(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Table Kibitzing: July 21 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2022-07-21 x Firefighters stopped the forward progress of the #LincolnFire in Sausalito, Calif., on Monday, July 18, 2022. pic.twitter.com/4Wbfatjz5A — Ethan Swope (@EthanSwopePhoto) July 18, 2022 There was a vegetation fire Monday one block away from my house which spread right up to northbound 101. It didn’t jump the freeway. Alerts started coming in at around 3 o’clock about evacuations and subsequently orders to shelter in place. Don’t know how many fire trucks responded but there were also plenty of aircraft, including some from Sonoma (one county away) equipped to drop fire retardant on the blaze. The entire incident lasted for about a little over an hour, closing down traffic on the freeway and causing panic among the neighbors. A friend who lives about five blocks away had all her cat carriers at the ready and her grab and go bag right at the door. I wasn’t that alarmed, although it reminded me that we’re now past mid-July when the threat of wildfires becomes an everyday concern in California. My county, it would appear, is quite prepared, if Monday’s response is any indication. I received at least five texts and two phone calls. For a vegetation fire. x Southern Marin Fire District has experienced a high number of Vegetation Fires in or around Highway 101 in Marin City/Sausalito in the last two weeks. If you see fire or smoke please report it immediately! #SouthernMarinFire #LincolnFire pic.twitter.com/Ibgi3Xqebu — Southern Marin Fire (@SMFDinfo) July 19, 2022 Monday’s fire reminded me of an eerie day a few years ago in the height of wildfire season I remember that day because it was the first time wildfires fueled by the Diablo winds became a yearly reality in the Bay Area rather than black swan events. My friend and I were out walking our dogs at Blackie’s Pasture. The day was quite warm and the air felt so clear, almost texturaly opaque, the sunlight shimmery, surreal . We thought it was odd that the park and its bike paths were so empty. Back then we hadn’t even thought to check the AQI before we went out and we walked for well over two hours. When we got home we furiously texted back and forth about the fires in Sonoma, about how clueless we had been to walk without masks. It’s hard to believe that we were so unprepared. There are currently five active fires in California. The LA Times reported yesterday that California fires are so severe some forests might vanish forever. California’s forests are in rapid retreat, which bodes ill for the future. Using satellite data, researchers from UC Irvine found that trees in the state’s mountainous regions declined 6.7% between 1985 and 2021 thanks to wildfires, drought and other climate-related sources of stress. The drop was even steeper in the Sierra Nevada, which suffered 8.8% tree cover loss during that period. www.sfchronicle.com/... In yesterday’s SF Chronicle, California’s fire season is so eerily quiet that it resembles a ‘normal summer’ State and federal data show that the massive blazes Californians have become accustomed to aren’t as massive this year. So far in 2022, wildfires have scorched 35,135 acres, according to combined data from Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service. That’s less than 20% of the acreage burned over the same time frame last year, and it’s significantly lower — roughly 10% — of the 5-year average over that time period. -snip- Conditions are riskiest in early fall, when dry, offshore Diablo winds are most common. Like the Santa Ana winds in Southern California, Northern California's Diablo winds have fueled some of the state's most destructive wildfires, causing new starts to quickly grow out of control and whip over mountains. By the time the winds come, fuel is at its driest, noted Brian Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. ION I came into a small chunk of unexpected money this month and so decided to treat myself to twice weekly 50-minute sessions with a personal trainer for two months. Hopefully, by that time I will get into a groove and not need the support and encouragement of a trainer to get me to the gym. This week I went Tuesday and today and both times there were only about four people working out and all the windows and doors were wide open. I still wore a mask albeit only a surgical one. It is really challenging to do cardio but the strength, balance, and agility workouts were okay. My muscles have definitely atrophied over the 2 ½ years of the pandemic. When I tried to use the eliptical Tuesday, I was hardly able to sustain movement, my legs were too weak. Today I tried the bike and thankfully it wasn’t as much of a challenge. I guess you just start where you start. I have to admit to being a little disconcerted about just how out of shape I am and what a long journey I have back to being physically fit. I’d like to start doing yoga again, too, although the studio in my neighborhood doesn’t require masks and crowds people into a very small, poorly ventilated space. It doesn’t feel safe. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/21/2111789/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-July-21 Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/