Fires to the Left of Us, Fires to the Right

[Catherine+twins]

Okay, I just can't help it.

I know this is serious, really, I do, but seeing a headline that says the snorkle helicopters will have to be cleaned thoroughly because they have been sucking up water from streams and lakes contaminated with rock snot and whirling disease just makes me giggle. I know, really, that whirling disease is a serious problem with fish, but rock snot is a new one to me. And my kids are 11. You can probably imagine dear son having rofl fits!

Okay, back to heavy not-liking-the-smoke stuff (but thanks for the laugh!)

Catherine

[Mary C]

OH no, I hope it is not contageous, my rocks may die!!!! Is it anything like the Blob?

Mary C.

[Catherine+twins]

It's an algae, the stuff that makes rocks slick as snot in lakes and streams. Here's the yucky picture!





Catherine

p.s. 22,000 acres, with record high temps and low humidities.

[Rainier70]

Nasty invasive stuff that you don't want to spread. It's a shame to see that it has been introduced to some of your waters. It not only coats the rocks, but it smothers all the bugs in the stream etc, and it only takes a single drop of contaminated water to spread it. I hope that they clean all of their equipment well.

Sorry to see a couple more fires in your beautiful state. It is shaping up to be another ugly fire year.

[Mary C]

Thats nasty looking UCK!! I honestly have never heard of it. That is horrible. We have slick rocks in some streams but that is nothing compared to your uck. that is like the blob and I know it kills what ever it covers. Is it that bad in all the lakes and rivers out there? I am going to have night mares about that OH no that' s so horrible.................
Sorry I didn't know that is so nasty. is there a way to kill it?


Mary C.

[Rainier70]

It isn't native to many of the areas it has infested. Spreading nasty invasive stuff like that is why fishermen, boaters, and other water users are asked to "Clean, Drain, and Dry" everything including their boats, boots, and even the dog before you go to another waterway. I frequently use more than one pair of waders and boots if I am traveling and fishing in different areas. I hadn't thought about things like firefighting equipment!

Funny to think of statements like "I have to clean the Snot out of the snorkel on the helicopter!"

Edit: I wouldn't think that it is in very many waters in New Mexico. Maybe only a few are infected.

[Catherine+twins]

I'm thinking that any of the streams and "rivers" that go dry in the summer are less likely to have bad infestations (hey, this IS New Mexico). But I think that picture was a stock shot, not taken locally. I haven't seen anything that bad in the Jemez mountains.

Good news! We had precipitation yesterday. And it didn't all fall and then run off, as a heavy rain often does on dry soil. No, since it was HAIL it fell and just sat there, waiting to melt in!



This was not a good thing in my garden, of course. It is flattened, and hail was still drifted under leaf-less stems hours later.

Catherine

[Mary C]

Have faith the garden should pick back up, you may have to put some little sticks under the tender shoots ( Bamboo skewers and thread) and bigger sticks on the others that don't bounce back. How are the fires did it help and maybe put them out?

Mary C.

[S. Heisley]

Ewwww! That stuff looks gross!
I've never seen rock snot out here in Caly or anywhere that I've been.
It sounds like it may be a fairly new phenomenon. ...Not nice.

[Catherine+twins]

Well, our fire has been 100 % contained for several weeks, and the outer perimeter hasn't changed, but it was still burning in some "islands" of trees that had escaped the initial fire, and smoldering in the pine duff. Now, finally, we have been getting some rains. The weather pattern isn't our historic "monsoon" pattern, but it seems stable and is pumping in moisture, so we have had rains off and on for about a week.

Yea! Dodged the bullet again!.

I may even try to put in my fall garden this weekend. It'll be even better if it is drizzling on me the whole time!

Catherine