The Weather Wimp…

The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails RV Resort in Seaside, Oregon. I’ve been here a number of times before, so I’ve thoroughly seen all of the local tourist attractions. So, now I’m just hanging out enjoying the nice weather.

Mary is dealing with her over-flowing to-do list plate which can only be handled by herself. The construction of Mary’s rental continues delay plagued. She now is hoping to rejoin me by early September.  😦

Today’s Subject…The Weather Wimp…

That’s what Mary calls me! When it gets below 65 degrees and above 75 degrees…I start complaining!

I’m in my 20th year of full-time RVing and my primary objective is to stay where the temperature is between 65 – 75 degrees as much as possible!

In the last week the West…in general has experienced some record-setting heat…except along the seacoast…where I am now. The excessive heat is expected to last about another week before returning to more normal ranges.

Unfortunately…my allowed time here at Thousand Trails in Seaside, Oregon is up next Monday, June 29th and I’m obligated to move on.

Here’s the projected forecast for Seaside through July 4th…

 

 

 

Here’s the forecast for the Chehalis, Washington area where I planned on being until July 6th…

 

 

 

Basically it’s 15-20 degrees cooler on the seacoast and much more agreeable to the Weather Wimp!

 

Meanwhile, back at Mary’s home forecast…

 

 

Now you know why the Weather Wimp is not there!

So, today I’ll research my options for staying on the coast for another week before moving inland. With the upcoming week being just before the upcoming July 4th weekend…many places are totally booked in reservations.

Hopefully…I’ll figure out a way to stay on the coast for another week!

Yesterday was cloudy/sunny and 55 degrees. Today’s forecast is cloudy/sunny and 70 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Oregon. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

 

 

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2015

SAFEGUARD OUR DRINKING WATER.

 Let me see if I can clearly outline the problems Californian’s  face over water.  We’ve established that California is a relatively dry state to begin with. Damming and holding water in  reservoirs has been the answer, which destroyed fishing, and negatively affected the animals and plants that depended on river water. It also negatively affected downstream users where farmers planted crops and suddenly found salt water backing upstream as less fresh water flowed to the ocean.

Under governor Pat Brown, (Governor Jerry Brown’s father) a massive canal was built that took  water from the north to benefit the south. And, in the 1800’s San Francisco sealed their right to water by building Hetch Hetchy which drained Lake Mead.  I think it is safe to say that anytime man tries to overcome nature, they create more problems.

The fixes were moving along quite well. The reservoirs were full, the fish once again migrating upstream. The Water Control Board is mandated by federal law to keep enough water in rivers to allow salmon to migrate and reproduce. Salmon are not only food for people, eagles and animals, fish are part of the tourist  economy  as sports fishermen come to the mountains for fishing derbies  and recreation.

The Board allowed the spring pulse, water poured out of Mellones Reservoir for the salmon, but the officials controlling (man made) Lake Tulloch, below Mellones,  refused to allow the water through. They are in defiance of the law. How can they get away with such maneuvers?

Downstream  San Joaquin Co. secured rights to a defined amount of acre feet of water from Mellones when it was full and water seemed ever plentiful. Now, regardless of how little there is to share,  they insist they shall have it and it better be delivered or they will sue.

Representative Tom McClintock and Frank Bigelow  convinced the water board to relax the flows. But downstream, that allows more salt intrusion which affects farmers in the delta. The water control board maintains they have enough water for a year with conservation measures, let’s not panic. Not a word from anyone about the millions of gallons used by frackers, nor funding a salt water conversion plant.

 Unfortunately you can’t manufacture water.

Or can you manufacture water?  According to the fracking industry you can. They like to use euphemisms like “stimulating well production”  when they inject water and chemicals deep into the ground. And this statement came from Don Drysdale’s email:

“Not all of the water used for hydraulic fracturing is freshwater. Some portion is from produced water that is cleaned. Produced water comes to the surface from oil and gas operations but is not suitable for drinking or agricultural use.”

I had never heard of “produced” water and I began to wonder where all this dirty water is located and how they have access to it and did they dirty the water to begin with? And, how was it cleaned?

Guess what? Produced water is waste water from fracking with no good disposal options. This “produced” water contains fracking chemicals, dissolved solids and radioactive material from underground. Conventional waste water treatment plants are not equipped to deal with this waste and efforts to treat it  pose problems for communities downstream. Injecting it back into the ground is what has triggered earthquakes in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Where are the California wells located?  In Southern California along the San Andreas fault. Now that IS scary.

They claim they use “relatively  little water”. What exactly is relatively little water?

From Don Drysdale’s email: “On the basis of reporting for 2014 the total amount of water used for hydraulic fracturing was 214 acre-feet. This equates to approximately 100,000 gallons on average per stimulated well” How many wells? There are 5 in Southern California.

Okay that doesn’t sound like much, but that is fresh water. But in the same email, Drysdale’s figures say:

“1 Acre-foot of water = 325, 851 gallons of water” but 214 acre feet equals 100,000 gallons? Now which one of his figures is right?

A 2011 study sponsored by the California Department of Water Resources estimates that the average annual water use by a household is .4 acre-feet (131,400 gallons annually, 360 gallons per day.) That is 4 tenths of an acre foot?

So which figure is right?  And how many wells?

And how much produced water are we talking about?

“Total produced water from oil and gas production:  3 billion barrels or 387,000 acre-feet.

Of that, two-thirds is put back into the aquifers from which it came or is used for “enhanced oil recovery” (water flood, steam flood, cyclic steam.)”

The oil and gas  industry is rushing to push fracking at an amazing pace throughout the United States. Methane creates heat and is leak prone stored in concrete tanks. The crude oil is expected to net six million barrels a day. The process is putting our drinking water in peril across the United States. It is typical of the oil industry to make a mess and then let we taxpayers pay to clean it up. For instance, the Deepwater Horizon Spill in the Gulf of Mexico has still not met standards for clean up.  With fracking,  it may not be cleanable. It is a disaster in the making.

I’m for banning fracking nation wide.   In California here are the names and addresses of the people who need to hear from you if you agree:

Tom McClintock, 8700 Auburn-Folsom Rd. Ste 100, Granite Bay, CA, 95746. Call 916-786-5560.  In Washington, 202-225-2511.

Barbara Boxer, 2500 Tulare St. Ste 5290, Fresno, CA, 93721. In Washington, 202-224-3553

Dianne Fieinstein, 2500 Tulare  St.,Ste 4290, Fresno, CA. 93721. In Washington, 202-224-3841.

Other communities can find their representative’s and city councils names in the front of their phone book. Do it.

Local measures against fracking are beginning to make an impact across America.  There are 41 measures in the connected states of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. 18 in New York, 4 in West Virginia, 10 in Virginia, 35 in North Carolina, 2 in Florida, 37 in Ohio, 1 in Indiana, 7 in Illinois, 21 in Michigan, 5 in Wisconsin, 1 in Iowa, 2 in Minnesota, 1 in North Dakota, 4 in Texas, 3 in New Mexico, 10 in Colorado, 1 in Wyoming, 23 in Northern California, and 1 in Hawaii.

You can reach Food And Water Watch at: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org. E-mail: info@fwwatch.org. Phone 202-683-2500. They are mailing petitions to sign.

FAMILY REUNION SECOND DAY.

Saturday, about noon, the tubes were ready, some a bit patched. We trucked up to the flume. Alec and Austin’s other grandma, Eunice, with daughters Cathy and Bev, treats,  drinks and towels in tow, are ready to go.

Eunice’s son Uncle Rick, attemded the reunion for the first time with his girlfriend Tammy. He brought a box of freshly baked donuts, another first. Yum.  And, he is a talented chef. I know because I’ve tasted his cooking several times. Sister Cathy is a great cook, too. (We KNOW who to invite for our family reunions. ) Rick is from Southern Cal, also.

It didn’t take long for everyone to find a comfortable spot to relax, have a snack and a brew, or sun tan for a while.

The bridge makes a nice “deck”.

 

If you get too hot, take a dunk. Kris and Laurie, the boobsie, I mean bikini twins cooled off for a while. Kris never tubes. She calls herself, “flume fluff.” Eunice picked up that expression and says, “I’m flume fluff like Kristanne.”

The first run came in. Everyone walks about a mile or two back and floats to the bridge. Last year, Abbie was still asking for help. Now she is an old pro.

Ted carried his snacks and a beer with him. The rules are, you carry out what you bring in.

Daniel brought a squirter to torment his fellow floaters. Hey!  Wet is wet, right?

Cathy carried a stick to shove away from the sides when rounding the curves.

First timer, Tammy, took a lesson from Cathy.

Ken, Mr. cool head. When he was a kid, he would find every lizard in the water weeds and inspect them for parasites. He’d pull off the parasites and set them free.

After the first run, everyone swam or played before the next run.

We took time for some pictures, we two grandmas.

Mason, Stewart, Alec and Austin. Stewart is my oldest grandson, at 21. Alec is 21 also, but Stew is a couple of months older.  They commented it was the first time they could come to the flume and drink a beer. Austin is the youngest at age 12. Theo is 12 as well, but a few months older than Austin.  It is so fun to have them all together.  I’m just sorry we didn’t think to get Owen and Theo in the photo, as well.

The girls got together for a picture.

The water was about ten inches lower than usual,  but no one seemed to mind. The flume has deep and shallow spots.

Diane and Randy, who are lifelong friends of Laurie’s, came in on a second run. It’s a nice float. But…

…the current can be pretty swift. On stopping, Randy was adamant that he not lose his expensive sandals, while Diane took a dump trying to get out. We, of course, laughed.

When we returned to the house, Uncle Tom, Clark and Theresa, and brother Bill and his daughter, Rena had arrived.

Brother Bill with Rena’s boyfriend, Chris. Still plenty of snacking going on while Doug barbecued the tri-tip, chicken, ribs and shish-ke-babs.

After a huge meal, Rena chuckled as Chris took a nap. They were jet-lagged, after flying in from Florida.

After dinner, the guys got up a beer-pong game. In stead of paddles, the challenge is to toss the ball into a beer cup. I think there was some chugg-a-lugging going on, too.

Tom and Ken lost to Stewart and Alec.

The pong game watchers seemed to enjoy it as much as the players.

The weather got as hot as expected, over 90. Theresa and Clark took refuge in the mist.

The mister was a last-minute idea, and it was welcome heat relief. I think I’ll get one for the deck, as well.

Normally, people stay for a second flume trip on Sunday. But, every year is different. Alec had to be taken to the airport early. Kris and Cathy and Austin wanted to ski in Ken’s new boat. Bill, Rena and Chris took a scenic driver up over the pass and returned Sunday afternoon. Chris cut and chopped some vegetables and  fruits. He roasted the veggies and we had a lovely lunch, along with some of the leftovers.

Bill brought vanilla ice cream with some home-made (by friends) maple syrup from Michigan. What a delightful combo.  Rena and I had a chance to do some genealogy, but all too soon, it was time to part.  We missed those that couldn’t make it this year, but, the party is always a good time and a reminder to get together more often.

 

 

Redding, California

Mary is traveling with her 14-year-old grandson on a trip to Turkey. I expect her to catch up with me sometime in mid-May somewhere in Oregon.

Yesterday I drove the 131 miles from Nicolaus to Redding, California. Most of the trip was on California Highway 99, a much more pleasant drive than yesterday’s drive on Interstate Highway 5. Much of 99 passes through miles of orchards…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Along the way I stopped at a couple of GoodWill stores to buy some used books to add to my waiting-to-be read collection. Arriving at Redding, I parked at Moose Lodge #1006…

And the usual dinette window photo…

Yesterday was a sunny day at 95 degrees. Forecast for Redding today is sunny at 95 degrees. Too dang hot! This morning I’m heading due west to the California coast to escape this terrible heat. The forecast for my destination of McKinleyville is only 60 degrees. A little cool but much better than this horrible heat!

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2014

Bark River, Michigan – Day 2

The motorhome is parked in the yard of Mary’s old friend, Bernice, at Bark River, Michigan. We expect to depart here on Sunday.

A few days back I mentioned problems I was having with the electrical connection between the Bronco and the motorhome. While Mary, Bernice and her sister Marie went off in search of memories, I changed out the male portion of the electrical connection attached on the Bronco. With the help of Mark, Bernice’s son, it took us three hours to do this job…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

The electrical connection is under the spring-loaded cover…

I’m planning to change out the female portion of the electrical connection on the umbilical cord today.

About 4:00 PM yesterday I went out to check the temperature. When we arrived the day before yesterday it was 108 degrees. Yesterday it was only 98 degrees. Where’s my long underwear?  🙂

While out to check the temperature, I found Mark cleaning the garage…

Just then, the ladies were returning from their memory search, so I got this photo of them…

Who’s driving that tractor???

It’s Mary!!!…

She’s decided she wants to be a Tractor Model…

I’ve mentioned in the past about how great our cameras are at practically taking photos in the dark. Here’s a photo taken under a full moon about midnight last night…

And here’s the sky at 6:30 AM this morning with a temperature of 50 degrees and 96% humidity…

Enjoying visiting old friends is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Michigan. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Bark River, Michigan – Day 1

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the 57 miles north from Menominee to Bark River, Michigan. We are here visiting Mary’s long-time friend Bernice. We expect to depart here on Sunday.

When we arrived yesterday it was 108 degrees in the sun with 52% humidity!  YUK!!!

Bernice has 400 acres with a home a mile down a dirt road off of the county paved road…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Along the way you pass this old house…

And finally arrive at her house…

Nope…it’s not broken. It’s for real!!!

We settled in front of an old barn…

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

About 8:00 PM last evening we had a heavy-duty thunderstorm with lightning which lasted about 1/2 hour. After it was over, this was the sky looking east…

And this was the sky looking west…

And the sky looking east again at 6:30 AM this morning…

After the storm the temperature had dropped to 68 degrees…very refreshing after the heat of the day. This morning at 6;30 AM it was 64 degrees with 96% humidity! YUK once again!

Enjoying visiting old friends is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Michigan. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust