To the seasons of life
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.
An Irish flag fly’s over the Merritt Green Energy project.
Photo KDG
An Irish Flag flys over the Merritt Green Energy Project. Two main structures, culverts, and ditching about the project is underway with crews from Acres Construction who travel from Kamloops in a 15 passenger van daily. Canada’s national flag is seen slightly higher on the ascending buildings.The project is reported to be in the 270K range and will result in a 40 Megawatt steam generator. The green wood waste burning plant is going into the provincial power grid.
EN:Skill and professionalism may replace luck but a bit of Irish can’t hurt.
.
The Merritt Green Energy Project is the second biomass plant project being developed in British Columbia by Dalkia and Fengate. In November 2013, they announced the financial close on the $235
million, 40 MW Fort St. James Green Energy Project, which is expected to begin operations next year.
Fengate Financial have arranged the financing for the project : FMI see the press release at: http://www.fengatecapital.com/news/pdf/MerrittGELPNewsReleaseJuly25_2013.pdf
The project also has an agreement with the Lower Nicola Indian Band for impact issues.
On this day: July 29th 1973
The Greeks vote out the Monarchy.
Moisture on Hamilton hill
A week before the site of a fire
Photo: KDG
The weekend saw moisture come to the valley including dew point drop. The mountain was the site of chemical water bombing on a fire recently.
On this Day: July 28th 1996
Kennewick man is found on the banks of a river in Kennewick Washington.
Windy Canyon
Merritt BC
Photo KDG
There is a narrow canyon ascending to the south from the old Middlesbourgh town site at Merritt.The Sandstone was probably eroded by a long since dried up spring but the narrow walls give a shaded relief to the animal trails in it. Making it a pleasant hike. The canyon and trails surface on a field that once was home to an industrial coal operation before the 1st World War. Some bits of it remain including some few broken bricks. The bricks are related in a sence to the bricks used to build the local armory finished in 1915. The 18 inch double, sand, filled walls of the building on Coldwater avenue’s 1800 block are according to Archie Rutz , an Elk member , who own the building, as coming from there.
Some dirt tracks lead up to the secluded entrance of the gully that is at about 50.09910 and 120.8026. There is also a 4 min google maps route available: Garcia Street to 1295 Midday Valley road.
In 1910 there was also a railway for logging with a 6 percent grade in the area that went into the Lilly lake area and hooked up to the Kettle valley line. It is now a bike trail that goes to the Coquihalla area through Brodie and Brookmere.
On this day: July 24th 1793
France passes first copyright law.
A low pressure front is working its way inland from the ocean and is pushing winds into Merritt. The winds are bringing coastal seagulls with it as hundreds were in the air Monday evening. Tuesday saw a lone seagull with four crows foraging for scraps at the mall bench. The mix seemed a bit off but there was a noticeable lack of hostility with the birds.
The accepting crows even seemed to have more peace with the gull then with the idled men that sometimes take that bench. Some rain may not be far behind these birds as a cooling is noticeable. The forecasters are saying a significant amount of rain will come to the central north of the province this week. Merritt does not usually have seagulls.
On this day: July 22 1985 Greek singer Nikos Ganos is born. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtvM1hxDA1s
Hey Merit what do you say?
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
The Proprietor Review 