051300
On Fri, 12 May 2000 08:05:30 EDT Milo G McConnell
writes:
>
> Les what is a wall of water? A while back you said that you
> couldn't get things growing in cold soil without a wall of water.
> i read somewhere that you could put down black plastic to warm the
> soil and hold moisture. Just cut holes for the plants.
>
Mike M., Putting plastic on top of dry sand would not hold in any
moisture. First, there is no moisture there to be held in. Second, if I watered
the sand before putting the plastic down, the water would drain faster than
I could pump it. On top of that, the plants would still freeze at night.
A Wall O' Water is a ring of plastic tubes that you put around a plant,
then fill the tubes with water. The water absorbs heat during the day
and releases it slowly during the night, thus preventing the plant from
freezing. The lady who sold these to me said she planted tomatoes in her garden
in February.
Mike R., I live on the west side of the Rio Grande, but about 6-1/2 miles
northwest of Espanola, so did not have to evacuate. The north-south
mountains channel the air along the Rio Grande. The Rio Chama meets
the Rio Grande in Espanola and I live near the Rio Chama.
Not to worry. Dan could not call me because I was on the Internet,
goofing off, as usual. Also as usual, the news media got everything all
wrong. There was no evacuation of Espanola. There was a voluntary
evacuation of 500 homes west of the Rio Grande for a few hours
because of smoke. That's all it was. People without breathing problems
or heart problems did not leave. Those who did leave returned about
three hours later.
Most of the National Lab buildings were not damaged by the fire. Some
had slight damage. None of them were destroyed. Two trailers that were
used as "temporary" offices were burned. There were no releases of
radioactive or chemical hazards and there were no explosions. Explosives
are stored in bunkers designed to withstand fires, even direct impact of
a bazooka, RPG, etc. Plutonium is stored in a building designed
to withstand the direct impact of a plane as big as a 747.
Roy Weaver, the U.S. Park Service supervisor who decided to set this
fire, is on paid administrative leave. If it had been set by a careless
campfire, the campers would be in jail.
Continuous coverage of the Los Alamos fire has been discontinued. It
was announced that residents would not be allowed to go back to their
homes for one week, except for brief escorted visits to retrieve a
few items. They also announced that residents could log onto Yahoo
and search for Los Alamos County Government to find out if their
houses were still standing. I tried that and found 2,947 matches.
Even though my doctor appointment had been cancelled, I had to drive
to town anyway to water Roger Life's garden. The last time I watered it
was on Wednesday and he obviously will not be able to water it for a
few more days, since he is a fire fighter and has been fighting the
Los Alamos fire. He is busy and he is very tired.
The Cloudcroft fire (Scott-Able Fire) is now being called the Sacramento
fire, because it started near the small village of Sacramento, New
Mexico. Sacramento and Weeds, a nearby village, have been evacuated.
At about 1:30 p.m., Denny & Cherryl (the homeless couple) stopped by
on their way from Abiquiu to Espanola to buy groceries. We had a
pleasant visit and tried to find out by using the Internet if their home
was still standing, with no success. Denny told me that there were quads
further up on 45th Street. They left at about 2:40 p.m.
After they left, I made a taco meatloaf and put it in the oven. Then,
I thought to log on to http://www.770kob.com, the radio station Web site.
That directed me to log onto http://www.lac.losalamos.nm.us where they
had a list of "damaged" structures and it did not have Denny & Cherryl's
address listed. It did say that the list might not be accurate and to
call the Los Alamos police department (where you would get a recorded
message that also would not answer your question). Anyway, some of
the addresses, which were listed numerically, were:
North Community 2016 45th
North Community 2028 45th
North Community 2046 45th
North Community 2337 45th
North Community 2357 45th
Denny & Cherryl live at 2057 45th Street, so their home may have been
saved, at least at this time. Hopefully, the fire will not destroy any
more homes. When I looked at the mountain at 5:30 this morning, there was
no glow in the sky where the fire was. It was 29 degrees and there was
no wind.
I am unable to connect to my ISP this morning. That has happened a lot
recently.
Roy, the following seems suitable for you.
Sign seen on a plastic surgeon's window:
"Come in and pick your nose!"