In the garden, and RAIN!!!!
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1005090
PAGE 460 of 1154
https://twnews.us/us-news/unusually-warm-may-contributes-to-expanding-
drought-in-the-west
Unusually warm May contributes to expanding drought in the West
The Western drought has continued to expand and intensify, according to U.S. Drought Monitor data released Thursday.
Wet late-spring weather resulted in a slight decrease in the area deemed to be in extreme drought in Northern California. Severe drought receded a little in parts of northeastern Utah and southwestern Washington. Unseasonably heavy precipitation, including high-elevation snow, fell in northeastern Utah, the Drought Monitor reported.
But conditions worsened east of the Cascades, and abnormal dryness spread into southeastern Arizona. Drought developed and intensified in northern and eastern New Mexico.
One factor in the expanding drought is the fact that May 2020 was the fifth-warmest May on record. This probably exacerbated the dryness and contributed to a number of wildfires, according to the Drought Monitor’s summary.
A ridge of high pressure over Alaska and the West Coast in the first half of May drove the warm temperatures in the West. Above-average temperatures extended from the Pacific Northwest to Texas and across parts of Florida. During the same period, parts of the East were unseasonably cold.
Persistent drought and warm temperatures in the West continue to fuel fears of an early fire season in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.
May 2020 was the fourth-warmest May on record in Alaska, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Average ice extent during May on the Bering Sea was the highest since 2013 but was only 71% of the 1981-2010 average.
Cooler weather is expected to return to Southern California in the next few days after a spate of heat and what the National Weather Service called an unusual late-season Santa Ana condition. Temperatures may dip below average and some mountain showers are possible in Northern California.
But as UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain points out, there are already hints of the next big heatwave on the horizon for the last 10 days of June. Whereas the recent bout of heat primarily affected Central and Southern California, the broad ridge of high pressure that may be in the offing for late June could encompass the entire West Coast.
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Nice. It dipped down into the 60s last night and we've got a few days break from the heat. (Not heat like y'all are having in California though... glad to hear that you're getting a break from it). I don't mind cooler weather as long as it doesn't mean it's going to rain 3 inches every day. So far so good.
I'm going to do some final touches on the garage and figure out exactly which tools I want to keep in the house. I forgot until late last night I have a new large tool bag from a Craftsman 2-pack that came along with all the other free stuff I got when I bought the new shop vac. I want to have a good core tool set in there and keep it in my car for future jobs on the go.
Man... I've even got my car working for me now, with only the various stuff I ever use in there and everything else either thrown out or put somewhere it belongs in the house or the garage.
If my main tool bench wasn't so huge and I didn't have another smaller one on the other side, I'd easily be able to fit two vehicles in my garage now. 
By the end of the weekend I have to make up my mind on whether or not I can fix that power washer. It would probably last the rest of my life if I could and would be far more powerful than anything I'd be willing to buy to replace it. I need it for a few waterproofing projects on the house, and I'm going to need it to clean the cracks in the garage and shed before I seal them up, as well as the cracks in the asphalt driveway before I give that a nice black top seal coat. My old man says I've got the rest of the outside looking so nice I'd probably add $10k to the property value just by making that driveway look nice.
Sounds like you're doing great work Sigs. Keep it up. And remember to break down huge goals into smaller ones so you have things to celebrate along the way.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Hey Brenda,
I think I see what's going on. You were confusing me with "hard drive".
This is a hard drive in a Desktop Computer: 
The hard drive is the part of the computer that stores all of the information the computer needs to run and can also store your music, movies, pictures and any programs you install. They are quite large in desktops compared to the ones found in laptops.
You don't plug anything directly into the hard drive. There are two "outlets" on a hard drive, but one is for power and the other is for the data connection, and they both plug into different parts of your computer's motherboard internally. If you don't ever open your case, you won't ever interact with the hard drive.
What you're talking about is what I just call the "Case". Other names for it are the Chassis, Tower or Cabinet. It's the enclosure that holds and protects all of the electronic parts. The Motherboard, the CPU, the memory, the hard drive, the video/sound card, etc.
When you're plugging the cable from the monitor into the Case, you're plugging it into the video output from the Video Card.
Quote:
I did try the flipping the cord around and I think all it did was mess up my lap top because it is all plugged into a power bar. I will look at some thrift shops if I decide to get one.
It messed up your "lap top"? Just checking here because I thought we were talking about your desktop.
If we are still talking about your desktop computer, unless some random freak occurrence happened because of some faulty wiring in the cable, reversing which side went into your case and the monitor didn't hurt anything. The only time any sort of polarity problems could occur when wiring something to a computer has always been accounted for and before they made newer tech we take for granted today that are completely reversible they would make different sized ends for cables to ensure they weren't put in the wrong way. Your display cables can go either way without any problems.
Quote:
ETA: I had another look at the picture you posted and both ends sort of look like the cable I've got.
My mistake. I shouldn't have posted a picture of adapters and caused more confusion. Here's a picture of the actual cables:
(DVI is on the Left, VGA is on the Right.
DVI is rectangular and one of the prongs is a "line" instead of just pins. VGA is all pins, and is shorter on the bottom than it is on top and the sides are angled).
If you do buy a new monitor, you're going to need to know which one that your computer uses or you will not be able to plug it in. Well, you can, but you'll need to get an adapter (like the ones I posted before). They should be a lot cheaper than they are, but they are one of those products that have an obscene price markup, especially in brick and mortar stores. You'd be able to get it a lot cheaper online, but I know you don't have the ability to order stuff online. So it's better just to figure out which one you have and make sure the monitor you get will support it. Most monitors will probably support both, but I haven't been in the market for a long time and that might not be true anymore. Both VGA and DVI are aging technology now and if manufacturers what to shave production costs to make their monitor cheaper they might opt to cut one or both of them and just go with HDMI since that's becoming the new universal standard for video/audio output.
If you have the ability to do so, you can take a picture of where you plug the monitor cable into your case and just take that with you and make sure the new monitor has the same connector. (Since it's an old computer, I think we can assume
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Out for my walk in the rain. Yuck!
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Hey Brenda,
I think I see what's going on. You were confusing me with "hard drive".
This is a hard drive in a Desktop Computer:
The hard drive is the part of the computer that stores all of the information the computer needs to run and can also store your music, movies, pictures and any programs you install. They are quite large in desktops compared to the ones found in laptops.
You don't plug anything directly into the hard drive. There are two "outlets" on a hard drive, but one is for power and the other is for the data connection, and they both plug into different parts of your computer's motherboard internally. If you don't ever open your case, you won't ever interact with the hard drive.
What you're talking about is what I just call the "Case". Other names for it are the Chassis, Tower or Cabinet. It's the enclosure that holds and protects all of the electronic parts. The Motherboard, the CPU, the memory, the hard drive, the video/sound card, etc.
When you're plugging the cable from the monitor into the Case, you're plugging it into the video output from the Video Card.Quote:
I did try the flipping the cord around and I think all it did was mess up my lap top because it is all plugged into a power bar. I will look at some thrift shops if I decide to get one.
It messed up your "lap top"? Just checking here because I thought we were talking about your desktop.
If we are still talking about your desktop computer, unless some random freak occurrence happened because of some faulty wiring in the cable, reversing which side went into your case and the monitor didn't hurt anything. The only time any sort of polarity problems could occur when wiring something to a computer has always been accounted for and before they made newer tech we take for granted today that are completely reversible they would make different sized ends for cables to ensure they weren't put in the wrong way. Your display cables can go either way without any problems.Quote:
ETA: I had another look at the picture you posted and both ends sort of look like the cable I've got.
My mistake. I shouldn't have posted a picture of adapters and caused more confusion. Here's a picture of the actual cables:
(DVI is on the Left, VGA is on the Right.
DVI is rectangular and one of the prongs is a "line" instead of just pins. VGA is all pins, and is shorter on the bottom than it is on top and the sides are angled).
If you do buy a new monitor, you're going to need to know which one that your computer uses or you will not be able to plug it in. Well, you can, but you'll need to get an adapter (like the ones I posted before). They should be a lot cheaper than they are, but they are one of those products that have an obscene price markup, especially in brick and mortar stores. You'd be able to get it a lot cheaper online, but I know you don't have the ability to order stuff online. So it's better just to figure out which one you have and make sure the monitor you get will support it. Most monitors will probably support both, but I haven't been in the market for a long time and that might not be true anymore. Both VGA and DVI are aging technology now and if manufacturers what to shave production costs to make their monitor cheaper they might opt to cut one or both of them and just go with HDMI since that's becoming the new universal standard for video/audio output.
If you have the ability to do so, you can take a picture of where you plug the monitor cable into your case and just take that with you and make sure the new monitor has the same connector. (Since it's an old computer, I think we can assume that it&NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Flipside, this thing seems to have completed its updates the other night or so ago. Thank goodness.
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A chiropractor, a chiropractor. My kingdom for a chiropractor.
My neck is so out of whack that the little vitamin D capsule that I take got sort of stuck in my throat. Took several swallows of water to get it going. Arrrgghhh!!!
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My phone's been busy tonight.
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Quote:
1KIKI: Dang, it was supposed to be cooler today but the max temp here was 94F (34C).
SIGNY: Well, yesterday it was 98 at our house, so today's 93 seemed cooler!
Did my usual one hour of yardwork. Today it was a combination of things... raking avocado leaves (STILL) in prep for weeding and mulching, taking apart an old Texas tomato cage that that rusted together, binning up weeds, tossing out palm flower stalks (greenwaste won't take them) and raking out the shredded-leaf mulch that we dumped under one of the avocados. Also went grocery shopping and mailed out some bill pays and made a couple of phone calls still trying to fix some bills that Medicare fucked up when they randomly changed their status from primary to secondary insurance. Also tried a very new chicken recipe on hubby who "hates chicken". this was an "oven fried" chicken but the secret to success is to marinade the chicken in milk/paprika/garlic/salt/sugar/bay leave mixture for a few hours, then coat it with an egg/mustard/garlic powder/fresh ground pepper mix, then roll it in a panko/parmesan/olive oil before baking. Also, I have learned over the years that chicken breast is dry and flavorless when overcooked, so I start the wings, thighs, and drumsticks 20 minutes early and bake the chicken breast for the shortest amount of time after that ... maybe 15 minutes. Served with cucumber salad and a tomato/parsley/oinion/s&p/vinegar/olive oil salad. It must have tasted good because family asked for seconds!
But the big cooldown is coming tomorrow ... 80 degrees. WOOHOO!
Just in time to be working in the garage. I love my hubby but this garage fixup is getting kinda ... old. In addition to my yardwork yesterday we replaced the last of the 6 flourescent tubes in the garage and also the 4 fluoresecent tubes in the kitchen with LED tubes plus we had to fix the thermostat in the livingroom because the batteries pooped out and the newer ones didn't quite reach the contacts, which had corroded. Long story.
Tomorrow I edge the lawn and cut down some large elephant ears that just sprang up (I sure didn't plant them!) and rake out the new flower garden. And then we put in the last two upper shelves. Maybe the brackets for the workbench too. And then I say fuckit and lay down and read a stupid woman's magazine!
As usual, I over-anticipated what I could accomplish. I managed to cut down the elephant ears (there were three, not two, and I had to use a bow-saw to do it) but did not manage to dig them out. One of them was so happy where is was that it was about to flower but ... sorry, dude/ette, you were blocking the sunshine for the plants that I want.
After that it was all garage-work. We managed to put up brackets and shelves for the two over-workbench shelving, so at this point the last thing to do is attach the brackets to the 16' plywood wall-patch, and then wait on the plywood so we can put the workbench in. After that, I truly hope that is the end of the garage-reconfiguration that requires our help, at least for a while, because I have projects of my own to complete.
*****
KIKI, I've been thinking about our common problem of which tree to plant. I suggest Catalina Island cherry. It has a much more upright habit than hollyleaf cherry, is evergreen and wildlife-friendly.
Unfortunately, I already planted three Catalina Island cherries on the property line (to block the view of some ugly, ugly McMansions that a developer put up, shade the property, and create that "outdoor room" configuration that I like; it looks like they're going to do the job) so I feel like I need some sort of alternate. I tend to like the channel island species better. Ironwood maybe? https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/nature/woodlands.htm
Single-leaf pinyon pine (pinus monophylla) perhaps?
http://www.californiagardens.com/Plant_Pages/pinus_monophylla.htm
*****
On a health-related note: Several weeks ago I tried drinking Earl Grey tea, and had a bad, bad reaction to it: "
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A new tree I never heard of! How did you dig this up?
So I checked it out a bit -
Lynothamnus floribundus ssp. aspleniifolius has the multiple leaflets that almost look like a legume-tree (like acacia, mesquite, caesalpinia, mimosa, fairy duster, and palo verde) ... but ... aren't.
It's a pretty tree 
with lovely flowers
My heavy clay soil would not do well by it, I think, but your soil would be great!
I'm glad you figured out what was giving you pain, Signy!
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