the watcher

So I have been worried about all the tile drainage that has been going on lately. For those who aren't familiar , a grid of perforated pipe is laid down 2.5 to 4 feet below the surface and all excess water is drained off. I have one neighbor that is doing 8,000 acres this year. ( that would be a strip a mile wide and over 12 miles long ). There are 10s of thousands of acres being drained. There has always been concerns about the quality of the water if it is just piped into ditches but my concern is our aquifers not being replenished. When I have brought it up with pro tiling guys I am always told that water from that level has no effect on aquifers.BUT that doesn't seem logical to me. So I finally quit being lazy and started to try and find info on it.So I found a White paper done in Minnesota. It involved a platoon of PhDs, geologists, Proffs, water resource people....... and here is an excerpt from that study : Knowledge gaps. Several critical knowledge gaps are identified in this paper, creating opportunities for further research to improve our understanding for better managed water resources: 1. Extent of drainage is unknown. Direct estimates of the extent of subsurface drainage do not exist in Minnesota. However, several indirect methods have been utilized to estimate subsur- face drainage, from the field-scale to county- level through the use of geographic information system (GIS) analysis and aerial photography. Based on a 2012 U.S. Geological Survey estimate of subsurface drainage extent (Nakagaki and Wieczorek, 2016), about 21% of the land area in Minnesota has some density of subsurface drain- age. 2. Effect of drainage on underlying aquifers is unknown. A basic understanding of unconfined and confined aquifers and their recharge is nec- essary to connect any hydrological effects from agricultural drainage to groundwater. The basic goal of subsurface drainage to efficiently drain saturated soils clearly alters the water balance in croplands. However, its overall effect on ground- water resources has been poorly characterized, and is in large part determined by the geology below drained areas and the arrangement of underlying aquifers. 3. Water balance shifts. An improved understand- ing of historical water balance shifts from pre- to post-drainage periods is necessary to understand long-term implications on net groundwater re- charge. Also, more direct field-scale studies and indirect modeling studies are needed to charac- terize water budgets for fields with subsurface drainage. So they conclude they don't know how much drainage there is. They don't know the effect on aquifers or the recharge of those aquifers. They don't know the long term effect of that drainage. Yet we continue full bore at it. This is F ing nuts. And know one seems to notice. And most people have no clue it's happening.

Agreed. I read a couple of stories on him. He had regretted he never got the vaccine, wished he had, told people they should get the shot, ..........But no where does it say he regreted or felt bad for being the cause of people getting Covid and suffering or dieing. A self centered prick to the end. He was part of a group of people whose influence has caused the death of thousands. The world is a better place without him.

I'd have lake front property. or at least close enough to watch the icebergs floating around. Those in the city would be at the bottom of a large chilly lake.

Ive been following this one for a while and I don't think it will. It's mostly western Europe and the UK. BUT that isn't set in stone. For one thing that shutting down is a reasonably recent study and I'm sure there will be new info all the time. And secondly shutting down a major earth engine like that is bound to cause other feedback issues.That the sudden draining of Agassiz caused that disruption isn't set in stone but it's likely.That period of 8 or 9 ,000 years was a period of massive destruction and violence. " Lake Aggassiz " by Bill Redekop is a great read on it. Plus you can add in a possible large impact event that is finally gaining more acceptance to a turbulent time.

Dammit ! Why did I watch that ! Lol, one day I fully expect Dr. Faucci to walk up to a mic and say " You know what , f**K all of you I'm out of here " and leave the USA. The poor bugger is 80 years old, out there busting his hump for a bunch of ignorant ,spoiled ,bratty children. I don't know how the guy does it.

Every time I think the world can't get more bizarre or stupid , it does.

Thought I'd watch a bit of the Gold medal soccer game while I had coffee and breakfast . I ended up watching the rest of the game. Not a fan of shootouts in hockey but holy crap that was a thrilling end. Canadian goaltender Labbe sure worked the psych game on the shoot outs. Congratulations Ladies. Absolutely brilliant !

I also would love to have seen them link lifting restrictions and vaccination rates in each community or RHA or RM . ( Winkler I'm looking at you ! ) Then you pull enforcement officers from where they are no longer needed and and enforce the hell out of them. But that would take a large set of Kahunas which our current Gov lacks .

I love the idea of slowly opening things up and returning to normal but the indoor mask mandate should be the last restriction lifted in my mind. It's effective and easy to follow.

It is true there are areas that have relied on irrigation . It's true we have suffered drought before .BUT there is no denying that we just had the hottest July on record.We are breaking records that have been kept since the late 1800s. And it's a more world wide phenomenon than previously. There are misconceptions about the 1930s. It's not that it didn't rain for 10 years .Most farmers still planted crops but only to see them wither and die over the summer.Although the Palliser Triangle was extremely dry. Yes the drought was horrendous but it was the combination of drought, economic collapse, extremely low commodity prices , a lack of government support and the fact that it went on for 10 years that brought the west to its knees. I suggest if anyone is interested read The Great Deppresion by Pierre Berton or The 10 Lost Years by Barry Broadfoot ( a collection of interviews of those who lived it )

Re supplying arms. At one point the Americans weren't allowed to sell planes and fly them to Canada for shipping. So the planes were flown to the border, landed, pushed across, then flown the rest of the way. The Nazi movement / support was pretty strong in the USA. Less so in Canada but every country had it's closet fascists. The communist movement in on Canada was far stronger than fascism. A reported 10,000 turned out to support communist leader Tim Buck when he was released from being arrested.

I just re-read Barry Broadfoot's "Ten Lost Years " last winter. It's a stark reminder of just how bad things could get both weather wise and economically. It effected alot of my parents generation to their dieing day.

It's the heat that we all notice but the thing that is really going to punch us in the guts is water. You are already seeing that in communities like Morden. More and more out here have or are going to link into the Pembina water line which gets it's water from the Red River. Already they are concerned about the level of their intakes. It's also an issue with both rural community and private wells. And as you say, this is just the start. Edit :Hey it takes some real talent To do that 2x

From my readings Roosevelt was trying to get them in as he recognized the dangers of the fascist movement. But he had little support until Pearl Harbor. There is even a conspiracy theory that Roosevelt and his inner circle knew it was coming and let it happen so there would not be any resistance to entering the war. I doubt it has any credence. But none the less Roosevelt was pushing to enter the conflict.

That's one angry Doctor and rightly so. I get that we want and need to reduce restrictions as the numbers drop. It's important for economic health and mental health. BUT it has to follow medical advice .And make medical sense.The last thing the economy or our mental health needs is another surge in cases. Some of those changes in Alberta don't even make sense.They border on sheer stupidity. Politics needs to stay the hell out of pandemic decisions.

As much as the GOP deserve this treatment I find it disturbing. The GOP had degenerated to a fear mongering, anti democratic, conspiracy supporting mess. But in these videos I see those that oppose that lowering themselves to the same level. It heightens anger and hate and promotes more backlash .There has to be a better way.

I watched some of the women's soccer game vs England today. It's nice to see a soccer game where players aren't flopping all over the ground like they were shot every time there is the least contact. I wish the pro leagues would take a page from their book.

Anyone notice that if you ignore the territories Manitoba now leads the country in double vaxed percentage ? Right up there in at least 1 dose as well. Great to see !

Here was my conversation with an old friend of my wife's who said she wasn't getting the vaccine. Her: "I haven't gotten the vaccine" Me: " why not ? " Her:" I just dont " Me: " But why not ? " Her: dead air, then stumbling for words and no answer. So this over weight woman ,in her late 60s had not one actual reason or answer as to why she would risk her life. She is neither religious or far right. As you said perhaps the " Darwin wave " will remove her type

I think what alot of the anti-vax , anti -mask crowd don't get is the repercussions of Covid. We talked to a Physio therapist yesterday who said she is so tired of dealing with Covid patients who survived the initial infection but now have severely damaged organs etc. Some probably will never get out of the hospital.And all they had to do was get a vaccine. My son told me one of his co-workers, a fit, healthy, 30 something guy got Covid. At one point he called his parents from the hospital to say goodbye because he didn't think he would make it. He survived BUT he has severe liver damage. He came in to see the guys at work and my son said he is a shell of his former self. Just a mess. He is a partsman and isn't healthy enough to go back to work. I don't understand how people don't take it seriously.

That same thought keeps creeping in my head as well when I see unmasked people indoors. But I don't like thinking that way. It's not good for my mind ,spirit and well being to feel that way. But I can't deny it is there.

At the least he needed to be interrupted for being insensitive, unaware and politically stupid. I don't blame Kinew at all for not being able to sit and listen to that given current circumstances

I know what I would say if an unvaccinated person asked to use my card. The first word would start with F as would many other words in every sentence.

A good article summing up the swing to the Far Right at state levels from the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/19/joe-biden-republicans-polarization-us-politics-texas

I believe we will see it sweep through Manitoba's low vax areas as well. I am pleasantly surprised to see the provincial rate still climbing .I thought it might slow to a crawl by now. 77.4 % is really good.