Ready for the Big One?

Clallam Bay just opened up the back of the town to the next tsunami or typhoon, with nary a tree buffer in sight. Basically, they've recreated the conditions for the 1700 tsunami (recorded in Japanese records) that came down the Wyaatch river valley and hit Neah Bay from the back. There was nothing to stop it, or at least buffer the force.

Evidently some "American Logger" show is spreading their "forest science," which is basically 19th-century excuse-making. Helping wildlife, my ass. Look,  you can tell when a forestry "scientist" is lying - his mouth is open.

As for helping wildlife - somebody posted a picture of a pileated woodpecker in her feeder. That's right, this secretive deep-forest bird was driven out of its home and hungry enough to approach humans. A woman photographed one of these birds eating sunflower seeds out of her feeder. Another refugee, with nothing to eat and no home. 

Thanks to her for feeding it - but now how or where does it nest and find enough food for the family? These birds eat grubs and other insects in trees. It's eating sunflower seeds like your cat eats dry food pellets; because it can't get anything else. This reminds me of the scene in that movie with Peter O'Toole as the SS general, telling his men to carry food for the children of a bombed-out town. 

Anyway, I'm going to go cover the senior class tsunami drills Thursday - and I think I might hint that it may very well be a good idea to re-think putting the town refuge at the top of the hill south of town, in the expresso-stand parking log/storage. Not only would a tsunami meet no trees to take the brunt of the force - but it would be channeled right through that valley into town. It's going to be bigger and stronger and hit harder where it hits. And we won't even talk about the next typhoon winds through that valley; they'll deepen and speed up like the narrow mouth of a river. What goes around comes around.

Then again, everybody in America seems to have a death wish. I'm getting tired of eating popcorn, watching the rising weather smacking down all over the place. Oh, well. Bad DNA will just have to get cleaned out. It always does.

You heard it here, first.

Toilet float!

We thought this was a bottle, because of the screw neck, but it's completely sealed.

The texture is uneven, as though it's been rolled in a cloth while still hot.

What am this thang? It had some of the yellowish crud on it that says "Tsunami debris," but we dunno.

Going to troll around the interwebs and try to find out.

And now we know. A nice gentleman named Stu Farnsworth, who knows about floats emailed me:  

"Hi Donna;
  Thanks for your note, pretty easy one here. This is a Toilet Bowl flange used in the holding tank for the water pressure. Early ones were glass some like this were totally sealed and many think they are Glass Floats. It is possible it could have been used for that if it was found on the Beach because the family operations would use anything that floats that would hold up their nets.
  This could very well be something from the Tsunami if it was found on the beach because lord only knows what is going to show up. Hope this helps."

Houses used to stand on the beach. As the river sands re-align and release their buried objects, we've been pulling out and disposing of everything from old piping to toilets to actual tin-foil to ancient tires.

I dunno if a glass toilet float is worth anything, but it's interesting! 

Beautiful porcelain insulator

Close side view.  Note thickness of copper wire.

Side view, with thick copper wire.

View from the base.  Partly glazed.

Found this on the beach last week. Wondering if it was tsunami debris.  Yes, I know it wouldn't float, but you never know what's connected to what, especially with the line of thick copper wire.


But --

Got this answer from Bill Meier, at a neat insulator collection site.  Check it out.  It's pretty cool!

Bill:

Top view

"You have a typical porcelain insulator, produces in the millions or more likely billions. I wouldn't expect it the least bit uncommon to find one at the bench. They are all over everywhere!

Since there are so many around, I find it very unlikely it came from far away... I'd saw from a utility pole probably within a few hundred yards away! Used for low voltage electric power.

Regardless, given the weight it would sink and it doesn't have a lot of surface area to "push" it and I would find it extremely unlikely to have come from Fukushima. A piece of wood perhaps... Consider it like a rock in the water... could that travel thousands of miles?

Given I'm sure there are thousands within a mile where you found it also makes all the less likely, even of the physics supported the theory of the transportation of it." 

There are some pebbles from the beach lodged in the spaces underneath, but I decided not to start poking at them.  Better they remain in place than that I chip the glaze.

Thanks, Bill!