This may not be of much help to anyone, but I thought I would pass on a couple of tips on safety with regard to the drought we're having here in the Midwest.
I'm sure everyone is aware of the need to hydrate and be careful of open fires. Until a couple of recent rains have put a little moisture back in the soil and vegetation most of the area was under a burn ban.
The one thing I really wanted to pass along is this:
DO NOT TRY TO CROSS DRIED UP PONDS, CREEK BEDS, OR FLOOD PLAINS.
The reason for this is that when areas that have had standing water for months or years on them dry up like this, the upper layer of the mud dries and leaves a hard surface that appears passable. But in reality it is just a thin shell of hard dirt on top with possibly several feet of mud below. I recently heard of a 4 year old girl that had to be dug out of a mud bog like this after sinking in up to her waist.
So if you have a ground team out in the field, be careful and don't get suckered in to trying to take the easy way. At best you'll have a lot of mud to clean off and at worst a member of your team or you could be in serious jeopardy. Think "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls". "Say, 'Grab the rope'."
That's good info, I didn't know this until now.
Did the rain yesterday help at all? Looked like it dumped pretty good your way.
Quote from: Eclipse on August 17, 2012, 11:20:48 PM
Did the rain yesterday help at all? Looked like it dumped pretty good your way.
The view out the front window at work looked like we were in a Florida hurricane not Peoria.
It's hit and miss, but on the average we're still about 10-12" below normal. Water is no longer flowing over the spillway at Rend lake. So the lower Big Muddy River is basically a long narrow lake that drains into the Mississippi. Many small ponds and creeks are dry.
Yesterday, when I left work in Perry County near the DuQuoin State Fair, it was raining cats and dogs. 17 miles east at my place, we did not get a drop until about 5 pm(1 1/2 hrs later) and it was good but not the several days of soaking rain we need. In fact, the ground has been so hard and crusty that until recently what rain we did get ran off before it could soak in.
Flying along the Mississippi River these days you will see so many large sand bars / beaches that aren't normally there. Looks like they'd be fun to land on. 8)
Quote from: David Vandenbroeck on August 18, 2012, 01:20:24 AM
Flying along the Mississippi River these days you will see so many large sand bars / beaches that aren't normally there. Looks like they'd be fun to land on. 8)
Don't even think about calling me for that flight release...
Quote from: Al Sayre on August 20, 2012, 02:56:30 AM
Quote from: David Vandenbroeck on August 18, 2012, 01:20:24 AM
Flying along the Mississippi River these days you will see so many large sand bars / beaches that aren't normally there. Looks like they'd be fun to land on. 8)
Don't even think about calling me for that flight release...
(http://forums.cadetstuff.org/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif) (http://forums.cadetstuff.org/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif) (http://forums.cadetstuff.org/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif) (http://forums.cadetstuff.org/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif) (http://forums.cadetstuff.org/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Quote from: Al Sayre on August 20, 2012, 02:56:30 AM
Quote from: David Vandenbroeck on August 18, 2012, 01:20:24 AM
Flying along the Mississippi River these days you will see so many large sand bars / beaches that aren't normally there. Looks like they'd be fun to land on. 8)
Don't even think about calling me for that flight release...
We need to replace N97779 anyway. 8)
But you want them to call you .. to replace it, not you having to call them with the news that it needs replaced.. :)
Dang it... I always get that wrong.
Back to the drought...
It's actually been raining pretty good up this way the last week or so, on about a normal track. Which of course means that
everything that hasn't been able to grow, including about 1quituplegooglemillion bugs, is now going green or buzzing in our faces.
Had a really heavy sun shower this afternoon.
(http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/4654/sunshower.jpg)
(http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/2802/sunshower2.jpg)
Looks like mostly up North and mid-state, though.
LOL.. seeing that pool reminds me of when I was in the late single digits sometime .. the neighbors had one, and it was one day where there were a bunch of kids over there being bullies and I wasn't "invited" .. I was in the backyard with a Slip 'N Slide and garden hose.. there were quite a few of them in the pool, throwing stuff, calling names, and the like.
They started going around and around, there were enough of them to go at about a marching separation, almost 3/4ths around the pool. They were going around making a whirlpool and all of a sudden I hear screaming like heck and look .. there's a wall of water and mean kids coming right at me. There was chainlink fence between us.
I got the best ride down a Slip 'N Slide, ever. A bunch of them got plastered on the fence, and when the dad came out he was swearing, spitting and screaming.
Turned out they were not even supposed to be in the pool because he knew it was having some kind of problem and had drained it, and those kids came over and turn off the draining.
Picked the right day to be not invited .. :)
That back yard had drought conditions for a while after that. It never got rebuilt, and the kid didn't have anyone over for a long time. The grass actually got to grow. Faces mashed into the chainlink .. was just so funny. This being the mid 70's in south Miami.
Still no rain since last week. We are still in an exceptional drought status. Which we graduated to from extreme drought. At this point, it would take about 6-8 in of rain to get us down to severe drought.