Plane Oh Plane, where are you...

Once again a large commercial aircraft is missing at sea, somewhere near Indonesia or Malaysia.  (I blogged about that jet back in March)

It has been more than 24 hours since AirAsia Flight 8501 stopped communications and dropped off radar screens.  At least one Indonesian official has said he believes or at least it's his guess that the plane is at the bottom of the ocean... 

Like Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 last March, there was no "mayday" call... So far, no identifiable debris has been sighted...  (there is a possible oil slick, and some debris, but as we learned earlier in the year,  the ocean is full of random floating debris) and no one has mentioned the emergency location transmitter, so presumably it (there were likely 4 were on board) has not broadcast a signal...  

Reports suggest that the aircraft was at 35,000', and had requested permission turn west and to climb to 38,000'  because of weather (thunderstoms) when contact was lost...  A A320-200 has a reported glide ratio of 16 to 1, so the plane could travel near 100 miles without power

As a CNN International anchor Isha Sesay stated, "There are so many unanswered questions"

Let the conspiratorial theories begin... 

Water and Power

With winter storms have come some issues... some storm related, some not... but all requiring effort to correct... 

The first was an electrical problem (more correctly, electrical problems)... we were blowing a breaker...  I reset the breaker, and the lights worked... then the breaker tripped again and the lights didn't work again...  I assumed it was the Christmas lights since the problem's appearance coincided with me putting up outdoor lights...  I checked extension cords, cleaned connections, wrapped things in plastic bags... reset the breaker and all was good... until the breaker tripped again... I moved the Christmas lights to another circuit... and reset the breaker and once again all was good... until it wasn't and the breaker kept tripping (not the one with the Christmas lights).

I replaced the breaker... added a new circuit with a GFI outlet for the Christmas lights...  and all was good... until it wasn't again...  Since the Christmas lights were working I was looking elsewhere for the solution... and finally found a outdoor light fixture which had been hit by a limb... and was apparently intermittently shorting... and tripping the breaker... 10 minutes later I fixed the light fixture  and again all was good... 

Until it wasn't...  (but you probably expected this...)

It wasn't good when THE storm hit on Thursday...   at the height of the storm the lights would flicker... and go out and come back on... again, and again...  mostly the whole house... but at the height of the storm we noticed the lights were out except in the refrigerator...  We were pretty sure the refrigerator didn't have a battery backup... but the lights came back on and we blamed the storm and hoped all was good...  but I did build a fire, just in case... 

The storm was over... all was good... Until it wasn't... (but you probably expected this...)

Saturday night I got a call while at the farm... half the lights were out at home...  So it wasn't good.   But our breakers were not tripped (we checked...)  so the problem was beyond our house... Steph called me.. we talked about it... she (the we in the above) checked the breakers... She called PG&E (aka Pacific Gas & Electric, the folks who brought you the San Bruno gas explosion and fire... )  They asked questions... Have you checked your breakers (yes...) Is the whole house blacked out (no...) They said they would be there... they asked for a call back number... Steph gave them Tina's... they read back Steph's (they are one number apart) She corrected them... That trick didn't work... (but more on that later)  They said they would be out that evening... (now night... we could tell because it was dark outside)  The issued us a trouble ticket number... 

We were pretty sure that one leg of the 220 volt power to our house was out...  We are smart enough and know enough to understand basic electricity... the folks from PG&E on the other end of the telephone line did not accept our explanation but promised to respond... 

I got home accompanied by house guests, Andrew and Liza... (They have both appeared in the blog before, most recently in the Oct 2014 report on the desert camping trip... ) and on arrival  I found that as reported, most of the lights were out...  I built up the fire... we talked... there may have been wine...   ( I recommend wine as a coping strategy if you might have to deal with PG&E... it doesn't make the lights come on sooner, but it makes you feel better about it)  Tina discovered a voice mail... apparently from PG&E, suggesting that our lights (and electricity) were now working... (they were not...)  Messages were exchanged with Steph... PG&E had called her first... she had said she was not at home, she did not know, and they were not calling the right number... Apparently based on that conversation they closed the trouble report and canceled the service call... 

Tina called PG&E back at the number provided in the voice mail... and only talked to machines... she called the main "trouble line" only to be told there was no service call on record for our house... and the earliest service call available was tomorrow... she talked to a human... eventually... After a discussion  (only occasionally heated) they said they would be out "tonight" (by now it was near 10:00 pm)  They issued a new trouble ticket number... 

It was not getting late... at least the (wood) fire was working... we issued flashlights to our guests...  Their bedroom lights were among the working... their bathroom lights were among the non working lights... Then, near 11:00 the lights came on... I walked about outside... looking for a PG&E truck... there were no PG&E trucks nearby...  I called PG&E to tell them the lights were now on, and was told there were no outages reported at our address...  And at that moment there was no outage at our address... there was just a bit of uncertainty as to how we no longer had an outage...  but at least the lights worked.

The lights continued to work on Sunday... and were still working on Monday when the pipes under the sink sprung a leak... so Steph and I (and the dogs) headed over to Home Depot for pipes and washers and such...  We didn't get everything we (I) wanted... there are three kinds of 1 1/2" plumbing washers used in drain pipes... they had one type but not the other two... I thought I could make due...  (we also bought an extra string of lights for the Christmas tree... for we believed we now had electricity to power lights)  Upon arriving home we discovered a large PG&E truck parked in our driveway...  

We spoke to the PG&E guy... he said he was responding to the service call (this would be one of the two service calls placed on Saturday, for both of which PG&E said they would respond "that night", in this case "that night being Saturday (night) this now being Monday morning... both of which we had been told were now closed )   He said the power was on... We had called on Saturday night to say the power was on... they told us there were no service calls on record for our address... but they appearntly got that wrong too... 

We talked about the issues... He said they didn't tell him the lights were flickering... and that information changed things... he said they didn't tell him that it was a partial failure... and that information changed things...  We walked around the side yard to look at the electrical service... he said the drops had the wrong splices... he noted the insulator on the telephone pole had pulled out... He replaced the splices and suggested that someone would eventually fix the insulator on the telephone pole...  (the guy in the big PG&E truck was not the bad guy... Once he understood the issue he fixed it quickly...  but he too was working without information needed to fix issues...  )

We noted that the service response was promised for Saturday night, but only arrived on Monday morning... so they are not just uncommunicative, but also slow to respond.

I fixed the drain pipes under the sink... but only after a second trip to a different hardware store that had the pipe washers the first did not...  

So, after a couple of days... multiple phone calls... several trips to the hardware store... and several false starts we have lights and water... At least for now

Aftermath... the day after the "BIG" storm

So the storm was a good one... bad enough to be worth being worried, but the damage was limited... we (the Bay Area) survived...   Streets flooded... There were blackouts... a Safeway parking lot flooded and turned into a kayak playground... streets and roads were closed... traffic was a nightmare... (but not as bad as it could have been... most people stayed home...)  trees fell... In the Sierra the snow level dropped, and chains were required on I-80, and Hwys 50 and 88...  Creeks rose... this morning they are still rising, still threatening...  

The best newspaper report  I have found is here...  "The Bad Reporter"

At our house, our outdoor (feral) cats are wet, pissed off and miserable...  The power blipped off a couple of times... but was only off a short time, and I never fired up the generator or had to resort to pre-ground coffee... the wind knocked the hat off the lighted Christmas penguin... Walking the dogs around the block, I got my feet thoroughly wet... my socks were soaked and squishy... (Oh, the inhumanity?)

The highlight of the storm came at 8:30pm... in the dark, with the rain still falling but subsiding... we got our mail... delivered by a mailman wearing a head lamp... The Post Office, unofficial creed is "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"... Apparently they are trying to prove it... They were not stayed...

Across the bay at the farm a couple of trees came down and hit the railroad's car house, punching a couple of holes in the roof, but happily not damaging the structure or any of the artifacts.  

This morning San Francisco Bay is glassy smooth... and covered with floating debris... driftwood, tree limbs and other stuff washed down creeks... 

A storm blowing in...

So, here in Northern California, a storm is blowing in...  The news is saying this is the "big one"... Schools are closing for the day...  

This isn't the biggest storm to hit northern California, and the winds forecast are not that bad, but it is the biggest in 5 or 6 years, so we have 5 or 6 years of problems to discover... and 5 or 6 years of trees that haven't seen a storm...  weak trees, the trees that have grown into power lines, the clogged storm drains, the sump pumps that froze up two years ago from sitting about... Additionally December and early January bring some of our highest tides... tomorrow doesn't look too bad but it all contributes to flooded roads.

This type of storm is called a "pineapple express".... its a Gulf of Alaska cold front meeting a front directly from Hawaii... carrying tropical moisture. When the two hit the coast, and the clouds are force upward as little as a few thousand feet, they drop a significant amount of rain... When they hit the Sierra a bit later they are again, this time higher... and again drop rain... This isn't a particularly cold storm, and the snow level in the Sierra is about 7,000, so I-80 may not see much if any snow... Yosemite will see snow up high, but the Valley will see only rain.

So at least people are preparing... cleaning gutters... making sure the flashlights have batteries...  all the good things...  The list of suggested preparations on TV borders on weird... they are suggesting water... but water lines are not affected by the storm...  and by definition too much water is the issue... if its as bad as they say... They (the TV news) are suggesting tying down lawn furniture... Folks... this is a storm with winds (gusts) up to 60mph...  (the reports of highest wind vary greatly... some reports are saying "up to 50 mph"...  NOAA is saying 20-35 mph with gusts of 50..) in any case not a hurricane... a force 1 hurricane has sustained winds of  74 mph... just saying... Tree limbs will break... but it is unlikely that the Adirondack chair will take flight...

Apparently, sand bags are in short supply...  sand is in short supply... The news is reporting a black market in sand bags...   Stores are running out of flashlights... the news is showing photos of store shelves... my favorite new photos... the guy with a 12 pack of Coke and a bottle of rum...

The surf is up... so the news is out at the Pacifica Pier taking pictures of big waves...  Winds in Fremont have hit 6 mph... (not a typo... newsreaders reported winds of 6 mile per hour...  its a storm... Oh, the horror..) 

In reality, it some places this could be bad... mostly in west Marin and the Santa Cruz Mountains where the storm  will first meet mountains... There are some creeks and rivers which could rise beyond their banks and flood...  There may be mud slides... 

Here at Casa de Hees, we are in pretty good shape... I checked the generator... fueled and started it... bought a spare battery for the flashlights... checked the chain saw and supply of tarps and gathered fire wood... I am particularly proud of the firewood... A nearby city has a pile of wood, trimmings from tree work piled in park for the taking... I went by and split about 1/8 cord... by hand with a sledge and wedges and an axe... filling the back of the jeep... and added it to the fire wood pile...  I have great hopes for the free wood pile after the City cleans up the storm caused mess... but for now I have firewood...  I likely have enough fire wood to last until Christmas...

As of 6:00 pm the rain is starting just south of SFO... So the storm is here...  I ran over to the market for some pantry items... eggs and salsa to make Huevos Rancheros for breakfast tomorrow...  we need to have food available in an emergency...   

Now about 10:00 pm... The winds have started... they are playing hell with Christmas decorations... and 49er's flags... No one seems to care about the 49er's flags...

Just in...  Maybe 80 mph winds... but only in a report about outdoors Christmas decorations... that lacking credibility...  and ... More rain next week... I may need more firewood...I might even plug in the sump pump... or maybe not...

Randy