Monday, September 22, 2014



We took a drive yesterday along the Kalama River.  Thought you might like to see the scenery, the river flows through.   The Kalama flows into the Columbia River.     Michele



Shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday, crews responded to a report of poster board on fire at the bus stop at Ward & Baker Streets.
When NFD arrived the fire had been extinguished by a bystander that used a fire extinguisher to suppress the fire.
The on duty crew wetted down the area with approximately 30 gallons of water to protect against re-ignition.
The fire appears to have originated by the ignition of paper materials that were attached to the poster board by unknown persons.
No injuries were reported

Meanwhile an early wake up call for guests at the Hume Hotel..the building was evacuated due to a fire in the laundry room early Sunday morning
Crews found the laundry room filled with heavy smoke and an active fire in one of the dryer units.
The fire was extinguished and crews then worked on checking to ensure that there was no fire extension.
According to Michael Daloise, Assistant Fire Chief, the smoke was heaviest in the basement but there was smoke throughout the building to the fourth floor..Fans were set up to push the smoke out as crews continued to work in the fire room.
No injuries were reported Damage is estimated at $25 -thousand dollars.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.


bobshannon.org

The prime requisites to becoming a Clamper are a sense of humor, an interest in Western history, an open mind, and a cast iron stomach. If a man has those qualities, and strikes up a friendship with a Clamper or two, he may find himself taken in to (and by) the Ancient and Honorable Order. But one can't simply walk up and say, "Can I be a Clamper?" It is for the Brethren of ECV to invite prospective members to join. And if a man is asked, he should know that the invitation is only given once. If it is refused, it is never tendered again. But a man of any intelligence and character so invited would hardly be likely to turn down such a signal honor. And remember, as the Brethren of E Clampus Vitus maintain, Clampers are not made, they're born. Like gold, they just have to be discovered.
Credo Quia Absurdum!

 Rick Price
Despite California's reputation as an environmental policy leader, its regulation of groundwater extraction has long been among the weakest in the nation. That changed Tuesday, when California Governor Jerry Brown signed a package of three bills designed to regulate the pumping of water from underground aquifers.

While many observers say the rules are too little and too late to protect the state's rapidly depleting aquifers, the new laws are still a major shift in a long-deadlocked political battle.

"They don't solve all our problems, but they're a critical step in the right direction," says Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist at the University of California, Irvine.

Overdrawn Accounts

For many California farmers groundwater is an essential account: a strategic reserve for drought years, when shares of surface water shrink. Aquifers provide 30 to 40 percent of the state's water supply in normal years but close to 60 percent in drought years.

That reserve allows California's Central Valley to consistently produce a hefty share of the nation's fruits and vegetables—more than 300 different crops all told, ranging from pomegranates to almonds to asparagus to tomatoes.

But since the 1920s, when improvements in electric motors first allowed widespread groundwater pumping, the state's landowners have been making large withdrawals from their underground accounts. Recent deep and extended droughts, including the current one, have worsened the situation.

The state's groundwater accounts are now seriously overdrawn. On the edges of the Central Valley, where aquifers are relatively shallow, municipal wells are running dry, forcing small towns to import water at excruciatingly high prices. Chronic overpumping has led to widespread land subsidence in the valley, with some places sinking more than 30 feet in recent decades. Many groundwater-fed surface streams have been depleted, threatening the species that depend on them.

But in most cases California landowners can still drill water wells as often and as deeply as they can afford, without permission from government agencies or neighbors. With few exceptions, users are not required to report how much they pump, and public access to drilling records is highly restricted.

Over the past decade NASA satellite data analyzed by Famiglietti and his colleagues have helped to close that information gap. The research has shown that Central Valley farmers are withdrawing groundwater far faster than rain and snowmelt can trickle through soil and rock layers to recharge aquifers.

"We've turned a renewable resource into a nonrenewable resource," says Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute. "Whoever has the most money, the deepest wells, and the strongest pumps has been able to take this public good and turn it into a private commodity."








Hundreds of domestic wells in California's drought-parched Central Valley farming region have run dry, leaving many residents to rely on donated bottles of drinking water to get by.

Girl Scouts have set up collection points while local charities are searching for money to install tanks next to homes. Officials truck in water for families in greatest need and put a large tank in front of the local firehouse for residents to fill up with water for bathing and flushing toilets.
About 290 families in East Porterville - a poor, largely Hispanic town of about 7,000 residents nestled against the Sierra Nevada foothills - have said their shallow wells are depleted. Officials say the rest of Tulare County has many more empty wells, but nobody has a precise count.
Other Central Valley counties also report pockets of homes with wells gone dry and no alternative water service.
"When you have water running in your house, everything is OK," said East Porterville resident Yolanda Serrato. "Once you don't have water, oh my goodness."
With California locked in its third year of drought and groundwater levels dropping, residents and farmers have been forced to drill deeper and deeper to find water. Lawmakers in Sacramento passed legislation to regulate groundwater pumping, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law this past week.
Three days later, Brown signed an executive order that provides money to buy drinking water for residents statewide whose wells have dried up, while also directing key state officials to work with counties and local agencies to find solutions for the shortages.
The State Water Resources Control Board had already allotted $500,000 to buy bottled water for East Porterville residents, said Bruce Burton of the board's Drinking Water Program.
But many East Porterville residents, like Serrato, say all they want is to get a glass of water from the kitchen sink. Her well dried up nearly two months ago, she said, making life challenging for her husband and three children.
To bathe, they each have to fill a bucket from a 300-gallon tank in the front yard, carry it inside and pour water over their heads with a cup. They've lived in their home for 21 years, she said. "It's not that easy to say, 'Let's go someplace else.' "

 Jane Shannon

Summary and Sources
EARTH & SUN DIGEST of 2014/09/18

Solar Flares:  M Class flares, two on 9/11, one on 9//14
Kp of >4: none
Earthquakes 6M+: one 6.7M quake on 9/17 near Guam in Pacific
Deep Quakes >300 km with 4M+ quake: 
09-18 489  5.5  NORTHWEST OF KURIL ISLANDS       
09-16 580  5.4  SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
09-16 639  5.2  FIJI REGION
09-15 627  4.7  FIJI REGION
09-14 349  4.3  KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
09-13 497  4.3  BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
09-12 574  5.1  SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
09-11 423  4.8  BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
Volcanic Ash over 8 km:  none

Reference Web Sites

http://www.data.scec.org/recenteqs/

Daily Geomagnetic Data
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/latest/DGD.txt

Daily Solar Data
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/latest/DSD.txt
http://www.spaceweather.com

Volcanic ash eruptions of 8+ km
http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports_weekly.cfm
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/Volc_ash_recent.shtml

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/ (Tap on mag>4 to limit entries)
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/

MOON PROJECTIONS
from Stephen on PINPOINT
Far Point (apogee), Near Point (perigee) and milestones between
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html

Event Day & Time UTC

  September 2014
Max AP     02 22:59 12 min
S Limit    03 13:13
Perigee    08 03:30
Full Moon  09 01:39
Equator SN 09 15:31
Mid PA     11 12:31
Max PA     13 10:23  1 min
N Limit    16 05:12
Apogee     20 14:23
Equinox    23 02:29
Equator NS 23 18:06
New Moon   24 06:14
Mid AP     26 11:27
S Limit    30 19:29
Max AP     30 21:35 5 min
  October 2014
Perigee    06 09:42

Donald, Editor






AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. -
People living on the West Plains are fed up with an abandoned house that seems to be filling up with trash from illegal dumpers.
It's located just north of Fairchild Air Force Base at 1122 South Dover Road and neighbors say it's been that way for at least five years, the front yard full of trash, old furniture and appliances and the mess continues to grow.
“Rumor is that, for homeless and vagrants, that's an overnight stop for traveling,” said Matt Petro who leaves nearby.
Earlier this year the county declared the home uninhabitable, with the owner said to be living as a transient now in Spokane. The county planning director says it's an an active enforcement case and that the owner received a warning for a zoning code violation. She can now enter a possible voluntary compliance agreement but, if she does not, a second warning will be issued before the case goes to a prosecutor.
Meanwhile Petro says he's told his children to stay away from the mess.
“We don't know what's there, it could be a health concern, possibly,” he said.
If the case does go to court, the county could use Geiger Corrections inmates to clean it up. The home is not currently in foreclosure, but there is a small lien from the county and any action could still be years away.
KXLY learned that the owner is working with Gonzaga law students to assist her with some legal matters with the house.
It's been more than 30 years since the county has seized and cleaned home in this condition.













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