I just heard a weather junky say that January 2018 saw very similar weather patterns that ended in some serious mudslides in California. It sounds like part of a regular cycle of wildfires followed a bit later by heavy rains for a short interval producing slides in the denuded hills.
The odd behavior of rivers and streams out here was one of the biggest differences I noticed when compared to the east. We have blow outs. How these happen isn't clear, as it doesn't take particularly excessive rain. Any given thunderstorm can cause one, though if we DO get excessive rain, then they become pretty much certain. In a blowout, a stream that may have been running without incident for decades, will suddenly scour down into the ground, moving vast quantities of mud and rock down the hills.
Blowouts can move enough mud and rock to dam significant rivers. I was chatting with some rafters one time, when one of them told a story about rafting the Middle Fork Salmon River, a whitewater stream that is so famous that I heard about it being world famous while I was growing up in NH. It's not a small river, though not Grand Canyon size. This rafter was moving down the swift river when he hit a lake. That river doesn't have any lakes, so hitting a lake surprised him considerably. Once he rowed across it, he found a few other rafters looking at the debris field brought down by a blowout that had completely dammed the river. Of course, that wasn't going to last, and once the river topped the debris field, it would start scouring down. That would result in a new, steep, rapid that would be changing almost by the minute. Rather an interesting challenge for the rafters.
Blowouts can move enough mud and rock to dam significant rivers. I was chatting with some rafters one time, when one of them told a story about rafting the Middle Fork Salmon River, a whitewater stream that is so famous that I heard about it being world famous while I was growing up in NH. It's not a small river, though not Grand Canyon size. This rafter was moving down the swift river when he hit a lake. That river doesn't have any lakes, so hitting a lake surprised him considerably. Once he rowed across it, he found a few other rafters looking at the debris field brought down by a blowout that had completely dammed the river. Of course, that wasn't going to last, and once the river topped the debris field, it would start scouring down. That would result in a new, steep, rapid that would be changing almost by the minute. Rather an interesting challenge for the rafters.
If that is the blowout I am thinking about, Outdoor Idaho had a segment on that one. The Forest Service wound up using a minimal amount of explosives to blow up the logjam and allow the rafters (quite a few groups, actually) to proceed down river.
What's going on with car washes? I normally do a spray down and rinse in a coin-op high pressure stall place near me.
A few days ago I opted for an oil change at a place that used to be part of a major chain but seems to have been sold to an independent operator. With a promo coupon it was far less than I normally pay, and afterward they gave me a receipt good for a car wash in the next 30 days.
It said it was for a "Super Duper" wash and wax, but when I rolled up the greeter asked if I wanted to upgrade to "Cosmic" for 2 dollars. I figured, why not? And then it got weird from there.
This music started, and 4 guys came out with buckets and squeegees to do an initial soap and rise of the windows. Then one guy guided me into the conveyor and yelled "put it in neutral and take your foot off the brake" and things really got weird. The music switched to something between hard rock and a circus tune and colored lasers started providing a show as my car moved through the tunnel.
I know I live in the sticks, but the absurdity had me laughing through to the end. Is this just new local weirdness, or a normal thing urbanites yawn at?
I can imagine people with little kids bringing them along for the show as a sort of mini theme park ride.
Sounds like your not their target demographic. lol
I've heard music at car washes before but usually once your inside the wash the machines drown out the music. Never seen lasers at a car wash. Was it a "Cosmic" experience??
All I could think of the whole time was a Family Guy meme they used to use from time to time with Stewie Griffin dancing in some gay disco club. I think they also had one where an airliner was "gay jacked" to Miami.
What's going on with car washes? I normally do a spray down and rinse in a coin-op high pressure stall place near me.
A few days ago I opted for an oil change at a place that used to be part of a major chain but seems to have been sold to an independent operator. With a promo coupon it was far less than I normally pay, and afterward they gave me a receipt good for a car wash in the next 30 days.
It said it was for a "Super Duper" wash and wax, but when I rolled up the greeter asked if I wanted to upgrade to "Cosmic" for 2 dollars. I figured, why not? And then it got weird from there.
This music started, and 4 guys came out with buckets and squeegees to do an initial soap and rise of the windows. Then one guy guided me into the conveyor and yelled "put it in neutral and take your foot off the brake" and things really got weird. The music switched to something between hard rock and a circus tune and colored lasers started providing a show as my car moved through the tunnel.
I know I live in the sticks, but the absurdity had me laughing through to the end. Is this just new local weirdness, or a normal thing urbanites yawn at?
I can imagine people with little kids bringing them along for the show as a sort of mini theme park ride.
Pfffft. If they didn't give you mushrooms with that, they weren't really trying.
I'm still not sure if this carnival atmosphere is common elsewhere and just coming here now... or whether the guy operating this place is just hazing new hires to get them to demonstrate a work ethic as they train part time to work the oil change pits.
On a slightly more serious note, this does seem to be a trend, and I don't understand it, either. I'm used to the simple car washes attached to gas stations where you get an option for a discounted car wash when you fill up. However, there are also a bunch of places that sound a whole lot more
That's as far as I got with a reply before my computer got bricked by an update. Now it's hours later, Dil managed a response in-between, but I might as well finish the thought.
What I was saying was that there are a bunch of places out here that sound a whole lot more like what you described. They tend to have a 50's vibe to their outside, but there's lots of neon lighting and vibrant colors. I have no idea what that's about, though I did try one and got an exceptionally clean car out of it. I screwed up and bought more than I expected. In fact, they ended up taking a couple hours to the point where I had to interrupt and say that I absolutely had to have the car back so that I could get to a meeting two hours away. They gave me a rain check to finish the cleaning. When I redeemed the rain check, they cleaned the whole car again. I think they must have spent over five hours total cleaning that car. The result was a car that was probably cleaner than the day it came out of the factory.
What annoys the heck out of me is one of the car washes that has a revolving cylinder at the top of their sign, which has their name and logo on it. This is by a lengthy stop light, so one gets an opportunity to contemplate it. That just gives a petty annoyance time to grow.
The annoyance is that the cylinder is revolving backwards. It should be rotating in the direction we read, so that the name is progressively revealed, but it's rotating backwards such that the end of the name shows first, followed by the rest of the name.
That's an exaggeration, but it was feeling that way. I got to the 'totally', and got the 'unrelated note' for free. The preceding post was even more absurd.
Your experience sounds more like an "auto detailing" operation to me. I was just talking about $5 to $10 car wash & wax. They also have self-serve coin-op vacuum cleaning, but nothing where they do your nails and fluff your bottom while they clean inside your car. I'm not saying those aren't around here somewhere too, I just haven't been there.
We got a new food truck licensed to open daily in a vacant storefront parking lot. Some sort of chicken and pizza from the flyer stuck in my door.
That makes two now. I assume that is coming from the razing of our little business district to put up blocks of retirement cells, er, apartments. Zoning policy seems to have gone mad.
My experience WAS a detailing one, but the same place does the wash and wax option that you described, as well. That particular place has an inside lobby where you can watch your car go through the process. They offer fuller service than that. In fact, they had a range of options, and I just chose the wrong one. They sure did a good job, though, so I got my money's worth.
That almost sounds like something that could be combined with an adjacent shopping experience. Maybe something like the dollar store variants that sells items closer to $5. Throw in a light dining option like a burrito bar and coffee shop and you have everything that EV owners are claiming public charging centers will be offering.
The public charging thing seems to be getting weird. Some of them are having problems with people leaving cars beyond an 80% charge or even 100% charge, though few are charging a penalty for tying up a slot yet. Almost makes me think there is room to add valet charging to the wash-o-rama mini-malls I described. Shop and consume and lounge until they text you, etc.
I was almost in a minor air traffic accident on Monday. A plane went off the runway in Boise. Nobody was hurt, and the thing is a bit of a mystery, since the temperatures were above freezing and the ground was dry, but it happened. I was going to be on that plane, except that I got an earlier flight.
On the one hand, I would have had a good story. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't have gotten home until 2 or 3 in the morning.
I was sure I had something clever and pithy to say, but I guess I dreamed that. I remember being able to fly too, so maybe it was all the same dream.
Lol - thank you for that!
My level of I-don't-give-a-s#at is so high right now! Attached pic something I find funny and post online - probably making my friends and relatives think I'm nuts. Who cares...
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When I was in grad school, most of the graduate students were in some form of toxicology. I was going to be studying heavy metals, till I switched to just plain fish. As it turned out, most of the grad students were looking at PAHs, in one way or another. PAH stands for Poly-Aromatic Hydrocarbons. This is a class of organic compounds characterized by multiple benzene rings. They're created in a variety of fashions, including through the flame grilling of animal proteins. They're also carcinogenic.
When I was in grad school, most of the graduate students were in some form of toxicology. I was going to be studying heavy metals, till I switched to just plain fish. As it turned out, most of the grad students were looking at PAHs, in one way or another. PAH stands for Poly-Aromatic Hydrocarbons. This is a class of organic compounds characterized by multiple benzene rings. They're created in a variety of fashions, including through the flame grilling of animal proteins. They're also carcinogenic.
We didn't grill a lot of meat.
The burger Nazi says, "NO Whopper For You"
I could have lived out the rest my life happily with ever knowing that. Well, I will anyway. lol
Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker
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