What have done towards your prep?

[CharlesHarris]

(17 June 2018, 00:25)Mortblanc Wrote: Same thing over here. Our big thing is to build a city in a desert equal to the Sahara or Kalahri and stuff it with 18,000,000 people, then shut off the river that had been diverted for a water supply for 100 years and try to blame the "drought" on climate change rather than stupidity. We call that place Los Angeles.

Las Vegas, Phoenix, Flagstaff all the same way.

Much of the water use not for crop irrigation, but for watering golf courses, filling swimming pools, sprinkling decorative gardens on nonnative plants, wasting water on fountains in front of hotels and casinos, etc. And don't forget the timed overnight sprinklers which wash the desert dust off the Astroturf!

As they say in the American west, "whisky is for drinkin', water's for fightin' about..."

[Mortblanc]

Hey CH, do you remember about 10 years ago when they shut the entire water supply to the Imperial Valley in California off due to fear of loss of an endangered fish in the Colorado River?

If you in the UK can imagine, we have a section of desert in California called the Imperial Valley. About 100 years ago they began diverting water from the Colorado River for about 100 miles to water this place so they could farm it. Eventually the area was responsible for about 1/4 of the food production of the entire US.

Actually that is a deceptive term since most of the food produced was sold locally since 1/3 of the US population is on the west coast! The area does not feed much of the remainder of the nation except for exotic foods not native to the regions; almonds, avocados, artichokes and citrus fruits.

The water to support these farms was transferred through a series of aqueducts 15-20 feet in diameter and allocated by the hour for irrigation. Without the water the area would revert to desert within weeks. Not months or years but weeks.

In other words, the food supply of the entire US west coast is dependent on artificially sustained production in a landscape totally unsuited for the use it is providing.

The food supply to 60 million people was not even considered a factor by the environmentalists pushing for the protection of the guppies in the Colorado River, who could shift position within their habitat at will and avoid the diversion pipes, and had done so for 100 years.

[Straight Shooter]

Well i sure as hell have no problems with water shortages ! .....having said that the one of the streams has dried up (first time in 34 years ) the other feeding the well ....flowing as it always has .....something is up ...i will reveal ALL as soon as our enquiry and investigation is completed ! not long now !

[CharlesHarris]

(17 June 2018, 17:42)Mortblanc Wrote: Hey CH, do you remember about 10 years ago when they shut the entire water supply to the Imperial Valley in California off due to fear of loss of an endangered fish in the Colorado River?.... The food supply to 60 million people was not even considered a factor by the environmentalists pushing for the protection of the guppies in the Colorado River, who could shift position within their habitat at will and avoid the diversion pipes, and had done so for 100 years.

Yes, the snail darter! - https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240...1898375624 California's Man-Made Drought - The green war against San Joaquin Valley farmers.
Updated Sept. 2, 2009 12:49 p.m. ET
California has a new endangered species on its hands in the San Joaquin Valley—farmers. Thanks to environmental regulations designed to protect the likes of the three-inch long delta smelt, one of America's premier agricultural regions is suffering in a drought made worse by federal regulations.

And NOW they are blaming the drought on "climate change," "global warming" or whatever you choose to call it, due to reduced snow pack in the Rockies, which feeds the Colorado

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/env...466235002/

...The river has dwindled during an 18-year run of mostly dry years, a trend that scientific research shows is being compounded by global warming. And the water rights system has continually doled out more water than the river’s total flow, pushing the level of Lake Mead near a point that would trigger cutbacks in water deliveries — which would hit Arizona and Nevada first...

A judge’s ruling forced the Imperial Irrigation District to repeal its plan for apportioning water, which had set limits on how much water individual growers could use on their fields... The case has also touched off heated arguments...— — about landowners’ water rights and the role the district should play as a “trustee” in divvying up and delivering water...

The irrigation district supplies about 530 agricultural customers, delivering water through a network of canals and pipes that fan out across the valley like the lines on a circuit board...

The amount of water the district delivers is subject to an overall annual cap. When there are overruns, as happened in 2011 and 2012, the district is required to pay back the difference by taking less during subsequent years.

[Mortblanc]

Wet dry cycles as have been recorded for the past 500 years in the southwest and across the plains.

These people all failed history or they would remember the "dust bowl".

Or they conveniently forget so they can extend their power and control.

BTW, it is 42C on my back porch right now. I could fry eggs out there!

It's not even officially summer yet.

[Straight Shooter]

Raised some potatoes today .....spring onions, lettuce, swiss chard, and peas been picking for a week , on my second crop of radish , onions are about ready to pull (first crop) .....runner bean rows top of canes and full of flowers ......the potatoes i planted in the raised beds have popped their heads up (thanks MB) all sixteen have come on strong so it looks that the switch will work and i have redeemed the effort , the berries are doing excellent ....black and red ...gooseberries too .
Damsons are struggling a bit ....Celeriac .....failed at the get go ....my fault ....to much water ! ....the celery is doing great !....sowed some more swede direct today ....forgot the strawberries eating them for a week .....off in the morning to PYO gooseberries .....this is my favourite jam ......and many of my friends also .....there will be a shortfall in my crop.....so i will set that right tomorrow .

Roy turned up this afternoon ......sucker....." Bens missus is not happy with you mate" ...why's that then Royo ? "she said you got him rat arsed " ....no i did'nt butt ....he only had a couple ...he seemed fine when he left here (fucking lying through my false teeth) .........well where's this bar then......bar? its not a bar mate ....its more a tasting shed .....walk this way mate .......another victim bit the dust ....took a bit longer though .....i have notched up another groove on the door frame ....i like to think of myself as a gunslinger ....except i use a glass....i have developed a score system ....this mainly consists on the way the victim .....sort of vacates the premises they way they walk out is of most interest to me ....i must confess i did overdo the measures of the homemade Rum for Roy ....after all he is a well seasoned marine...... BTW i awarded him a seven ......ten being a none responsive comatose state and the inability to gesture or speak.

[Pete Grey]

Spent the last week on the welsh border camping at our friends small holding, our primary BOL.
There in a corner of the barn we have been able to leave some bits and pieces, which if it comes to the crunch will make life easier.

Starting slowly with two old jerrycans (for water) an old dustbin containing a spade, bowsaw, an old billy can set, two hurricane lamps and some paraffin, nothing new and obvious, each time we go we will add something useful.

Today from LIDL bought three green tarps, 5m x 4m only £7.99 each, one in every day/get home vehicle, one in camper van BOV and one for home general usage.

[Straight Shooter]

PYO went well Sunday 4 k of gooseberries 2 k of red currants not bad for one and a half hour stint....... cost....£1.50 each to get in....£34.53 for the fruit ....we eventually came too after smelling salts were applied by a paramedic .......straight in the freezer on our return.....pulled onions (first crop) tied and hung to dry ...cut couple of couchettes (first crop ) more potatoes to raise tomorrow .....but building a clamp to store them (first job) these potatoes are in pop up grow tubes i intend to empty the soil into the raised bed of the first crop potato raised bed and will reseed with carrots , the other two raised beds (onions and garlic) will reseed with parsnips and swede ........red and black currants plus raspberries and gooseberries are ready to pick ....this hot spell is working wonders across the full range of crops ! making it possible for secondary growing of crop .......elder flowers a plenty excellent crop ....bumper crop ....other stuff .....new fitness plan for SS starts next Monday...after my bypass op and being told to slow up i have gone from one extreme to another (my fault completely ) ....making a come back though......."Adrian i love you " .

[Mortblanc]

[quote='Pete Grey' pid='102428' dateline='1530133719

Today from LIDL bought three green tarps, 5m x 4m only £7.99 each, one in every day/get home vehicle, one in camper van BOV and one for home general usage.
[/quote]

We have a place over here called Harbor Freight, which is an importer for Chinese made tools and such. If you watch your Ps and Qs you can get some good stuff cheap and most of my power tool inventory comes from there.

At any rate they have deals where you cut coupons out of magazines to get discounts and each month they offer a different item free with each purchase. Sometimes screwdrivers, sometimes cheap torches and sometimes a 5'x7' poly tarp.

As a result I have a stack of unopened tarps in the back room as well as two or three in each vehicle. They are sort of small so I figure it would take at least two for a proper shelter, or one on each side of the car for good sunshades.

Of course I also have coffee cans filled with cheap screwdrivers and every drawer in the house is stuffed with cheap torches. I can not turn those cheap torches down, they have $2 worth of batteries in them even if the torch falls apart!

[Pete Grey]

At 5 metres x 4 metres one tarp is big enough for a decent shelter and being dark green would cover most vehicles, should anyone wish to hide, it would also be useful to collect rain if nesessary.