Lyons Fire: the Final Final Update...

Debbie and I were able to drive up to the edge of the Lyons Fire burned area, right at four corners (where Lyons Valley Road meets Skyline Truck Trail and Honey Springs Road).  We drove a little ways up Honey Springs Road to get a view of the burned area.

There were quite a few fire crew members still on scene, both down by the roads and up in the burn.  A spotter plane circled overhead the entire time we were there (photo at right), and a tanker was working the fire as we approached.  CHP has Lyons Valley Road to the east of Four Corners closed off (presumably it's also closed at the intersection with Japatul Valley Road).

The burned area that we could see is shown below.  In the left-hand photo, north is about at the left edge; in the right-hand photo, east is about at the right edge.  The fire burned right to the top of the ridge at right, and quite possibly beyond that – we simply couldn't see from where we stood, and we couldn't go down Lyons Valley Road to see directly, as it was closed.






Here's a very rough map (below) I drew by hand to show the burn boundaries.  I can't tell for 100% sure, but it appears to me that the fire crews managed to protect all the homes on the north side of Lyons Valley Road.  I don't believe there were any structures in the burn areas uphill from those homes along Lyons Valley Road.

Lyons Fire: Final Update...

The fire now has an official name: the “Lyons Fire”, and it's listed on the CDF incident site.  As of 7 pm last night, they're calling it 250 acres and 10% contained.  This morning's HPWREN view from Los Pinos looks better than that report sounds: there isn't the slightest trace of smoke visible:

We saw CDF aircraft flying over the fire site several times yesterday afternoon and evening, and we heard them early this morning as well.  My somewhat educated guess is that they're doing both visual inspections and infrared inspections, looking for hot spots that need attention.

The speed and efficacy of the firefighter's response was very comforting to us.  When you're living in the midst of tens of thousands of cubic meters of highly flammable fuel, as we and our neighbors are, it's really good to know that competent firefighters have got your back...

Early this morning we were awakened by a completely unexpected sound: rainfall.  We didn't get much – just 3mm, or just over 1/10th inch – but it was very welcome nonetheless.  This morning when we got up, we were completely fogged in – that's normal for March or April, but definitely not for September!  It brought a very welcome coolness and dampness, and though it's not enough water to reduce the fuel flammability for very long, it must have been very welcome to the fire crews (assuming they got the same)...

Lyons Valley Fire Update...

“I think you're looking pretty good right now.”

Just heard that from the CDF fire crews.  Just before that, they said that they were down to just hot spots left; the fire was basically out.

Three cheers for the fire crews!  A bunch of people in Lawson Vally, Lyons Valley, and Deerhorn Valley are breathing a little easier...

Lyons Valley Fire Update...

Current view from Lyons Peak:

From all I can see and hear, it looks like the firefighters (both in the air and on the ground) are making great progress.  On the scanner I heard concerns from fire crews about the fire burning toward Carveacre Ranch, but the latest photo looks like they've largely knocked it down.  These things can flare up in a hurry, especially if the wind kicks up, so we're not out of the woods until they've doused every hotspot...

I just heard the fire crews order 500 lunches.  Hard to believe there are that many in the fire crew!

Fire in Lyons Valley...

At right is a map with a pink shaded area showing roughly where the fire is located.  We believe (though we don't have eyes on it) that it's mainly north of Lyons Valley Road, just easy of Four Corners.

The fire is being actively worked as I write this (2:35 pm).  Debbie and I saw an observation plane orbiting, three tankers attacking the fire directly.  We also heard ground fire crews talking on the scanner.

The wind is light, out of the north.  The fire appears to be burning both to the south (presumably driven by wind) and to the north (which is uphill from the fire's perspective).  We're guessing that the fire crews will be able to contain it at the ridge west of Lawson Peak, if not before.  We certainly hope so, as our home is only a mile or so from that ridge.

Below are a couple of shots from the east-pointing HPWREN camera on Lyons Peak.  As always, this is our best information, as it's nearly real time (the photos are updated every 2 minutes, 24 x 7).

The top shot was taken at 1:44 pm today, the bottom at 2:28 pm.  As you can see, the fire teams have already made a lot of progress.  Go, firefighters!

Earthquakes...

A couple of times a week I check out the “Recent Seismic Activity” link at right, which shows the latest data collected by the seismometer installed in my home office (about four feet from where I'm typing this).  Usually there will be one or two entries posted each week.  This time, there were four entries just from the last two days – and they were a large enough magnitude that I knew they must be from relatively close earthquakes.

The map below shows the location of the cluster of small earthquakes (largest one is magnitude 3.8), located about 30 miles ENE of our home.  Not close enough to be worrisome, but certainly closer than most earthquakes the seismometer sees!  The cluster is almost due east of Mt. Laguna, close to S2 near the mouth of Canebrake Canyon.  This is an area I know quite well, as I walk there looking for Desert Lilies many winters.

A Morning Walk...

Debbie and I have been regularly walking up the hill alongside our home, almost always early in the morning (so it's not too hot).  It's great physical therapy for her, still recovering from her broken knee.  The chaparral can be very beautiful, and this morning's walk provided a couple examples.

But before we started this morning's walk, I caught our old girl (Lea) asleep on the couch.  At the ancient age of 16 (particularly old for a field spaniel), she spends most of her days in approximately this position.  It takes her a few minutes of movement before her joints work freely, and she doesn't play very often any more.  But every once in a while, she surprises us – as she did last night with me.  I had a Milk Bone for her, and when I held it up out of easy reach, up she went on her two hind legs, as if she was still a puppy!  I gave her an extra Milk Bone after that :)

This morning we took Mo'i along on our walk.  He's 14 – not far behind Lea – but still going strong.  He can easily make the 3 mile round trip walk with us...but by the time we get home, he's visibly dragging a bit.  It's easy to see how much he enjoys these walks.  This morning he was actually pulling me out the front gate, something he rarely does (he's always “lunking” alongside us as we walk, not straining at the leash like Miki or Race).

At left are the seeds of the mountain mahogany (a Cercocarpus, but which one I'm not certain).  Most of the year this is a scruffy looking chaparral shrub, notable mainly because the deer love to eat its leaves.  But for a few weeks in late spring, its hairy, fuzzy seeds put on a beautiful show, especially when back-lit.  This morning, as we looked to the east with the sun just over the horizon, we could see thousands of these mountain mahogany shrubs lit up in the valley below us and on the surrounding hillsides.

At right is the scarlet larkspur (Delphinium cardinale), a chaparral native that is particularly beautiful this year (we presume because of the early rains).  I counted 24 plants in bloom along a 1.5 mile stretch of road (they love road cuts and the edges of open, rocky areas), easily double the density I've ever seen before.

It was a very pleasant walk.

Around Our Yard...

While working outside yesterday, this tarantula hawk (a large wasp) landed on my arm.  I took its picture after it finished resting and set off again on its quest for a tarantula.  This is the third time this has happened to me over the years we've lived out here, and it's a thrill each time.  First there's the sense of danger: the sting of the tarantula hawk is rated as the second most painful sting in the world (on the Schmidt sting pain index).  Entomologist Justin Schmidt, the creator of that index, describes the tarantula hawk's sting as “Blinding, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath.”  Yes, he's actually experienced it.  Then there's the tarantula hawk's appearance: its body is an iridescent deep blue, and its wings are a shimmering orange.  Then you think about its lifestyle: the large female wasps spend their adult lives hunting for a tarantula spider (yes, we have them here), which they sting, paralyzing it – after which they lay their eggs in it.  The wasp eggs hatch inside the tarantula and the hungry little wasps then consume the entire thing.  It's thrilling to have one of these land on your arm!

The acacia in our yard just started blooming.  Various parts of it will be in bloom for the next few weeks.  These blooms are large enough to be attractive even at a distance, but up close they're much better...

And our “Desert Museum” palo verde tree just keeps getting better.  There are more flowers on it now than we've ever seen before, and the yellow carpet of fallen blossoms below it keeps getting thicker.  The tree swarms with honey bees, bumble bees, and hummingbirds.  Awesome!

A Most Excellent Wildlife Viewing Evening...

Last night Debbie and I went up to one of our favorite local wildlife viewing spots: the Stonewall Mine Road in Cuyamaca Park, just before dark.  We're still delighting in the return of a substantial deer herd (gone since the 2007 fires), and last night didn't disappoint on that score – we saw at least 50 deer in two different main groups and in several singles and pairs.  We hoped for a bobcat or mountain lion, but alas didn't see one.  We did get a extended great view of a male meadowlark singing his heart out.  What glorious colors on them!

But the highlight of the evening wasn't at Stonewall – it was on the way home.  Debbie, sharp-eyed as always, spotted a hawk silhouetted on a nest with chicks – just 15 feet or so from the road!  I never saw a thing, as I was concentrating on getting the truck safely around the tight corners (this is on the stretch of State 79 between Oakzanita and Descanso town, where the road is very curvy).  I found a place to turn around, and we drove back up to find that nest.  We parked the truck on the road, half on the (narrow) shoulder and turned on the 4-way flashers – and then settled in for a delightful 10 minutes or so watching one hawk parent (we think a red tail, but we couldn't positively ID it) and its two chicks.  The chicks were still mostly white, with a mottled appearance as their first flight feathers were emerging.  There wasn't much action; they seemed sleepy (this was right at dusk) and maybe a little cold.  The parent just stared at us the whole time :)

I've never been this close to a raptor nest with chicks before.  We both had our binoculars with us, so we had a real treat – with the binoculars, were were count-the-feather-barbs close.  Awesome!

One fellow drove by the other way while we were stopped.  He asked if we were ok, and I told him we were watching a hawk's nest.  He said “Nice!” and drove on.  Shortly after we packed up our binoculars and left, though, several cars passed us the other way, and a sheriff's SUV came up behind us.  Our timing was very good :)

We drove home with big silly smiles plastered all over our faces...

Baby House Finches...

Asleep (at 6:45 am):

Llama and Goat Update...

Several readers wrote wondering what happened with the llama and goats that showed up at our place earlier this week.  Well, thanks to one of our neighbors (Mike S.) we discovered that the owner was another neighbor (Mike W., about a half mile away) who had recently acquired this animals.  Mike W. came over on Thursday and we roped a couple of the goats, and he took them home.  The llama (named “Katie”) wasn't willing to be captured, so we just left our gate open.  Sometime on Saturday, she apparently started missing her little goat-buddies, and she took off back home.

We are now a llama- and goat-free zone again!  We suffered a little bit of damage to some of our trees (especially, of all things, the palo verde tree).  Worse, one of the damned goats chewed the starter cord for my lawnmower in half, so now I have to fix that thing...

A Close Encounter...

Yesterday afternoon I had a close encounter of the rattlesnake kind, in our yard.  This is a routine summer occurrence out here, but this was the first of this calendar year.

I had all four dogs on leashes, and was walking past our pines, when I heard a fuss, a hiss, and lots of bird squawking.  Just to my right, about six feet away, a pair of tiny canyon wrens was doing battle with a fairly large western diamondback rattlesnake.  The wrens almost certainly have a nest in the vicinity, and were being good bird parents, getting that snake out of the area.  The snake was quite unhappy at the unwanted attention it was getting, and was striking repeatedly at the wrens – but they were too quick for him to ever actually hit them.

I hustled the dogs back into the house, and got our snake stick (a roughly six foot long stick with a pair of tongs operated by a handle – lets me safely pick up snakes).  Debbie got an empty five gallon plastic tub.  When I grabbed that snake and picked it up, we got a good look at its size – about four feet long and roughly 3.5" in diameter in the middle.  A big 'un!

Into the tub he went, and I bungeed down the top.  I hauled him off to a remote area and released him, far from any homes or domestic animals.  Usually when I release rattlesnakes, they sort of slowly slink away.  This guy was still really upset, and he came straight for me, striking at the toe of my (heavy work) boot.  No damage done, but certainly got my heart rate up!

This Works...

A few days ago I posted this helpful hint, along with a bunch of others.  I decided to try this one myself, as I'd fought our kitchen garbage bag a few thousand times before.

I didn't drill holes, but rather cut triangular holes with my pocket knife.  Took all of 15 or 20 seconds. 

Worked like a champ!  The bag comes right out now, no battling at all...

Winter in San Diego...

Just a random collection of photos from today's travels, mainly on the western face and North Peak of Cuyamaca Mountain.  I'll bet that these don't comport with most people's notion of winter in San Diego :)

Weather...

My readers on the East Coast or in colder regions of the world should feel perfectly free to laugh at us.  But...we're having a rare episode of frozen precipitation here.  Not snow, but hail – lots and lots of slushy hail, about the size of corn kernels.  Overnight we have a few places where this mixture has accumulated to over an inch (2 cm) deep.  The ground is not frozen, and the air temperature never reached freezing, so these accumulations are all on objects that provide good insulation from the ground (some photos later).

Meanwhile, we also got three quarters of an inch (about 1.5 cm) of rain.  After a parched January we're under average rainfall for the season, so every little bit of additional precipitation is quite welcome.

Debbie and I are headed off to our local mountains for some sight-seeing later.  I'm bringing my camera, so if we see anything interesting there will be photos!

Rain!

Between Friday and Saturday, we've had just over an inch of rain.  My new weather station software graphs rainfall rates, rather than cumulative precipitation – an interesting difference that I'm still getting used to.  The peak rate in this storm was about 15 hundredths of an inch (4mm) per hour.  On average, that's a light drizzle :)

That reminds me of the most intense rain Debbie and I have ever experienced.  We were just west of Hilo, up in the hills on the Big Island of Hawai'i.  We watched the storm cell approach, saw it dumping torrential rains on Hilo, and then it hit us.  I didn't have any instruments with me, but I did watch things like pots, buckets, etc. filling up.  I guessed the rate at about 4 inches (100mm) per hour, and that rate was sustained for 20 to 30 minutes.  The locals told us that this sort of rainstorm happens regularly; they didn't think of it as unusual at all!

And to validate that, I did a little googling – and discovered that the record one hour rainfall rate is 12 inches per hour.  It's a tie between Hawai'i and Missouri.  So the locals were right – the 4 inches per hour we saw was no big deal :)

Smoke is from Prescribed Burn...

The smoke you see to the northeast of Jamul is from a prescribed burn near Pine Valley.  You can see it on the HPWREN Los Pinos camera (below).

Physical Therapy Day!

Slow blogging today, as we're off to the city for some more physical therapy for Debbie's knee.  She's up to 60 pounds of weight-bearing on her injured knee...

Who Lopped the End Off My Graph?

You'd expect a solar intensity graph, taken over the course of a day, to show half a cycle of something approximating a sine wave.  Solar luminosity at any given moment is mainly proportional to the cosine of the sun's elevation in the sky.  There's a little extra attenuation when the sun is at lower elevations, as there's more air for it to travel through – and if the air is dirty, much light will be absorbed by the dust and other particulates.  Out here, though, the air is really clear.  So why does today's solar intensity graph look like this?

From about 9 am to 4 pm, the graph looks like what we'd expect. 

Before 9 am, it's just chopped off.  The reason is straightforward: before 9 am, from the vantage point of the weather station the sun is blocked by Gaskill Peak (one of the mountains forming Lawson Valley's eastern rim).  At 9 am the sun rose over Gaskill Peak, and the intensity jumped to right where you'd expect it. 

After about 3:45 pm, the graph gets all squiggly.  That's happening because at that time the sun is approaching the horizon (again, from the weather station's perspective), which right there is formed by some chaparral brush.  You're seeing the light from the sun being attenuated by highly variable shadows of the chaparral's leaves and branches – perhaps even being moved around by the wind. 

To get a really pretty graph, we'd need to have the weather station up on top of a local peak, with clear views to the horizon where the sun sets and rises (of course this would change throughout the year).

We only had seven and a half hours of bright sunlight today...

Weather Station Heart Transplant...

I'm in the midst of a makeover on our home's IT infrastructure.  Mainly this means removing things – parts of our infrastructure were over 10 years old, and technology has come a long way in that time.  I'm replacing 5 servers, a noisy Cisco 3550 switch, several routers, and some other gear with a single Mac Mini Server, a silent Cisco SG 300-20 switch, and a 3TB mirrored disk array.  Ah, quiet!  And small – this whole setup fits on a single 18" x 36" shelf, with plenty of room to spare.

One of those old servers I've replaced was a Windows 2003 server box – the last vestige of Windows to remain in our home.  It is now shut down, plug pulled out of the wall.  I could do this because WeatherHawk (the manufacturer of my weather station) now has an OS/X software package.  Yesterday I installed that package on our Mac Mini Server, and set it up to report weather as a personal weather station on Weather Underground (the link will be permanently at right).

This new software installed and configured painlessly.  While I can't really see how it's built, I can tell from some of the interactions that its communications protocol implementation is much better than that of the old Windows software I'm replacing.  Getting it connected to Weather Underground was totally painless.  There was a big surprise for me upon installing it, a very pleasant one: the software has the option of working with a MySQL database!  I already had MySQL installed on my server (for my own purposes), so all I had to do was create a database and login for the WeatherHawk software and voila!  I'm now collecting the weather data straight into SQL database – which means that reporting on the data is very straightforward.  Win!