The Roof is Done and the Climate

 It's June 7 - the sun is out, the wind is up and it's cold.  I would really like it to warm up a little.

This is the house before the roof.  It's not a beige house, it's a slight yellow.  The roof was green.

After.

This morning they came and took the trailer away out of the driveway.  Now both cars can live inside.  We are very happy about that.  We took the Jeep out to Spokane Valley to the no-touch car wash out there, it looks much better for being washed and waxed.

Yesterday we made pot roast.  We went to WinCo  on Friday, and they had a decent looking pot roast in the counter.  Yesterday it went in the crock pot.  It's a simple recipe, I'm not sure how I make that much mess on the counter.

Jim browned it in a cast iron skillet on the grill.  He does a better job at that than I do, I get impatient.

It was good, but the first one we did was better.  There's no fat rising to to the surface in the fat separator so I suspect this was a Select grade of meat, while the Safeway meat was Choice.  It had a lot of fat.  The WinCo roast was also $2.50 a pound less money.  It's always a trade off.  Anyway, two more meals are available from this, and we're going to eat them.

There is currently a stink about a provision in the NDAA, National Defense something something.  It's Section 224.  Thomas Massie has this to say about it: "If the provision in the NDAA to integrate/synchronize the U.S. and Israeli militaries (section 224) makes it out of committee, I’ll offer an amendment to strip it from the bill on the floor."  There is also section 622 that wants to do the same with intelligence.  It also proposes that future presidents can't undo the changes.  The US intelligence agencies are issuing red alerts on Israeli spying as it is, I don't think we need to make it any easier.  These bills are  disturbing me.  Netanyahu has confirmed that this was his idea and his plan all along.

The Super El Nino is coming.  The climate scientists are up in their hair about this.  Saying things like, "The only effective response is climate action equal to the crisis — ending the addiction to fossil fuels, accelerating the shift to renewables, protecting the most vulnerable, and delivering early warning systems for all."  Right then, 47 is giving money to run coal fired plants, and he outlawed new wind turbines in the US, and he pulled up all of the sensor buoys.  There is an article here.

This is a model generated map of how it will be.  Look at the Arctic and northern Canada.  Hopefully this model is wrong.  Interestingly enough, the South west of the US will not be all that hot.
 

In other terrible news that you can't do anything about, there is concern the the AMOC is slowing down.  Too bad someone pulled all of the ocean sensor buoys out of the water.  I talked about AMOC here.

That's it!  That's all I've got.

Roofing and Screw Worms

Wednesday the shingles and other roofing stuff were delivered to the roof.  That required a giant crane.  Here is a short video.

It was unfortunate timing.  The delivery company is swamped because it's roofing season, so everything was deposited on the roof prior to any tear off being done.  One guy handled all of those packages of shingles by himself.

This guy drives the crane with a body worn controller.

So that was yesterday.  Today there has been incessant pounding as they take off the old roof.  They're having to move the packages of shingles as they advance on their location.  They're picking them up, and dropping them in the new location, which makes the house shake and rattles the glasses.

Mid-day we were able to get a ride to the lake in.  The climate was interesting, cloudy, sunny, and windy with a cool air mass.  We guessed correctly on the clothing and kept it all on.

We recently learned the following.

Located in the far eastern part of the state, Spokane and the surrounding Inland Northwest are among Washington's notable eastern tick areas, especially for Rocky Mountain wood ticks and western dog ticks. The region's dry climate, rolling hills, and open pine forests create a favorable habitat for Rocky Mountain wood ticks (Dermacentor andersoni) and western dog ticks (Dermacentor similis).  One illness associated with tick bites in this region is tularemia. Symptoms include a sudden fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, and a skin ulcer near the bite. Early treatment of tularemia with appropriate antibiotics is essential. 

We are not walking through tall grass anymore.  It's safer just to stay in paved areas or wide gravel paths.  There had been discussion of new mountain bikes for riding trails up here, but I think that's off the table.  Riverside Park, which is where we ride, was specifically called out in the linked article.

Screwworm has been detected in Texas, USDA confirmed - marking a serious threat to US cattle and other animals Larvae of the parasite were found in the umbilical cord of a 3 week old calf. Screwworm was eradicated from the US in 1966.  Unfortunately, screening and surveillance was discontinued and now they're back.  This is not good. 

Meriweather Farms posted this: Three counties in Texas have declared local state of disaster declarations on the New World Screwworm: Kinney, Jim Webb and Uvalde Three others are pending: Webb, La Salle and Val Verde The reasoning behind these declarations is because they feel they are not getting the federal nor state support needed to combat this crisis Its long past due for the President to declare a National Emergency Declaration so local officials on the front lines are getting the support they need.

If the inspector shows up in a timely fashion, tomorrow will be putting on the new shingles.  They'll be running a compressor and using a nail gun.  It will be good when this is over.

Window Wells and the Administration

Greetings Earthlings. We have spent the last four days doing maintenance on the window wells.  Spokane is the only place I've ever seen this style of building, which is not to say no one else does it.  There are two bedrooms downstairs, there has to be emergency egress in case of fire, so they put in windows that are partially below grade.  I have to tell you, the idea that a little kid will be able to open the windows, boost them selves out of the window, and then climb up the rusting metal ladder unaided is just stupid.  

Anyway, we've been recaulking and then painting the ancient window frames.  The worst part of all of this, is getting in and out of the well.  This is me moving dirt away from the window.  New gravel was added to keep dirt from bouncing up when it rains.  Notice the ladder on my right.  It's not secured to anything, there's nothing to hang on to when climbing out.  I hate ladders as it is.

Here is Jim painting.  He's 5 foot 11, you can see how deep these suckers are.  Thus far we've had one baby rabbit fall in (twice) and one quail chick.  Both were successfully rescued.

 Today was probably the last good day for the fried egg peonies.

Who knows what the AMOC is?  It's this.  The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a massive system of ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean that acts as a global climate conveyor belt. It transports warm, salty surface water from the tropics northward to Europe, and sends cold, dense deep water back south.  It's critical to maintaining temperatures in Europe, and the tropics.  Currently the rate of flow is slowing.  How do we know this?  Science.  The US spent many years and dollars putting buoys in the oceans to keep track of temperatures, salinity, flow rates, and the AMOC.  47 in his infinite wisdom is having all of the buoys removed.  Now NOAA can't surveil the oceans.  This is just devastating for the US and the rest of the world.  Here is an unlocked article from NYT.  Of all the things that man has done, this has hit me the hardest, stupid just stupid.  Here is an AP article that's slightly better.

This is what NSF had to say about the reasoning behind this.  “…aligns with N.S.F.’s wider strategy to have a nimbler approach to prioritizing support for evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies as well as a deliberate approach to smart life cycle management within its portfolio of research infrastructure.”

Iran has quit talking to the US.  They have the Strait of Hormuz, we have nothing to threaten them with.  When asked how he felt about this, 47 had this to say.

"I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less."

That's also what he said when asked about how he's feeling about the current US cost of living and people struggling to pay for gas and food.

Then there is this from Larry Ellison, supreme ass hat of the entire universe.  I'm not sure exactly who gave him the job of global surveillance.  

There is just so much about which to be outraged, but I think I'm just going to give it a rest.