A whole lot of water over this dam
For the first time in Lake Oroville’s history, overflow is sent down an emergency spillway.
WATER RUSHES down a hillside from the emergency spillway at rain-swollen Lake Oroville, depositing mud and debris into the Feather River. (Brian van der Brug Los Angeles Times)
By Bettina Boxall and Patrick McGreevy
“More than 10 million salmon were evacuated from the Feather River hatchery downstream because the river water had grown too muddy for them.”
Northern CA’s Oroville Dam, the nation’s tallest dam ( 770 ft):
Sequoia sempervirens, Coastal Redwoods of California, can grow up to 367 ft (112m) tall, 22 ft wide ( 7m) at the base, the size of a 35 story building. Your kind has been on the earth for 22 million years, in the same location, from Big Sur to the Oregon Border. You receive moisture from the foggy ocean mists, you are resistant to insects and fire. You regularly live 600 years and can live up to 2000 years. You were around in the Jurassic Era, 160 million years ago. What did the dinosaurs call you? You ranged across 2 million acres and now your protected forests are down to 4% of that due to the logging that has occurred. I have walked among your groves and felt very small, felt like I walked in a prehistoric landscape of giant trees. What wisdom would you have to share? I will keep your secrets.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Beautiful photos by National Park Service via Redwood National and State Parks, California, where you can find more great photos. Most of the Information for this post via the same website. I have visited these magnificent trees. 🙂
I say “drive carefully” to my family members any time I know they are going off in the car. We do a lot of driving in California and I usually enjoy driving,but not in crazy rush hour traffic. I am not really keen on driving along narrow, winding roads that run along a high cliff like Highway 1 in California. Although, if I am the passenger, I work to tamp down my fears and enjoy the spectacular views. One place along that highway with a history of being particularly dangerous is Devil’s Slide. When I was a teenager I heard tales of reckless young drivers going over the edge. This section of the highway has been bypassed now and the old section has been converted into hiking and bike trails, a very good idea. Here’s a link to the history of Devil’s Slide and Highway 1, and “drive carefully.”
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
This post is part of JusJotItJan guest hosted by Dan Antion at No Facilities. The prompt word for today is ” danger” suggested by Mathew at MWLange, you can check out his blog,too.
This year I definitely need a winter coat in California and a raincoat to boot, (and boots to boot). It has been a long time since I needed winter clothes here in Southern California because it never gets cold enough. We are expecting a real winter for a change after several years of drought. I am liking the change in weather here.
“California Rain Storms”
Rain on Saturday
Atmospheric rivers flow
Hole in my rainboots
This post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday and JustJotItJan hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is “coat.” Featured image “Paris Street; Rainy Day” by Gustave Cailebotte via Wikipedia. Girl in Raincoat image via Pixabay.com.
California is pretty bedazzling. I am grateful to be a native and love so many of its beautiful natural sites and exciting cities. The LA Times is doing a Calfornia Bucket List series which covers many great places to see in California. Here’s a great little video on the San Francisco cable cars, “that climb halfway to the stars.”
And here’s a few more beautiful spots:
Big Sur Coast
Inspiration Point Anacapa Island
Point Lobos Headlands Cove
Muir Woods Trail
El Matador Beach
California Coastal National Monument Point Arena by US Bureau of Land Managemnt
Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas, California
Coastal Redwoods
Peachy Canyon Vineyard at Sunrise near Paso Robles by Macolm Carlaw
‘Vineyard bathed in light’ (Sonoma) by torbakhopper
Big River Mendocino via Jar [o] on Flickr
Half Dome Yosemite via LA Times Postcards from The West:
California Dream Orange Crate Label photo courtesy of Orange County Archives
The State Arms of the Union by Henry Mitchell 1876
This post is part of JustJotItJanuary guest hosted by Rosemary Carlson. The prompt word for today’s post was “spangly,” supplied by Judy B. Martin at Edwina’s Episodes.
This photo is from a Senior Planet post The Mythical World of Eyes as Big as Plates a project of photographer Karoline Hjorth. Woolly Thyme image by Patrick Standish on Flickr.
Has anyone else been following this story? A star has been spotted between the constellations of Cygnus and Lyra during a joint survey of 150,000 stars by the Kepler Space Telescope and amateur astronomers. They have been looking for signs of planets circling these stars. What is unusual about this star according to an article in the Atlantic, The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy, is that there was a strange light blocking pattern seen that may indicate not a planet but a very large alien madestructure or structures that are blocking the light of the star as it orbits around it. The SETI Research Center at UC Berkeley is planning on pointing a very large radio dish toward the star in January to see if they can pick up any electronic transmissions. This is scary to me because what if it is an alien structure and they get wind of us pointing our listening devices toward them. And then decide to see who is listening. Dr. Michio Kaku says that ifthis is an alien structure, itmay be as big as our planet Jupiter, and they are far advanced to our civilization. I think I am going to start wearing an aluminum foil hat.
I was still hoping to see another form of intelligent life here on earth close up last weekend, whales. I was a bit disappointed in my whale watching expedition. I went out on a whale watching boat this past Sunday with my daughter. It was a beautiful sunny day off Monterey for the most part. We did hit some fog out at sea on the way back to Monterey Bay harbor. I had high expectations and I think that was the problem. I expected to see huge whales breaching right near the boat. I wanted to get fantastically exciting photos. I realize now that you do not get to see breaching whales close up every day and that taking a photo, from a boat that is moving up and down, of whales and other sea life who are also moving up and down and various other directions requires luck and probably the talent of a professional photographer and at least a camera with a telescopic lens. Our whale watching was originally planned for Saturday but was canceled by the tour company due to rough weather at sea. So on Saturday I attempted to find the Monarch butterflies and found some at the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary. There were not many near ground level and I had to look through a telescope, assisted by a sanctuary worker, at the top of a eucalyptus tree. She helped me get a nice photo through the telescope as well.
One of the things I learned on the whale watching boat is when the guide sights a whale or other interesting sea life and calls it out, all the people go to that side of the boat and, unless you are fast, it is hard to get a good view. Like when he sighted a pod of orcas and a dolphin stampede. That’s right, I said a dolphin stampede. The dolphins were in the hundreds and were stampeding because they knew the orcas were around. The stampede caused a large patch of turbulence and some of the dolphins were leaping out of the water. Unfortunately some of them swam straight to the orca pod. Next the orca pod is chasing a dolphin and it did not end well for the dolphin. I am glad I did not see it all close up. Then we went out quite a distance in the ocean to off of Moss Landing. We saw some Humpback Whales, dolphins and sea lions there. We saw a whale in the distance do a partial breach, saw others spouting and some flukes. A dolphin popped up doing a partial breach, called spy-hopping, as well. Later we went to a different location and saw the orca pod again. The guide called the large male orca “Fat Fin.” This orca had already been identified by scientists. The whole trip was about 4 hours. This is a video from the Monterey Bay Whale Watch website. We did not have the owner or her dogs on our tour. Their research vessel was near us at the different viewing locations.
And here are a few of my photos:
Monarch Sanctuary
A few monarchs here
View through telescope at Pacific Grove Butterfly Sanctuary
“Sonoma County chefs love their local ingredients and supporting independent farmers. Menus sing with produce grown in Wine Country gardens, meats from Wine Country ranches, dairy from Wine Country creameries, and seafood from Wine Country rivers and oceans.”
I get this newsletter from Sonoma. Are you a foodie like me? You will love reading about all this wonderful food. One of these guys makes his own salami. I felt like sharing. Must be because I have read too many books about anti-dieting lately. In California we go kind of nuts about local grown, farm to table cuisine. (OK we go very nuts.)
Notes Tied On The Sagebrush 