January 22, 2023

So behind the times, may be brewing coffee in a low impact manner.

Black coffee addict, aged 70.

December 1973 moved to Berkeley to go to Cal, turned 21 in January 74.

Several blocks away, there was a coffee shop on a corner and people would line up on the sidewalk to have cups filled or take coffee in paper cup. This was the Peets store on Cedar and Walnut; Peets was still owned and operated by Mr. Peet and there was the Berkeley store and another Peets in Menlo Park.

Got into dark roasts like Moca Java, Major Dickenson's Blend, etc. Bought a gold filter and a French press. Before graduating, had amassed a second identical gold filter and two identical French presses. Also bought two plastic cheesy grocery store Melitta cones that had an outlet that fit into the Stanley thermos I used for work. Was so picky about coffee, one set was my travel set and all needed was way to boil water.

Now nearly 50 years later I use the same two gold filters and French presses. The gold filters are held together by duct tape and crazy glue, only use French press when company and, even then, most often drip into a small crockery pitcher bought in Berkeley in the 1970s rather than use a press. Ninety-five percent of the coffee I drink (2 to 4 cups daily) are gold filter into a white crockery mug. Also have two but maybe 15 years old. One has a shadow of a woman and "Read Like a Dickinson" and the other is Oscar Wilde and would to go look to see the verbiage.

Still buy Peets but at Safeway or Costco. Buy ground as too lazy to grind beans. Sometimes accidently buy beans and need to grind. Ooops.

January 16, 2023

White House declares 'major disaster' in California; hazardous roads plague Sierra, Bay Area

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

President Biden approved California’s request for a major disaster declaration to increase federal emergency support as storms and flooding continued to flog communities across the state over the weekend. Hazardous roadways plagued several areas Sunday, with home-bound Sierra travelers warned of near-impossible conditions on some roadways and Bay Area motorists dealing with closures forced by floods and landslides.

“California is grateful for President Biden’s swift approval of this critical support to communities reeling from these ongoing storms,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said after meeting with evacuated residents in Merced County on Saturday. The declaration will unlock more federal funding to help local and state storm response efforts and will make funding available to affected individuals in hard-hit Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz counties.

In the Bay Area, residents on Sunday assessed damage from the widespread flooding, wind and landslides that submerged roadways and felled trees — leaving at least one dead, a woman found beneath a tree branch in Golden Gate Park, according to officials. A National Weather Service flood advisory was in effect until 9 a.m. Monday for Bay Area shoreline and North Bay interior areas.

The storms showed signs of tapering off in the Bay Area, but not before another round of moderate rain showers was expected to blow through already waterlogged areas Monday. More than 2,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers around the region were without power Sunday afternoon, according to the company. Most of the outages were in San Francisco, the Peninsula and the South Bay.

Read more: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Traveling-back-from-Tahoe-This-is-the-best-time-17719733.php

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I hope the north coast are included. I'm in extreme northeast Humboldt. Highway 96 (Klamath River Highway otherwise known as the Bigfoot Scenic Byway) is closed indefinitely upriver with no detour. Did not have phone from the 6.2 earthquake in late December. Had electric as have Kohler propane generator. Power and phones came back Thursday but power is from a generator set up locally by PG&E at the old sawmill site. I have what I need and am basically cozy and safe.

Lots of trees went down. There will be many landslides in back country because of the large wildfires in recent years. The roots of large vegetation that keep soil in place on steep slopes may die and then rot and no longer hold the soil as well. There were large fires in 2022 but there were fires in 2020 and 2021 that were larger locally than any in recorded history.