Rain and motorcycle, pigeon racing and the environment

So, yesterday was not the most pleasant weather for getting out on the motorcycle. The forecast for the next few days has got me thinking about water, in the form of rain and in the run-off that affects our environment.

Erosion is generally the first thing we think of when we consider water and the environment. There are so many other factors that water affects in our environment. Especially here in the desert...which is where we are, regardless of how people act here in Utah. This is a desert with a finite amount of water.

Erosion in the desert is not only caused by water, it is also generated by wind...both water in the form of run-off and wind can carry the loose bits and pieces of sandstone. In effect, this is like having walls sand-blasted to remove the dirt or outer covering.

Water also affects the desert environment in its ability to sustain life. With a finite water source, there are finite populations that can be supported. Not only must consideration be given for the amount of water that is available for use, consideration must be given for those living down stream.  

In the middle and early portions of the last century, many, many "water retention" areas were created to resolve issues of water lost to run-off...basically, this is a very selfish idea, as putting up the dam creates a pool of water behind it. This pool is subject to greater evaporation than the running water.

The west is now overpopulated...not too many people per square mile if compared to the east, but too many people for the land (and water) to support.

In this region, water is the source of life...if you don't think so, try going without it for just 4 days.

The current issues that are extremely pressing now that the human population is in place, and constantly growing, is where will we continue to get more water. Who owns the water in the rivers?  Water rights have led to more than one homicide in the west. Everyone and everything wants the right to water, and how and when do we tell them there is not enough?  People are becoming pretty inventive in finding more water. Actually not more water--remember there is a finite amount--but water they feel they are entitled to.  I recently watched a documentary on the Green River. 

There is a 37-mile stretch that flows through the state of Colorado, so now they are looking at old water right laws and saying they want their cut. The basic idea is to dig a canal or pipe water from the Flaming Gorge area of Utah and Wyoming over to the Front Range area of Denver.  Somehow, the idea that the answer maybe a reduction in population in that area does not get through.

If you have any good ideas, I am certain someone will listen...Saint George, Utah, and Washington County are running dry pretty quick. It wouldn't take too many years of drought to make a big problem for the humans there.

And if it is affecting humans in such a manner, how is it affecting the creatures that can't adapt their environment?  The ones that were here first?

Birds: And what about pigeons and racing in the rain? Every year, there is debate over whether or not a race should have been released based on weather. For the most part, pigeons negotiate the rain well enough if they do not become too wet to fly. A theory that I have about thunderstorms has gotten some local and national interest.  From my time in the military, I know that helicopters develop static electricity in flight. Enough, that when doing sling loading of supplies, I have seen loaders tossed across the LZ when the person that was supposed to "ground" the bird missed the hook with grounding rod. I would suggest that our birds, when flying in a massive flock such as during the beginning stages of a race, also created similar static electricity with the motion of all those wings. I suggest that they actually will draw a lightening strike from the static electricity in the clouds of a thunderstorm...resulting in poor results on a race where they may come in contact with a thunderstorm. On such races, the birds that come in first are usually the birds we lest expected. I surmise that the reason is they were not with that front group that attracted and were dispatched by a lightening strike.

Honey: My 2010 Backyard Blonde can be deemed a success. My friend's mother enjoyed it thouroughly when I provided her with a bottle.  She is quite the critic when it comes to wine, so I am very proud of what I accomplished with the backyard vine.