To the seasons of life
The sunset on the day of this writing is going to be at 7:12 and sunrise was 6:42, one half hour to go to equinox when its 12 hours of each. This will happen on the 23rd of September. then the march to the winter solstice begins. and the shortest day begins.
September 18th 2009
The decades run of the daytime soap The Guiding Light ends. The Talk eventually takes over the CBS time slot from long time soaps…
Osprey File Photo KDG
The local naturalist society is having their annual public meeting on Thursday the 17th at 7PM. The Nicola Naturalist Society meets at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology monthly through the winter and has guest speakers. The registered society is presided by Alan Burger the founding President and PhD. Members will show photos after a brief meeting, in the lecture theater Belshaw Street Merritt BC
They group is also involved with projects like the annual Christmas bird count.
On this day: September 16th 1980
General Motors Corporation is founded.
Conditions for driving are about to change are you ready and are you thinking in those terms… Please enjoy these file photos.
Altitude can make a difference!
Editors note: High cloud ceilings can indicate that temperatures on roads at higher levels may be colder…
On this day: September 15th 1971
The first Greenpeace ship sets sail to protest nuclear arms programs.
Looking for tagged fish.
Photo KDG
On Wednesday a pair of observers of First Nation origin were rowing down the Nicola River in a rubber raft.When challenged by the PR they said “we are looking for Chinook Salmon” .”We tagged a thousand of them last year and they should be here anytime” They run every year, said the person in control of the boat.
Merritt has two small rivers that join in the city. The Coldwater and the Nicola they continue as the Nicola to the Thompson at Spence’s Bridge and then on to the the Fraser and the Pacific ocean.There is a fish hatchery at Spious creek west of Merritt that is open to the public for tours. A serious fish tagging program is undertaken and a cabled intervention point is on the Coldwater River off the Voght park walking trail.
The Coldwater river was visibly seen to be suffering during the drought this summer but on viewing the this morning looks healthy and well due to rains in the Coldwater river valley high into the Coquihalla area to the south. The river is however void of fish at this point from a layman’s perspective and access. Chinnok Salmon are on the UNC red list for endangered species.
According to the local newspaper of record the city has announced plans to purchase three city lots on Charters street (* one is in the Nicola river) for a preserve.the lots are said to have access problems which may make them suitable for the preserve.
Chinook are anadromous fish native to the North Pacific Ocean and the river systems of western North America, ranging from California to Alaska, as well as Asian rivers ranging from northern Japan to the Palyavaam River in the Arctic north-east Siberia. They have been introduced to other parts of the world, including New Zealand and the Great Lakes of North America. A large Chinook is a prized and sought-after catch for a sporting angler. The flesh of the salmon is also highly valued for its dietary nutritional content, which includes high levels of important omega-3 fatty acids. Some populations are endangered, however many are healthy. The Chinook salmon has not been assessed for the UCN Red List.
Source: Wikipedia
On this Day: September 3rd 1976
The Viking 2 spacecraft lands on the Utopia Planitia,Mars.
Moon at three quarter August Merritt BC
Photo KDG
On this day: September 1st 1902
The film A Trip to the Moon is released in France.
Pheromones packages still on trees , bug population collapsed ?
File photo KDG
If you see one of these on a tree it maybe a pheromones package left from a baiting program run some years ago to draw Mountain pine beetle into an area already ravaged by them.
Iron mountain was visibly red with dead timber at the time it bears no red of dead now. However we are in a drought and our small community is coping well with it although human intervention pales in comparison to natures timing we do seasonably well here in Merritt. The Nicola Lake dam on the river going through the city brings comfort to us here as it is another well managed human intervention.
On this day: August 25th 1835
The great moon hoax is perpetrated by the New York Sun paper.
Dual flush toilet more control over drought…
This item was on display at a local plumbers shop some time ago . We think of it today to remember the undying creed of our friends the Americans down south. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Of course getting more control works well with livelihood and environment but not so well in relationships…
Editors Note: Big Mikey a credible plumbing source, recommends the small 1.28 liter toilet instead of the extra hundred dollars for the dual ( he doesn’t stock but can get). Mike says you can hold the handle down for a bigger flush on the smaller tanked unit.
On this Day: August 19th 1868
Helium is discovered by French Astronomer Pierre Janssen
There is a reported meter shower this week. Downtown or mountain top aside cloud cover may obscure the viewing. If your up have a look you may get lucky. listed below are some showers nominated to be established ( Green) , the orange is Pro temporary. Of the over six hundred listings about a hundred are established. Some of the names have derivatives of the star constellations associated with them. Star finders are available a public libraries to show where they can be located in the dome of the sky ( an area 90 degrees above you from where the horizon goes into the west and east.) Field glasses or telescopes there is a chance of seeing these things regularly…
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller than a grain of sand, so almost all of them disintegrate and never hit the Earth’s surface. Intense or unusual meteor showers are known as meteor outbursts and meteor storms, which may produce greater than 1,000 meteors an hour.[1] The Meteor Data Center lists about 600 suspected meteor showers of which about 100 are well established.
August xi Cassiopeiids 00751 KCE 00466 AOC August omicron Cetids 00467 ANA August nu Aquariids 00468 AAH August alpha Herculids 00469 AUS August upsilon Sagittariids 00470 AMD August mu Draconids 00471 ABC August beta Capricornids
On this Day: August 14th 1040
Macbeth becomes King of Scotland after killing his first cousin Duncan.
EV reserved parking
Photo KDG
On this day: August 12th 30 BC
Cleopatra the seventh makes an Asp of her self ending her life.
Nissan leaf at the 70 amp charger at city hall.
Photo KDG
A Nissan Leaf is seen to be taking a charge at one of the two 70 amp chargers at the city hall. The car was being transferred from a car dealer in the US to Alberta under a 30 day temporary operation permit.
At this writing the 500 amp DC charger across the street is sporting a Greenlot id. the ID is 33013 and a phone number 855-900-7584.: http://greenlots.com/about/ Green lots has a mobile app for access to info and
The organization says that subscription based charging was discouraging people. It appears that they are mapping for the local BC Hydro 500 amp charger. :http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/west-coasts-green-highway-gets-a-boost-with-more-charging-stations-for-electric-cars/article15153747/
There are six public chargers here in Merritt. There are an estimated 700 EVs in the province. PP
On this day: August 6th 2012
Nasa’s Curiosity Rover lands on Mars
Merritt has stopped watering on Wednesdays for the rest of the regular restriction time in September. Sources says that the water measure is 8 feet down from the top. and the dam at Nicola lake did a good job of keeping water in the lake a few miles upstream on the Nicola river at Nicola lake. The city’s water wells are within meters of the two rivers that meet at Merritt. One the Coldwater was said to have stopped running completely in the 1940s. And is low enough to stop fishing and have assertions done in Local papers about transferring water directly from it.
The amount of water let into the Nicola river is believed to have an effect on the flow of the Coldwater as it provides a resistance at the joining point of highway 8 coming into Merritt from the west.
Surface water from lakes and rivers as well as creeks are under water licence and changing the flow or removing water with out permission can cost you!
Here is what people in the lower mainland are up against with restrictions that prohibit watering lawns or washing cars.
Don’t worry about your lawn. Water your veggies, plants and trees slowly, and in the morning. Worship your shade trees (and think about planting one or two this fall for future summers).
And get used to the heat, because it’s the new normal.
These nuggets of advice (and more below) are courtesy of BC Hydro vegetation maintenance manager Gregg Hallaway, a man who knows a thing or two about plants and trees. And for the record, he doesn’t have a shade tree in the yard of his North Vancouver home.
“No, I don’t, but my neighbour does,” says Hallaway, who oversees vegetation issues around BC Hydro’s distribution power lines in the Lower Mainland. “There’s a nice big Douglas fir and a hemlock in my neighbour’s yard that provide me with great shade in the late afternoons and evening.”
Shade is a valuable asset during the Big Drought of 2015, which, combined with well-below-average winter snowpacks on the south coast and Vancouver Island, has led to escalated watering restrictions. Check your local city or municipality website regularly for updates on those restrictions, and follow a few of the following tips to get you, and your plants and trees, through what’s threatening to become a more common weather pattern here in B.C. source: bC hydro For Generations: http://www.bchydro.com/news/conservation/2015/drought-watering-tips.html?WT.mc_id=c-15-08_watering
Plant some trees this fall for next years shade , and talk to your neigbours about things before they go wrong….PP
On this Day: August 5th 1882
Standard oil of New Jersey is established.
Hey Merit what do you say?
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
The Proprietor Review 