skunkpuppy didn't bother to chase it. I figure the wind puts the kibosh on most living beings, she (my dog) laid in the grass shielded from the wind by two garden boxes. Normally if someone goes by, (we have like one or two walkers or bicyclist each day) she will come unglued, fur stands up, growling and barking. She did not bother this morning, she just laid there in the warm sun asleep, I guess being on guard has it's down days as well.

Another self-respecting watchdog.

  There is a long line of trees across the road, If a person were to cut two down every year for firewood as well to prevent one from falling across the utility lines, there would be an almost endless supply. That would work only if it was managed well, there is a lot of trees there acting as a windbreak for the farmer on the other side of the road. Several have fallen onto his ranch, none that I know of have caused any damage, however, he did move his chicken coop because an extremely large tree was blown down into the middle of it, dividing the coop into two. There is not much we can do to pro-actively prevent a tree from falling across utility lines unless they are on the property of the person who wants to trim it or cut it down. That's the story with the trees that line our road, there is a ditch on each side of the road that stays wet most of the year. I don't remember it ever being dry, the undergrowth is doing very well, vector control sprays for mosquito's every week during the summer. There are a few trees I have been watching through the years, to watch some of them in the wind is pretty entertaining. The damage comes when the wind changes directions, our prevailing wind is from the Northwest, the storm wind is from the Southeast, and like today the wind from the East is the one that can cause the most damage. The prevailing wind causes most of the trees to be blown in the direction opposite of the direction it is coming from, the tree builds strength all year long to withstand the prevailing. The soil at the base of the tree is soft and wet generally when the wind shifts the pressure is put on the soft side caused by the constant pressure of the wind attempting to lift up the root system. Sometimes that happens, last winter three huge Eucalyptus trees were uprooted in a wind just like the one we are experiencing today. I stopped on my scooter yesterday to look at a huge Eucalyptus tree on the side of the road, the trunk was every bit of 8 foot in diameter. I have been thinking of that tree this morning, it is so huge the fence next to it has been swallowed by the tree's growing around and into it. It doesn't appear to be in any danger of falling over, but neither did the three that did fall. I give the homeowner credit, it took him less than a year to clean those trees up, he is an old guy like me, he worked on it a little every day, now his place is up for sale.

It happens all of the time. 

  I was thinking about what I could do to help to prevent a tree from falling and causing a utility interruption. If I were to contract with a tree trimming outfit I would have to own the property, it's owned by the State, County or in our case the Unincorporated area. The liability for taking one of those trees down would be enormous, besides most likely being arrested for something like destroying public property. Not only that if I were to cut one of the trees down to prevent it from falling, if it were to fall across utility lines I'm sure there would be added expenses in paying for the repairs to that infrastructure. The county has tree trimmers on our island all of the time, they do a fairly good job taking care that branches do not obstruct the roads. I have never seen them take an entire tree out, however, and no major trimming as well. I suspect the policy is to not cut a tree down but to wait for it to fall then cut it up, that does seem like a reasonable approach. Predicting which tree will fall next is an impossible task to accomplish, I have seen some trees that appear to be perfectly healthy laying across the road, and found to be hollow inside or some other flaw that weakens them and is not visible while it is standing.
  The wind causes its share of problems, docks, pylons, floats and even boats come loose from their anchorages and float down the river. I was awake one morning about 2 am and looked out across the river, interrupting my view was a canoe, it was windy. The canoe was up against my dock and stuck, now I suspected thieves tied it off and were roaming the countryside. Most of the thefts that occur in our area come from the water side, very few from the roadside, people boat in, tie off and have a field day. So I went out there half expecting to scare people off, to my relief no one was there, I tied the canoe off and went back to bed. The custom here is if a person finds something like that, leave it on the dock or tied to it in a highly visible spot, which I did, someone will surely be looking for it. Sure enough 5 years later I was talking to a man down the way, I'd talked to him before so he was not a stranger. We started talking about theft and all things related when he told me "5 years ago some low life stole my canoe, I loved that thing) he told me. I replied, "was it green with a homemade motor mount on it?" He replied it was, I told him I've had it tied to my dock for 5 years and explained how it came to be, needless to say, he came and fetched it immediately. So it goes without saying some of the stuff that disappears is theft, and some of it is stolen by the wind, the wind blows here a lot, 6 months of the year.
  There are some things that can be done to eliminate damage and lose from the winds:
*  Secure items inside a shed, garage or some other protected spot.
*  Tie down items that are too big to move, but still able to be blown away, umbrellas with heavy stands are an example.
*  Tie down boats, use more lines than normal, they can and do break.
*  Keep our trees trimmed, it will prevent broken limbs and possibly from falling over.
*  Be alert while driving, especially after dark, it's possible to go around a curve and meet up with a tree across the road, or an animal that takes advantage of a fallen fence.
*  Keep a 72-hour kit available, we never know how long the event will last. (Link to purchase a 72-hour wildfire kit)

  The wind is good for some things, flying kites, keeping mosquitos away and sailing, I'm sure there is more. I'm generally not one to say there is nothing we can do to prevent damage from a common source, but the wind is close to it. The wild animals appear to stay out of the wind, big birds don't fly in it, small birds do but they struggle, it's a challenge and it will tire a person out quickly, apparently dogs as well.

  Just as I am finishing this blog I looked out the window to see a huge cloud of smoke generated by a fire, that's what I was worried about, with any luck it's on an island and will burn itself out. It was out by mid afternoon, the fire burned itself into the river.

  We do what we can with the wind, it's a hazard and a blessing, we can't control it but it can be predicted so it gives us a window to tie stuff down and put stuff away.
  Thank you for reading and sharing, go out in the wind and watch it, the trees, the water, and the people, it is pretty entertaining.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com 

Besides being scary, how dangerous are Coyotes when confronted by humans, it will surprise you.

  I worked in the central valley for a long time, there is a lot of empty space there, there is also a lot of farming going on. The company I worked for had a site that consisted of 180 acres, we used about 15 of it, however part of my job was "vector control", which meant get rid of the ground squirrels. Dealing with them was pretty tough, they multiplied like crazy, it was nuts because the population started at what seemed like just south of a million little furry creatures. I never came close to eradicating them, I never even came close to anything that could be a control of them, I had better luck gathering up the old farm equipment and tires, they did not breed. There was a huge variety of animals out there, fox, coyotes, jackrabbits, as well as the normal run of the mill raccoons, skunks, and possums. The facility was many years prior the largest feedlot on the west coast, at that time we had about 1,000 head in the corrals. Beyond the stockyard was an empty 100 acres, in the middle of that was the community dump. There was no garbage in the dump, it was a place to put old farm machinery, tires, and all that is related to rural life.

There was some old stuff in the dump as well.

  I would drive out to the dump at least once a day, it was part of vector control, at dusk the most amazing chain of events took place. The first participants to show up were the Jackrabbits, tall, lean and fast, not to ignore the fact that at least 100 of them would show up. Shortly after that, the coyotes would form a large circle around them, penning the rabbits in. As if a starting pistol went off, all of a sudden the coyotes charged the rabbits, there were at least 50 coyotes. Dust, debris, and squeals filled the air, coyotes and rabbits were frantically running everywhere, most of the rabbits escaped, most of the coyotes had a rabbit. The most interesting thing about the whole episode is that it took place every single night, and it most likely still is. The rabbits after thousands of years (I am guessing at how long it's been going on), have never changed or gotten smarter unless maybe these are the dumb ones and the rest don't participate. I don't know what the deal was, but it was one of the most curious events I have witnessed in my life.

Coyote and Jackrabbit, they are both really fast.

Which brings me to:
  My daughter lives on 15 acres next to the foothills of the Sierra Range of mountains in the central valley. She and her husband own and operate a successful tree trimming business, it's a lot of work needing a lot of storage space. They have what looks like an acre covered with wood cut to fireplace lengths waiting to be split and sold for firewood. They have chickens, goats (on occasion) and they will let out their pasture to people wanting to feed a steer or a bull. They also have a few pigs, right now two they have just purchased and keep in a secure pen in the pasture, they have a watchdog or two. They also have a lot of coyotes, the opportunist of the world, they show up each evening trying to get at the chickens and other livestock. Of course, they worry about the coyotes getting at their animals, but more than that they are fairly frightened of them, thinking the coyotes may very well attack them. This is in an area where I saw the first Mountain Lion I had ever seen, it was on a full out run and did not notice anything except where it was headed. I told my daughter I would be more concerned about the Bobcats, not the Coyotes or the Puma's, although a Lion will attack a human it is rare. The Bobcats, however, are the size of a medium dog and unpredictable, I don't trust them. (I have mentioned that on other blogs I have written). (Link to information disputing my fear of Bobcats.)
  How dangerous are Coyotes? Let's take a look-see:
There are two recorded cases of humans being killed by Coyotes, in the United States and Canada combined (in the past 500 years). It is a rare incident when a none rabid Coyote attacks a human, most people that do get bit do so in the course of attempting to rescue a pet that has been grabbed by one of the predators. Compared to the 15-20 humans killed by domestic dogs each year, 2 human casualties by Coyotes in the past 500 years is very minimal. It's safe to say Coyotes do not attack people. If you are being challenged by Coyotes, they are after all pack animals, here is a list of some things we can do when facing an attack:

1)  Back away from the animals, slowly and carefully, do not turn your back on them.
2)  Do not run, they will think you are prey and most likely will chase you.
3)  Throw things at them, sticks, rocks, any objects laying around that have some weight to them.
4)  Be as loud and obnoxious as you possibly can be, if you have a pan or other hollow metal items, beat on them, just like we were taught to do to chase a bear away.
5)  If the animal does attack (remember it is extremely rare) protect your throat and arteries.
6)  Don't harm the animal, it will enrage them and may cause a fight response in them.
 (Link explaining what to do when you see a Coyote)
  They do live amongst us, they are very adaptable animals, they are timid and stay in their wooded rural areas, however, they are not hesitant to wander in urban areas. I lived in the California Desert for 3 years, the name of the city is La Quinta, like the hotel chain. I had to be at work early in the morning, I would get out of bed at 4:30 am, then head for work at 5:30. Most mornings I would encounter two large Coyotes, laying in the grass in the front yard of houses one block from my house. They looked like domestics dogs relaxing in their own yards, indeed they appeared to be approachable, but never approach them, they are wild animals and will defend themselves. Every day I would see several of the animals on my way to and from work, it was common then.
 (Link to building a Coyote and predator-proof chicken coop)
 
Here are a few suggestions for those of us that live in Coyote country:

1)  Create an environment that is not appealing to the Coyotes, they do not fear us any longer. Make them unwelcome by keeping your trees and shrubs trimmed, don't give them a place to hide. Install Coyote proof fences, motion sensors that activate noise, water systems or lights.
2)  Don't leave food outside of your home, that includes pet food as well as uncovered trash cans.
3)  If you live in their habitat, be prepared for an encounter, learn all you can about the animals, carry a large walking stick, have a noise maker on your person, and pepper sprays work as well.
4)  "Haze" the animal, inflate your self, make yourself appear larger, wave your arms over your head, shout in loud commanding tones, use lights, whistles and something to beat on to make noise.
5)  Toss stuff at them, (as mentioned above).
6)  Spray them with water, either from a hose or water gun, ammonia or vinegar will surprise them and cause them to escape.
7)  If you are injured by one of the animals, seek medical assistance immediately, then call the appropriate authorities.

Link to this page explaining the difference between a
wolf and Coyote

  Coyotes are scary animals, the howling at night is un-nerving, as well as when one is seen in the yard or general vicinity of the house. They are however relatively harmless, attacks on humans are extremely rare. They don't see humans as a food source, even small children are safe from attacks, but do not leave them unattended because two people have been killed by them in the past 500 years so there is always that chance. This is the information I gave to my daughter as well, it did not releave her concern, it is safe to say her biggest fear is harm to the livestock.
  She has a rifle, there is a major problem with that, however, shooting the Coyotes may eliminate some of them but to me, it's like spraying for bugs. If shooting them is the solution, is the foal to kill all of them? If so it's at least an uphill battle, much like spaying for spiders, there is an endless population with more always showing up. When living next to the Mountains like she and her husband do there is a huge population of the animals that will fill the void when one pack is eliminated, there will be no end to them. My idea and commitment is engineering them out, better fences, louder noises, flashier lights and a bigger watchdog.
Thanks for reading and sharing, let me know what you think in the comments.

jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com