Successfully snow-tested the new ride. 2500 pounds more for the momentum. Pros and cons from that. Despite all the boost/assist, still can feel impending slip. Recovery from an induced slide was surprisingly easy. Was expecting more work. This thing is almost self correcting, assuming easy handling, not The Jerk.
Local big-mart neglected to salt a section of lot, so I had a near perfect skidpan, other than cart corrals.
Strongly recommend folks do similar training, where safeish to do so, especially where snow/ice is uncommon.
First big snow after I got my license, friend took me out to the county equipment shed parking lot, which was empty and covered in snow as the equipment was pre-positioned around the county in winter time.
We got out in the middle of this huge empty parking lot, I cranked the wheel and floored it (’68 Dodge Charger). After about an hour of doing skids, not-stopping from speed, etc. I got to the point where I could pivot around tight corners by inducing a controlled skid.
Useful, skills that saved my bacon on several occasions, and, as you said, fun!
I taught my two daughters to drive on snow/ice at a local High school lot on Saturday getting them to skid and then control it. Elder daughter was a natural, younger enjoyed it once she got over the fear/panic.
True, (I’m from MN/ND) FWD makes slip/slide harder, but the margin from disaster is less. My old Diplomat RWD was a pig on ice, but feeling the rear end sidle gave plenty of warning. Driving in bad weather (like flying, the first rule is don’t). Otherwise, once onto the street and barely moving, lock the brakes. If the antilock brakes start chattering, it is slippery. Then gun the engine to see what happens (even in 4WD). Unexpected sideways motion indicates to be really careful.
Gotten into trouble once on ice. Hit the curb really, really, hard with one tire. Bent “something”. Misjudged the stop (big time). Didn’t think I was going too fast.
Last 12 years when it was icy and snowy and I had to drive to work (worked from home as much as possible once the VPN was working). Had two ways to take to the office off Delta south. One has a very steep ramp off the overpass (Valley River to Willagillespie) into a very busy intersection. I do not go that way. The other is still a down ramp, but it is a long shallower decline (Delta south, under Washington/Jefferson bridge, onto the on to east 126 ramp, also is the off ramp for Country Club and Coburg Roads).
When we lived in Longview (after I wasn’t working), I just didn’t go anywhere. If I got caught out and weather turned, I parked at the top of the hill, walked to the house. Hubby would then “slide” the car into and across the driveway on to the gravel on the north side, then park it up against the house. Truck we kept in the *garage. We had to keep the driveway clear. Hubby wasn’t the only one doing the slide across the driveway. Difference was he was doing it deliberately, others were missing the curve as the road came down the hill. To get up the road to get out, we had to back down to below the junction, and gun the car. Didn’t make it? Hope the car behind you waited to see if you made it or not. Because it was back down and try again. The pickup, 4×4, could make it on the first run. Never saw Canyonview sanded. E. Canyonview Loop was worse. Those homeowners would park above the loop on E. Canyonview proper. There isn’t anywhere for that entire neighborhood to park along either Hillcrest (where Canyonview intersects) or Columbia Heights Road, neighborhood access. Because of our Canyonview home experience, there were more than a few neighborhoods here in Eugene/Springfield, when we were looking to rent or buy, were “Oh Hell No!”
*Keep the truck from getting hit. AND to hide it from “will you tow us out?” Junction between E. and W. Canyonview, where Canyonview splits. Luckily they couldn’t put their vehicles into the canyon, but they sure could get stuck at the top of it.
Donwestwind has it right, The cars I taught my daughters in were Hondas, a 2007 Accord, a 2002 Civic and later an 2012 civic. The first two were manuals the 2012 was an automatic. Generally front wheel drive cars oversteer (i.e. the powered wheels PULL you around faster) which can accentuate skids. Also with manuals shifting (especially when you engage the clutch) can be like tapping the brakes, I also drove a 1989 Ford Mustang 5.0 with manual. Rear wheel cars tend to understeer and 300 ft/lb torque engines (and massively nose heavy vehicles when the power is at the back) do not help. Though RWD cars are usually more predictable in their failure mode. Even with real snow tires on that car was a bear to handle and without manual I think would have been effectively undriveable in the snow. As it was at least once I was climbing onto Rt 3 in New Hampshire after a late night of work with the Mustang with light snow falling. I did not realize that the snow had started with a light glaze of freezing rain. As I entered the 3 lane highway there was slight rise then drop. That sent me into a 720 degree spin. Luckily the highway was wide and empty and I was going a mere 25 mph. That said I did stop at the next exit and sit for a while to get rid of the shakes before I continued the half hour home.
Only tangentially related, I watched a video review recently of the GMC Hummer electric SUV where I was astonished to learn this Detroit old school answer to the electric vehicle range issue using their traditional design practices has a curb weight of NINE THOUSAND POUNDS.
Maybe that would be useful out here in California when blitzing through stopped cars during the next firestorm last minute evacuation, but I can only imagine that vehicle on icy roads.
Versus the Army M151 1/4 Ton Truck (jeep), which was a joy to drive in s(HONK!)y weather.
Well, “joy” asuming one likes being on top of a high-maintenance barely controlled psychotic b(HONK!)ch that is constantly either trying to kill you or tempt you into suicide. Who also bites.
Alas, the first time I had to drive on ice it was a) unexpected, b) in the middle of the work day, and c) in a sedan with aging tires, no chains.
However, I determined within that hour-long ten mile drive that I was a better driver on ice than most of the rest of the people there, simply because I was acting as though the brakes would do nothing. (Also, “steer into the direction of the skid,” a common description of what you’re supposed to do, doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. The best I could do was point my tires in the direction the car was already moving, which is the same thing but a little clearer.)
If you could train Chihuahuas to go skittering through pipes or sneak under cars, they’d probably be great for military equivalents of GoPros, or for stealing very small things (like car keys).
Chihuahuas and other small dogs can be *trained. For military? 🤣Um. No (maybe, but why?) They can trained for disaster work where larger dogs can’t go. Make wonderful service dogs as long as not guide work, or other weight bearing/carrying tasks.
*Most people don’t bother. What is “cute” in puppies doesn’t stay “cute” with medium to large dogs, stays “cute” in little dogs (until the little dictators decide they really are in charge).
Imagine a chihuahua next to a Brad missing a track, gnawing happily.
Neighbors C apparently was part Tazmanian Devil. It eould attack a foot in an insane spazzout. Once it de-shoed you, it would systematically destroy the shoe in detail.
Praying for the people in California, maybe now they’ll wake up. Oh, by the way, you might try smothering the fires with all those fat liberal Democrat politicians, in most of the pictures I see, there be some very fat Liberal Democrats politicians. maybe that should give some of you a clue.
I am wondering where the heavy iron fire drop aircraft are. CalFire has several DC-10 class wide bodies that show up dropping really huge drops regularly during the summer fire season, but the only fixed wing air I have seen are the twin turboprop seaplanes leased from Canada, and now USAF C-130s.
And on those, I have not heard any of the professional media ask Governor Hair Gel exactly when he activated the California National Guard. The first mil response I saw reported was when Frau Doktor Jill ordered the Federal military to go in. Did Gavin order the CA NG in before he came down for his performance art activities in the smoke?
I’ve heard that the state planes couldn’t be used initially due to the extremely powerful winds.
Not sure whether they’re in use now.
Helicopters apparently had the same issue early on.
Even worse, though, is that Oregon sent 60 fire trucks and crews to help fight the fires (Thanks! It’s greatly appreciated!), but they got held up in Sacramento for a day to undergo testing by the state DoT.
Certainly on day 1 the winds were too strong. But in vids since when those seaplanes were shown flying (and in one case hitting a drone) that’s all I have seen.
100 mph at 10000 feet looks lots different than at 500 feet flying into a canyon with a full water tank.. or trying to get off a short runway with a full fuel load… or back to the runway with none of that weight and the wind at 90 degrees to the runway.
Be damned if I’m going to second guess a pilot on what he can do with his aircraft. Go no-go should be up to him.
This. Flying at very low altitudes is quite a bit different than it is at high altitudes. Not only does the pilot need to worry about trees, powerlines, and sudden embankments rising up into the air, but the aircraft itself just handles somewhat differently when it’s close to the ground (or water). Wind blowing that fast will significantly compound the pilot’s ability to safely control the plane.
Finally, my understanding is that the fires themselves create problems for the pilots. The hot air from the flames apparently creates updrafts that can be difficult for a pilot to predict. Firefighting is considered one of the most dangerous piloting jobs outside of combat.
There have been a fair number of fire-fighting aircraft that crashed for various reasons (including age, older C-130s got decertified after one broke midair). I’ve heard that air ambulance helicopters have a worse problem, but it’s hairy work.
I’ve talked with several CalFire pilots. They are excellent flyers, very careful and precise, very self effacing, and they have gigantic brass ones, whether their natural plumbing is innie or outie.
Just found vid of DC-10 and BA-146 tankers working these fires as of 9 JAN. CalFire is usually one of the better run agencies here, so not really surprising:
It was a “too good to check” story… so I decided to check it anyway before posting the above. This isn’t the first link I found about it, but it’s the official line.
Basically, yes they were from Oregon. Yes, they had to stop in Sacramento for an inspection. The claim is that the inspection is “routine” to make sure that there are no mechanical issues before sending the trucks in to help (which would be a Bad Thing(tm)). However –
1.) This would imply that the Oregon Fire Departments don’t already take care of their vehicles, which just sounds absurd, and
2.) A fire truck is going to successfully through part of Oregon, and nearly from one end of California to the other without *any* issues, and not be mechanically sound?
As Pratchett used to write, “Pull the other one. It’s got bells on it.”
Also, if trucks were routed to LA from Arizona, I would hope that they weren’t forced to stop in Sacramento first. That would be a pretty big detour, even before taking the inspection silliness into account.
One might think interstate mutual aid agreements might prerecognize home state inspections, but that would not allow the CA state bureaucracy to claim a needs for additional employees due to that workload to expand their empire.
All within the bureaucracy, nothing outside the bureaucracy, nothing against the bureaucracy.
The one saving grace in that is that I-5 is THE route from Oregon to LA, and it goes right through Sacramento. And knowing where the warehouses and maintenance depots are, they barely got a couple of miles off the freeway at worst.
One of the heavy drop birds got wing-dinged by colliding with someone’s drone. Its down for repairs.
When the winds get too high, the planes cannot reasonably fly low enough to be effective. The pilots may be ballsy enough to try, but the turbulance and wind shear can pull the wings off. And that is one very bad day.
And the wind can disperse water and retardant to the point that they are no longer effective. Depending on what terrain is around the fire, downdrafts and rotor turbulence can drop the plane into the ground. Which … tends to irk the flight crew and the fire boss.
Supposedly the really large jumbo-jet tankers can drop from higher as they use a pressurized and pumped mass-drop system instead of just opening a valve and letting gravity do its thing. I have seen video of those dropping that shows them damaging cars in their test drop target zone when they set the knob to eleven, so it’s no joke.
I can’t imagine the firefighters would have complained, however, about a bit more dispersal due to higher altitude drops if they could have got some retardant into the fire areas just to slow things down and discourage spot fires.
The quad drone hit the nose and stuck, so they have the drone, and the owner should be scared. The Canadian seaplane turboprop was supposed to be back in service the next day.
Oh, the reporting I saw could be way wrong. J-skool people don’t even know which end of an airplane is which unless it’s an airliner, and this was video reporting voiceover, over various shots of that specific plane taken in the dark from maybe two angles.
But I’m confident they have the quadcopter in hand as I have seen that multiple places.
99% it was just somebody wanting to view the fires with their drone. Not trying to be nefarious.
On the other hand, they’re now saying the Palisades fire ‘appears to have a human cause’. Guess they haven’t caught any arsonists connected with that fire yet, as they have with a couple of the other ones.
I say all arsonists should be staked out in an overgrown vacant lot and have it burn down on top of them.
IIRC, the big tankers are leased for the season. Considering it’s winter here, I’d place a small bet on the DC-10s being in Australia. Some of the crazier Oregon fire seasons have featured crews from Oz coming over, since it’s down time for them.
FWIW, one of the guys on the rural FD was a very small scale fire company (one type 6 engine, one or two other guys). He noted that CDF (predecessor to Cal-Fire, de-acronymized as “Can’t Do Fire”) was laggard at paying after service. He also relayed a horror story of a friend of his. CDF requested two bulldozers for a fire. When he got there, they said “No, we’ll only pay for one now. Too bad you brought the other one.”
You are correct. The biggest CalFire owns are seven ex-USAF C-130H models (link below) and contracts the DC-10s from a company called 10 Tanker Air Carrier, based in New Mexico. There’s also a 747 that’s available for contract, the Evergreen Supertanker. Likely there are no contracts in place for them for January.
The Spruce in Alaska is greased lightening when lit.
Based off of comments by the Raney’s when helping Alaskan homesteaders. Only option is to insure defensive space with no trees. Not a matter of IF, but WHEN.
I recall the C-130Es being decertified, though at that time, C-130Js were the preferred alternatives. Although, there have been a few P3s in service. Reminds me of when I lived on the Moffett Field flight path in the ’70s. (Hi OldNFO!)
While using very fat Democrat politicians to smother the fires would… render them incapable of causing further harm to the body politic, their fat would add fuel to the fires.
The one-year moratorium on policy non-renewals and cancellations protects residents in and near the ZIP codes affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles County, regardless of whether the properties sustained damage, according to Lara.
I expect that rates nationwide will be going up so insurers can try and survive. As for CA, I expect them to simply close down their operations (ALL of them), fire the staff, and abandon the state.
Flood & Earthquake/movement insurance is already nationalized. How many have that?
Fire insurance is available in rural communities in Oregon. But like water damage which is covered, but excludes floods, rural fire insurance excludes wildfire. There are places where fire insurance can’t be bought, period. Been that way for a long time (grandparents place didn’t have fire insurance, they’ve been gone now for 20 years).
The Palestinian children meme brought to mind something I saw the other day (not sure if it was on WCVBN tv web site or Boston Globe’s) where the lede for the story was that two Bostonian/Mass residents had lost a home in the LA fires. It was like the old black humor pretend Globe headline This in 30pt text ” 15 Bostonians killed in catastrophe in NYC” this underneath in 18 pt text “Many New York City residents also lost in Nuclear Explosion”. Our media really seems to define parochial. Perhaps the Palestinians just get retired Boston Globe editors/writers :-) .
All of the snow in the river valley has melted (not true for the hills, some 400′ higher). OTOH, we had 18F this morning, and the forecast has lows in the mid teens all week. Guess I better get the heavy coat out.
Driving a VW Bug on a drifty road with a 90 degree crosswind was interesting. The rear tires would tend to break loose, rather surprising when on a flat, straight road. I learned to let up on the gas when I hit a drift, so the rear wheels would act as a snow anchor.
We got three or four inches, already melting though it’s not much above freezing. Main roads are clear, but our tiny church has already canceled services. (Small, older congregation, church is well off the main road, and black ice is a definite possibility). We’ll probably Zoom services by Large City Church we attended when our son was small.
Wish it had stayed pretty longer -tomorrow will be in the 40s so we’ll have a wet, slushy day – but very glad to avoid ice.
The insidiousness of “Social Media” is that it hijacks that human social animal need to interact with actual people and makes one stare at glowing phosphors to do it.
The majority of the generation raised post smartphones, and no small fraction of older individuals, spend every spare moment walking around staring down at their phones to try and satisfy their human interaction needs instead of looking up and interacting with real humans.
How dare folks escape a captured social ecosystems to write out communication with literally any other group. Next thing you know, the good little victims might form up and revolt from the crown.
Oh, wait, I forgot, making it “glowing phosphors” instead of ink maaaaaagically changes stuff so it’s bad.
Letters good, emails bad.
Broadsheets good, blogs bad.
Note cards good, text messages bad.
….
Oooor … it could be … that the culture promoted by things such as Rules for Radicals and the various shows that walk around and ask people questions so they can be made a nation-wide laughing-stock should they answer, at the spur of the moment, in a manner that can possibly be spun as less than perfect….
Is toxic as frick, and demanding people engage in it is abusive and evil.
That same social behavior, online? Is still toxic, though much easier to identify and harder to excuse via more abuse. “You just thought that’s what I said… you must have misunderstood… I never said anything like that….”
I just wish they’d look up from the whatever when they cross the street, or are about to walk into poles/holes/tres/me. Be it a book or a phone or tablet. (Full disclosure: I walked into a tree once while reading. Once. Even I can learn :) )
Oh, paying attention to things around them is a valid but completely different bag of problems– I’ve had to dodge around a lot of folks who apparently don’t think ANYONE is shorter than they are.
Or watch them bounce off of the much bigger folks I’m with, which is also fun. ^.^
We put a big bright stripe down teh side of our white huge van so people would stop trying to change lanes into the side of it.
We had a Dodge Intrepid, dark metallic midnight blue. People did not see that car. Bright day, rainy day, night, it got hit. All while stopped. Worse, matching the paint was impossible. Last time it was repaired before we sold it, told the repair shop to “Please remove the Hit Me sign!”
I know that 17 million is a lot of money, but it wa 2% of their budget. I’m sure if they hadn’t bought EV fire trucks and spent money on diversity issues they could have survived it.
As Mickey Kaus noted (and Instapundit linked) on X the other day, the first rule is that you say you’re going to cut spending on the fire department to get voter support for undoing the budget cuts. You’re not supposed to actually DO it.
The second rule is that if the cuts actually take place, they usually land hardest on the people who actually do the work, and not the deadwood administrators.
Also, a bunch of LAFD’s equipment got donated to Ukraine in 2022. I’m guessing that the City Council made that decision, and also didn’t bother to budget enough money to replace the stuff that got sent.
Oh, that’s just the shopping list… Plenty of other things that get forgotten/lost/walked off around here.
(The other day, we had a three hour, three person search for the Firestick remote. Daughter two had laid it down in plain sight – just NOT where anyone would ever think it would be. Next to the air fryer…)
my grocery list: On the refrigerator. More that a few time have to call someone at home to send me a picture on my phone. Or hope I remember everything. OTOH I’ve had it with me and still forgotten to get items!
Glasses. “Find mom’s glasses” is a favorite game these days.
Phone. Although this has options to be able to find.
Why? Because guarantied if something is “put away in a safe spot”, it is very safe, because it won’t be found by anyone, not even me.
What I haven’t had to do is go back to a restaurant for my glasses, credit card, or phone. Not that we haven’t had to go back for those items, just they weren’t mine. Gotten so we all sweep the table to make sure nothing was left behind, and ask the usual guilty party if they have said items.
I used to have pretty close to 100% recall of anything I had seen written. So notes or lists that I took and then read over didn’t need to be brought along. If I left it on the counter, no big deal.
I had no idea how super useful that skill was until I had a stroke then developed MS and lost the ability. I was only vaguely aware other people didn’t work that way.
Now I’m lucky to remember if I even wrote a list never mind what was on it or where I put it.
Never was quite that good with read/written recall. But could always go “I know I’ve read that”. Frustrating for test recall. Understand the frustration ongoing, and I don’t have the medical excuses. Just getting older. Gotten a bit OCD on everything being put where it belongs.
According To Hoyt 
The Reader nominates Frodo and Sam as this week’s internet winner.
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“Vet at the Gym”
Superhero trope. (grin)
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That! Oh God yes! That!
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“And in 15 seconds, I will use those freshly laundered sheets for your shroud.”
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The trees here at the home place have a nice glaze but we still have lights.
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Successfully snow-tested the new ride. 2500 pounds more for the momentum. Pros and cons from that. Despite all the boost/assist, still can feel impending slip. Recovery from an induced slide was surprisingly easy. Was expecting more work. This thing is almost self correcting, assuming easy handling, not The Jerk.
Local big-mart neglected to salt a section of lot, so I had a near perfect skidpan, other than cart corrals.
Strongly recommend folks do similar training, where safeish to do so, especially where snow/ice is uncommon.
Kinda fun too.
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That’s how I learned how to drive on snow.
First big snow after I got my license, friend took me out to the county equipment shed parking lot, which was empty and covered in snow as the equipment was pre-positioned around the county in winter time.
We got out in the middle of this huge empty parking lot, I cranked the wheel and floored it (’68 Dodge Charger). After about an hour of doing skids, not-stopping from speed, etc. I got to the point where I could pivot around tight corners by inducing a controlled skid.
Useful, skills that saved my bacon on several occasions, and, as you said, fun!
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I taught my two daughters to drive on snow/ice at a local High school lot on Saturday getting them to skid and then control it. Elder daughter was a natural, younger enjoyed it once she got over the fear/panic.
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Hubby too son out and taught him the same way. He never took me out to teach me.
Dad never taught me either. Rather lacking in snow/ice between when I turned 15 and moved away, then got my first car.
Our current cars with front wheel drive make it harder to do the slip/slide. Hubby has tried.
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True, (I’m from MN/ND) FWD makes slip/slide harder, but the margin from disaster is less. My old Diplomat RWD was a pig on ice, but feeling the rear end sidle gave plenty of warning. Driving in bad weather (like flying, the first rule is don’t). Otherwise, once onto the street and barely moving, lock the brakes. If the antilock brakes start chattering, it is slippery. Then gun the engine to see what happens (even in 4WD). Unexpected sideways motion indicates to be really careful.
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Gotten into trouble once on ice. Hit the curb really, really, hard with one tire. Bent “something”. Misjudged the stop (big time). Didn’t think I was going too fast.
Last 12 years when it was icy and snowy and I had to drive to work (worked from home as much as possible once the VPN was working). Had two ways to take to the office off Delta south. One has a very steep ramp off the overpass (Valley River to Willagillespie) into a very busy intersection. I do not go that way. The other is still a down ramp, but it is a long shallower decline (Delta south, under Washington/Jefferson bridge, onto the on to east 126 ramp, also is the off ramp for Country Club and Coburg Roads).
When we lived in Longview (after I wasn’t working), I just didn’t go anywhere. If I got caught out and weather turned, I parked at the top of the hill, walked to the house. Hubby would then “slide” the car into and across the driveway on to the gravel on the north side, then park it up against the house. Truck we kept in the *garage. We had to keep the driveway clear. Hubby wasn’t the only one doing the slide across the driveway. Difference was he was doing it deliberately, others were missing the curve as the road came down the hill. To get up the road to get out, we had to back down to below the junction, and gun the car. Didn’t make it? Hope the car behind you waited to see if you made it or not. Because it was back down and try again. The pickup, 4×4, could make it on the first run. Never saw Canyonview sanded. E. Canyonview Loop was worse. Those homeowners would park above the loop on E. Canyonview proper. There isn’t anywhere for that entire neighborhood to park along either Hillcrest (where Canyonview intersects) or Columbia Heights Road, neighborhood access. Because of our Canyonview home experience, there were more than a few neighborhoods here in Eugene/Springfield, when we were looking to rent or buy, were “Oh Hell No!”
*Keep the truck from getting hit. AND to hide it from “will you tow us out?” Junction between E. and W. Canyonview, where Canyonview splits. Luckily they couldn’t put their vehicles into the canyon, but they sure could get stuck at the top of it.
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Donwestwind has it right, The cars I taught my daughters in were Hondas, a 2007 Accord, a 2002 Civic and later an 2012 civic. The first two were manuals the 2012 was an automatic. Generally front wheel drive cars oversteer (i.e. the powered wheels PULL you around faster) which can accentuate skids. Also with manuals shifting (especially when you engage the clutch) can be like tapping the brakes, I also drove a 1989 Ford Mustang 5.0 with manual. Rear wheel cars tend to understeer and 300 ft/lb torque engines (and massively nose heavy vehicles when the power is at the back) do not help. Though RWD cars are usually more predictable in their failure mode. Even with real snow tires on that car was a bear to handle and without manual I think would have been effectively undriveable in the snow. As it was at least once I was climbing onto Rt 3 in New Hampshire after a late night of work with the Mustang with light snow falling. I did not realize that the snow had started with a light glaze of freezing rain. As I entered the 3 lane highway there was slight rise then drop. That sent me into a 720 degree spin. Luckily the highway was wide and empty and I was going a mere 25 mph. That said I did stop at the next exit and sit for a while to get rid of the shakes before I continued the half hour home.
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Only tangentially related, I watched a video review recently of the GMC Hummer electric SUV where I was astonished to learn this Detroit old school answer to the electric vehicle range issue using their traditional design practices has a curb weight of NINE THOUSAND POUNDS.
Maybe that would be useful out here in California when blitzing through stopped cars during the next firestorm last minute evacuation, but I can only imagine that vehicle on icy roads.
Inertia is a harsh mistress.
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Versus the Army M151 1/4 Ton Truck (jeep), which was a joy to drive in s(HONK!)y weather.
Well, “joy” asuming one likes being on top of a high-maintenance barely controlled psychotic b(HONK!)ch that is constantly either trying to kill you or tempt you into suicide. Who also bites.
“Joy, I said a joy sir to drive your jeep! Sir.”
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Alas, the first time I had to drive on ice it was a) unexpected, b) in the middle of the work day, and c) in a sedan with aging tires, no chains.
However, I determined within that hour-long ten mile drive that I was a better driver on ice than most of the rest of the people there, simply because I was acting as though the brakes would do nothing. (Also, “steer into the direction of the skid,” a common description of what you’re supposed to do, doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. The best I could do was point my tires in the direction the car was already moving, which is the same thing but a little clearer.)
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SFBS!
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I’m tired of the California Wildfire jokes but I hope that the idiot Democrats do something to prevent the Wildfires.
But of course, they’ll try to stop the jokes without preventing the Wildfires. 😡
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Military Chihuahuas . . . kind of a scary concept.
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Think of a pack of vicious land piranhas.
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“Chihuahuas have been banned by all civilized worlds!” “These are uncivilized times.” “We have treaties!” “EENK on a PAGE!”
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I was just imagining such creature getting into the “go pills”. Or just the Ripitts.
Then again, imagining a prior First Sergeant gob-smacked by a chu-destroyed Bradley track…
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Reminds me of a story:
Robber suing homeowner for being chewed up by dog pack.
Preliminary hearing. Defense hands judge a sign.
Judge: “Did you not see this sign?”
Robber: “Yes”
Judge: “And you climbed over the fence anyway?”
Robber: “Yes”
Judge: “Read the sign. Then describe the picture.”
Robber: “Pack of Chihuahua’s on Duty. Picture of of 3 small dogs.”
Judge: “Lawsuit dismissed.”
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If you could train Chihuahuas to go skittering through pipes or sneak under cars, they’d probably be great for military equivalents of GoPros, or for stealing very small things (like car keys).
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Chihuahuas and other small dogs can be *trained. For military? 🤣Um. No (maybe, but why?) They can trained for disaster work where larger dogs can’t go. Make wonderful service dogs as long as not guide work, or other weight bearing/carrying tasks.
*Most people don’t bother. What is “cute” in puppies doesn’t stay “cute” with medium to large dogs, stays “cute” in little dogs (until the little dictators decide they really are in charge).
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Containerized Housing Unit ate a whole Bradley or just a track?
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lol.
Imagine a chihuahua next to a Brad missing a track, gnawing happily.
Neighbors C apparently was part Tazmanian Devil. It eould attack a foot in an insane spazzout. Once it de-shoed you, it would systematically destroy the shoe in detail.
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Liberated the sea otter.
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Praying for the people in California, maybe now they’ll wake up. Oh, by the way, you might try smothering the fires with all those fat liberal Democrat politicians, in most of the pictures I see, there be some very fat Liberal Democrats politicians. maybe that should give some of you a clue.
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I am wondering where the heavy iron fire drop aircraft are. CalFire has several DC-10 class wide bodies that show up dropping really huge drops regularly during the summer fire season, but the only fixed wing air I have seen are the twin turboprop seaplanes leased from Canada, and now USAF C-130s.
And on those, I have not heard any of the professional media ask Governor Hair Gel exactly when he activated the California National Guard. The first mil response I saw reported was when Frau Doktor Jill ordered the Federal military to go in. Did Gavin order the CA NG in before he came down for his performance art activities in the smoke?
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I’ve heard that the state planes couldn’t be used initially due to the extremely powerful winds.
Not sure whether they’re in use now.
Helicopters apparently had the same issue early on.
Even worse, though, is that Oregon sent 60 fire trucks and crews to help fight the fires (Thanks! It’s greatly appreciated!), but they got held up in Sacramento for a day to undergo testing by the state DoT.
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Certainly on day 1 the winds were too strong. But in vids since when those seaplanes were shown flying (and in one case hitting a drone) that’s all I have seen.
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Too strong? 100 mph winds, for an airplane that cruises at more than 4x that speed? And ok for planes that fly a lot slower than jets?
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100 mph at 10000 feet looks lots different than at 500 feet flying into a canyon with a full water tank.. or trying to get off a short runway with a full fuel load… or back to the runway with none of that weight and the wind at 90 degrees to the runway.
Be damned if I’m going to second guess a pilot on what he can do with his aircraft. Go no-go should be up to him.
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This. Flying at very low altitudes is quite a bit different than it is at high altitudes. Not only does the pilot need to worry about trees, powerlines, and sudden embankments rising up into the air, but the aircraft itself just handles somewhat differently when it’s close to the ground (or water). Wind blowing that fast will significantly compound the pilot’s ability to safely control the plane.
Finally, my understanding is that the fires themselves create problems for the pilots. The hot air from the flames apparently creates updrafts that can be difficult for a pilot to predict. Firefighting is considered one of the most dangerous piloting jobs outside of combat.
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There have been a fair number of fire-fighting aircraft that crashed for various reasons (including age, older C-130s got decertified after one broke midair). I’ve heard that air ambulance helicopters have a worse problem, but it’s hairy work.
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I’ve talked with several CalFire pilots. They are excellent flyers, very careful and precise, very self effacing, and they have gigantic brass ones, whether their natural plumbing is innie or outie.
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Just found vid of DC-10 and BA-146 tankers working these fires as of 9 JAN. CalFire is usually one of the better run agencies here, so not really surprising:
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The version I saw said AZ, and it could have been both.
Same idiocy that has families being thrown out in the snow in NC because the tiny houses don’t meet the code requirements — they just provide shelter.
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It was a “too good to check” story… so I decided to check it anyway before posting the above. This isn’t the first link I found about it, but it’s the official line.
https://katu.com/news/local/fact-check-oregon-fire-engines-allowed-to-fight-wildfires-in-california
Basically, yes they were from Oregon. Yes, they had to stop in Sacramento for an inspection. The claim is that the inspection is “routine” to make sure that there are no mechanical issues before sending the trucks in to help (which would be a Bad Thing(tm)). However –
1.) This would imply that the Oregon Fire Departments don’t already take care of their vehicles, which just sounds absurd, and
2.) A fire truck is going to successfully through part of Oregon, and nearly from one end of California to the other without *any* issues, and not be mechanically sound?
As Pratchett used to write, “Pull the other one. It’s got bells on it.”
Also, if trucks were routed to LA from Arizona, I would hope that they weren’t forced to stop in Sacramento first. That would be a pretty big detour, even before taking the inspection silliness into account.
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You’re kidding? Waiver? Waiver?
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One might think interstate mutual aid agreements might prerecognize home state inspections, but that would not allow the CA state bureaucracy to claim a needs for additional employees due to that workload to expand their empire.
All within the bureaucracy, nothing outside the bureaucracy, nothing against the bureaucracy.
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The Oregon loaner trucks apparently had to first go to Sacramento to be inspected, only then to LA.
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And the MSM says the Oregon rigs are now in LA. Grain of salt optional.
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The one saving grace in that is that I-5 is THE route from Oregon to LA, and it goes right through Sacramento. And knowing where the warehouses and maintenance depots are, they barely got a couple of miles off the freeway at worst.
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And apparently the whole thing is being retracted. I wish I could just instantly dismiss this kind of thing as absurd…..
https://forums.wildfireintel.org/t/out-of-state-fire-trucks-undergoing-ca-emissions-testing/28166/26
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One of the heavy drop birds got wing-dinged by colliding with someone’s drone. Its down for repairs.
When the winds get too high, the planes cannot reasonably fly low enough to be effective. The pilots may be ballsy enough to try, but the turbulance and wind shear can pull the wings off. And that is one very bad day.
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And the wind can disperse water and retardant to the point that they are no longer effective. Depending on what terrain is around the fire, downdrafts and rotor turbulence can drop the plane into the ground. Which … tends to irk the flight crew and the fire boss.
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Supposedly the really large jumbo-jet tankers can drop from higher as they use a pressurized and pumped mass-drop system instead of just opening a valve and letting gravity do its thing. I have seen video of those dropping that shows them damaging cars in their test drop target zone when they set the knob to eleven, so it’s no joke.
I can’t imagine the firefighters would have complained, however, about a bit more dispersal due to higher altitude drops if they could have got some retardant into the fire areas just to slow things down and discourage spot fires.
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The quad drone hit the nose and stuck, so they have the drone, and the owner should be scared. The Canadian seaplane turboprop was supposed to be back in service the next day.
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Interesting. I saw a picture that looked like a dimple in the leading edge of one of the wings, and thought that was the impact point.
Evidently I was incorrect.
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Oh, the reporting I saw could be way wrong. J-skool people don’t even know which end of an airplane is which unless it’s an airliner, and this was video reporting voiceover, over various shots of that specific plane taken in the dark from maybe two angles.
But I’m confident they have the quadcopter in hand as I have seen that multiple places.
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I saw an update on this, so I figured I would post with the details
1.) The drone struck the wing, and created a small hole in said wing.
2.) The plane will be returning to service tomorrow.
3.) The FAA has drone parts, and is asking for assistance in tracking down the owner.
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99% it was just somebody wanting to view the fires with their drone. Not trying to be nefarious.
On the other hand, they’re now saying the Palisades fire ‘appears to have a human cause’. Guess they haven’t caught any arsonists connected with that fire yet, as they have with a couple of the other ones.
I say all arsonists should be staked out in an overgrown vacant lot and have it burn down on top of them.
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IIRC, the big tankers are leased for the season. Considering it’s winter here, I’d place a small bet on the DC-10s being in Australia. Some of the crazier Oregon fire seasons have featured crews from Oz coming over, since it’s down time for them.
FWIW, one of the guys on the rural FD was a very small scale fire company (one type 6 engine, one or two other guys). He noted that CDF (predecessor to Cal-Fire, de-acronymized as “Can’t Do Fire”) was laggard at paying after service. He also relayed a horror story of a friend of his. CDF requested two bulldozers for a fire. When he got there, they said “No, we’ll only pay for one now. Too bad you brought the other one.”
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You are correct. The biggest CalFire owns are seven ex-USAF C-130H models (link below) and contracts the DC-10s from a company called 10 Tanker Air Carrier, based in New Mexico. There’s also a 747 that’s available for contract, the Evergreen Supertanker. Likely there are no contracts in place for them for January.
Click to access c-130_2024.pdf
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I’ve read that the 747 gets a workout when Alaska fire season starts. Their fires range from large to huge, with a couple of OMGs occasionally.
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The Spruce in Alaska is greased lightening when lit.
Based off of comments by the Raney’s when helping Alaskan homesteaders. Only option is to insure defensive space with no trees. Not a matter of IF, but WHEN.
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I recall the C-130Es being decertified, though at that time, C-130Js were the preferred alternatives. Although, there have been a few P3s in service. Reminds me of when I lived on the Moffett Field flight path in the ’70s. (Hi OldNFO!)
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While using very fat Democrat politicians to smother the fires would… render them incapable of causing further harm to the body politic, their fat would add fuel to the fires.
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I see no downside to that.
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I say shoving them out of the helos over the fire is worth a try, under the well recognized lefty “if it saves one child” justification.
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When this genius pronouncement gets around, I know who’s going to the head of the line.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/california-imposes-1-year-insurance-cancellation-freeze-in-areas-ravaged-by-wildfires-5789759?utm_source=ref_share&utm_campaign=copy
I expect that rates nationwide will be going up so insurers can try and survive. As for CA, I expect them to simply close down their operations (ALL of them), fire the staff, and abandon the state.
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What’s next? Nationalize the insurance companies? ‘For the public good!’ of course.
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Flood & Earthquake/movement insurance is already nationalized. How many have that?
Fire insurance is available in rural communities in Oregon. But like water damage which is covered, but excludes floods, rural fire insurance excludes wildfire. There are places where fire insurance can’t be bought, period. Been that way for a long time (grandparents place didn’t have fire insurance, they’ve been gone now for 20 years).
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Karma bus is now arriving…..
https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2025/01/12/man-arrested-attempting-to-burglarized-kamalas-home-in-brentwood-n2406510
The cherry on top is that the burglar was detained and released per local news in the article.
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“as G*d is my witness, I thought those turkeys could fly!”
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The Palestinian children meme brought to mind something I saw the other day (not sure if it was on WCVBN tv web site or Boston Globe’s) where the lede for the story was that two Bostonian/Mass residents had lost a home in the LA fires. It was like the old black humor pretend Globe headline This in 30pt text ” 15 Bostonians killed in catastrophe in NYC” this underneath in 18 pt text “Many New York City residents also lost in Nuclear Explosion”. Our media really seems to define parochial. Perhaps the Palestinians just get retired Boston Globe editors/writers :-) .
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“A responsible adult says ‘no’ to non-euclidean space!”
A responsible adult takes the Fifth.
Looks at the green grass and flowers. “January in Australia?”
And speaking of Australia, Australia is Atlantis. It not only sank into the Atlantic, but it came out the other side.
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Proving there are in fact very few places you can dig a hole straight to China.
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The Kansas meme is spot on this past week.
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Fits the Texas Panhandle too. 9” of snow, 1/4 mile vis in blowing snow. A few places had 9’ drifts.
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All of the snow in the river valley has melted (not true for the hills, some 400′ higher). OTOH, we had 18F this morning, and the forecast has lows in the mid teens all week. Guess I better get the heavy coat out.
Driving a VW Bug on a drifty road with a 90 degree crosswind was interesting. The rear tires would tend to break loose, rather surprising when on a flat, straight road. I learned to let up on the gas when I hit a drift, so the rear wheels would act as a snow anchor.
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We got three or four inches, already melting though it’s not much above freezing. Main roads are clear, but our tiny church has already canceled services. (Small, older congregation, church is well off the main road, and black ice is a definite possibility). We’ll probably Zoom services by Large City Church we attended when our son was small.
Wish it had stayed pretty longer -tomorrow will be in the 40s so we’ll have a wet, slushy day – but very glad to avoid ice.
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I remember driving a 67 VW to work in Wichita on icy roads where I had to hold about a 20 degree crab into the wind to stay in my lane.
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“We’re here on Earth to fart around.” — Kurt Vonnegut, apparently.
I think I’m going to adopt this as a motto, or something. If I hadn’t already paid for my gravestone, I would have had this saying engraved on it.
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The insidiousness of “Social Media” is that it hijacks that human social animal need to interact with actual people and makes one stare at glowing phosphors to do it.
The majority of the generation raised post smartphones, and no small fraction of older individuals, spend every spare moment walking around staring down at their phones to try and satisfy their human interaction needs instead of looking up and interacting with real humans.
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How dare folks escape a captured social ecosystems to write out communication with literally any other group. Next thing you know, the good little victims might form up and revolt from the crown.
Oh, wait, I forgot, making it “glowing phosphors” instead of ink maaaaaagically changes stuff so it’s bad.
Letters good, emails bad.
Broadsheets good, blogs bad.
Note cards good, text messages bad.
….
Oooor … it could be … that the culture promoted by things such as Rules for Radicals and the various shows that walk around and ask people questions so they can be made a nation-wide laughing-stock should they answer, at the spur of the moment, in a manner that can possibly be spun as less than perfect….
Is toxic as frick, and demanding people engage in it is abusive and evil.
That same social behavior, online? Is still toxic, though much easier to identify and harder to excuse via more abuse. “You just thought that’s what I said… you must have misunderstood… I never said anything like that….”
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I just wish they’d look up from the whatever when they cross the street, or are about to walk into poles/holes/tres/me. Be it a book or a phone or tablet. (Full disclosure: I walked into a tree once while reading. Once. Even I can learn :) )
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Oh, paying attention to things around them is a valid but completely different bag of problems– I’ve had to dodge around a lot of folks who apparently don’t think ANYONE is shorter than they are.
Or watch them bounce off of the much bigger folks I’m with, which is also fun. ^.^
We put a big bright stripe down teh side of our white huge van so people would stop trying to change lanes into the side of it.
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Sadly, one might as well put a PA system on a vehicle, and a loop of Ludacris “Move, B****!”, and folks will still challenge vehicular exclusion.
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Which came about because of people driving like idiots. (And getting away with it.)
:movie voice sigh: It’s a vicious cycle.
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We had a Dodge Intrepid, dark metallic midnight blue. People did not see that car. Bright day, rainy day, night, it got hit. All while stopped. Worse, matching the paint was impossible. Last time it was repaired before we sold it, told the repair shop to “Please remove the Hit Me sign!”
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Hubby and son can relate to the car VS hobbit. Neither can even get in the driver’s seat after this hobbit has driven a car. 😁
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The “prosthetics for veterans” one really hit me.
Yes, indeed.
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I know that 17 million is a lot of money, but it wa 2% of their budget. I’m sure if they hadn’t bought EV fire trucks and spent money on diversity issues they could have survived it.
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As Mickey Kaus noted (and Instapundit linked) on X the other day, the first rule is that you say you’re going to cut spending on the fire department to get voter support for undoing the budget cuts. You’re not supposed to actually DO it.
The second rule is that if the cuts actually take place, they usually land hardest on the people who actually do the work, and not the deadwood administrators.
Also, a bunch of LAFD’s equipment got donated to Ukraine in 2022. I’m guessing that the City Council made that decision, and also didn’t bother to budget enough money to replace the stuff that got sent.
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To the people in the “I’ll remember” meme: this is why your emotional support notebook goes with you every frikking where.
My favorite was of course Picard finding out from Sisko how to get Q out of his-Picard’s face permanently
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The Soviets gave Breznev “Hero of the Soviet Union” for his birthday.
Biden is working on “Hold my crack pipe” with The Medal of Freedom.
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/biden-farewell-address-oval-office/2025/01/11/id/1194711/
Lord, please keep his mind off the military stuff.
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no idea how I crossed up links.
here it is
https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/joe-biden-pope-francis-medal-of-freedom/2025/01/11/id/1194713/
too much caffeine…
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“Sucking up to the Pope after doing a bunch of evil stuff” is a rational move, at least. And almost anybody is an improvement on Soros.
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Oh, the ADHD one… Definitely close to home.
The shopping list MUST always be in the same place on my shelf that is on the back of the desk. I try to write down anything the minute I think of it.
Then, at least once in every three times, I forget to put the list in my shirt pocket…
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You do better than I do.
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What works for me is a notes app on phone, and post-its stuck to phone.
Since the phone is part of my job, it generally always goes with me out the door, on person or in rucksack. Thus good odds.
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Oh, that’s just the shopping list… Plenty of other things that get forgotten/lost/walked off around here.
(The other day, we had a three hour, three person search for the Firestick remote. Daughter two had laid it down in plain sight – just NOT where anyone would ever think it would be. Next to the air fryer…)
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One in 3 times? Over achiever.
I keep in the same spot:
Why? Because guarantied if something is “put away in a safe spot”, it is very safe, because it won’t be found by anyone, not even me.
What I haven’t had to do is go back to a restaurant for my glasses, credit card, or phone. Not that we haven’t had to go back for those items, just they weren’t mine. Gotten so we all sweep the table to make sure nothing was left behind, and ask the usual guilty party if they have said items.
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I used to have pretty close to 100% recall of anything I had seen written. So notes or lists that I took and then read over didn’t need to be brought along. If I left it on the counter, no big deal.
I had no idea how super useful that skill was until I had a stroke then developed MS and lost the ability. I was only vaguely aware other people didn’t work that way.
Now I’m lucky to remember if I even wrote a list never mind what was on it or where I put it.
Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.
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Never was quite that good with read/written recall. But could always go “I know I’ve read that”. Frustrating for test recall. Understand the frustration ongoing, and I don’t have the medical excuses. Just getting older. Gotten a bit OCD on everything being put where it belongs.
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A bit off topic, but is anyone else going to Chattacon this weekend coming up?
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That slacker chicken would be going to ‘freezer camp’ and the pot…
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EPIC Star Wars fan film! Best in years!
I find the lack of range time disturbing. I have altered the training schedule. Pray I do not alter it further.
https://x.com/DudespostingWs/status/1877416045553635737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1877416045553635737%7Ctwgr%5E28a52de1bdc7c3a3edc2e1377fc6f902c04bb2e3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnotthebee.com%2Farticle%2Fyou-wanna-watch-this-video-of-vader-at-a-gun-range-of-course-you-do&mx=2
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The muzzle brake blast from that Barrett keeps knocking stuff off the next table.
Note to self: stay well back from anybody shooting a .50 BMG.
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One really has to experience a .50BMG with a muzzle brake / blast deflector to truly appreciate them. LOL.
Best stand directly behind the shooter, crouch or lower if shooter is prone.
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Now Gruesom is calling Trump’s criticism of…well, everything about how California and L.A. are run ‘Disinformation!’
Note that none of them are calling any of it untrue…
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