EAGLETS FLEDGE . . . COUNTRY GOING TO HELL

 BIG BEAR BALD EAGLES  have been in national news for some time so I've pretty much ceased writing about them here except, thought I'd briefly recap this year's bird events.  The first 2 eggs were not hatched but a second batch of 2 eggs did.    The emerging eaglets subsequently named Sandy and Luna  fledged this past week.  If you don't know the bird lingo, that means they flew into the vast blue sky above us all for the very first time.  Previous years eagle posts here can be read in the archives.

Sandy was named after the recently deceased caring biologist who had been so supportive of bringing the endangered eagles to the world's attention.  She had welcomed giving me permission to share their stories here long before they gained so much international fame. 

 Sandy Steers was the longtime Executive Director of the nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Bald Eagles.  She made a significant impact  "...in protecting the local habitat and spearheading the famous 24/7 solar-powered eagle nest cameras." the Los Angeles Times reported.

Eaglet Sandy was accidentally knocked out of the nest when her brother, Luna, flew.  She fell  through the tree but Sandy caught on to a branch.  Eventually, she fledged from there, soaring through the sky. 

You may read all the particulars at the Friends of Big Bear Eagles site, see videos of those exciting scary events, their parent eagles, Jackie and Shadow, their older siblings, and live views from 2 cameras, one at the nest and another on the surrounding environment.    https://friendsofbigbearvalley.org/eagles/

Sibling sisters  Sunny and Gizmo  are the most recent previous eaglets from this pair sometimes seen flying in Big Bear skies above the lake.  They may still be observing their parents and learning how to safely catch fish swimming in the lake water below.  

HEAT WAVE IN AMERICA

"People often say that a country is going to hell.  And the summer of 1936 was certainly infernal."--  Geoff Williams writes in  National Geographic.   https://apple.news/AFECSug0uS3ayFAlnQtuA3A       

 This article may answer why my Mother never wanted me to wear shorts and seemed opposed to them.  I guess she was trying to protect me from any possible negative attitudes I might encounter from society's less than favorable attitude prevailing then toward a single divorced mother -- with children, too.   This point of view coupled with other adults attitudes conveyed to their children to avoid playing with those youth living in such a household.   Perhaps she thought it best to not risk subjecting me to any additional  discrimination or worse by allowing me to wear shorts.  Besides, she had deliberately had my smallpox vaccination's  skin-beauty-marring scar placed out of view on my leg rather than my arm where it would more likely be exposed.  All her planning possibly to no avail.

I was quite young then but I don't recall ever knowing about our culture's shorts attitude.                                                      "...discussions were happening all over the country, in backyards, parks, the workplace and even in church, where a young woman on LongIsland made headlines for being ejected by a priest  for not being appropriately covered up.  In Covington, Kentucky, police officers were told to cite any teenage girls or women dressed in shorts or halter tops for indecent exposure.  In Ann Arbor, Michigan, when a business owner allowed his male employees to wear shorts in the store, he confided to the Detroit Press that he was worried abut the public reaction and was relieved that nobody seemed to object." --  Williams writes.  

Given the times in which we live now, along with with the excessive heat being experienced in Europe, our own country and around the world, that quote from the National Geographic article caught my attention.  

Perhaps the article and book, The Summer of Death, all by Geoff Williams, will be of interest to you, too.

                                      

NET NEUTRALITY --- HEAT WAVE

FCC RECONSIDERS NET NEUTRALITY

Issues swirling around our government distract us from Internet concerns. 

On July 12^th dozens of major websites and organizations are joining in an internet-wide day of action to prevent a possible FCC wrong decision in undoing the previous ruling to insure net neutrality.  Your comment to the FCC is a first step needed with this link at Demand Progress as one way to express your view.

If net neutrality protections are removed the previous rules of access will be violated to the detriment of smaller business users and ordinary people is the concern of many and one I have shared.     

SlateMagazine explains this complicated issue including:

"Most would generally agree that net neutrality is about preserving the internet as an open platform where newcomers play by the same basic rules of access as giants like Google and Netflix.  The internet is more than just a content channel.  It's also a platform for innovation that creates new jobs, new economic demands and benefits, new opportunities for democratic participation, and new applications.  The challenge here is to protect users from censorship, while also maintaining the internet as a vibrant and open platform for innovation."

Can we trust that net neutrality will be preserved if the rules insuring it are removed?

HEAT WAVE -- SO CAL CLIMATE CHANGE UP DATE 

Heat temperatures are breaking records in three digit figures here in Southern California, more typical of later in the summer than now in early July.  

Many residents are feeling a bit more miserable because our usual dry heat has high humidity with monsoon flow.  

Heading east from Los Angeles County to Palm Springs the temperatures have been even hotter into the teens. 

Firefighters are being kept busy putting out brush fires before they get out of hand threatening homes.

Power outages occurring in some of our valleys due to a variety of reasons serve as a reminder of how vulnerable we're told our power grid is putting us at risk when our power system is disrupted. 

Keeping cool, I move between my air conditioned house to similarly cooled auto and grocery stores or other businesses, so don't linger long in the heat.  Carrying a water bottle  in my car is routine for me year 'round but especially now.  We're susceptible to dehydration at any age, but I think more so as we get older.   

Here are a couple of grumpy old men noting a heat wave in their environment.

Grumpy Old Men Having a Heat Wave - YouTube by burnettjr-2

   

HEAT WAVE, FIRES IN SO CAL

We're having a heat wave...temperature was 107 degrees here in Claremont Monday – 122 record-setting degrees in Palm Springs, California -- an hour auto drive east.   The highest temperatures I recall experiencing were 115-116 a couple days years ago in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona. 

Hot days like even the lower temperatures we're having now generally didn't occur until three or four weeks later in the year if we had them at all.    Do you suppose this might be one more indicator of global warming and/or climate change?  Is there any question!

Fires we don’t usually experience until fall started, also, yesterday – in communities west of where I live – ground growth, shrubs and trees are a tinderbox due to our drought.  The cause is thought to be due to a car crash which led to a second fire with both continuing to spread closer together for a massive out-of-control burn. 

Driving on an afternoon errand I could see the blue sky was being swallowed by the darkening reddish brown smoky clouds moving toward our city which they had reached by the time I arrived home.  We're not threatened by fire but the air pollution is unhealthy so I'll be staying indoors.

Cities west, Asuza and Duarte (home of City of Hope Medical Center but not reported as threatened) are the communities whose foothill residences edge into the mountainsides burning.   Evacuations of people, animals...firefighters on the ground...helicopter water drops...planes spreading fire retardants.  Wild animals, including bears, deer, smaller creatures... leaving the forests...fleeing to neighborhoods.  So far no homes lost.  Concern the wind velocity might increase or direction might change through the night.   

The electric power grid has been down in some other Los Angeles County areas.  One area's residents are reported to be enraged to be without power due to a "planned outage" on this record-setting predicted hottest day.  Some resident's complain they didn't even get an advance notice others report having been given.  I can identify with their protests as the same failure to notify me has happened twice in recent years.  I understand needed preventative work, but doing so on this specific day doesn't make sense?

Other southwestern states are being clobbered by similar drought effects.  This is what we experience plus our earthquakes much as other states are primarily subjected to tornadoes, massive flooding, hurricanes, winter’s freezing snows.  

                                                  

Ella Fitzgerald is one of my favorite jazz female vocalists who recorded this Irving Berlin song with Enoch Light’s arrangement in 1958.   This song was introduced in the 1933 musical show As Thousands Cheer by Ethel Waters – the song subsequently was featured in several movies and recorded by numerous singers.

MENTAL PREOCCUPATION PREVAILS

How do you know if your mind is preoccupied?

When you notice you've poured your orange juice in your cereal bowl instead of the glass.

That was my first clue on a recent day filled with the expected and unexpected. I've been quietly empathetic with the fact so much of the country has been experiencing unusually hot weather this summer while we've had a cooler summer than ordinary in Southern California. Yeah, there was a little bit of me that was feeling sorta smug about our nice weather -- a feeling that should have signaled me I was in for retribution for allowing even an eensy weensy thought like that to enter my mind.

Sure enough, the previous night I had noticed the house beginning to feel warm, though the air conditioner was running. The thermometer confirmed a high temperature greatly exceeding the thermostat setting. My check of a wall register revealed warm air flow instead of cold indicating A/C malfunction. I was awake the rest of the night ready to phone in my SOS to the A/C repair magicians soon after daylight seeped though my bedroom windows. The call was made with my plea for help duly recorded by the A/C group’s automated machine, giving me hope my service would be added to their technicians schedule for that day. Just to be certain my message had been noted by staff I phoned again when the office was open. I was disappointed to be told no one had noted my call and all service calls had long been scheduled, not only for that day, but at least through the end of the week.

I was desperate because we were in the midst of an excessive heat alert with temperatures well into three digits coupled with high humidity. I recalled when my husband was living that due to his medical problems he rightfully was automatically given special service during power cutbacks for certain medical and appliance malfunctions. I benefited as a household member, but I’ve believed I was no longer in need of such special considerations and have not requested any. On this occasion I decided to “play the age card.” I stated my age, adding that unfortunately, my body no longer tolerated extreme temperatures and heat as when I was younger. I reported I hadn’t been able to sleep at all the night before and inquired again whether they could possibly provide service sooner. I was asked to “hold” while another person was consulted. The resultant message was my A/C unit would receive service the next day.

The rest of the day the house interior gradually heated up. I managed to get a few “glowing” soaked hours of sleep during a few intervals throughout the day. In case you didn’t know, “horses sweat, men perspire and women glow,” as I recall a saying from my mother's horse and buggy days. I was surprised to be feeling much too listless to leave the house to go to an air conditioned movie theater as the day before I had thought I might. The night’s cooling air failed to infiltrate sufficiently throughout my home, so despite a fan focused on me I experienced more erratic sleeping hours. The A/C thermometer indicated numbers just below three digits, so I stopped checking it.

Here's jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald singing "We're Having A Heat Wave" with accompanying photos of her and Marilyn Monroe who many think generates heat of her own.



After another heat-filled night, during which I had little sleep, when morning arrived I was amazed to discover my strength seemed to be sapped. I came to understand first hand what my mother had meant years ago during her older years when she would say, “The heat tires me.” I rotated my morning activities of personal care and dressing with lying down on the bed. Later preparing breakfast alternated with resting in the recliner while I ricocheted back and forth to stand before the refreshing electric table fan blown breezes.

Clearly I needed to activate Plan B. My mind plotted how I would spend my day and evening in air conditioned comfort at various locales. Just then my thoughts were interrupted by a welcomed phone call reporting my home was next on the A/C service list. An hour or so later one of the A/C dealer company owners from whom we had purchased our unit many years ago arrived to diagnose the problem. Seems a “capacitor had blown” which he reported was happening to other unit types, too, during this heat onslaught. He replaced the capacitor which was relatively inexpensive, costing less than the labor, as is so often the case with mechanized, electronic and digitized products today. The total cost was reasonable and worth every penny to me as the welcomed cooling air circulated throughout my home.

Now I can keep my mind on whatever I might be doing. I’m confident my breakfast beverage will no longer occupy my cereal bowl since I can’t really imagine microwaving my oatmeal in orange juice. Still – maybe I should try it.