Tag Archives: atmospheric rivers

The Road to Diamond, Day 105: Plenty of Atmosphere, No River

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

March 13, 2025- The warnings were all over the Web: “Atmospheric River threatens California on Wednesday night!” When I woke, this morning, I looked out the window and saw a modest series of puddles and light rain falling, but no surging water. Maybe the dry ground just soaked most of it in. It seems to have been another case of media sensationalism, at any rate.

Other than managing to lose two hair brushes, in the span of a week, I made it to San Diego and back to Prescott, with little fanfare. Three of the four scheduled online meetings went off nicely, though I will catch most of the last one via its recording. I take check-out time seriously, so that cut my viewing time. I had a nice visit with an old friend, yesterday, and caught up with other friends in Ocean Beach during the three days I was there.

Here in Arizona, I noticed the ground in the “Outback”, between Ehrenburg and Congress, was saturated in spots and there appeared to have been a few scattered incidents of flooding, but only in sparsely-inhabited areas. We got a bit of snow in the Bradshaw and Sierra Prieta Ranges, and may get more overnight and tomorrow. I guess it’s better late than never.

So now, I will focus on the Home Front, community safety and environmental matters, for the next six weeks at least. Progress has been made here, on several fronts, so it’s time to build on it.

Simply Put

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 6, 2024- “Do not tell me ‘No’.”, the precocious five-year-old stated. So, I did what any sensible adult would do. ”No”, was all I said- and he wasn’t asking where a man might find a bed. He got the point and went off to engage in an activity that was within the bounds of the class’s purview.  I had not worked with Pre-schoolers, in eight years. The instructional day hasn’t changed much: 3-year-olds in the morning and 4-5 year-olds in the afternoon. There are 5 adults working in the morning, and 3 in the afternoon. We locked the doors to the closet, to the cleaning supply cabinet and to the hallway. A couple of kids cried, when they didn’t get their way, and I showed one of them how to resolve the triggering issue, without melting down. At day’s end, it was still raining, so we walked the bus riders through a completely enclosed route and to their designated vehicles-keeping very sharp eyes on our little charges, all the way. Yes, school has been in session for six months, but small children are small children, and I retain too many anecdotes, from over the years, of kids wandering off, going to the rest room without telling an adult or even falling asleep-on the wrong bus, and being left there, because the driver had checked off all his “regular” riders, and hadn’t checked the actual seats. The angry father all but made the Superintendent go to the bus yard, when his little girl didn’t come home, as expected.

Simply put, no stone is left unturned, anymore, when it comes to child safety, and parental nerves.

California was pummeled, again today, and will be, into tomorrow, as another Atmospheric River soaks the region, from Ensenada to the Lost Coast and from Los Angeles to the Colorado River. This, of course, means Arizona and Nevada are getting their share of wet. It rained all day, here, and now it is snowing, briskly, with six inches on the ground,as I write this, and lots more to come, overnight. I pray that friends and family in California and Nevada are safe-and that we, here, also keep clear of harm’s way.

Simply put, Mother Nature is scolding us, for the self-centeredness of all too many, who disregard her warnings.

Pushing Back On The Mud, Day Fifteen

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 16, 2023- Michael had over a hundred people to place in hotel rooms, so it took a while for my team mates and me, who were out-processing, to get our room in San Jose, in advance of our departure tomorrow. Michael got it done.

I spent the morning at the shelter, tying up loose ends, turning the reins over to my right-hand person and the car key over to another shelter worker, who will be there for several more days. After hugs and handshakes, I left a bit after noon, catching a ride to Red Cross Event Headquarters with one of my team mates who had other business there.

The ride was smooth, as was the immediate out-processing. I was thanked, profusely, by the headquarters staff, as well, and was treated to dinner by my second-level supervisor, who also gave me a lift to Holiday Inn, near Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. (I am very much gratified to see honour given to a Japanese-American patriot in this way, given the past treatment of his kindred,)

So, the mud will continue to be pushed back, the homes rebuilt and families will rebound. The Camarillo family will continue to arrange and sell fresh-cut flowers, their neighbours will go back to the fields and provide us with strawberries, artichokes and watermelon. Homes will be sturdier, in preparation for what might lie ahead. Governments will, hopefully, be more responsive and grant a listening ear to even the simplest of those who they serve.

Tasha, our server on Saturday evening, will keep on with her own recovery from the series of atmospheric rivers that have pummeled the wide area from Santa Cruz and Aptos to the north side of Salinas. She and many others will, God-willing, learn to smile again. I will go back to my Home Base of Prescott, and be of service to small children, in the latter part of this week and take part in Earth Day activities, next Saturday.

Pushing Back On The Mud, Day Thirteen

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Posted by on in Community, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

April 14, 2023, Aptos, CA- The Australian surfer dude turned restaurateur took my order for two of his unique tacos, made of baked vegetable shells. I chose red beet shells, one filled with ahi and avocado; the other, filled with crab and avocado creme. Diced vegetables and mango topped each one. When it came time for me to pay, he was off doing something else. So I looked around the immediate arcade and nearby shops, then came back and paid. This isn’t something I particularly feel okay doing, but this is Capitola.

Before the storms of January and March, the little town was a surfer’s haven. Margaritaville has a branch here, and there is the well known Pizza My Heart. Many places are just now renovating and preparing to reopen. There is a Homeless Garden Project that is getting started as well, and when I get back to Home Base, I will order a few of their products, to help the effort along.

Today was my day off from shelter duty, and it was lovely day for a hike. So, I started out on Seacliff Beach, just south of the wrecked SS Palo Alto, which has been left in situ, as a marine animal habitat. The cement ship was used, for a time, as a recreation and entertainment site. People came from the Bay Area and Sacramento, to dine and dance on its polished wooden floors, and gaze at the stars on the northern edge of Monterey Bay. Now, it is the centerpiece of this part of Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.

SS Palo Alto, wrecked by a storm, in 1932.
SS Palo Alto, from Seacliff Overlook

Seacliff, New Brighton and Capitola Beaches all suffered from January’s Atmospheric Rivers. March’s sequels didn’t help matters any.

Seacliff Beach, Aptos
Driftwood at the edge of a forested hill, Seacliff Beach
A lone cliffside bouquet, Seacliff Beach
Boulders moved by the surf and collapsed from the force of the January storms.
Little Koe’s Beach Bits, Capitola, CA-Home of the veggie shell taco
Capitola Village
Capitola Wharf, damaged in January, 2023 Atmospheric Rivers
Snow glories, New Brighton Beach, Capitola
Long-billed curlews, catching their meals

It was a full six-mile roundtrip, up a couple of bracing flights of stairs and along a flat, but sometimes absorbent, stretch of sand. Both Aptos and Capitola are worth a day of exploration.

The Water Speaks

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

January 10, 2023- In the 2016 film, “The Queen of Katwe”, the narrator says “Water takes what it wants”, in ravaged Uganda, each year. Floods indeed ravage many countries, often capriciously and with long-term devastating effect. Last year, Pakistan suffered the worst, with Kenya not far behind. Last month, southeast Brazil suffered greatly from floods, and now it is the turn of the U.S. Pacific coast.

California has borne the brunt of the storms so far, with western Nevada getting slammed by the first one and expecting more tonight. The Northwest may well be in the cross hairs of the next storm, tomorrow or Thursday. Friends whose weather experience has been relatively benign, for several years, are now finding themselves either evacuated or stuck in their homes.

The water is speaking, and its message is clear: “There has been an imbalance, both in how I am used and in how I am treated. Now, none of you, anywhere, are totally safe from my cleansing and my wrath.”

Man is the steward of Earth, and the central task of a steward is to maintain balance, so that all resources, including the Elements, are available as needed for most, if not all, of the world’s creatures. We are definitely still in the learning curve on that one, and will remain so for some time to come. It’s been suggested that a way be found to harness the moisture from “climate bombs” and “atmospheric rivers”-and push the moisture into the Colorado River, specifically into its lakes. That may remind some of Pecos Bill lassoing a tornado, yet, if clouds can indeed be seeded and made to build moisture-then it is worth the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency and the National Science Foundation collaborating on efforts to contain and harness such excess moisture, and deposit it where it can do some good.

None of this is quick and it will be anything but easy. The same may be said about the exploration of Space and the finding of cures for deadly diseases, but on we go.