tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27590867906738629142024-03-13T23:57:42.436-07:00Columbia Coast Natural HistoryKathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-48111517860804823282024-01-24T14:34:00.000-08:002024-01-24T14:34:31.641-08:00Living With Trees<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Kathleen Sayce, originally written in 2008, updated 2024 </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Living with trees is like living with elephants: both are darling when young, beautiful in maturity, and at times awesomely dangerous. Sometimes it takes a</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">severe storm to remind us trees can also be fatally damaged. Responsible tree care includes knowing when to take an older tree out. One of the saddest days of my life was the day I realized that five old trees (redwood, Sitka spruce, western red cedar, and Douglas-fir) had to come out of my yard. They had grown too big for safety. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Planting a tree is committing to multigenerational management, which is to say the sapling you plant today may become a problem for your children or grandchildren.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The most successful trees to plant are disease and insect resistant; grow slowly over most of their lives; do not have toxic seeds or leaves; do not break off branches in most storms; may provide showy leaves, flowers or fruit some time during the year; and tolerate winter wet/cold and summer drought/heat. No one tree perfectly meets all these criteria, but many come close.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The following is a summary of the ‘right tree in the right place with the right care’ wisdom, so that you can plant new trees that will do well for many decades.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Basic considerations:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><ul class="ul1"><li class="li2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Don’t let ivy grow into trees; ivy slowly kills them, impairing growth and adding to the canopy area; ivy-swathed trees may tip over due to wind-throw and broken roots, or die girdled under vines.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></li><li class="li2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pay attention to soil conditions. If you live on a dry site, don’t plant trees that like wet feet; if you live in wetlands, don’t plant trees that need dry feet.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></li><li class="li2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Learn the signs of danger trees, especially for large trees, and remove these individuals when needed. Leaning, fungal diseases, dead tops, large broken branches:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>these are all signs a tree is struggling.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fall is a good planting time for trees; you’ll water less next summer. Tree roots establish quickly over winter, and trees begin growing well the next spring when fall-planted.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></li><li class="li2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Supplement with mulch instead of pavement, rocks or turf for improved tree health in confined spaces, but know that when surrounded by building foundations, paved roads, driveways and sidewalks, trees are not as healthy as growing on open land.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></li><li class="li2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pick locations that are not close to buildings. There’s nothing sadder than seeing a tree planted within eight feet of a building. The roots can’t grow under the building; half the canopy will not have room to grow—there’s a wall in the way.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></li><li class="li2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">For big trees near new structures, watch for signs of dieback after construction. The bigger the tree, the farther roots spread, and the more sensitive that tree is to root damage.</span></li></ul><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There’s nothing inherently wrong with planting native trees in yards. The problem is space. Most grow very rapidly to quite large sizes; additionally, several don’t live very long (cottonwood, shore pine and red alder, in particular). This means, in terms of managing big elephants in small yards, that they quickly reach impressive sizes, and then die earlier than expected.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There are numerous websites to help select yard and street trees. For the maritime Pacific Northwest, Great Plant Picks is a good place to start for yard trees (<a href="https://www.greatplantpicks.org/"><span class="s1">https://www.greatplantpicks.org/</span></a>. Navigate to Plant Lists / Helpful Lists / Trees for recommended trees for yards).</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: Symbol; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></p>Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-37374294881216083202023-06-18T20:19:00.002-07:002023-06-18T20:19:58.854-07:00Words and Phrases for Rain<p><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Initially compiled Winter 2013 for CPHM Local Historians Project, Kathleen Sayce</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Work in progress!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>New idioms appear regularly.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Background: </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This started as a very short list to illustrate the range of rains that I often hike in, for my first published list of plants growing in Clatsop and Pacific Counties, 1998.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Very quickly I found that there were many terms for rain. English being an innovative and dynamic language, our use of words is constantly changing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Also, phrases that started into use in the Pacific Northwest are spreading rapidly around the world.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I stopped counting at 120 words and phrases. </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The weather service, in its desire to standardize the use of weather terms, keeps redefining and expanding its vocabulary, including use of terms like ‘sun break’ and ‘pineapple express’—the latter is now called atmospheric river.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This list is updated regularly. It was first shared in 2013 with the very first Community Historians Class at CPHM.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">How does Rain Happen?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The process is always the same:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Warm air holds more moisture than cold air. When a warm air mass cools off, rain drops form and when they get large enough to fall (gravity pulls on them), it rains.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cooling happens one of two ways: <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Warm air rises, and cools as it does so, by going up over mountains. Oreographic rain results, which is very common in our area.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Or, warm air masses collide with cool air masses. This is common in the Great Plains and Midwest. We occasionally get air mass collision rain here.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p7" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Rain categories:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p8" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p6" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Fogs and Mists</span><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">: <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The difference is visibility, to a meteorologist. ‘Fog’ if visibility is below 1 km or 1100 yards; otherwise it’s ‘mist’. Both tend to have very fine small droplets of water, with no or little discernible downward direction––droplets seem to float in the air.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meteorology terms for types of fog:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Radiation Fog––cooling of land after sunset, condensation of water vapor produces fog that can be less than 3 ft deep, usually lasts overnight and disperses in morning. Ground fog is a synonym</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Advection Fog––moist air passes over a cool surface, such as a warm front passing over a snow pack in the mountains, or upwelling cooled water that cools air and produces fog off our coast. Our summer beach fogs are advection fogs.<br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Up-slope Fog––forms when winds blow up hill and cool, condensing into fog</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dew<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Effluvium<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ground Fog<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Miasma<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Murk<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Nebula<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Obscurity<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pea-souper<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Smir<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Smur <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Socked In <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Soup</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Spray<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Steam <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Visibility Zero<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>Vapor<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wisp<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Terms related to a mix of mist/fog plus air pollution (brown-orange from a distance rather than blue or blue-purple):</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Film <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Gloom<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Grease<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Haze<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>London Fog<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Murkiness <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Reek<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Smaze<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Smog <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Smoke<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Smother<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Vog</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fog or Mists from ocean or other waters:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Brume<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fret<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hoar<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sea Fret</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sea Fog<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sea Mist<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sea Smoke<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Steam Fog<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Upwelling Fog:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>comes off the ocean when upwelling is active</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Haar [Har, Hare, Harr]<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>comes up from salt water in morning</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Walk-off: used in Australia, meaning that there is no visibility at the airport, thus no flying</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The foggiest place in the world [> 250 days per year] is the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, where the Gulf Stream meets the Labrador Current.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pt Reyes and Cape D both have more than 200 days of fog per year.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Other foggy spots on land include Argentina, Newfoundland, the Po, Arno, and Tiber Valleys in Italy, Ebro Valley in Spain, Hamilton, New Zealand and southern coastal Chile, coastal Namibia, and Nord, Greenland.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Valley Fog, a type of radiation fog, in central valley CA is Tule Fog. This is CA’s most dangerous driving condition, 100 car pileups are typical</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mountain Mists/Fogs:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Cloud rain, cloud mist, cloud fog</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Gloaming:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>evening fog that comes down from the hills to lowlands<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cold Fogs where ice forms as fog touches surfaces; driving can be very dangerous under these conditions:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Freezing Fog<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Frozen Fog <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ice Fog<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rime<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Hoar Frost<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hail fog––forms immediately after hail falls—we see this occasionally<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="s3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Guara Fog, in Chile and Peru, where moisture moving onshore condenses quickly into droplets, forming a transparent mist, drivers must use wipers even though this is nearly invisible.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></div><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span><span class="s2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">Rain:</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Droplets condense from water vapor in air, and become heavy enough to fall towards earth.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Most rain falls in narrow bands, or fronts, as air masses interact, usually cool with warm, or moving upslope over mountains.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oreographic rain, such as in our local mountain ranges, results in heavy rain on one side, and a rain shadow on the other. Very pronounced between Forks and Sequim, WA, also between the coast and Puget Sound/Willamette valley, and of course, east of the Cascade Range.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is also a down-wind Urban Heat Island Affect, where rain increases downwind of large cities.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="s3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">Phantom Rain (4) </span>does not reach the earth, low humidity with high air temperatures, common in dry seasons and in very dry climates, may include: <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dry Thunderstorms<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fall-streak <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fall-strike <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Virga (Spain, Mexico & SW)</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rain under a clear sky (2):</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pineapple Rain: Hawaii, raining when the sky is clear</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span class="s3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">Light rain </span>has distinct downward fall, reaches earth:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Drizzle<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dry<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Glistening<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Grizzle <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Heavy Dew<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mauzy<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mizzle <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Skoosh <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Slick <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Soft<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </span>Spit/Spitting<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sprinkle<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p6" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Intermittent rain terms:</span></p><p class="p6" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Convective Rain</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Showery precipitation falls from convective clouds (cumulonimbus or cumulus congestus) and is intermittent.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It can transition seamlessly into constant rain, however, leading to confusing forecasts from the weather service of ‘showers’ when said showers are in fact continuous.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Blurty <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cloudburst<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Flist <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Flurry <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Line squall<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rain Squall<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Showers<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sprinkle <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Squall<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sun Shower<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Volley<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">Intervals between rain events:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sun break is a unique PNW term. [Did you know that The Dalles counts a day as sunny if the sun is seen sometime/anytime during the day, no matter how briefly?]</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Blue Holes:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>those days- to weeks-long breaks in winter rains, when skies are clear and temperatures in the 60s to 70s and higher, from the south coast of Oregon.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p9" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now, to the wet stuff--</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Heavy rain terms: </span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Blasting <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Blunking <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span>Bucketing <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cataract <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span>Deluge<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dimpsey<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dinger <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Dinging doon <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Drencher<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span>Driving Dumping<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Firehose<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span><span> </span></span>Flood <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hailing, as in hailing down</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hard<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hawd<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hig/Id<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Horizontal<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span>Kelsher<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lashing<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Land-lashing<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Moor Gallop<span> Pilmer Plashing</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pounding<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Pouring<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <span> Sheeting<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span>Sleeting<span> </span><span> Soaking </span></span></span> Sopping<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Spate<span> </span><span> </span><span> Spitting<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Spate<span> </span><span> </span><span> Spitting</span></span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span><span> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Strafing<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <span> </span>Stoating <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span>Streaming<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Teeming<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span>Torrential</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rough weather<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Foul weather</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Freshet (heavy rain causes streams to rise in freshets, some use the word to mean the rainfall that creates freshets)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Two Pound Drops: big heavy raindrops</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">From Scotland, a land well-versed in rain terms:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dreich (Scottish/Irish:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>cold, wet dreary weather)</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Blashie (Scottish: windy heavy rain)</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Doister (Also spelled deaister, dyster)</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Horizontal rain in local use (PNW coast) is often accompanied by hand signal</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Strafing rain:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>an even more evocative phrase for those storms that sling water/hail/sleet sideways on the coast</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p10" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Rain Phrases, when one word won't do:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Great Duck/Fish/Frog Weather, as in ‘A Great Day for _____</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Grand soft day<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Frog Strangler<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Stump Thumper<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Heavy wet<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span><span> </span></span>Liquid Sunshine </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">April Showers<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Periods of Rain<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Another wet one<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">No end in sight<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span><span> </span></span>Never Ending<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Raining Cats and Dogs <span> Wet</span> Stuff<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span><span> </span></span>Window washer<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Gully-washer<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pipeline of moisture<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rain pipeline<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">No wipers<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Intermittent Wipers<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Constant Wipers<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wipers on</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Chucking it down<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Bucketing down<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span><span> </span></span>Settle the dust<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Keeping the dust down</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The heavens opened<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pissing down<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Coming down</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">No drying out today<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lifting the slates<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Heavy wet<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Raining pitchforks and hammer handles<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Raining grandmothers & walking sticks<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To stoat off the ground<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Perry (Also spelled parrey, parry, pirrie, pirry):<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A sudden, heavy fall of rain; a squall in England, sometimes referred to as ‘half a gale’.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Salamander Rain (late winter rain, air temperature above 40F, when salamanders head for breeding areas)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Summer monsoon (warm, intense summer rain)</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Water runs uphill (in heavy wind-driven rain, water flows up several feet into buildings, causing leaks)</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oregon Mist (missed Oregon and hit Washington, or when raining in Oregon–pioneer definition when the entire Pacific Northwest region was called Oregon Territory)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Salmon swim in air (so much atmospheric moisture –‘thick wet air’– that salmon get lost, leave streams and swim in the air through forests, from Northwest tribes)</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p6" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Condition of those out in rain (7):</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Damp <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Drenched<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Drookit<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Saturated<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Soaked<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Wringing wet<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wet as a duck<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thunderstorms => rain, hail, lightning, and thunder</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">When warm and cold air masses collide, convection cells form, rise quickly to over 20,000 ft, and raindrops are carried up and down on currents, cooling to form hail.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Size of hail depends on how many trips each piece makes through this conveyor belt.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Electric storm<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hurly-burly (England)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Lightning storm Thundershower<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> </span><span> </span></span>Thundersquall</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="s3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">Storm terms</span>, including multiple storm patterns: </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Many have technical definitions to meteorologists, based on severity of winds along with rain</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cold Storm<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cyclone<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Derecho<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Gale</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Haster<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hurricane<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Monsoon<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Storm</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tempest<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span> <span> </span></span></span>Tropical Storm<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Typhoon<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Warm storm</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Barber (Scottish) very cold storm at sea</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Gowk storm (Also called gowh's storm): In England, a storm or gale occurring at about the end of April or the beginning of May</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mother of Storms:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Native Alaskan term, mother is said to be ‘visiting’ for several weeks as storm after storm arrives<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">High degree of Onionization:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> successive </span>storm fronts lined up like layers of an onion across the Pacific</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Storm terms based on compass directions: Sou’wester, Sou’easter, Nor’wester, Nor’easter and others</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cow-quaker:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In England, a May storm (after the cows have been turned out)</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Peesweep storm (Also called peaseweep, peesweip, peewit, teuchit, swallow storm):<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>An early-spring storm in Scotland and England.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pineapple Express (atmospheric river, brings warm heavy rain and wind for many days at a time to the West Coast), now see Atmospheric River, use began in 1990s, formal NOAA NWS</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">ARkStorm (A.R. K = 1,000 years, Storm) as a term was first used in mid 2000s.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last ARkStorm on our coast was in 1861/2, rained for 47 days from CA to WA, flooded all river valleys up to and including Columbia River, Sacramento/Central Valley, CA, and LA basin)</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Silver thaw:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a PNW term for a Pineapple Express that arrives after a cold spell with low elevation snow and ice.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">First the rain ices the surface, then thaws out the land and melts snow; extensive floods often follow.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Meteorologists call this a ‘rain on snow’ event.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p11" style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Outflow — a surge of wind that's produced by storms — may blow ten to fifty miles ahead of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>storm fronts, preceding the rain front.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p12" style="color: blue; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s4" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">From England: “Your words for rain,” <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18461189"><span class="s5" style="color: blue;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18461189</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. Not Raining</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Outdoor furniture is erected cautiously in gardens and on balconies. Light to moderate rummaging takes places in rucksacks for cagoules [heavy, hooded rain jackets] and pac-a-macs [lightweight rain gear].</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. Mizzling</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Women on way to hairdressing appointments proceed apprehensively without umbrellas.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. Grizzerable</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Overseas players on county cricket teams are surprised to discover that they're required to continue playing.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">4. Woodfiddly Rain<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Outdoor furniture is brought back indoors. Lips are pursed.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">5. Mawky</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Aggressive hawkers selling fold-up umbrellas appear outside railway stations and shopping centres. Women on way back from hairdressers form impatient queue.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">6. Tippling Down</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Garden furniture is returned to garden centres in hope of getting money back.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">7. Luttering Down<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fingers drummed on indoor furniture. Eyes rolled. Tuts tutted</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">8. Plothering Down</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Irritating displays of supposedly barbecue-friendly foods are removed from the entrance areas of supermarkets.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">9. Pishpotikle Weather</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rain intensifies. Women with newly done hair find aggressive hawkers have disappeared when they take defective umbrellas back in search of a refund.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">10. Raining Like a Cow Relieving Itself <span class="Apple-converted-space"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">11. Raining Stair-rods</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Any garden furniture that is not taken indoors, floats away. Reporters on 24-hour news channels began using the word ‘torrential’ and holding their hands out with their palms upturned.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">12. Siling Down</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hardy British holidaymakers are finally driven from beach at Herne Bay [SE England, on coast of Thames Estuary]. Garden furniture begins appearing on eBay.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And see:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p13" style="color: blue; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/why-Japanese-has-50-words-for-rain"><span style="font-family: verdana;">http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/why-Japanese-has-50-words-for-rain</span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p class="p13" style="color: blue; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s6" style="text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/British-Weather-Terms.htm"><span style="font-family: verdana;">http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/British-Weather-Terms.htm</span></a></span></p>Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-36984139361622994772020-04-17T16:17:00.002-07:002020-04-17T16:17:44.744-07:00Ancient Driftwood<div class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">April 17, 2020</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A large piece of three-hundred year old driftwood washed up on the beach in late March. Russ Lewis posted photos of it following one of his beach cleanup walks. I went out a few days later to see it in person. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Kathleen took this photo of the root mass, <br />looking across the wood from the water side. Notice how flattened<br />it looks; the trunk and upper buttresses of roots have eroded away.<br />It is about 35 ft wide. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This wood came ashore north of Oysterville Approach near the north end of Surfside Estates.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>This is a large root mass of western red cedar, weathered off on top to expose the buttressed roots around the main trunk.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGfisw_uY-B6bxG30vRtZkJ_EPyT5B2pIYKpbdIGpQBUFUoSj9R19e8x93oO9H6Qu9OWiYPzI86XP9wtouW1tq73W_PRpbpT3xmwtgsdK_x_smleN-wKrARLqUA5GGf96-vcNIdvEdAGrQ/s1600/heartwood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGfisw_uY-B6bxG30vRtZkJ_EPyT5B2pIYKpbdIGpQBUFUoSj9R19e8x93oO9H6Qu9OWiYPzI86XP9wtouW1tq73W_PRpbpT3xmwtgsdK_x_smleN-wKrARLqUA5GGf96-vcNIdvEdAGrQ/s320/heartwood.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The hole in the middle of this image is the heart of the original tree. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is an interesting hole on one side that may be the heart of the former tree. The mass is about 31 x 35 feet. From overhead, thanks to a drone photo taken by Bob Duke, we can see, large as this mass is, it is only a portion of the original basal root structure. [This image is posted on my Columbia Coast Natural History blog.]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLW0StDAP2QrwmMPdW7tL3l2mpw4hY0emCn0yiWjAiwx0Vwyur5EWguNFtSv5FeeQxFGgJ6A8nMrcm6Y_Cp80_fl-1F7oaAjgSbigdu6AMZBvqeLQ4GQWygEZm7ogbanddGDzDqX_5rKfJ/s1600/roots2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1514" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLW0StDAP2QrwmMPdW7tL3l2mpw4hY0emCn0yiWjAiwx0Vwyur5EWguNFtSv5FeeQxFGgJ6A8nMrcm6Y_Cp80_fl-1F7oaAjgSbigdu6AMZBvqeLQ4GQWygEZm7ogbanddGDzDqX_5rKfJ/s400/roots2.jpg" width="377" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bob Duke is the small figure at the bottom of this image, looking down<br />on the root mass with his drone. You can see that less than 40% of the<br />original root mass remains. The heartwood-hole is on the upper right side. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rockweed and green algae coated the saltwater edge of the root mass when it came ashore, which tells us that this root mass rested in salt water on the edge of a marsh. Historic root masses outcrop in several places around Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor, and are common on beach and marsh edges in these estuaries. The live algae and absence of gooseneck barnacles tell us that this root mass did not spend much time in the ocean. It washed out of its marsh and into the ocean, and up on the beach in just a few weeks.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyZqlF7dLK7D1jdw4vCafMrV4T9rdM81vNWzswowbSEt3JLWhkmu9H8dlJ2Wa8COEa2FCpOyGHnPrKi6rMQsCL2dph1MAdXgEsbn3xwQ_39B-hqxQxg833gL46wT646_8bK-ANOdmn-tt/s1600/roots3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyZqlF7dLK7D1jdw4vCafMrV4T9rdM81vNWzswowbSEt3JLWhkmu9H8dlJ2Wa8COEa2FCpOyGHnPrKi6rMQsCL2dph1MAdXgEsbn3xwQ_39B-hqxQxg833gL46wT646_8bK-ANOdmn-tt/s400/roots3.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Another photo by Bob Duke shows the green algae growing on several roots</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAJcJoEJksYsO13KhRMZhoZzSZOEH8I0JJNHZ7Fhg4XPWM0RpP5nj8OKIKqyf6a1meoSI3Gx25cvUxp0fnQ1hEIAp3qInpm80x0VucfQh-0pWkvLwQifE3h6x2pgm6AD_3Nz_Ot2IHwnQ/s1600/rockweed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1600" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAJcJoEJksYsO13KhRMZhoZzSZOEH8I0JJNHZ7Fhg4XPWM0RpP5nj8OKIKqyf6a1meoSI3Gx25cvUxp0fnQ1hEIAp3qInpm80x0VucfQh-0pWkvLwQifE3h6x2pgm6AD_3Nz_Ot2IHwnQ/s320/rockweed.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This photo by Kathleen shows the living rockweed on another root. These algae grew only on one side of the root mass--this was the side that was in salt water. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For those who have followed Dr. Brian Atwater’s work on historic tsunamis on the Cascadia Subduction Zone, this driftwood material is familiar—it is a remnant of the lowland coniferous forests that covered this region prior to 1700, and which died due to subsidence and submergence in salt water after that event. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Another photo by Bob shows the merging and dividing roots on one portion of the root mass.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Walk out and look at this driftwood while it’s still here—it’s a look back in time at a tree that died in the last subduction zone event.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-68005305863712282812018-04-28T14:25:00.000-07:002018-04-28T14:25:20.095-07:00Shorebirds on Floats at High Tide
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">April 28, 2018</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Kathleen Sayce</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This comes as no surprise to experienced wildlife photographers:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>our brains are wonderful at processing moving images and keying on critical elements, for safety, to see beauty, or here, to make out several species of birds on floats. Eyes+brains often outperform camera images.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I have a new digital camera this year, purchased late last year after losing my old field camera on a job. It has a 24-2000 mm lens, which I like, because I can shoot images of flowers up cliffs or across roads and get a pretty good image to help with identification.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But when it comes to shorebirds at a distance—several hundred yards, on floats that are bobbing up and down in the water, it’s not so great. If I wait for front-lighted images on tidelands as close as possible to me, the images are better.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This spring with a new camera I started trying to photograph what my brain sees on the floats. Very quickly I learned about heat shimmer (bad for eyes+brain, worse for cameras), rain, wind, backlighting, haze, low light, high light, and other less than perfect viewing conditions.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Today is cloudy with occasional rain. Visibility fluctuates between two and six miles. Near high tide I checked the floats:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>more than two thousand birds, and took these images.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJEbKmFLFahxT7DNgeP318uM0NwenZUYn403EPG0KTUjisNIaVA9XG7RfaLHguAc_gxkSrIXnwnFBBFB5dmfZADEEtQwp_hES456-cUBctIoIpxWFC_hYoCV-Ktqn_mWOLMBC7TCDqbiU/s1600/birds-floats1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="997" data-original-width="1600" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJEbKmFLFahxT7DNgeP318uM0NwenZUYn403EPG0KTUjisNIaVA9XG7RfaLHguAc_gxkSrIXnwnFBBFB5dmfZADEEtQwp_hES456-cUBctIoIpxWFC_hYoCV-Ktqn_mWOLMBC7TCDqbiU/s640/birds-floats1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A typical April day near high tide: a few hundred shorebirds on oyster floats, with a gull. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">One of the great migrations that people can experience along the Pacific Coast is the spring migration of shorebirds towards Alaska, Canada and the high Arctic. During these periods, thousands of birds of more than ten species gather, feeding along ocean beaches and estuaries up to Grays Harbor. From there, staging in the millions, they fly northwest across the ocean to the Aleutians, and along the shoreline to the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">It’s common to see up to five thousand shorebirds at one time as the migration numbers build up, birding from my home on Willapa Bay. Over the years I’ve seen vast numbers of Dunlin, and hundreds of Black-bellied Plover, Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, even a few Greater Yellowlegs every year. It’s not the magnificent display of Malheur NWR, eastern Oregon, or Bowerman Basin, in Grays Harbor, Washington, but it’s right here—outside my house.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitGHnsS-8Wee2A9r8y5BFZM2nPvsbMZNd9Rk6HQrA_9OJsHFXbj3ns5c3RYV4TY9OEnD2Bioi5gnlHUHprZtNXK2cPB3E04koTt9W8MGbh6Guj2qSKa7QZsHzhLdhu7FQyrGeYH_lIrdgg/s1600/birds-floats3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="1600" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitGHnsS-8Wee2A9r8y5BFZM2nPvsbMZNd9Rk6HQrA_9OJsHFXbj3ns5c3RYV4TY9OEnD2Bioi5gnlHUHprZtNXK2cPB3E04koTt9W8MGbh6Guj2qSKa7QZsHzhLdhu7FQyrGeYH_lIrdgg/s640/birds-floats3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">See the reddish birds? Short-billed Dowitcher among Dunlin, with a few Least and Western Sandpipers, two gulls, and Black-bellied Plover. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Less common species include Marbled Godwits, which I see once or twice a year, though they winter at the north end of the bay at Tokeland Port. Once, I saw Long-billed Curlews. Occasionally, Pacific Golden Plovers stop for a day or two. Greater Yellowlegs come through each fall and spring, but are usually only heard, and rarely seen.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KSI8rIPKeeQBpMn8hapJoO4hYgAuWkm_ztFHBzV1Qs6pdmG3RUdu2lILNRewLuHG6ZDXvxz5OJWP2Stu1vDluXx8l9f2cvvvVcuzyq-_TqLpGsQBteCaX_o1iEAnL-z5O_Hu6jzyTsXo/s1600/birds-floats2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="1600" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KSI8rIPKeeQBpMn8hapJoO4hYgAuWkm_ztFHBzV1Qs6pdmG3RUdu2lILNRewLuHG6ZDXvxz5OJWP2Stu1vDluXx8l9f2cvvvVcuzyq-_TqLpGsQBteCaX_o1iEAnL-z5O_Hu6jzyTsXo/s640/birds-floats2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right in the middle of the second float, and almost in focus: Black-bellied Plover. Two more on the third float back, with Short-billed Dowitcher and Dunlin. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The common sight during migration is thousands of shorebirds on oyster floats at high tide. A neighbor put these floats in several years ago, in clumps of 4, eventually there were 600 floats in 150 sets, sitting on the flats at low tide, and floating at high tide. Shorebirds figured out very quickly that these are great places to roost when the water is high.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They depart when the winds and waves get too strong.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Much as I like my new camera, I am humbled again by the capacity of my own eyes and brain to make out details. </span></span></div>
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Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-29116905258754382662017-12-06T20:22:00.000-08:002017-12-06T20:22:15.474-08:00Winter Book Report: One hundred parakeets and a shotgun shell of silver pellets<div class="p1">
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Kathleen Sayce, December 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="s2">Being Mortal,</span><span class="s1"> by Atul Gawande, M.D.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="s2">The End of Alzheimer’s:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the first program to prevent and reverse cognitive decline</span><span class="s1">, by Dale E Bredesen, M.D.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In the third grade, I composed my first book reports. Reading was already a compulsion, but the idea of sharing what I read was a new idea. Occasionally even now I find a book or books that make such sense of a particular condition that sharing is the logical result. So it is with these two books.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="s1">Dr. Atul Gawande writes in </span><span class="s2">Being Mortal</span><span class="s1"> with grace about his father’s decline, while expanding on end of life health issues, housing for the elderly, and in a hilarious few pages, recounts Dr. Bill Thomas’s effort to help residents of a nursing home thrive by bringing in pets—dogs, cats and birds.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Central to his thesis is the understanding that what elders want is control over their own lives, whether to their benefit or not, while their younger relatives want them to be safe. He discusses related issues—medical care ad the end of life, warehousing of elders, how to live stimulating lives even when old and largely infirm, and geriatric health issues. And yes, there are one hundred parakeets. A thoughtful commentary of how length of life helps sets our frame of mind about future needs added depth to the discussion, and reframes why generations see these issues so differently.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is of particular personal significance, because my mother and mother-in-law both died of complications of Alzheimer’s Disease, dying after long years of mental absence.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They weren’t much alike, and lived very different lives, yet the same disease took both of them.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="s1">This brings me to the second book, </span><span class="s2">The End Of Alzheimer’s</span><span class="s1">. I’ve read about this disease for years, slowly piecing together nutritional information, diet and exercise hints, the need for deep REM sleep to help keep brains functional.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I turned sixty-five recently, and decided for that birthday to sign up for a gene scan with 23 and Me. I decided I wanted to know if I have the gene for late onset Alzheimers, Apo E4 (I do not), so I added genetic illnesses to the pile of genetic information to request. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Then I read this book. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here, in what will probably be the first of several editions, Dr. Bredesen sets out the larger picture—thirty-six known pathways by which Alzheimer’s Disease takes hold. It’s no wonder no single drug works to slow or reverse it—a shotgun shell with dozens of silver pellets of solutions is needed, not a single silver bullet. He delivers that shell of silver pellets.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This book’s utility goes beyond the accessible summary of what is known about this disease to specific steps to counter it. It brings together an understanding of how to treat three seemingly disparate health issues:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Inflammation, nutrition and hormones, and toxins.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I’ve been using some of these methods for decades to keep my own mental functionality at a peak. The process began with a challenging job that demanded peak function throughout the day, almost two decades ago. </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I began slowly, countering the dreaded afternoon nap compulsion by dropping carbohydrates midday, adding L-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid. Soon I was on to the big stuff:</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">gluten exclusion, sugar exclusion, grains exclusion, mental relaxation, stimulation. Even arginine, which college students take by the handful to aid memory when cramming for tests. </span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I was already off dairy products, and exercising regularly. My list of supplements and avoided foods was ridiculously long, I thought, until I read through the full list of all the specific ways to counter those thirty-six holes in the mental roof of those who have, or who might have, Alzheimer’s Disease. Now I know I am about half way, or perhaps two thirds of the way, into the full treatment.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Am I going to try it all? Absolutely. I have nothing to lose by doing so, and everything that makes me <i>me</i> to retain. I do not know if I have this disease, but I see no harm in keeping my brain functioning. Should you? Well, that depends. Do you want to keep your brain at peak capacity for decades to come? Or slide into dim twilight? I want to go out riding high on life.</span></span></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-36079118324785558882017-10-12T17:19:00.000-07:002017-10-12T17:19:28.648-07:00Tree Homage and Fire Suppression<div class="p1">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Kathleen Sayce, October 12, 2017</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Much of the Pacific Northwest coast is in the Coastal Temperate Rainforest Biome, a mouthful of words that carefully describe our climate and native vegetation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Coastal—on the Pacific Ocean, a climate dominated by onshore winds and rain.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Temperate—a mild climate of cool wet winters and warm dry summers. Those summers have been getting hotter lately, and more often, not a good sign of what is to come, but generally, this is a great place to live. Not too cold in winter, not too hot in summer.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Rainforest—a complex forest, so wet that they have a layered structure of big tall trees with epiphytes (plants that grow on plants), understory trees, tall shrubs, low shrubs and ground-covering plants. So much rain that growth is good year after year, in some of the highest site classes of North America, site class being forester-speak for good tree growing conditions. Tillamook County, Oregon, north to Grays Harbor County, Washington, is right in the middle of old deep soils, ample rain, mild summers, and high site classes for timber.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Biome—the life forms of a region. In this place, multi-species coniferous forests with hardwoods as minor understory trees.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In the midst of all this growth, then there’s the flip side:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>dry summers, when the onshore winds alternate with easterlies, when the air and then the soil dry down to tinder, when all that lush growth shows its other face as fuel ready to burn. Major wildfires are uncommon in our area, but when they come along, they can go big very quickly.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Historically, fires in the dunes kept the pines and other woody plants down and the land in prairie, a mix of grasses, sedges and wildfires. As a culture, we pay homage to trees and we suppress fires. It’s a volatile mix. <br />
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The Tillamook Burn, 1933, was a spectacular series of fires that started slowly in the Oregon Coast Range, and built up into massive firestorms, burning 350 thousand acres in a few weeks. For a modern retelling, read <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/history/2017/09/how_bad_can_a_fire_get_in_oreg.html"><span class="s2">http://www.oregonlive.com/history/2017/09/how_bad_can_a_fire_get_in_oreg.html</span></a>.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In 2014, one fall night, we came over the dune to the bayside, and looked across the water to a fire in the WIllapa Hills. I know our forests and dunes are vulnerable to wildfire, and that small fire, which burned only a few acres, got me thinking harder about fire resistance in forests. I’d toured forests in the 1970s where fires were set to burn the underbrush out and make the forests healthier and fire resistant—a point of view and management approach that has been part of my own lexicon ever since.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Then in 2017, there were fires in the Columbia Gorge, started by teenagers tossing lighted fireworks, growing into a firestorm that leaped the Columbia River. A week or so later, Karina Blake wrote about forest protection and blame in Slate, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/09/furious_oregonians_should_save_some_forest_fire_blame_for_themselves.html"><span class="s2">http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/09/furious_oregonians_should_save_some_forest_fire_blame_for_themselves.html</span></a></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Morning sun over Willapa Bay in mid summer: The hills are buried in ash and particulates, the sun is a red dot. Winds from the east.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">There is a controversy going on in Gearhart, Oregon over tree preservation versus fire safety right now.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In 2017 we also had weeks of poor air quality on the coast from wildfires in British Columbia, Montana, and eastern Washington and Oregon. Weeks when the sun rose blood-red and the skies were yellow and orange, and the air tasted of ash.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">How prairies become forests: pines appear, fires (or mowing) does not follow along, and in a few years, all trees, no prairie.</span></td></tr>
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Then came the fires early fall 2017, and multiple in northern California’s wine counties, or “Sonapamendonoma”, my husband (who is from San Mateo), calls them. Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties are north of San Francisco Bay, in the California Coast Range, covered with oaks, grasslands, homes, farms, and now devastated by wildfire. Years of drought, a wet winter and lush spring of growth, another dry summer, red flag atmospheric conditions (very dry soil and air, strong dry hot winds), and Bam! Another area is burned.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Which brings me to the concept of better living with trees and fire. Here are some things that aggravate fires:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>dense, even age forests; wet springs and dry summers; carelessness with fireworks; homes in the middle of dense forests; tree homage as a culture that makes fuel reduction difficult.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Tree homage? Yes. We love trees. I love trees. But around human settlements, trees can be dangerous. In high winds, they break and rip from the ground, and fall over on other objects. Like homes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We removed five very large trees from our property a few years ago. All were over one hundred feet tall, one was rotten inside, and split into sections when the main trunk came down, and every one of them could hit at least two buildings. Storms were nerve-wracking:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>which tree might come down and hit which building this time? I loved those trees, the neighborhood eagles perched in them, but they were too big for safety.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Commercial tree plantations are basically monocultures of even-aged, single species trees. Often a single clone, planted to thousands of acres. Dense, with standing dead trees among the living. Fire hazard waiting to burn, just a matter of when.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A shore pine thicket with seedling spruces nearby, in the dunes.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">On the ocean side of the sand spit where I live, there are young dense shore pine monocultures for more than twenty miles, with very few firebreaks. Shore pine adapts to fire; it has cones that open only when burned. It grows in dense forests, which if they burn down, release seeds for the next dense pine forest. The only way to live safely with shore pine is to remove, thin and limb so that canopies don’t touch, limbs are well above six feet above ground, and to keep out the seedlings that follow. Pines grow in uplands and wetlands alike, and it’s not legal to thin or limb wetland trees, according to state and federal regulations. In our area, you can take upland trees out, limb wetland buffer trees (but not thin), and wetlands must be left as is.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">That late summer fire in red flag weather conditions?—there’s no water in the coastal wetlands then, and fires burn right through them. The best you can do (legally) is to keep woody plants out of the two hundred feet of land closest to your home. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijKr0ABguwdDocitgjgd3lYEfPZeLsLBaWZIGisveh9JKs90IWDF1Rdx6TIkKYiyMi0sfcn5YJnk7VrnEQQOi88e4oypBsUOCFbKIZJSe-paOoUxjE-W2PfiQ9zXv-nJT-Lalnzk69IMRL/s1600/brodiaea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="1600" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijKr0ABguwdDocitgjgd3lYEfPZeLsLBaWZIGisveh9JKs90IWDF1Rdx6TIkKYiyMi0sfcn5YJnk7VrnEQQOi88e4oypBsUOCFbKIZJSe-paOoUxjE-W2PfiQ9zXv-nJT-Lalnzk69IMRL/s400/brodiaea.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">It’s a start on fire resistance, but if we want communities to thrive with fire, we have to do better.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Think about a bit less tree homage and a bit more fire suppression for community safety. Think woodland savannah instead of dense forest, and wider buffers of low vegetation between trees and homes. It’s time to bring back the coastal prairies. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-80456588116394723092017-06-05T18:55:00.002-07:002017-06-05T18:55:31.181-07:00The New Old Garden<div class="p1">
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">June 5, 2017</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Like knitting, beyond exotic species and new hybrids, there probably really isn’t anything completely new in gardening, only things to rediscover—AKA new-old topics. These new-old topics include lawns of mixed species, or lawn replacements, and layered green garden beds where no soil shows. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coastal dune prairie, with western buttercup and<br />early blue violets--the turf that jump-started<br />my new old lawn. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Into the nineteenth and early twentieth century, lawns were closely mown or grazed turf, composed of a mix of species, including grasses, wildflowers, bulbs and sedges. In other words, any plant that could tolerate close grazing or mowing might be found growing in a turf, or low meadow. This treatment kept out or down most woody species. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Grass-only turfs were the purview of the wealthy, who hired people to mow and weed lawns and remove the non-grass plants, often by hand. The tyranny of the grass lawn began after World War II with a shift by chemical manufacturers from wartime gases to fertilizers and pesticides. This meant that anyone could have a lush grass-only lawn, just by applying the right synthetic chemicals at the right time. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The ‘new-old lawn’ is a mix of species of grasses and wildflowers, designed on prairie palettes of low to tall wildflowers with a grass framework. Mowing is hugely reduced. Pesticides are not used, except perhaps to remove historic exotic grasses. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Never a fan of summer watering, lots of chemicals (including fertilizers), or excessive weeding, I began pondering the turf tyranny a few years ago. A series of dry summers meant that the grasses regularly died back over large areas of my turf. Several exotic daisies promptly made a bid for dominance, including hairy catsear, common hawkbit, dandelion and leontodon. English daisy, Viola labradorica, creeping buttercup, trailplant, strawberry and others also expanded. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">In the midst of the profusion of flowers, I found some areas of turf were still green and thriving—these were patches of sand dune sedge, Carex pansa. Dry summers did not bother them at all. Thus began my rethinking of what constitutes a lawn. I began transplanting sedge clumps into bare areas. When I weeded, I removed only the largest exotic daisies, which are nurseries for several exotic European slugs that eat many garden plants. I left the rest, including mosses, ribwort, English daisy, violet, gill-over-the-ground, and dandelion, to grow and seed around. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coast goldenrod, another lovely low flower for<br />low meadows, and a good nectar plant.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">We reduced mowing from weekly to every few weeks, leaving low mown strips along flower beds and letting the lawn grow taller elsewhere. I added sea thrift. This year I began pondering bulbs, which would need to be left to grow until foliage died down. I pulled out a hedge of lilacs along the marsh to replace with tall native grasses and wildflowers—to make a belt of meadow plants that can be mown at most once a year, to keep out woody species—and will otherwise be left alone. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">There are plants I intend to exclude. Ivy, Scots broom, gorse, and several exotic blackberries grow here. If areas are never mown, these species soon run riot over everything else. When we moved to this house, most of the property was a thicket of the aforementioned species, plus wild rose, grape, honeysuckle and plum. It took us years to clear the lower slopes of the dune behind the house so we could walk completely around the house outside.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">It’s a work in transition. Eventually I will have three areas that are occasionally to regularly mown, high to low. There will be more native plants, more flowers, and more habitat for insects and animals that use meadows. I already see more butterflies and bumblebees than in the past. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgROMVt0Ju_08LtsH4W-cO5xdCMFDXKZPHmlbLrbGg48EmKJXdc0KFgYb5gxhDjEjUaoFf6T2e-Eii0WVygtmJP3v-rYQwg0W-BwJ-keMmF_US9X2W2JT9YXVI720hRclm07J7ivoFJN5Ef/s1600/DSCN9289+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgROMVt0Ju_08LtsH4W-cO5xdCMFDXKZPHmlbLrbGg48EmKJXdc0KFgYb5gxhDjEjUaoFf6T2e-Eii0WVygtmJP3v-rYQwg0W-BwJ-keMmF_US9X2W2JT9YXVI720hRclm07J7ivoFJN5Ef/s320/DSCN9289+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sisyrinchiums are tiny irids that do well in lawns,<br />just don't mow them when they are flowering.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Garden beds are undergoing the same transformation from meticulously weeded and mulched, planted with carefully grouped species, to a ‘new green garden’ with a ground cover of low growing greenery, with no bare ground at all. It’s new to early 21st century gardeners, but was the normal garden condition for centuries, beyond areas where food plants and medicinal herbs were grown. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjen3P_J1KKLP3oyzzz-MmSQy7y648u6gUtytpgX4DasoXsHWLvyoezdrqyTwS76ZUuf2L4sPNSGuf44mTjLjl5w1lF55CPXWIcX8QvYtmxA2xsxWYUbVZPMr48YM4qmN8iiiV65Ml9pS6/s1600/DSCN9216+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjen3P_J1KKLP3oyzzz-MmSQy7y648u6gUtytpgX4DasoXsHWLvyoezdrqyTwS76ZUuf2L4sPNSGuf44mTjLjl5w1lF55CPXWIcX8QvYtmxA2xsxWYUbVZPMr48YM4qmN8iiiV65Ml9pS6/s320/DSCN9216+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fringe-cups like some shade and moist soil. </span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">In my garden, this means tolerating some ‘weedy’ species, and clearing areas when I plant, and only then, removing those major competitors from a few square feet of soil. It also means using slug bait or encouraging garter snakes, which eat slugs. If I lived in a low rainfall area, I might be able to justify a bare-earth garden. But with eight to ten feet of winter rain being the norm, along with dry summers, lush is the default for my garden. So my new-old garden has ground covers of sedge, oxalis, forget-me-not, mosses, and only the rapacious ‘take all the nutrients and run’ species are removed. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">It’s a new way for us to think about gardens, but it’s been around for centuries. As an ecologist the idea I like the most is that this promotes diversity in the garden, and diversity always leads to more productivity and better endurance of the ecosystem. </span></span></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-85722010999391227992017-05-21T18:54:00.001-07:002017-05-21T19:03:06.491-07:00Desmostylia––Ancient Sirenians of the North Pacific<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">May 21, 2017</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This
area of southwest Washington and northwest Oregon was underwater for many millions of years. Ancient marine mammals lived
here along with fishes and a wide range of invertebrates, even though
we do not have fossils from every square mile to look at today. So we
look around the Pacific Rim to learn about the diversity of former species.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One
of the strangest animals from our watery past is Desmostylia. A
chunky, stout aquatic mammal of shallow waters and shorelines, it is
distantly related to modern manatees, which are Sirenians. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Formerly
much more common in geologic time, Sirenians include three living
species of manatees, one dugong, and the recently extinct Steller's
sea cow. Their closest living relatives are elephants and hyraxes.
Fossil Sirenian species in the Desmostylia group lived from the
Oligocene to the late Miocene, about 25 million years, ending about 7
mya (millions of years ago). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">By the Miocene this area was a shallow
sea with several river deltas and emerging mountain ranges, and with
extensive swamps along the eastern edge, near the position of the
modern Cascade Range. Climate was warmer in the Miocene, tropical to
subtropical, and sea level was a couple of hundred feet higher.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Desmostylia
fossils, including full skeletons and partial bits of bones, teeth
and skulls, have been found around the North Pacific, from the south
end of Japan, through Siberia, the Aleutian Islands, Pacific
Northwest, south to the south tip of Baja California. Teeth make
particularly good fossils because they are hard and slow to break
down. Desmostylia has interesting large molars, along with more
typical mammalian tusks and canine teeth. These teeth have been
described as bundles of columns, which gives them their name, from
the Greek <i>desmos</i>
(bundle) and <i>stylos</i>
(pillar).
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">These
mammals were aquatic, and from isotopic analysis of teeth and bones,
we know that they were marine. Other marine mammal features include
retracted nostrils (tightly closed when underwater), and raised eye
sockets (to see better at the surface). Stocky and stout, they
weighed up to 440 pounds and were about six feet long, with a heavy
shovel-shaped head and large strong teeth, short strong legs, and
broad feet. You can see a complete desmostylian skeleton of at the
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. This individual lived
10 million years ago, towards the end of the Miocene. The museum has
also done reconstructions of living animals, to give us an idea of
what they were like.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There
are no modern analogs to these mammals. For size comparisons, black
bears and wild boars (feral pigs) can grow to 400 pounds or more in
size. Hippopotamuses weigh up to 3,300 pounds, and live in
freshwater, though some populations live in mangrove swamps. Manatees
weigh up to 1,300 pounds, and live entirely in water. We could think
of Desmostylia as a small hippo, in a sense, though they are not
closely related.
</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">With
broad grinding molars, Desmostylians were herbivores. In marine and
estuarine waters, what did they eat? Sea grasses and seaweeds,
including kelps, are the mostly likely food plants. These plants live
in shallow saltwater in large, dense stands. There was another
powerful reason to stay in shallow water: Megalodon cruised the open
waters of the world's warm oceans and seas. Desmostylia were about
the right size to this huge shark to be like chicken nuggets to us.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Imagine
if today 400-pound, six-feet-long marine herbivores grazed eelgrass
beds in Willapa Bay. They'd jostle with the seals for haul out space,
or sprawl in the marshes around the edges, and graze down the
eelgrass stands at mid to high tide. Water quality might be an issue.
Herbivores tend to produce a lot of poop, about five to seven times
the volume, based on body size, that carnivores do. Today, hippos are
one of the most dangerous animals we live around. Desmostylia might
be similarly dangerous––placid until someone gets too close, and
then those large teeth come into action, and oops, there's another
ex-kayaker or ex-hiker. It would definitely make boating on the bay
lively!</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For
more information, and good reconstructions of a Desmostylia, see</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: navy; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>http://a-fragi.blogspot.com/2011/07/desmostylus-2010.html</u> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">where a Japanese sculptor, Hirokazu Tokugawa, has done very nice reconstructions of this fascinating paleo marine mammal. </span></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-90893649611898898032016-11-13T15:37:00.000-08:002016-11-13T15:37:06.134-08:00Water Greets Land And Brings a Gift<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">November 14, 2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a child I was fascinated by seasonal floods in Amazonia, where rainforest over millions of acres is flooded by many feet of water. Fish swimming among trees in the forest seemed totally bizarre to that child. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today I walked the road at Greenhead Slough, where Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, working with local and state partners, recently replaced a tide gate with a bridge, restoring tidal hydrology to several streams and associated floodplains. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnaPqBz9TXCH94pmWb9bso5VtxW_KdcN64elBUdO9NYQeS2z_h-ziIBEwnD1ln_OMRhnyzy0JW_yivXGAGSP5dbU5ZO8aI4YHdRE_4UKd0hFMGPzltZA71Hxs9PQn4y-MHSNA-pCG4fq6/s1600/DSCN7864.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnaPqBz9TXCH94pmWb9bso5VtxW_KdcN64elBUdO9NYQeS2z_h-ziIBEwnD1ln_OMRhnyzy0JW_yivXGAGSP5dbU5ZO8aI4YHdRE_4UKd0hFMGPzltZA71Hxs9PQn4y-MHSNA-pCG4fq6/s400/DSCN7864.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Three Chum salmon in the stream, two to the left, one to the right. All have begun to lose skin, hence the whitish appearance on their sides. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tides are very high and low now—a spring tide cycle, which occurs twice each month when the moon is full or new. I saw a near-full moon two days ago. On this full moon cycle, the local floodplains, marshes, and in some cases associated forests, are flooded at each higher high tide every 24 hours.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chum salmon came back to their natal streams this season in large numbers. Commercial fishermen caught their quota, and still the salmon kept coming. Last year, refuge stream walkers did not see any chum or coho salmon. This year, chum have returned to all the streams they monitor. Today I saw two streams with chum in them, splashing as they mated and dug out redds to lay eggs. There were dead fish too; I could smell the dead fish as I approached. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Ked-f-Qgs_0MNWRxnMzsbcj3xKT-t0xo1D5Zi4Xhjc2VYGYIWn7pGA-UYMCv5QYS7GsBfrnLB5vtE97Ot8T4PRX1-E2UauIOlPz_PnU6JjdPGbNb3C4iSYoUW716-layoGcT9-DbbpqT/s1600/DSCN7885.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Ked-f-Qgs_0MNWRxnMzsbcj3xKT-t0xo1D5Zi4Xhjc2VYGYIWn7pGA-UYMCv5QYS7GsBfrnLB5vtE97Ot8T4PRX1-E2UauIOlPz_PnU6JjdPGbNb3C4iSYoUW716-layoGcT9-DbbpqT/s400/DSCN7885.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Banana slug and fungi: which one to eat first?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the next generation of salmon this is good news: the bodies of their parents fertilize the streams, tree roots pick up and share nutrients, and animals drag dead salmon off to eat and spread them up slope into the forests. For other salmon species, there is better news: chum salmon smolt (return to salt water) when they are very small, so they are good food for other salmon species that smolt when larger in size. Seeing many adult chum salmon breeding this fall is a strong indication that other runs of other species will be plentiful four years hence, and their adults will be numerous, large, healthy, and strong. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7PDFgEkYb06mIOOT3Fj7fdE1iuFi9muCaV7VO4dwyrKSNSFkdtIH8CjyHooxgnGdv_-5epbPc7-FMDbb-lV7H7iFDbD8nc5X4-9GYxlNZIRVBmAbRB9-heVeqSeUNGs5Urf_MtAKNcWs/s1600/1floodforest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7PDFgEkYb06mIOOT3Fj7fdE1iuFi9muCaV7VO4dwyrKSNSFkdtIH8CjyHooxgnGdv_-5epbPc7-FMDbb-lV7H7iFDbD8nc5X4-9GYxlNZIRVBmAbRB9-heVeqSeUNGs5Urf_MtAKNcWs/s400/1floodforest.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Forest underwater: nutrients, fish, organics surge in with the water across the forest floor.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was also water among the trees in several areas, taking me back decades in memory to that child, seeing photos of fish swimming among Amazonian trees. Marine anadromous fish not only give us pleasure in fishing for them, livelihood for commercial fishermen, and food for bald eagles, bears, and other animals, they give the forests important nutrients, including calcium, nitrogen, phosphorous, and other minerals. It’s a magnificent sight to see the fish, but the implications that carry forward for future health of both forest and fish runs are also important. When we see a healthy run like this, we see the future of both forest and fish in their presence. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTPSua0Bv_CSdKMQca9VfUS6LjdMNJ0ezDnjYF93MKjZisleJIOIlSJW6-d1GfquEtXQ1ApcJ4m_mY6K_iobYSK7hbcrTSvKggeRcD04aJM01byRcpk4ol-XtFna0PzEPoMu8FnBvwpVP/s1600/DSCN7870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTPSua0Bv_CSdKMQca9VfUS6LjdMNJ0ezDnjYF93MKjZisleJIOIlSJW6-d1GfquEtXQ1ApcJ4m_mY6K_iobYSK7hbcrTSvKggeRcD04aJM01byRcpk4ol-XtFna0PzEPoMu8FnBvwpVP/s400/DSCN7870.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Rough Skinned Newt walking on a floodplain surface, among deep elk footprints.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The weather was wet, a mild day with light rain, though the wind rose as the hours passed and another storm approached. Rough Skinned Newts and Pacific Banana Slugs were out moving around, well sheltered from the sun by the clouds and rain. Thinking about the movement of nutrients from fish to soil to fungi to trees, I realized that these nutrients reach the slugs too, and any insects that feed on plants or fungi, and also newts. There's a bit of ocean in all of those species in a fish-healthy forest. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyyQVo-NbUnEpK9x2TJUwDSVDOsTEpsaACplhp9UnR1Xrs6nvp6rZebZQzqU-b_ROqRtSdD8_ytaNcR5IXGejuf6YkHRrXAzQyEHo7N2UilE0c5ZD753gZ5141Dhdz79M_MIiFj3-nNb3n/s1600/bearrvrflts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyyQVo-NbUnEpK9x2TJUwDSVDOsTEpsaACplhp9UnR1Xrs6nvp6rZebZQzqU-b_ROqRtSdD8_ytaNcR5IXGejuf6YkHRrXAzQyEHo7N2UilE0c5ZD753gZ5141Dhdz79M_MIiFj3-nNb3n/s400/bearrvrflts.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Looking over the highway and across Bear River, salt water floods the marshes and streams from forest edge to forest edge. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At high tide, there is a large sheet of water from the highway west across Bear River and its associated marshes to the Porter Point peninsula. With dikes gone, with hydrology restored, the winter high tides sweep across the entire landscape, just as they did more than one hundred years ago. Water greets land again, and brings a gift of fish. </span></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-61544745823115146082016-09-17T20:51:00.001-07:002016-09-17T20:51:09.594-07:00Autumnal Slug Rain––another kind of rain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">September 17, 2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Friends of Willapa Refuge held a ‘Wonders of Willapa’ event at Tarlatt Unit today. The weather was wet, with steady rain during the morning and longer and longer breaks between rainy periods as the afternoon went on. We stopped by the site around 2 p.m., and walked out to the Tarlatt Slough viewpoint, where you can look north in clear weather to the Olympic Mountains. Not one peak was in sight today, low clouds obscured even the north bay. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUw1E_-J7PLAYgGIxgLyKuPJJRNMIzrkerMPrwO_inRe-vbvp1TKVMOBCr467nRW82OVGYAREpljixABaCeOvkDn5euYEIZbJP6YYUgTadqw3qzcbdHtOuIqvXp4EHeZnBcETsu09u1S7C/s1600/tarlattview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUw1E_-J7PLAYgGIxgLyKuPJJRNMIzrkerMPrwO_inRe-vbvp1TKVMOBCr467nRW82OVGYAREpljixABaCeOvkDn5euYEIZbJP6YYUgTadqw3qzcbdHtOuIqvXp4EHeZnBcETsu09u1S7C/s400/tarlattview.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The view north along Tarlatt Slough: Water and sky merge in the rain.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The highlight of the walk was multiple slug sightings. In some areas, there were slugs every three to five feet. Occasionally, there were three or more slugs within a couple of feet. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhefMhByfr3SP93ZPts-v59jiVphbxcbvH67SQOPYTu9CVUU-C57henvK2BQw1Hkpi7dFCbdi_n5rVSwmGTRpexO42d9SGtum9l_xPgzq4Bn8ebqahXwfDrgm5A6a6Rfxa8jFabf9ltezeA/s1600/3slugs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhefMhByfr3SP93ZPts-v59jiVphbxcbvH67SQOPYTu9CVUU-C57henvK2BQw1Hkpi7dFCbdi_n5rVSwmGTRpexO42d9SGtum9l_xPgzq4Bn8ebqahXwfDrgm5A6a6Rfxa8jFabf9ltezeA/s400/3slugs.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Two Pacific Bananaslugs (lower left and upper center) and a Chocolate Slug (upper right).</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve walked in ancient forests in late February, in the rain, and stepped over a frog or salamander with ever step. We call these Salamander Rains, when the coldest temperatures of winter are easing into spring, the soil is thoroughly wet, the air is wet, and amphibians can easily move around from winter hideouts to spring mating streams and ponds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In late summer, after months of dry weather, the first soaking rains wet the ground, promote decay of drying vegetation, and voila! The slugs come out of their summer hideouts and frolic in the broad light of day, or so it seemed today. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Low light, ample food (decaying leaves and fungi for Pacific Bananaslugs, introduced vegetation for Chocolate Slugs), and plenty of atmospheric moisture made this an ideal day for gliding and browsing by slugs, and while the calendar is not quite to Fall, it seems appropriate to name this an Autumnal Slug Rain––not a rain of slugs, but a rain that brings out the slugs. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEini7_EP-eJ9N8q7Js2dmC57SYz4CEyCyCJKLykJn7ldNoWNb9Y0j3JlpIjApPuoekKLnsXx6xkq3hl1-k05Lse8PBd1ShpSPo_gqwjeZjR1Jn9RicaBW6caeVQE3C9tg724dQv88XNvvyR/s1600/bananaslug1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEini7_EP-eJ9N8q7Js2dmC57SYz4CEyCyCJKLykJn7ldNoWNb9Y0j3JlpIjApPuoekKLnsXx6xkq3hl1-k05Lse8PBd1ShpSPo_gqwjeZjR1Jn9RicaBW6caeVQE3C9tg724dQv88XNvvyR/s320/bananaslug1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A buckskin Pacific Bananaslug, pale yellow and gliding over grasses on the dike.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pacific Bananaslug, <i>Ariolimax columbianus,</i> is the largest native slug on the coast, commonly seen in forested areas. On the dike these slugs were many yards from the coastal forest, which is their usual habitat. Bananaslugs eat decaying vegetation, mosses and fungi. The damp day and ample food lured more than one hundred bananaslugs out into the open for the first good noshing they’d had in wet daylight weather for many months. Coloration varied from pale yellow to ochre yellow, some with black spots (small to large), and others plain, or in local lingo, pinto, appaloosa and buckskin slugs. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVA1V6zD47yXVbn5PDCrfZir2s_xEW4I7AgX27P7BqDt9sq8dTmcOIteR-dKBDMCAK3svLGr8x8TF_9f04DpXVKxuwoHEu30M5cqgQd94mRZi-NegCHfz5GPaK8U4DepLjyjtlf_u-RmDA/s1600/bananaslug2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVA1V6zD47yXVbn5PDCrfZir2s_xEW4I7AgX27P7BqDt9sq8dTmcOIteR-dKBDMCAK3svLGr8x8TF_9f04DpXVKxuwoHEu30M5cqgQd94mRZi-NegCHfz5GPaK8U4DepLjyjtlf_u-RmDA/s320/bananaslug2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Another color form of Pacific Bananaslug, with black spots on an ochre brown body. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chocolate Slug, <i>Arion rufus</i>, is one of the larger introduced slugs in the Pacific Northwest. Colors vary from medium brown to very dark brown to black. Today we saw medium brown and very dark brown colorations. This slug is common in gardens, and rarely found in native forest. The dike is largely covered in introduced grasses and flowers, so it too was right at home, feeding in the open on a suitably wet afternoon. As with the bananaslugs, there were more than one hundred Chocolate Slugs in the short walk from the edge of the forest to the overlook area. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEZK6YL-fIaP1K8YXLq5sykg0iS1LjbhDccL9N79MHnYznwIMsddLjocJvnIQNMnJWO3F1fO6IhNxvXxOzelMN4ngE8XjkWYOz0YktPm-6uYOjA9cdxpbHTX602joQlw3UHOQHix-U9ysV/s1600/brownslug2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEZK6YL-fIaP1K8YXLq5sykg0iS1LjbhDccL9N79MHnYznwIMsddLjocJvnIQNMnJWO3F1fO6IhNxvXxOzelMN4ngE8XjkWYOz0YktPm-6uYOjA9cdxpbHTX602joQlw3UHOQHix-U9ysV/s320/brownslug2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Chocolate Slug, with a medium brown, milk-chocolate-colored body.<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: center;">I did not see any native or introduced snails today. Shells provide them with some cover during dry seasons, allowing them to move a bit more freely than slugs can. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZ5lWiQXHzcM_of1Ev2fPnJIWI5HT3Ix5miRadjG8fH42g2SE49Pd549NH8VB9X-N604Bm-mcylYs20PIxpznAT6LMvjxoLvdh6w8X0PWWkLQ62hxx6JOK7_glN_r7qJKjLV9RdZ9isrx/s1600/dkbrownslug1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZ5lWiQXHzcM_of1Ev2fPnJIWI5HT3Ix5miRadjG8fH42g2SE49Pd549NH8VB9X-N604Bm-mcylYs20PIxpznAT6LMvjxoLvdh6w8X0PWWkLQ62hxx6JOK7_glN_r7qJKjLV9RdZ9isrx/s320/dkbrownslug1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Another Chocolate Slug, this one is more of a dark bitter chocolate brown color.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To read more about terrestrial mollusks, see the recent book, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Land Snails and Slugs of the Pacific Northwest,</span> by Thomas Burke, with photographs by William Leonard, OSU Press, 2013. There are dozens of native and introduced species in the coastal Pacific Northwest. As for rain terms, at last count, my rain words list has more than one hundred twenty terms. </span></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-15359915563477031772016-08-24T11:19:00.000-07:002016-08-24T14:14:21.134-07:00Ancient Trees, Young Trees, the Forest Abides <div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kathleen Sayce, August 22, 2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Last Saturday I walked in the ancient red cedar grove on Long Island. I first saw this grove in the 1970s while timber cruising on the island for the refuge. Forty-one years later, these trees are as magnificent as they were then. Their habitat is as complex and multilayered. This stand is a climax forest, and it richly expresses the diversity of a climax forest in a coastal temperate rainforest biome. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What has changed most is the forest around the cedar grove. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">This stand along the trail from the beach at Smokey Hollow was too dense with young western hemlock to see into 40 years ago. Today, you can see sky among the canopies, and there are mosses and ferns on the ground, with young shrubs starting to grow in some spots. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the 1970s, most of the island had been logged and was regrowing as naturally sprouted western hemlock trees in dense 'dog hair' stands. These were young, many less than forty years old, and they lined the roads like green walls. No sunlight reached the forest floor. One could not see into the stands from the roads. I cored a few of those hemlocks four decades ago, and their growth rings were tiny, a few millimeters per year or less. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Forty-one years later, natural loss has thinned the hemlock stands by more than seventy-five percent, leaving behind more widely spaced living trees that are three times as tall with trunks correspondingly bigger. Ferns and shrubs are scattered on the ground. Mosses now carpet the ground. Another two hundred years, and these young stands will be approaching solid middle age. Western hemlock trees live around four hundred years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As the stands of hemlock age, other trees will seed in, including Douglas-fir, red alder, Sitka spruce and, of course, western red cedar. When we walked these roads last weekend, it was easy to see more than one hundred feet into the forest all along the road.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The trail into the cedar grove has also opened up in the past 40 years. Sunlight reaches the forest floor. Ferns are lush. Some trees are more than 12 inches dbh (diameter at breast height, 4.5 ft from the ground) now. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the cedar grove, meanwhile, a few trees have died, one or two snags have fallen, and otherwise, the grove looks very much as it did then. There are abundant mosses on the ground, on logs and in the trees. There are layers of ferns and shrubs. Some of the shrubs are more than ten feet tall. There are young trees, many are hemlocks, with a few others. There are dozens of mature cedars, 850 to 900 years old. The oldest living trees are around 1200 years old. Study these trees, and you can see the signs of old nurse logs, where living trees now seem to be on their toes, hollows showing at the ground level where their supporting nurse logs have rotted away. Lightning scars are visible on many trees, signs of historic damage. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Every tree species has a different feel as an elder, and when in groves. Here in the island cedar grove, the ancient trees are each distinctly different in shape, but all have multiple dead tops, showing the candelabra form that is distinctive to the coast.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">More strikingly, these trees live close to the coast, a few miles from the Pacific Ocean, and this proximity shapes their form. They aren’t very tall, around 200 feet in height. Cedars can grow more than 300 feet tall. Winter storms, high winds and salt in the air kill the growing tips. Cedars respond by growing new tips, forming in time a crown of dead and living tops in the shape of a complex candelabra––candelabra cedars. The large trunks, often more than ten feet in diameter, rise in huge columns to these woody crowns. Shrubs, ferns and young trees sprout from pockets of soil and moisture, often one hundred or more feet in the air. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A refuge manager here in the 70s, Joe Welch once told me that he was worried that there were so few young cedars in the stand. Dr. Jerry Franklin, a forest researcher who visited the grove soon after, told him not to worry. The cedars live such long lives that to them, the hemlocks are just passing through. Sitka spruces live eight hundred years or more, as do Douglas-fir, so the tree species balance is not skewed to hemlocks over millennia. Cedars have been here for thousands of years, and will remain a major presence in this grove. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Cedars may stand dead for many centuries before they fall to the ground, and then take more centuries to decompose. Living around one thousand years, the decomposition process also takes around one thousand years. There are logs in the grove that have been on the ground for hundreds of years, and still have bark firmly attached. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">A magnificent western hemlock snag, with pileated woodpecker holes, and polypore fungi fruits.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It is satisfying to know that natural forest processes are dominant here as they have been for at least four thousand, perhaps eight to ten thousand years. These aren’t sequoias or bristlecone pines, to individually live several thousand years, nor are they redwoods, which can resprout from the ground after fire, and live on after major wildfires, growing a new trunk and fresh canopy of leaves on old roots. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">During my own lifetime, I have watched logging trucks on the road, first with old growth, then with old second growth, and then, younger and younger trees. The average age of a conifer log on a logging truck now is less than thirty years. Knowing that this small grove, less than 300 acres, is preserved, intact, functional forest is also comforting. The cedar grove abides. </span></div>
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Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-872681043788203532016-08-15T10:24:00.002-07:002016-08-15T10:24:37.276-07:00Red Tide on the Columbia River<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kathleen Sayce, August 15, 2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In mid summer on the Columbia River Estuary a color change appears in the water, red to purple, and persists into early fall. It’s a natural red tide, when billions of single celled animals, ciliated protozoans, called <i>Myrionecta rubra</i> (also called <i>Mesodinium rubrum</i>) bloom. The bloom is particularly striking from the high span over the shipping channel, on the south end of the 101 bridge near Astoria. It is not toxic, but it is very red. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The band of purplish-red water is a colorful streak of <i>Myrionecta rubra</i> cells, seen from the Astoria-Megler bridge on August 14th, 2016. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The cells are less than 100 micrometers long, and have two rows of cilia between two round body sections, which give this tiny animal the swimming dexterity of a jet fighter. They look like two round balls of different sizes stuck together. The beating rows of cilia allow it to jump ten to twenty body lengths in one movement, which would be like a 6-feet-tall human jumping sixty to one hundred twenty feet. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seen under the microscope, they spin, dash and turn with amazing speed. The red color comes from a red alga that lives inside the cell. The algae cells are not permanent residents; each cell lives around 30 days inside the protozoan. There may be several algae cells in each <i>Myrionecta</i> organism, and carbon fixed through photosynthesis by the algae feeds the protozoan. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During warm, sunny weather the blooms form in long streaks in the Columbia River Estuary between the jetties to above (east) of the Astoria-Megler bridge. Sometimes they also form in Youngs Bay, and can be seen on that causeway and bridge. In some years, the entire river looks like it’s running with blood instead of water. Most years, the bloom is in streaks surrounded by otherwise normal-colored water, green to gray to blue. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One spectacular year in the 1990s, the <i>Myrionecta</i> bloom in local waters coincided with a dinoflagellate bloom, of <i>Ceratium</i> species. Dinoflagellates are often golden to warm red in color. That year, the dinoflagellates were golden orange. The combination of strong red-purple and gold from billions of organisms of different colors in different parts of the river gave the water a very weird red-orange color combination. <i>Ceratium</i> organisms gathered in warmer shallow water, and <i>Myrionecta</i> tended to the deeper waters of the main channels, so the colors were blended together in some areas, and distinctly separate in others. Both blooms stopped as the storm season got underway that fall. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This species prefers lower salinity water, and warm weather. August and September are the usual months to see the long red to purple streaks. Cool storms disrupt the bloom in fall, and by mid to late October, unless weather has been unusually calm, it’s gone again for the year. Individual cells turn up in plankton samples throughout the year, however, it's only late summer to early fall when their numbers rise into the billions and become visible to us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Myrionecta</i> has been seen and collected in the surf zone along the north coast beaches in Oregon and south coast beaches in Washington, on each side of the river. It’s also been found in Willapa Bay, and the Willapa and Palix Rivers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In Alaska, residents say that when the fireweed blooms, summer is almost over. Here, when we see the red tide of <i>Myrionecta rubra</i> on the Columbia from the Astoria-Megler Bridge, we know fall is going to arrive in a few weeks. </span></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-36503072742832502932016-07-11T17:24:00.001-07:002016-07-11T17:24:10.568-07:00Another D*** Yellow Composite<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">July 11, 2016</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's a joke in wildflower classes that the first yellow-flowered daisy species students learn is ADYC, short for another D*** Yellow Composite. This has some truth to it, because superficially many species look similar in flower. The goal of wildflower classes is to look closer, to see the details that make one species distinct from all others, even DYCs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today I present a primer on four introduced species, <i>Crepis capillaris, Hypochaeris radicata, Leontodon saxatilis </i>and<i> Taraxacum officinale.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All are tap-rooted biennial to perennial species in the Asteraceae, or composites, which have compound flower heads of dozens to hundreds of tiny yellow flowers. All are common on open ground, including pastures, lawns, roadsides, and in the dunes, back from the open west edge. So how to tell them apart? Look closely at the backs of each flower, and seed head, at the leaves, and the differences will appear. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Crepis capillaris, smooth hawkweed</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Smooth hawkweed has many small flowers on a tall stem, and like common dandelion has smooth leaves with sharp points and deep scallops. Flower heads are yellow underneath as well as on top. The seed heads are also small, and the seeds are slightly curved and strongly ribbed. There is no long stem between seed and the bristles that carry it aloft; instead the lofting plumes attach directly to the seed at one end.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Hypochaeris radicata, hairy cat's-ear</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hairy cat's-ear has hairy leaves in large rosettes, forming large succulent mounds [excellent for sheltering baby slugs and snails]. There are 1 to several large yellow flowers per stem. The backs of the outer flowers are light purplish/brown. Seed heads are large, with a long stem between seed and lofting bristles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Leontodon saxatilis, hairy hawkbit</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hairy hawkbit has low rosettes of hairy leaves, slightly scalloped, making small mounds in a lawn. Flowers are single, one per stem, and light purple on the underside of the head. Seed heads are small, and seeds are slim, slightly curved, with bristles attaching to one end without a stem. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Taraxacum officinale, common dandelion</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dandelions form rosettes of leaves, with thin leaves, deeply scalloped, single flowers per stem, and with green bracts under the outer flowers that persist on the seed head. There are two sets of green bracts, one large set under the flower, and a second smaller set that points down towards the ground. Even on seed heads, these 2 sets persist. There are long stems between seed and lofting filaments. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mid to late summer is the time to look at all DYCs, because leaves, flowers, seed heads and ripe seeds are all present. We have other species here, both native and introduced, but these are the common species in most yards, called by most people "dandelions". </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-87911846011060982872016-06-27T21:32:00.007-07:002020-10-03T13:44:01.975-07:00Saltwater and Spruce Trees<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">June 17, 2016</span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">A rumor came my way last week that is so off base I am writing about it today. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">On Highway 101 in south Pacific County, there is a straight stretch of road from Bear River to Greenhead Slough. Last year, a bridge replaced a very undersized culvert near the north end of the straights. That summer, trees began dying along the highway, upriver from the new bridge. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mLobXyM8uGE6wCody5-kArhyphenhyphenROxqY926pfWT1imle3vFEqPWe2ZhL_9-x92Vt9qa58XUQDQrQJZW68vwxGvXvlnW6Ntrmk8rKK8RqA6O0_adPM3JWOZObt22G6YoxmrqUip2P4b8OD9J/s1600/saltspruce.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mLobXyM8uGE6wCody5-kArhyphenhyphenROxqY926pfWT1imle3vFEqPWe2ZhL_9-x92Vt9qa58XUQDQrQJZW68vwxGvXvlnW6Ntrmk8rKK8RqA6O0_adPM3JWOZObt22G6YoxmrqUip2P4b8OD9J/s400/saltspruce.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">June 2016: Sitka spruce and Pacific crabapple trees are dead and dying along the road south of the new bridge; which is immediately to the left of this image. The road in the foreground is Highway 101; Bear River is to the right, looking south east along the highway. </span></td></tr>
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">The rumor is that this area was sprayed with herbicide as part of industrial forest management. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Marshes are not industrial forests; this low forest and marsh area is part of the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. Corporate timber growers do not waste money spraying non-logging areas, especially on land they do not own. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">So if this area wasn't sprayed, what happened?</span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">When the drainage was opened with a bridge in 2015, the upper reaches of the marsh east of the highway returned to the old hydrology pattern––fully tidal––which means that tide waters are <u>higher</u> at high tide than they have been for six or seven decades. Water levels are also lower at low tide. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Fish, including salmon, can now easily enter the ditch along the highway, and from there, five or six streams that drain from the hills to the east. Floods no longer surge up to the road edge on the east side, held back by a small culvert and tide gate. Given that we have experienced more flash floods in recent years than in decades before, this is good. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Trees, especially conifers that grew behind the tide gate, were abruptly exposed to saltwater on very high tides, and their roots began to die as soon as this salt exposure started. Sitka spruce, <i>Picea sitchensis,</i> is the dominant large conifer tree along the edge of Willapa Bay. A small hardwood tree, Pacific crabapple, <i>Malus fusca,</i> is also common in the marsh [the small gray bubbles in the background of the photo are crabapples]. Both trees grow on slightly higher ground than the main marsh level. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Summer 2016 is the second growing season with full tidal cycling, and the trees are now dead or dying along almost a mile of road. A few spruces are still green; these are trees that are slightly higher in growing position than those that are dead. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Both species tolerate some salt exposure. The new hydrology brought too much salt to their roots, however. Six months of dry weather last summer probably accelerated the impact. The result was that several dozen conifers and even more crabapples abruptly died. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">If you look east across the marsh into the hills, you will see that trees on the slopes and at the base or toe of slope above the marsh are alive, still green and in active growth. Only the trees that were too low have died. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">There is another place to see the same sort of response to a change in hydrology, also on Highway 101 in south Pacific County, on Chinook River. Here the tide gate is closed only on extreme high tides, and the rest of the time, the gates are open so that fish can move more easily in and out of the river. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Just east of the highway, there was a stand of alder; now it's a stand of snags with salt marsh sedges and other species covering the ground. This transition took just a few years with new gate management methods. The spruces behind the alders were high enough in position to keep living. </span><br />
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<span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Better management of water through changes in tide gates, or replacing gates with bridges means that fish can access their natal streams more easily. It also means that during periods of high rainfall more water drains off more quickly. These are good outcomes. But for trees that began growing in locations that were not quite high enough, it means that they can no longer live in those locations, and it's that abrupt change from alive to dead that catches our eyes as we drive Highway 101. </span><br />
<br />Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-44731162956345519672016-06-03T10:23:00.002-07:002016-06-03T10:23:13.602-07:00Fawn Lily Seeds<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every spring and summer, bulbs set seeds. This sounds utterly trivial. It's what plants do. Yet it is something more––a recurring miracle of climate, soil, and all the hazards that can befall a plant on the way from bulb to flower to seed pod. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fawn lilies, genus Erythronium, are a bulb group that I have admired for decades when hiking in natural areas, and for the past 15 years or so, have also grown in my own garden. I have collected wild seeds on occasion, and often buy seeds from seed collectors. These seeds start in pots, where I can keep watch on them, head off potential problems, and shepherd them towards flowering size. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 2010 I participated in the North America Rock Garden Society's seed sale. NARGS offers some bulbs every year. That year one offering was labeled "Erythronium x pink". The seeds that came were of two sizes, and I should have taken the time to sort them out and plant them separately. But I did not. Instead the seeds were planted in a pot, labeled, and then time passed. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEajx_BcrTQzSIY4kw9DW7hnpQ7td9_vi-xFLYn6UoFXJ80LTniQjzgY0bq09EqQf13c_nSLDzM6qikuUUh-_k64gSLuoXFGToeC1RYfy3H3blAQrKpf8NLKGJvP07GjG56zKvoB9Mx43m/s1600/eryrevpot1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEajx_BcrTQzSIY4kw9DW7hnpQ7td9_vi-xFLYn6UoFXJ80LTniQjzgY0bq09EqQf13c_nSLDzM6qikuUUh-_k64gSLuoXFGToeC1RYfy3H3blAQrKpf8NLKGJvP07GjG56zKvoB9Mx43m/s400/eryrevpot1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mixed pot of Erythronium bulbs in flower</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 2014 the first bulbs flowered. By this spring, almost all flowered, which was when I found that yes, these are all pink-flowered Erythroniums. But they are not all the same. Some have the mottled leaves of E. revolutum. Others have plain green leaves, more like garden hybrids of E. revolutum and other western species. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This week I collected seeds from both groups, and this time, I kept the seeds separate. Yes, there are two different sources, two different sizes to these seeds. These two lots will go in separate pots when I plant them. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-pl-fKv0mZvxTr9s9wASXcTtovz2a2Ag3ADMdwQLQTNGsqI8FbmiCFYRWcuFGC9QGsiu5QMWXWTfwAOmaop-P29mSPnpyt1740ho_WyDvpTxw7A9iYS2yVpFBSHY8tVkN3_zGhDSdkmq/s1600/eryseeds+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-pl-fKv0mZvxTr9s9wASXcTtovz2a2Ag3ADMdwQLQTNGsqI8FbmiCFYRWcuFGC9QGsiu5QMWXWTfwAOmaop-P29mSPnpyt1740ho_WyDvpTxw7A9iYS2yVpFBSHY8tVkN3_zGhDSdkmq/s400/eryseeds+2016.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Erythronium revolutum type seeds on the left, Erythronium x pink on the right. The grid is 5 mm.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-19396235889814851192015-08-28T13:23:00.000-07:002015-08-28T13:40:25.186-07:00Columbia Plume: Biologically unique yet often out of sight<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Kathleen
Sayce</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">August 2015</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Visitors
to North Head Lighthouse and the Lewis & Clark Visitors Center in
Cape D State Park often notice the sweep of other-colored freshwater that
wraps around Cape D and north along the beaches before spreading west
and merging into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. They and boaters
off the Columbia Entrance see 'rip lines' in the water, along which
fishing boats drive, hoping to catch salmon. There may be several
species of seabirds, sealions, seals, and whales all feeding along the rips.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This
is the Columbia Plume, a massive flow of freshwater that slowly
merges with saltwater off our coast. It brings nutrients, sediments, and yes, garbage and pollutants, to local ocean waters. The Columbia
River is so large that the mixing zone, where fresh and salt waters
merge, occurs mostly offshore, not in the river itself. Mixing takes
place over many days and thousands of square miles.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Columbia
River water retains a distinct chemistry, and has been tracked offshore in the open ocean south to California and north off British Columbia. The productivity
of the Plume results from two large nutrient sources coming together
in one place. Upwelled water from the deep ocean meets Columbia water, and the result is a very large increase in productivity. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> We take it for granted, living here, and fishing for seafood<span style="text-decoration: none;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Where
there are nutrients in salt water, there are phytoplankton, and
zooplankton, and the animals that feed on them, and those that feed
on those animals, all the way to humans fishing for salmon. Northern
Herring spawn in the plume. Their young feed on plankton so the Plume
is an optimal place for them to spawn. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjohzOLBmc7pXEAbGps_n3-4a3yp36l4JdHVeFxy1q6cB0Kgm8u4uedidhdFgcGo495ys-XHylChrVpJNAx-nCpoKn0UF-1MePVnBC-5jZG2_U0K4rQSQ372cjXWs-NEqAz7d2xjew9tIYf/s1600/Aug07_SootyShearwaterFlockInPlume_NHeadWA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjohzOLBmc7pXEAbGps_n3-4a3yp36l4JdHVeFxy1q6cB0Kgm8u4uedidhdFgcGo495ys-XHylChrVpJNAx-nCpoKn0UF-1MePVnBC-5jZG2_U0K4rQSQ372cjXWs-NEqAz7d2xjew9tIYf/s640/Aug07_SootyShearwaterFlockInPlume_NHeadWA.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Photo by Dr. Jen Zamon, of Sooty Shearwaters in a mega-flock in the Columbia Plume.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Many fish, including salmon,
seals, porpoises, and pelagic birds feed on these species. When
Northern Herring school to feed, predators follow. On some days, even
from shore, you can see hundreds of thousands to millions of birds
feeding from the skies, often more than twenty species, swirling in
huge masses above the fish schools in one great mega-flock.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Beneath
the surface, and so out of sight, are fish and marine mammals, also
feeding on herring. Mega-flocks form up regularly when herring group
into large schools. They are common only in a few areas along the
Pacific Northwest coast, and the Columbia Plume is one of the main
areas where mega-flocks occur. Cormorants, loons, grebes, fulmars,
gulls, murres and alcids participate in mega-flocks.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Other bait fish can also trigger mega-flock formation. These
include Northern Anchovy and Pacific Sardine.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Where
there are salmon, seal and porpoise, top predators show up, including
sharks and Killer Whales. Killer Whales are regular visitors during
early to late spring in the Columbia Plume. Gray Whales migrate north
during spring; Killer Whales target the young calves. While some
sharks are seasonal, many are here year round, and they also cruise
the Plume for prey.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I
met Dr. Jen Zamon of the NOAA Hammond Research Laboratory in winter
2015 to learn more about the Columbia Plume and mega-flocks of
pelagic birds. One of my questions was where the large herring
schools/mega-flocks occurred most often. Based on her research and
others, mega-flocks occur anywhere over the continental shelf from
the south end of the Olympic Peninsula to south of Tillamook Head.
More than half the time, they are within 15 miles of shore. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdszl97hhDxkN-e7FtaCtWaWetMKD3VZ2i2W1XreN44keLnRC4i0esf0wQgV2bD1eHTsQmP1tjdUsGTTGI5cuUYODm_zlv2leSbtH3ONXpmLzm9TSUx4DZyQikdfNuVsOx_GVFLoDclyr/s1600/FeedingFlock_NHead2007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdszl97hhDxkN-e7FtaCtWaWetMKD3VZ2i2W1XreN44keLnRC4i0esf0wQgV2bD1eHTsQmP1tjdUsGTTGI5cuUYODm_zlv2leSbtH3ONXpmLzm9TSUx4DZyQikdfNuVsOx_GVFLoDclyr/s640/FeedingFlock_NHead2007.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Photo by Dr. Jen Zamon of a mega-flock of pelagic birds feeding on bait fish north of North Head off Seaview, Washington. This flock was composed of several million birds of 20 species.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Occasionally they are very close in, and this is when we can view
them from land. I saw a mega-flock for the first time in Spring 2014,
from the South Jetty viewing platform––it had around 400,000
birds. Flocks of more than one million birds are common. Jen saw a
mega-flock off Beard's Hollow, easily visible from land. They also
form inside Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor when large schools of bait fish enter the estuaries.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We
live in ecologically uncertain times, so every time a mega-flock
forms, it's reassuring to know that something this spectacular and
prolific is still able to happen. Like icebergs, we see just the
above-water portion. In the water and out of sight are hundreds of
thousands of other predators, feeding on herring and other bait
fishes. And other predators, feeding on them. </span>
</div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-48136109620364753402015-04-30T15:12:00.000-07:002015-04-30T15:12:00.454-07:00Stationarity Is Dead<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">By Kathleen
Sayce</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When
civil engineers, architects and planners design buildings, roads,
bridges, levees, dams, drainage canals and other structures, they use
the principle of stationarity to decide how high, how strong, how
wind resistant, this structure has to be to withstand a typical
50-year, 100-year, 500-year or 1000-year event.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All
construction balances on a line between built 'strong enough' and
'over-built too much' to keep the cost as low as possible. The
stationarity principle has historically ensured that the structure
will last for its planned life, which may be anywhere from twenty
years to several hundred years.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To
settle on the event standards to design to, professionals refer back
to applicable weather metrics and disaster occurrence histories,
including high and low temperatures, rainfall, stream flows, floods,
snow falls, wind storms, tornadoes, droughts, and earthquakes.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Xb9vgCAdQqtn7XN_EvgFz5srn4REha2Hcx8DtSXY7inJeBaKZl7IripyYbNMPDAcx9467pieiT2dQk8CrXHCvK2KdBnpjpqxSSRKBlaT035cRfLDuC-WlWtUIt_uOTC5AJNvb2kjs2Vr/s1600/old+culvert+Peters+Ck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Xb9vgCAdQqtn7XN_EvgFz5srn4REha2Hcx8DtSXY7inJeBaKZl7IripyYbNMPDAcx9467pieiT2dQk8CrXHCvK2KdBnpjpqxSSRKBlaT035cRfLDuC-WlWtUIt_uOTC5AJNvb2kjs2Vr/s1600/old+culvert+Peters+Ck.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A recent rain burst in the west Willapa Hills overloaded a culvert on Peter's Creek that runs under Highway 4 near Naselle. In the background you can see flagging on the washout edges; the highway pavement is at the very top of the image. Photo by Kathleen Sayce.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of
the reasons modern cultures measure weather events is to provide
metrics for infrastructure and building designers, planners and
insurance agents. Building codes also emerged, to set minimum
standards that ensure a building will not flood, catch fire or blow
down during normal events, and will stay in good condition for its
design life.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Several
years ago a national science magazine ran an editorial which stated
that the concept of stationarity was dead [I did not think of this
title, I borrowed it from that article]. The authors are engineers,
who explained that when a river community had three thousand-year
flood events in five years, it was time to redefine a
one-thousand-year event. That it was past time to reevaluate
appropriate event standards with a new, broader measure of caution.
Five percent (higher, wider, stronger) might not be enough anymore.
Twenty-five percent might be better, or in some instances, fifty
percent. [1 February 2008, P.D.C Milly et al, access via
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/319/5863/573.short]</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSq29w5igq2umFE-VNCr8G3O-7yZ2N6-i89vb0N_qrMFUns7wjThq9_qq5FC6b9_Lc6j05hqy70Y5N9uHjlTphSs1Elg0sFTUp92TNe8kW1AmhRMXpMCGtZ2fmKtSX6oY9uelPm3d-c2n/s1600/Peter's%2BCk%2Bblowout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSq29w5igq2umFE-VNCr8G3O-7yZ2N6-i89vb0N_qrMFUns7wjThq9_qq5FC6b9_Lc6j05hqy70Y5N9uHjlTphSs1Elg0sFTUp92TNe8kW1AmhRMXpMCGtZ2fmKtSX6oY9uelPm3d-c2n/s1600/Peter's%2BCk%2Bblowout.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">This washout on Peter's Creek occurred when blockage in the culvert due to debris coincided with a rain burst. Water built up behind the highway levee and pushed through, washing out the soil and road surface above the old culvert.</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Photo by Kathleen Sayce. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Change
goes on around us all the time, both in our culture and in the
natural world. In the past three decades, local air temperature
measurements changed. Plant growing zones are defined by winter low
temperatures, and have been shifting steadily warmer for many
locations. Fifty years ago, the South Coast of Washington was defined
as a region 7 growing area, with winter low temperatures between 0
and 10° F. Today this same geographic area is considered zone 8,
with lows between 10 and 20 °F. Similar changes have happened for
many areas.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Along
with warming winter temperatures, we’ve seen higher summer
temperatures. In 2012, in just one hot spell, over one thousand high
temperature records were broken in the Midwest. Many locations set
new records day after day, until the heat wave finally quit. New
records for consecutive days over 100 °F were also set.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you
are an engineer working on cooling systems, you have to design for
increased cooling capacity. Otherwise, the cooling system will never
work properly. Ditto on insulation and heating standards, stormwater,
and roof snow loads.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
Astoria-Megler Bridge was designed in the 1960s. At the time, the
design standards based on then-current stationarity guidelines looked
pretty good. But now, knowing about local earthquakes and tsunamis,
with ships four to five times larger and ten times heavier, with
longer, heavier commercial trucks, and heavier passenger vehicles,
the bridge is woefully under-designed. A new bridge in this location
today would be designed to a new standard.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">No one
thinks this bridge is in eminent danger of collapse––that is not
the point. The point is that data about traffic loads, weather
extremes, wind loading, and seismic events has changed. The degree of
uncertainty about event severity that can be expected has also
changed. Stationarity has changed.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For a
house, this means more insulation, stronger framing, a tougher roof,
a higher foundation or a location on higher ground. For a road
crossing a river, it may mean a larger culvert or stronger, higher
bridge, along with higher road levels and deeper ditches to each
side. For a stormwater system, it means more capacity.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Last
winter, a rain burst in the west Willapa Hills flooded South Bend,
overloaded culverts that drained west to the bay from there south to
Naselle, and blew out a culvert on Peter's Creek in Naselle, taking
out a section of Highway 4. Part of the flooding was due to blockages
in culverts, and part to culverts that were faced with water flows
well beyond their design capacity.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3O1NKY2ldryedWNMSX1V3wkOIz2r_f_wR6czTaswF0cseeJF5abwguBLQyCJWowi3gRjfXiM6Z1WW-9FWJXXwUMGfiOHZsdhEzPeudiSeSNbhQcjPOjRLbFG9tLhAdlIU7hlvgPlHAQXG/s1600/Ft+Columbia+box+culvert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3O1NKY2ldryedWNMSX1V3wkOIz2r_f_wR6czTaswF0cseeJF5abwguBLQyCJWowi3gRjfXiM6Z1WW-9FWJXXwUMGfiOHZsdhEzPeudiSeSNbhQcjPOjRLbFG9tLhAdlIU7hlvgPlHAQXG/s1600/Ft+Columbia+box+culvert.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The new box culvert on Peter's Creek will look much like this one––a box culvert under Highway 101 that drains Chinook Marsh to Baker's Bay. This is a small bridge, and the new one is being designed now. Note where the dirty concrete begins; this is how high the water gets in this culvert on a regular basis. Photo by Kathleen Sayce</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
culvert that formerly ran under Highway 4 will be replaced with an
open box culvert, which means that there will now be a small bridge
where there once was a corrugated pipe. Engineers are designing it
now. In South Bend, storm drains were cleaned out, and their capacity
will probably be reviewed.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A change
in stationarity means, when constructing anything––a road, a
culvert or bridge, a home, or other structures––it's time to let
go of thinking that we know what might happen based on the past, and
design instead for the next increment stronger, windier, colder,
hotter, wetter, to be appropriate for that structure and location.
The problem with our time is that the weather is not what it used to
be, and our old stationarity standards need to be reset.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-52095573512787609732015-04-02T13:33:00.000-07:002015-04-02T13:33:00.293-07:00Ocean Acidification on the South Coast: Nature at Bat<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">March
23, 2015, ran in early April, 2015</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Understanding
ocean acidification is not simple, because the process of
acidification is not simple. Neither is the rest of nature simple.
Nature is more complex that we can imagine. We can over-harvest,
mine, bomb, poison, pave and otherwise mess up this great world, do
our very best to destroy the ecology that supports our lives, and
yet, nature bats last. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There’s
some predictability: If we pump greenhouse-warming gases into the
atmosphere, the atmosphere will warm up. We are doing this. It is
warming. Those gases are absorbed by water all over the world,
because the balance of gases in the atmosphere is reflected by the
balance of absorbed gases in the water. It’s a slow process,
because there is a lot of water, which can hold a lot of carbonic
acid and heat. That slow time lag between absorption and response has
tricked many into thinking that what we do doesn’t matter to the
global ecology. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Then
there are down-welling and up-welling areas. There are areas of the
oceans where cold salty water accumulates and drops down into the
depths. Called ‘down-welling’ areas, these occur in the north
Pacific, north Atlantic, south Indian Ocean and around Antarctica.
Bottom flowing currents move the cold, salty water across the
seafloor towards continents, where this water rises to the surface,
called ‘upwellings’. There are upwelling areas all around the
world. Some run all the time, others only with winds from certain
directions. In the Pacific Northwest, upwelling usually occurs when
winds are from the northwest in sunny, dry weather.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu2T20LE9rryfpqxLFfkESn_Sv4yPXbNq1MJnSabuORievtLeLOn5zyGz-8adaIds24tRrd825_OlCLSuLpL1eNpYMVtScDgIFCMBig1oOvqD4AGlLRVUBh3YQxHQJVzTfR_ytzbwEn5-x/s1600/fog+bank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu2T20LE9rryfpqxLFfkESn_Sv4yPXbNq1MJnSabuORievtLeLOn5zyGz-8adaIds24tRrd825_OlCLSuLpL1eNpYMVtScDgIFCMBig1oOvqD4AGlLRVUBh3YQxHQJVzTfR_ytzbwEn5-x/s1600/fog+bank.jpg" height="640" width="488" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><blockquote style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;" type="cite">
<div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;">
Upwelling in action: Fog forms over cold water, comes ashore over the beaches, and dissipates over warmer land. On the horizon, blue water indicates the water there is warmer, not upwelled. This aerial is looking north over Ft Stevens across the Columbia Entrance to Cape Disappointment. Photo by Kathleen Sayce</div>
</blockquote>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A summer
day with active upwelling here on the South Coast is foggy with
northwest winds. It’s sunny inland, it might even be sunny on
Willapa Bay, but on the ocean beach it’s foggy. The fog is created
when cold, old, very salty ocean water comes to the surface and cools
the air. Onshore winds push the cold air onshore one, two, five, ten
or twenty miles. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In the
water, something more complex is going on when the acidic upwelled
water reaches the surface. This water is typically thirty to fifty
years old, and can be much older. It’s very salty. It’s high in
some nutrients, and low in oxygen. As upwelled water rises to the
surface, nutrients are taken up by phytoplankton that live only as
deep as sunlight can penetrate into the water––usually less than
fifty feet. Phytoplankton grow quickly in summer, tiny single-celled
plants that can divide several times a day under good conditions.
Those old nutrients are food for the phytoplankton. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Zooplankton
can’t keep pace with the growth of plants. Not all phytoplankton
cells are eaten, and when the excess cells die, they fall to the
seafloor and decompose. This strips oxygen from the water column and
seafloor, killing those animals that need oxygen to survive. Their
bodies also decompose. More oxygen is tied up in each new wave of
decomposition, forming a dead zone of low to no oxygen that expands
as summer progresses. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A large
dead zones appears each summer along the Pacific Northwest Coast;
this year it persisted through winter. It typically extends from
south Vancouver Island to northern California. Affected animals
include crab, clams, fish, zooplankton, and more. Some fungi and
bacteria thrive in low oxygen conditions, and they flourish in this
dead zone, growing into huge carpets of mixed species––all
thriving on no oxygen and high nutrients. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
second complexity is that this water is more acidic than it was a few
hundred or even a few thousand years ago. Remember, what goes into
the atmosphere is absorbed into water. With increasing amounts of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, then in the water there is more and
more carbonic acid, increasing the acidity of seawater. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
third complexity is that this cold, old upwelled water is low in
calcium, and the local rivers are also low in calcium. For mollusks,
calcium is essential to form shells. It also goes into solution
(dissolves) easily in more acidic water, and as we have learned in
the past ten years, more acidic water is not good for oysters and
other bivalve larvae. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There’s
always a weak point, a stage in a life cycle when each organism is
most vulnerable to what appear to be tiny insignificant changes. For
shellfish, this is as larvae, as they undertake the change from the
free-swimming form to the shelled form, prior to settling down to
become adults. At this stage, oysters and other bivalves grow their
proto-shells. But in more and more acidic water, larvae can’t
maintain shells, because the calcium dissolves out as fast as shell
forms. The larvae linger for days to weeks, trying to make the
change. Eventually they die. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But
wait, you say, isn’t there deep, cold, low acid water off Hawaii?
Hasn’t at least one oyster grower got a hatchery there, safe from
the upwelled water? Yes. But oysters are not dominant species of food
webs in the oceans of the world. Coccolithophores are a key animal,
tiny calcium-shelled zooplankton that eat phytoplankton, and in turn
are eaten by larger zooplankton and fish, which are eaten by larger
fish, and on up the food web. Take coccolithophores out, and oceanic
food webs aren’t just on a diet, they collapse. Fish populations
go down; larger fish, birds and mammals that live on them are
impacted too. Fishing fleets. Tribes. Food processors. Sport fishers.
Oceanside restaurants selling fish and chips. Anyone who eats,
catches, processes, and sells saltwater fish is affected. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So there
you have it, a quick look at the complexity of ocean water chemistry,
and the complexity of the ocean food web, and a hint at the coming
changes in ocean ecology. There’s nature, standing near the plate,
swinging the bat to warm up. She’s thinking about what she’ll do
this time. She might bunt, and take out some nearshore ecosystems in
a few key areas. Leave some other spots alone. Or swing for the
fence, and crash major cocolith’ populations, along with sardines,
anchovy and herring. If that happens, tuna, salmon, and other major
fish populations go too, as these fishes are their key food sources.
We simply don’t know what nature’s going to do in response to our
plays, this time, or next time. We will have all the innings we can
manage to stay in the game, but nature bats last. </span>
</div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-25537888534794280912015-03-31T13:27:00.001-07:002017-06-06T08:35:01.635-07:00Considering Mosquitos<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">February
22, 2015 </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kathleen
Sayce</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Insects
are by far the largest of animal groups on the planet, with a
staggering diversity of life forms and life styles. We tend to
reserve a special loathing for insects that feed on blood, and
mosquitos are probably at the top of that list, perhaps because they
descend on their prey in clouds, or bite sleeping bodies, making a
distinctive high-pitched sound that involuntarily triggers a faster
heart beat and higher blood pressure.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That
feeding cloud of mosquitos is composed of females, sometimes with
males hanging around the edges. Successful feeders will depart with a
full stomach of blood, take a day to digest it, then within a few
more days lay eggs in suitable wet habitats. A week later, they
repeat the cycle. The blood provides proteins to make the eggs, which
mosquitoes cannot get from their other food source, flower nectar. In
many species, females live five or six months, and overwinter in a
sort of dormancy. The blood-borne diseases are picked up by females
as they feed on infected hosts, and then spread to those hosts that
they later feed on. The most dangerous mosquito, most likely to carry
a disease, is the older female who has lived a few months and fed
many times on a variety of animals and humans in areas where suitable
diseases are found.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">When
not foraging for a meal of blood, both males and females behave more
like flies––which mosquitos are close relatives to, the word
'mosquito' means “little fly”––congregating in their
preferred habitats, drinking nectar for food, and hanging out. Where
do they hang? It depends on the species. We have more than forty
species of mosquitos in the state, and fourteen species in Pacific
County. Some like salt marshes, and others freshwater marshes. Some
like ponds with dense vegetation on the edges, others seek clean open
water. Some like water-filled holes in trees. Others prefer
manure-rich standing water, including sewage ponds and cattle yards.
Still others seek out tiny containers, gutters, water in tires, or
water-filled hoofprints in mud. Some look for sunny water sources,
others for shade. Many live in lowland areas, but some prefer higher
elevations, living in snowmelt ponds. As for time of day, that also
varies. Some fly at dawn and dusk, others after dark, others in full
daylight, some only in shade. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">As
for blood sources, all mosquitos do not prefer the same choices. Some
only feed on amphibian or reptile blood––in our area, this
includes salamanders and frogs, garter snakes and the occasional
lizard. Others prefer bird blood. Many prefer large mammals, and
those are the ones that we interact with most often. Some are
generalists, mixing up meals between elk, deer, horses, cattle and
people. Those that feed most often on large mammals and move between
species are more likely to carry diseases. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">In
the 19</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century, malaria was endemic in the Pacific Northwest. Anopheles
mosquitoes carry malaria, and were already here, disease-free, when
humans carrying malaria arrived as settlers; and so for some decades,
malaria was a chronic disease east of the Coast Range from Olympia
south to the bottom of the Willamette Valley. This shows a typical
pattern of disease transmission: Infected animals or humans enter a
previously disease-free area, and mosquitos that carry that disease
are already present, and begin moving the disease to new hosts. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The
list of mosquito-carried diseases that have been found in North
America is impressive: Western and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (WEE,
EEE), St Louis Encephalitis (SLE), Japanese B Encephalitis (JBE),
California Encephalitis (CE), Venezuelan Encephalitis (VE), West Nile
Virus (WNV), Dengue virus, Malaria, Avian Malaria, Yellow Fever.
There are also several localized diseases of specific areas. The
actual disease organism may be a virus or protozoan; Plasmodium
species, which are protozoans, are often disease-causing organisms,
including multiple forms of malaria. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">While
many have railed that mosquitos fill no useful purpose, the fact is,
they are here. Widespread use of DDT in the 20</span><sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
century demonstrated that attempting to wipe out mosquito populations
with chemicals has disastrous unintended consequences on local
ecosystems. Reducing their numbers, rather than waging all out war,
is a better strategy. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">First,
know which species live in your community. It's very likely that
there are several species, not one. Know the species, and you will
know the larval habitat that species prefers. This is very
important––without knowing what species you have, you may well
spend your time and money in the wrong activities in the wrong
places. Communities with mosquito control programs have staff that
spend their time collecting larval and adult mosquitos and
identifying which species live where; once they know the species,
then they can work on the next step, below. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Second,
reduce available larval habitat, or improve predation on larvae in
those habitats. This is a good strategy for salt and freshwater pond
and marsh mosquitos. Reduce and eliminate small sources of water too.
These include old tires, bird baths, buckets and toys filled with
water, gutters with standing water. Mosquitos can go from freshly
laid eggs to adults in less than a week, so if you have bird baths,
change the water at least twice a week. In ponds and ditches, Bti, a
bacterial disease that kills larvae, helps with some species.
Gambusia, a tiny guppy, eats mosquito larvae in freshwater ponds and
lakes. There are other strategies too, these are just starting points
to reduce larvae numbers. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Third,
protect your home so that mosquitoes do not live indoors with you.
Screened doors and windows are the first line of defense. Some
species like to live around and in buildings. Keep your screens in
good shape, and they will help keep mosquitos out of homes. Bed nets
are also good, especially where night flying, malaria-carrying
species are common. Currently this is not a local problem, but is
very important where Anopheles mosquitoes and Plasmodium malarial
species both live. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fourth,
cover your skin when outside. Mosquito hats (hats with fine netting
from the brim to the shoulders), long sleeves, long pants, and good
repellants all help. One summer Frank and I measured shore pine trees
at Leadbetter Point in late June. Local populations of a native
freshwater marsh mosquito were at their annual peak. We wore mesh
hats, long sleeves and pants, used DEET repellant. Frank cored trees;
I counted cores. The mosquito clouds were so dense that it was
difficult to see the growth rings to count them, or my notes as I
wrote down figures. We had to reapply DEET every 30 minutes to our
hands, because after 25 minutes, the mosquitoes stopped hovering an
inch or two above the skin, and started landing to feed. About day
three, preparing for that day's work took sheer nerve!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">As
the weather warms up, after this unseasonably warm winter, expect
hungry female mosquitoes to fly soon, and be ready for a long
mosquito season. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-90260494357993439622015-02-26T22:45:00.000-08:002017-06-06T08:36:35.620-07:00Considering mosquitos <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">February
22, 2015</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Insects
are by far the largest of animal groups on the planet, with a
staggering diversity of life forms and life styles. We tend to
reserve a special loathing for insects that feed on blood, and
mosquitos are probably at the top of that list, perhaps because they
descend on their prey in clouds, or bite sleeping bodies, making a
distinctive high-pitched sound that involuntarily triggers a faster
heart beat and higher blood pressure.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That
feeding cloud of mosquitos is composed of females, sometimes with
males hanging around the edges. Successful feeders will depart with a
full stomach of blood, take a day to digest it, then within a few
more days lay eggs in suitable wet habitats. A week later, they
repeat the cycle. The blood provides proteins to make the eggs, which
mosquitoes cannot get from their other food source, flower nectar. In
many species, females live five or six months, and overwinter in a
sort of dormancy. The blood-borne diseases are picked up by females
as they feed on infected hosts, and then spread to those hosts that
they later feed on. The most dangerous mosquito, most likely to carry
a disease, is the older female who has lived a few months and fed
many times on a variety of animals and humans in areas where suitable
diseases are found.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When
not foraging for a meal of blood, both males and females behave more
like flies––which mosquitos are close relatives to, the word
'mosquito' means “little fly”––congregating in their
preferred habitats, drinking nectar for food, and hanging out. Where
do they hang? It depends on the species. We have more than forty
species of mosquitos in the state, and fourteen species in Pacific
County. Some like salt marshes, and others freshwater marshes. Some
like ponds with dense vegetation on the edges, others seek clean open
water. Some like water-filled holes in trees. Others prefer
manure-rich standing water, including sewage ponds and cattle yards.
Still others seek out tiny containers, gutters, water in tires, or
water-filled hoofprints in mud. Some look for sunny water sources,
others for shade. Many live in lowland areas, but some prefer higher
elevations, living in snowmelt ponds. As for time of day, that also
varies. Some fly at dawn and dusk, others after dark, others in full
daylight, some only in shade.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As
for blood sources, all mosquitos do not prefer the same choices. Some
only feed on amphibian or reptile blood––in our area, this
includes salamanders and frogs, garter snakes and the occasional
lizard. Others prefer bird blood. Many prefer large mammals, and
those are the ones that we interact with most often. Some are
generalists, mixing up meals between elk, deer, horses, cattle and
people. Those that feed most often on large mammals and move between
species are more likely to carry diseases.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In
the 19<sup>th</sup>
century, malaria was endemic in the Pacific Northwest. Anopheles
mosquitoes carry malaria, and were already here, disease-free, when
humans carrying malaria arrived as settlers; and so for some decades,
malaria was a chronic disease east of the Coast Range from Olympia
south to the bottom of the Willamette Valley. This shows a typical
pattern of disease transmission: Infected animals or humans enter a
previously disease-free area, and mosquitos that carry that disease
are already present, and begin moving the disease to new hosts.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
list of mosquito-carried diseases that have been found in North
America is impressive: Western and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (WEE,
EEE), St Louis Encephalitis (SLE), Japanese B Encephalitis (JBE),
California Encephalitis (CE), Venezuelan Encephalitis (VE), West Nile
Virus (WNV), Dengue virus, Malaria, Avian Malaria, Yellow Fever.
There are also several localized diseases of specific areas. The
actual disease organism may be a virus or protozoan; Plasmodium
species, which are protozoans, are often disease-causing organisms,
including multiple forms of malaria.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While
many have railed that mosquitos fill no useful purpose, the fact is,
they are here. Widespread use of DDT in the 20<sup>th</sup>
century demonstrated that attempting to wipe out mosquito populations
with chemicals has disastrous unintended consequences on local
ecosystems. Reducing their numbers, rather than waging all out war,
is a better strategy.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First,
know which species live in your community. It's very likely that
there are several species, not one. Know the species, and you will
know the larval habitat that species prefers. This is very
important––without knowing what species you have, you may well
spend your time and money in the wrong activities in the wrong
places. Communities with mosquito control programs have staff that
spend their time collecting larval and adult mosquitos and
identifying which species live where; once they know the species,
then they can work on the next step, below.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Second,
reduce available larval habitat, or improve predation on larvae in
those habitats. This is a good strategy for salt and freshwater pond
and marsh mosquitos. Reduce and eliminate small sources of water too.
These include old tires, bird baths, buckets and toys filled with
water, gutters with standing water. Mosquitos can go from freshly
laid eggs to adults in less than a week, so if you have bird baths,
change the water at least twice a week. In ponds and ditches, Bti, a
bacterial disease that kills larvae, helps with some species.
Gambusia, a tiny guppy, eats mosquito larvae in freshwater ponds and
lakes. There are other strategies too, these are just starting points
to reduce larvae numbers.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Third,
protect your home so that mosquitoes do not live indoors with you.
Screened doors and windows are the first line of defense. Some
species like to live around and in buildings. Keep your screens in
good shape, and they will help keep mosquitos out of homes. Bed nets
are also good, especially where night flying, malaria-carrying
species are common. Currently this is not a local problem, but is
very important where Anopheles mosquitoes and Plasmodium malarial
species both live.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fourth,
cover your skin when outside. Mosquito hats (hats with fine netting
from the brim to the shoulders), long sleeves, long pants, and good
repellants all help. One summer Frank and I measured shore pine trees
at Leadbetter Point in late June. Local populations of a native
freshwater marsh mosquito were at their annual peak. We wore mesh
hats, long sleeves and pants, used DEET repellant. Frank cored trees;
I counted cores. The mosquito clouds were so dense that it was
difficult to see the growth rings to count them, or my notes as I
wrote down figures. We had to reapply DEET every 30 minutes to our
hands, because after 25 minutes, the mosquitoes stopped hovering an
inch or two above the skin, and started landing to feed. About day
three, preparing for that day's work took sheer nerve!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As
the weather warms up, after this unseasonably warm winter, expect
hungry female mosquitoes to fly soon, and be ready for a long
mosquito season.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-92157995802498066352015-01-29T19:11:00.000-08:002015-01-29T19:11:00.258-08:00Weird Winter Weather<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">January
22, 2015</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In
early fall, sea surface temperature measurements for the eastern
Pacific Ocean showed that a large area of unusually warm water was
persisting at mid latitudes in the northern hemisphere. Historically
unusual, perhaps, but the oceans have been soaking up a lot of heat
in the past century, and it's bound to start coming out.
Climatologists were also trying to decide if the equatorial Pacific
Ocean was going to shift into a recognizable El Nino-Southern
Oscillation (ENSO) pattern for surface water temperatures and winds,
which also impacts higher latitudes. There had been moderately strong
signals for months that an ENSO might start this fall or winter, but
thus far this has not developed into a recognizable ENSO pattern.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
emerging seasonal prediction for this winter was that we would have a
drier, warmer winter. Well, the warmer part is definitely correct. As
for drier, the South Coast has seen a mix of conditions. On one hand,
there have been blocks of days to weeks of dry weather. On the other
hand, there has been a steady progression of atmospheric rivers, also
called Pineapple Expresses, with a tendency to extremely intense rain
'events' or cloudbursts within these storms, as happened just a few
weeks ago, when South Bend flooded, and a small creek in Naselle
overflowed and blew out a culvert on Highway 4 at the Naselle Youth
Camp. Rainfall was around 8 inches at the peak day of the storm, most
of which fell in less than six hours.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We
depend on consistency in weather patterns, and in seasons.
Communities, timberlands, agriculture and outdoor recreation all rely
on this consistency. Portland and Seattle metro areas store water
reserves in high elevation lakes, which are fed by snow and glacier
melt. With dry warm winters, the snowpack they rely on for summer
water is not stored in the high Cascades. Regional soils recharge
with long winter rains, flowing to streams and rivers for fish
habitat and into soils to promote tree and crop growth. In our area,
most residents have shallow wells, tapping the upper edge of the
highest freshwater aquifer layer on the peninsula. If we don't get
enough rainfall to fill local lakes and marshes to overflowing, then
the aquifer doesn't recharge in winter. Low snow pack also means poor
skiing, which impacts ski resorts in the Cascades and eastward. Major
disruptions in winter precipitation affect many aspects of life in
the Pacific Northwest. As for recent strandings of sea turtles on
local beaches, and lingering brown pelicans, both species are farther
north than normal because of that warm water offshore.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This
winter has been notable for several atypical weather features:
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mild
nights, often around 45 to 50 F, and few cold periods. Temperatures
at sea level have rarely dropped below 27 F this winter. Yes, we had
light frosts a few nights ago, but no hard frosts, no days to weeks
of freezing temperatures or snow on the ground.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Periods
of intense rain have occurred several times, when four or more inches
fell in just a few hours.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tornado
warnings––now that is really outside the 'normal' box. I don't
recall NOAA forecasting a tornado warning for our area at all, until
this winter.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A
change in the intensity of atmospheric rivers (AR) is another issue.
Regional weather records don't go back very far, little more than 170
years in most cases. So it's interesting to look back at historic
records for AR, given that as the climate warms, these huge warm
storms are expected to intensify, e.g. be larger, last longer, and
deliver more warm equatorial water to higher latitudes. Right now, AR
deliver around thirty percent of the water that moves from the
Equator to high latitudes, and this percentage is expected to
increase to fifty percent or more in coming decades.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In
the winter of 1861/2 there was a mega-AR, which become the
thousand-year-storm standard for the West Coast. Abbreviated
'ARKstorm' (atmospheric river, 1000 years = K, storm), this AR
blasted the West Coast from northern Mexico to southern British
Columbia for 41 to 47 days. All major rivers flooded along the West
Coast. The Los Angeles Basin and Central Valley went underwater,
including the newly formed state capital of Sacramento, California.
The Columbia and most of its tributaries flooded. Smaller rivers
along the coast from northern California to Vancouver Island flooded.
We haven't had a thousand-year storm since, but the odds of weather
like this coming again, and soon, are likely.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
weather reality for this winter is much warmer air temperatures, with
strong storms. Instead of long soaking days of rain, there are
intense short bursts of precipitation that flood local streams and
swamp communities. It's the new normal. As for the lack of cold
weather––find a mesh hat and repellant. The mosquito hatch this
spring and early summer should be tremendous. Likewise, slugs and
snails will be more numerous, unless there is a very cold period
before winter's end.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Safety
note: If you do not have a NOAA weather radio at home, get one. Yes,
they send out weekly tests, on Wednesdays, usually around noon, and
yes, you do have to turn the test off or it stays on for hours. The
plus is that you <u>will</u>
hear the warnings for thunderstorms, tornadoes, and far-source
tsunamis, and other hazard events, directly from the weather service
and without any need to use computers or your phone. The radios are
inexpensive and work right out of the box. County emergency services
and local amateur radio operators can help reprogram them if needed. </span>
</div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-20236081728055884932015-01-12T19:15:00.001-08:002015-01-12T19:15:09.370-08:00Desmostylia––Ancient Sirenians (Manatees) of the North Pacific<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">December
11, 2014</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This
area of southwest Washington and northwest Oregon was underwater for
many, many millions of years, which means that marine animals lived
here along with fishes and a wide range of invertebrates, even though
we do not have fossils from every square mile to look at today. So we
look around the Pacific Rim to learn about the diversity of species
that formerly lived here.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One
of the strangest animals from our watery past is Desmostylia. A
chunky, stout aquatic mammal of shallow waters and shorelines, it is
distantly related to modern manatees, which are Sirenians. Formerly
much more common in geologic time, Sirenians include three living
species of manatees, one dugong, and the recently extinct Steller's
sea cow. Their closest living relatives are elephants and hyraxes.
Fossil Sirenian species in the Desmostylia group lived from the
Oligocene to the late Miocene, about 25 million years, ending about 7
mya (millions of years ago). By the Miocene our area was a shallow
sea with several river deltas and emerging mountain ranges, and with
extensive swamps along the eastern edge, near the position of the
modern Cascade Range. Climate was warmer in the Miocene, tropical to
subtropical, and sea level was a couple of hundred feet higher.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Desmostylia
fossils, including full skeletons and partial bits of bones, teeth
and skulls, have been found around the North Pacific, from the south
end of Japan, through Siberia, the Aleutian Islands, Pacific
Northwest, south to the south tip of Baja California. Teeth make
particularly good fossils because they are hard and slow to break
down. Desmostylia has interesting large molars, along with more
typical mammalian tusks and canine teeth. These teeth have been
described as bundles of columns, which gives them their name, from
the Greek <i>desmos</i>
(bundle) and <i>stylos</i>
(pillar).
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These
mammals were aquatic, and from isotopic analysis of teeth and bones,
we know that they were marine. Other marine mammal features include
retracted nostrils (tightly closed when underwater), and raised eye
sockets (to see better at the surface). Stocky and stout, they
weighed up to 440 pounds and were about six feet long, with a heavy
shovel-shaped head and large strong teeth, short strong legs, and
broad feet. You can see a complete desmostylian skeleton of at the
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. This individual lived
10 million years ago, towards the end of the Miocene. The museum has
also done reconstructions of living animals, to give us an idea of
what they were like.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There
are no modern analogs to these mammals. For size comparisons, black
bears and wild boars (feral pigs) can grow to 400 pounds or more in
size. Hippopotamuses weigh up to 3,300 pounds, and live in
freshwater, though some populations live in mangrove swamps. Manatees
weigh up to 1,300 pounds, and live entirely in water. We could think
of Desmostylia as a small hippo, in a sense, though they are not
closely related.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With
broad grinding molars, Desmostylians were herbivores. In marine and
estuarine waters, what did they eat? Sea grasses and seaweeds,
including kelps, are the mostly likely food plants. These plants live
in shallow saltwater in large, dense stands. There was another
powerful reason to stay in shallow water: Megalodon cruised the open
waters of the world's warm oceans and seas. Desmostylia were about
the right size to this huge shark to be like chicken nuggets to us.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Imagine
if today 400-pound, six-feet-long marine herbivores grazed eelgrass
beds in Willapa Bay. They'd jostle with the seals for haul out space,
or sprawl in the marshes around the edges, and graze down the
eelgrass stands at mid to high tide. Water quality might be an issue.
Herbivores tend to produce a lot of poop, about five to seven times
the volume, based on body size, that carnivores do. Today, hippos are
one of the most dangerous animals we live around. Desmostylia might
be similarly dangerous––placid until someone gets too close, and
then those large teeth come into action, and oops, there's another
ex-kayaker or ex-hiker. It would definitely make boating on the bay
lively!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For
more information, and good reconstructions of Desmostylian, see</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u>http://www.thisviewoflife.com/index.php/magazine/articles/10-million-year-old-desmostylian-roamed-ancient-pacific</u></span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Natural History Museum of Los Angeles has great photos of skeletons and animal reconstructions. </span>
</div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-58198505167999146622014-12-04T15:53:00.000-08:002014-12-04T15:53:00.608-08:00Waiter, there's a fly in my wine!<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kathleen Sayce</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My
glass of wine was buzzed by a fruit fly last week. A few hours later, it drowned
in the dregs left in the glass. From early summer into fall, fruit
flies are common in homes. There are also several species that live
in warm winter areas of North America, and spread north each summer,
rather like butterflies with northward migrations, but a lot less
attractive. Fruit flies also overwinter in buildings, and live
outside year round in warmer climates, hence the fly in the wine in
November. Despite rigorous sanitation measures, it can be impossible
to keep them out of your home by late summer. Flies spread around
neighborhoods, with successive generations making their way indoors,
following the scent of ripening fruits. Once indoors, they can live,
and overwinter, hibernating until warmer weather returns.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
common fruit fly,<i> Drosophila melanogaster,</i> takes up residence in our
homes each summer. Only three millimeters long, this fly can go from
egg to adult in seven to ten days, and usually lives no more than
thirty days. It is widely used in genetic studies, due to its short
lifecycle and ease of maintenance. Females can lay one hundred eggs
per day, and perhaps two thousand over one lifetime, so if you do
nothing to stop them, your house will fill quickly with flies! Native
to the tropics in Asia and Africa, this fly lives on all continents
except Antarctica. It survives cold seasons by moving indoors, and
then expands its range each summer. It also comes north in summer,
riding along with containers of fruit. Here along the coast, this fly
probably does not survive outside, as our winters are usually too
cold. It overwinters outside in southern California and across the
southern tier of states, as do other species of fruit flies.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Flies
hang around ripening fruit, including berries, squashes, tomatoes,
apples, bananas and stone fruits. They eat juices, and lay eggs in
the fruit, and will also use vegetables. Actions that help reduce
them indoors include: wipe surfaces to clean up after food
preparation; do not store fruit or vegetables on countertops for days
to weeks at a time; clean fresh fruits and vegetables as they come
into your home, keep your garbage can covered, and the sink drains
and disposal clean.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In
a warm dry summer with ripening food outside as well as inside, you
will inevitably have problems by August or September as the summer
population explosion takes hold. If you have a compost pile outside,
locate it well away from your door, so that flies cannot quickly and
easily fly into your home. Placing a hummingbird feeder near compost
piles helps too, as hummingbirds eat fruit flies and other small
insects.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Commercial
fly traps emit carbon dioxide, ethers and other yeasty scents. You
can make your own traps using red wine, or a fermenting mixture of
fruit juice with sugar and yeast, or apple cider vinegar with rotting
fruit. Wine seems to disorient them the most, making it more likely
that they will stay in the trap and drown in the wine. I have not
tried a milk plus sugar and ground black pepper formula, but some
people say this makes the best trap of all.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
trap requires a container. I use glass jars for traps; clear jars
help you keep watch on how many flies have been caught, and whether
the cover is keeping them inside. If they can walk out, then they
will dip into the liquid for a drink––like a smoothie for
humans––and then climb right back out and resume patrolling your
kitchen, your house and even your face for food. They are tracking
the scent of CO2 and fermentation juices when they fly around your
face, not that this is appreciated by us!
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Covers
to keep the flies inside the trap include cones of paper with narrow
openings at the bottom, taped down to jars, so that they cannot fly
out. Long cones (more than 2 inches long) in tall jars (more than 6
inches tall) seem to work better than short ones; some flies figure
out that they can walk around short cones to their freedom. Another
cover is plastic wrap over the top of a jar with a few small holes in
it, about one millimeter wide or slightly larger, pricked with a
toothpick. They wriggle in via the holes, feed on the liquid inside,
and then can't get out. Or use a plastic baggie with one corner
snipped open (very small opening—just large enough to let the fly
get in, 1-2 millimeters), placed over the top of the jar or glass.
Smooth the baggie down inside to make a cone with the hole near the
wine, vinegar or yeasty fruit juice inside the glass, and anchor it
with a rubber band on the outside.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To
dispose, you can dump the contents into soapy water for ten minutes,
then wash down the drain, or dump outside, well away from any doors.
Then you can clean and fill your trap for the next round. Cleaning
and refreshing the trap every week seems to help get the last flies
each fall. Mid to late fall is a good time to get the flies out of
your house, and reduce the odds that they will overwinter indoors. </span>
</div>
Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-4397977802769316482014-10-22T15:45:00.001-07:002014-10-22T15:45:45.253-07:00How far should you toss a snail?<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Have
you ever wondered where slug and snail eggs are laid? Or how fast and
how far slugs and snails can move in a night? How about tossing them
out of your garden, if you don’t like killing these invertebrates?
Or why, when on morning slug patrol, day after day, there seems to be
no lack of these animals in your garden? I think about all of these
topics when I'm in my garden.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Slugs
and snails are mollusks, one with a shell, one without, that moved to
land from water millions of years ago. It’s been a successful shift
for them. Mollusks are one of the most prolific and diverse animal
phyla on earth; the air-breathing species are both abundant and
widespread. These species no longer need to live in water for any
stage of their life cycle. In our temperate and humid climate,
several species are very much at home in gardens.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB11Bjgh2MKzMufJp9eQxGa0UoPFUS6JjLIffoQALgxW0w3bjlgRvLn2oyq9YOFtORy-GBGdzbZ27f8oX3Dj1hq1feSKL6j8W2A9MUeVVoaYBgSE8VzJVcZQMr6hcHTaCU3_ZJiOwNnExm/s1600/dandelion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB11Bjgh2MKzMufJp9eQxGa0UoPFUS6JjLIffoQALgxW0w3bjlgRvLn2oyq9YOFtORy-GBGdzbZ27f8oX3Dj1hq1feSKL6j8W2A9MUeVVoaYBgSE8VzJVcZQMr6hcHTaCU3_ZJiOwNnExm/s1600/dandelion.jpg" height="376" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">Dandelion leaves are smooth, thin and sharply lobed, and grow in low rosettes with one flower per stem. It flowers in spring and again in fall.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvpJOmmqIV-BG6X5Hw4mLWQEmpG-OUxv4OC-yfVxq9e8veMVUE-cQgyXUwrS4sxsjtmouTHG1LlS7pvChL4cW0vzMplt_79YsSVMtp530jEvdDn3H-3xeJBSDGxuK-THb5tTRzW1Y6fbk/s1600/catsear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvpJOmmqIV-BG6X5Hw4mLWQEmpG-OUxv4OC-yfVxq9e8veMVUE-cQgyXUwrS4sxsjtmouTHG1LlS7pvChL4cW0vzMplt_79YsSVMtp530jEvdDn3H-3xeJBSDGxuK-THb5tTRzW1Y6fbk/s1600/catsear.jpg" height="391" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">Rosettes of hairy cat's-ear are thick, dotted with hairs and roundly lobed; plants grow in thick rosettes with several flowers per stem. It flowers from summer into fall.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Eggs
are laid under plants in the soil to keep them moist. Introduced
daisies, including hairy cat’s-ear, </span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Hypochaeris
radicata,</i></span><span style="font-size: small;">
and dandelion, </span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Taraxacum
officinale,</i></span><span style="font-size: small;">
are good covers for European slugs and snails. Native slugs and
snails prefer damp forest duff layers, and do not lay eggs in
gardens. Eggs are soft walled and flexible. They need to stay moist
if the tiny creatures are to survive and emerge. Eggs are laid in mid
to late spring; young slugs and snails hatch two to four weeks later.<br />
</span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hatchlings
eat their way out their eggs, then the tiny mollusks begin a life of
eating and growing. Native slugs and snails eat fungi, decaying wood,
and mosses in the woods. Introduced species prefer garden plants and
do not normally enter natural woodlands.</span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Natural
pests include many birds, especially when the mollusks are very
small. Chickens will eat both eggs and young. Ducks and garter snakes
prefer the larger animals. In fact, garter snakes are excellent slug
predators. A nice warm compost pile, a few smooth warm rocks to bask
on, a source of freshwater in the garden, and you have all the
amenities of life that a garter snake prefers, along with fresh slugs
and snails for them to eat.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGD7ftK2gCBJdJsaFrxQmShunlYwvO3egz3fs-SxoAXUZWvF6ZcdPhjJeMi86WJG5JU94IYieDq5XGNLO3_8PXfzLTh0IWuYgQeEaxMlqvuxFz4w-XbcWznJgDfLq5lGKFL2R-1AcaGi1_/s1600/baby+slug1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGD7ftK2gCBJdJsaFrxQmShunlYwvO3egz3fs-SxoAXUZWvF6ZcdPhjJeMi86WJG5JU94IYieDq5XGNLO3_8PXfzLTh0IWuYgQeEaxMlqvuxFz4w-XbcWznJgDfLq5lGKFL2R-1AcaGi1_/s1600/baby+slug1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">A young slug on a cat's-ear leaf hatched just a few days ago. All of the mollusks that use leaf rosettes in lawns for egg cover and food are introduced species; most are from Europe.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Like
deer, European slugs and snails have cosmopolitan tastes––they
will browse anything new at least once while deciding if it’s
edible or not. One year I planted a native orchid, carefully enclosed
it in a ring of slug bait, went back to the house for the durable
tag––and when I came back out a few minutes later, a spotted
leopard slug and a brown snail were circling the bait ring, enticed
by the new plant. The next year, they left it alone.</span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh37g3cF9aPfBO8r3Z8qXb2DGC_fAmFW8gJXtD-WIGCOhy0CH12Oci_VvP40mz-2X02g6NfOIsm2sJnG_GbCt7p2TzBJX_w-LyyPH4JesoYdASVyFKiUMMtMg1W2ac-kcvEKl4zraDA8ZQU/s1600/slug+n+snail+w+orchid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh37g3cF9aPfBO8r3Z8qXb2DGC_fAmFW8gJXtD-WIGCOhy0CH12Oci_VvP40mz-2X02g6NfOIsm2sJnG_GbCt7p2TzBJX_w-LyyPH4JesoYdASVyFKiUMMtMg1W2ac-kcvEKl4zraDA8ZQU/s1600/slug+n+snail+w+orchid.jpg" height="454" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">A leopard slug (lower left) and European brown snail (at top) circle a new plant in their food space, a native stream orchid. These mollusks found the orchid within minutes after it was planted in early spring. The light ring is slug bait, the dark layer beneath is compost. The slug is arching up over the bait to smell the plant; the snail tasted the bait and is withdrawing.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If
you aren’t comfortable cutting, crushing or salting these animals,
is tossing effective? How far must you toss a snail or slug to keep
it from coming back? Several scientists in England who are also
gardeners studied this in their own gardens and neighborhoods. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One
man used dots of white paint on snail shells, and tossed them out of
his garden, over two fences onto open land, adding a dot every time a
previously marked snail showed up. The record holder was a snail
that returned 17 times. The average time to return was a month. The
next year, he worked with a statistician, numbered the snails and
either tossed them (even numbers) or moved them about 70 feet (20
meters) to another garden (odd numbers). Only 3 of 151 odd-numbered
snails returned.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Another
gardener tested snail homing abilities by painting numbers on her
snails, persuading her neighbors to do the same, all using different
colors, one color for each garden, then swapped them around in the
neighborhood. She found that snails can often find the way back, over a
distance of about 32 feet (10 meters).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">An
ecologist working with her was intrigued by this finding. He attached
LEDs to some snails, and painted others with glow-in-the-dark paints.
Using time-lapse photography, he found that snails move about 1 meter
(3.2 ft) a hour at top speed, and could move up to 10 meters (32 ft)
per night. “In wet weather, they form convoys, sliding along the
slime trails of preceding snails, which Hodgson suspects helps them
save energy.” (New Scientist, 12 July 2014, page 37) To see a
time-lapse video of LED-marked snails, go to
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/08/timelapse-video-of-hundreds-of-snails-tagged-with-leds-at-night/ </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If
snails keep returning, is tossing useful? Yes, because it may help
give plants a break in being eaten. They grow stronger with a few
days of rest from munching, and when the snails return, plants are
better able to cope with the damage. The farther away the snails are
taken, the fewer return; 20 meters (70 ft) is good as a
tossing/moving distance, but even 5 meters (16 ft) gives plants a few
days break.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Both
slugs and snails can be seen determinedly gliding somewhere, heading
for their preferred foods in my garden when weather is cloudy and
moist. This is a good time to practice slug and snail tossing. Just
don't toss them into your neighbor's garden!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_MPPfL9ZzcY5QbvRr247w-KPzpgxWvHPV77yd-2QKwBLH4UtnoCjTuuZebLUhq7rzOocv7Lr8D4YOSG30WXeEcVxt49xoYi5fPEPlLbaIY7on0Zt4DCHgtqfC4Ak7txD2lPqo7-MG4wI/s1600/catsear+patch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_MPPfL9ZzcY5QbvRr247w-KPzpgxWvHPV77yd-2QKwBLH4UtnoCjTuuZebLUhq7rzOocv7Lr8D4YOSG30WXeEcVxt49xoYi5fPEPlLbaIY7on0Zt4DCHgtqfC4Ak7txD2lPqo7-MG4wI/s1600/catsear+patch.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">Think of this patch of hairy cat's-ear as a slug factory, capable of hatching thousands of baby slugs each year. It's also a late summer nectar source for Woodland Skipper and other butterflies. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;"><br /></span>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">Published October 22, 2014 in the Chinook Observer. </span></div>
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Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759086790673862914.post-51797197930967203842014-09-11T13:11:00.000-07:002014-09-21T13:27:40.461-07:00Dark Data, or What's in Your Closet?<div style="min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Dark data are collections of objects or information that reside in a business's files, an office, a garage, or home, which could provide important information for researchers, businesses or historians, if they only knew these data exist. There are many stories of finding letters, original music scores, paintings, diaries, buckets of fossils, which provided important information to someone. Dark data have been around ever since humans began collecting objects, and then forgetting about them, a generation or so later.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We all have family and friends with collections of rocks, butterflies, feathers, fossils, old letters, comic books, diaries or journals, photographs, stamps, ceramics, scrapbooks, and other artifacts of past decades and former lives. In my own family, my father collected mollusk shells and cameras, my grandmother kept family artifacts and letters, and I have stacks of dried plant specimens and a living collection of bulbs. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHs6-Gw465dmsN7npmvUq84qlDQaH8Xi0p3p0YBxYqvp_48m1X6MHSRtMA7Es7marYqLksrV7nMksHShcNohQMP6QMlZPSdlIcr4Cju7zvzVQBoJ0ycAVlrywZQWWqvaz1DAKw5kASU2y_/s1600/KS-Scrapbooks-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHs6-Gw465dmsN7npmvUq84qlDQaH8Xi0p3p0YBxYqvp_48m1X6MHSRtMA7Es7marYqLksrV7nMksHShcNohQMP6QMlZPSdlIcr4Cju7zvzVQBoJ0ycAVlrywZQWWqvaz1DAKw5kASU2y_/s1600/KS-Scrapbooks-1.JPG" height="400" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Gordon's scrapbook collection now resides at Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum. This and other photos showing his collection were taken by Barbara Minard, courtesy Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, Ilwaco, Washington. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-Ee-uQ3qILN37oMvy3PJcSyl6-BVivgi8so4eEZR9_cL_R-BTcofT4VApWK2hfxutXmIsAWSbzMv1MmhjWgRgUYmqt9283GMMlNUAxTOK66Y2eUbGWLxQpvmebg2JBRiD2hiFiRyAgKg/s1600/KS-Scrapbooks-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-Ee-uQ3qILN37oMvy3PJcSyl6-BVivgi8so4eEZR9_cL_R-BTcofT4VApWK2hfxutXmIsAWSbzMv1MmhjWgRgUYmqt9283GMMlNUAxTOK66Y2eUbGWLxQpvmebg2JBRiD2hiFiRyAgKg/s1600/KS-Scrapbooks-2.JPG" height="216" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Gordon's media varied over the years, but the detailed documentation did not change. Image c</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">ourtesy of Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, Ilwaco, Washington. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The problem with collections accelerates when the collector dies. Some collections retain value to the family for generations. Fossils and artifacts of past cultures found on family lands are examples of collections that are often retained for many generations by the descendants of the collectors, because of their pride in and strong connection to the land. Other collections are too often seen as so much trash, to be tossed when the collector is gone. A notable natural historian lived here on the peninsula and collected insects, mammals, shells and other biota for several decades. When he died, his heirs tossed the lot. Perhaps they did not want the bother of sorting and sending to museums. All that energy, time and information, all those items, were lost to regional natural history museums and future natural historians. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Two men who died in the past twelve months were lifelong scrapbookers. One was Gordon Schoewe, whose 82 scrapbooks went to the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum. The other was my father in law, who left more than 100 scrapbooks to his family; his father also compiled scrapbooks and left more than 30. These men documented their daily lives in amazing detail, often filling one book per year, with photos, tickets, letters, cards, other paper artifacts, and annotations. Gordon's books also included his artwork. In my father in law's books were cartoons and sketches of maps, diagrams and numerous comments about events and people. As cultural artifacts, these books describe life in the 20<sup>th</sup> century in amazing detail. It has been said that the past is another country. By describing their lives day by day and year by year, we can visit this richly detailed past in their books. For cultural museums, these books have great value. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsb-xpyvUbCE42KKc1MPlgLpjMaQ4y1oJZxt7U9x3ba6ScBfPyydxu26ZZFjPMRAPmUY57SzcOCoOTn0jZLjrNU2JgA9jdG7ixO5oJ_5VyvkIecMS8MhQl5nhbty7kx-TaEZekJ9e7Odpg/s1600/KS-Scrapbooks-4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsb-xpyvUbCE42KKc1MPlgLpjMaQ4y1oJZxt7U9x3ba6ScBfPyydxu26ZZFjPMRAPmUY57SzcOCoOTn0jZLjrNU2JgA9jdG7ixO5oJ_5VyvkIecMS8MhQl5nhbty7kx-TaEZekJ9e7Odpg/s1600/KS-Scrapbooks-4.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">One open page in one of Gordon's books shows clippings about military friends. C</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">ourtesy Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, Ilwaco, Washington. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Not all collections are alike in value, and that value is usually intellectual. The most important are those that have provenance––annotations about when, where and how the objects were obtained. Without this provenance, collections are just assemblages of stuff once the collector is gone. The line between collectors and hoarders can be pretty thin, and well documented provenance is a key difference between them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's a term for the process of losing annotations for collections: ghost data. Someone put thought and energy into gathering and holding those objects, but unless they also wrote down where, when, who, and other details, and impressed their heirs with the need to pass on these materials with that information, those collections are doomed to become ghosts. On the other hand, when those collections are documented, annotated, and find their ways to appropriate museums, they become a resource for future generations, even when they aren't immediately put on display. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW4WpwNv7-klsxo7Q_x_MVjUk6jU-ShXPonFsC9I3exyAw2itGFixNKZ7gqWB_J2Hbc-xsgqhlsXMOEDmSF1NQbl7Zj1Bh3JCfKBSX-Pua3rK2Sop7K5qBiffHz4Hc9ynP6wsXLUzASSdD/s1600/new+dock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW4WpwNv7-klsxo7Q_x_MVjUk6jU-ShXPonFsC9I3exyAw2itGFixNKZ7gqWB_J2Hbc-xsgqhlsXMOEDmSF1NQbl7Zj1Bh3JCfKBSX-Pua3rK2Sop7K5qBiffHz4Hc9ynP6wsXLUzASSdD/s1600/new+dock.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This dried plant, Rumex pseudonatronalis, is heading for a regional herbarium. I first saw it years ago on the Columbia River, and finally collected it in 2013. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The stacks of dried plants aren't heading to the trash at my house. I type up my collection information (when I can read my handwritten notes) and send the dried plants off to regional herbaria every couple of years. If those notes get separated from the plants, I have to toss them––herbaria cannot use specimens, no matter how rare or well pressed, if the notes on when, where and what are lost. I have ghost data issues from past decades with my own plant collections!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recently I learned about a private collection in danger of being lost, a butterfly collection from the mid 20<sup>th</sup> century. There were journals associated with the specimens, and I hope the current holder of the collection finds them. It is from an under-sampled coastal county and gives lepidopterists a look at butterflies from a time when few people were collecting them, and long before digital photography made butterfly, dragonfly and bumblebee watching so straightforward. For natural history museums, and natural historians who are resampling modern species, this is an important resource to save. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then there are old photographs. You know what I'm talking about: Boxes of them, which may or may not be properly stored. They might be black and white, or color. Negatives or positive images. On glass, film or paper. Photos of communities and landscapes are especially important if the dates and places where they were taken are known. Change is a fact of life. We live the changes almost without noticing, and it's only when we look back that we realize what changes have occurred––and photographs help us see those changes. Unnamed and undated photos of classes, people, places? Already ghosts. But with those dates, places and names written down? Very important to colleges, community and regional museums. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2HbYRU_dZxRiFmmdOTvqn-mWePn-lrwspmJnZRDe0wp3bVOqtvD-j-RZvSZNXbjVKiFbYfLjlGONM62iS-cri7yljaBP0QuUV2V1OsG80Vp0ouEoJ1aS1HtXVa6Xq97ocdbABuOU1SX3/s1600/slides.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2HbYRU_dZxRiFmmdOTvqn-mWePn-lrwspmJnZRDe0wp3bVOqtvD-j-RZvSZNXbjVKiFbYfLjlGONM62iS-cri7yljaBP0QuUV2V1OsG80Vp0ouEoJ1aS1HtXVa6Xq97ocdbABuOU1SX3/s1600/slides.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Slides don't last forever: I took these slides in the 1980s, and still have over a dozen metal cases of slides. They are starting to fade, and unless I add places, names, and dates, this information, and the usefulness of these slides to someone else will be lost. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWeMk6vinmKUTIanNCFCaGpzcbQXuAFiQuPlUNdAGLDA_YK9xPnIq5RUljDOYCWsm5LmzZncRYdhl5EvsuTRKjm7KLrjdoGTXVP08LGbZLpgd3s1JQ72qUIunhIW8zBIVqbLp6MQF_QxBy/s1600/field+notes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWeMk6vinmKUTIanNCFCaGpzcbQXuAFiQuPlUNdAGLDA_YK9xPnIq5RUljDOYCWsm5LmzZncRYdhl5EvsuTRKjm7KLrjdoGTXVP08LGbZLpgd3s1JQ72qUIunhIW8zBIVqbLp6MQF_QxBy/s1600/field+notes.jpg" height="310" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My field companion is a tough plastic notebook with Rite in the Rain waterproof paper, and a sturdy mechanical pencil. The paper is pH stable and archival, and the notes will last for decades, and probably for centuries.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You may notice that I keep coming back to written notes. There's a reason why: We do not remember all the details we think we do, not from day to day, and not from year to year. Our memories are fluid, repacked every night when we sleep. There's a limit to how many details we can remember; only a few unusual individuals never forget anything. The constant memory repacking means that in a year, or a decade, you might not remember if the rock on the left is from Antarctica and the one on the right from Greenland. Nothing replaces taking notes in durable ink on archival paper, not the digital cloud, not computerized notes, and especially not our our fragile memories. <br /><br />
If you are a collector, and you keep the details about each item in your collection in your memory right now, please take the time to write those details down. When your heirs sort out your collections, those with provenance can go on to the next generation, or a museum. Without this information, it's more likely to be lost, and to join the vast number of collections that have already gone dark, and joined the ghost data scrap heap. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In my own family, my maternal grandmother Ruth's family letters about climbing Chilkoot Pass and the Klondike Gold Rush went to the Alaska State Museum, along with her gold nugget jewelry and infant clothes of elk hide and beads. These objects are far more important in a museum collection than divided up among the grandchildren. Yes, to see all these items today, we have to go to Fairbanks. But we know where they are, and that they are available to historians and society. Not lost, not scattered, not tossed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What's in <i>your</i> closet? Or attic? And how well documented is it? </span><br />
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Kathleen Saycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09952559136090992185noreply@blogger.com0