I'm currently in Washington state doing #GIS on a wildfire. It's been a pretty good assignment, but we're on day 9 (plus two travel days) and my introvert is feeling pretty burnt out. There is little alone time in fire camp.
I live in Mississippi, so I can't use Bluesky without a VPN. To be honest, I've been far too busy working on a big personal project to figure that out. I'm not really sure of my future on this app, to be honest.
The other worst part is how very few orgs have posted info on name changes. I get the need for forms, but being forced to call customer service just to acquire the form is frustrating. 80% of married women still change names, so it seems obvious to include info a FAQ page - but they rarely do. 😐
One of the worst parts of changing my name, however, is going to be getting a new email.
My email has my old last name. My husband's ego is not invested in me changing every username, but I keep filling out forms that require my name & email, and it looks so odd that they don't match.
My husband and I wanted to have the same last name, so I changed mine.
But I've been a Mallonee for 38 years, and it may take another 38 years for me to remember that I'm now Hester Jenkins. 😵💫
11. Reading on my balcony with my dog.
12. Tomato-basil bean stew (with tofu) is so good. We make it all the time.
13. Checking on my dog when he's sick.
14. A husband who wants to work on our communication patterns and grow together.
7. A spell of cooler weather so that the air no longer feels like it's attacking me ☮️
8. A quiet morning on my balcony with my dog and some YouTube drawing lessons.
9. This amazing strawberry-pecan salad
10. Toast and warm brie. It's not aesthetic but it is delicious.
4. A chill weekend morning, starring a pineapple fritter from the local donut shop.
5. A hurt ankle/foot which gives me guaranteed stitching time each day.
6. Homemade chicken gyros, with a cookie left over from another excellent book club meeting.
1. A little downtime at work has enabled me to refresh my AGOL dashboard skills.
2. Making fun of my weird dog for roasting himself in the sun during a heatwave, despite being provided shade and swimming pools.
3. Finding the perfect dog treat for family pizza night.
Woke up with the beginnings of a migraine at 3:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep, but the upside is that I was able to get my dog to the dog park before anyone else was here. 🎉 🎉 (We avoid dog parks when others are present.)
So on that note, here are the recent good things!
While small, the burns represent a major step forward in the tribe’s longstanding effort to promote cultural burning. It’s the fruit of years of advocacy, and collaboration with federal agencies and nonprofits to bring down barriers to it. www.boisestatepublicradio.org/environment/...
I also quickly swung by Aztec Ruins Natl. Monument on a lunch break. Despite being in a rush, I was struck by the peacefulness of the restored kiva and the artistry of the masonry. This area alao has lots of preserved textiles, and that was really interesting to learn about.
My fire assignment ended up being unusually short, but I managed to find some great stuff:
1. Amazing el pastor tacos to wake up after a long flight
2. A dog getting take-out
3. The Animas river
4. A breakfast burrito so spicy that I cried, which is precisely what I want to experience in NM. 🌶️😋
Also, with many videogames you can try different things and repeatedly fail with little consequences. It's a low-stakes way to get comfortable trying new things and problem solving!
As described this is a repeat pattern (overlapping half-drop) I made with my linocut of common milkweed with deep bluish green stem and leaves and two mauve-pink blooms, a flying yellow and black bumblebee, a perched monarch butterfly in oranges, black and white and a red and black little milkweed bug on a leaf, against a white background.
This is a repeat pattern I made with my linocut print, on beautiful Japanese papers, about the milkweed plant, beloved of the native pollinators. Well-known for its appeal to monarch butterflies, it is also a favourite of the many different native bumblebees & insects like this small milkweed bug.
Chart showing average Atlantic hurricane and tropical storm activity from May to December based on data from 1944 to 2020. Activity increases sharply in August, peaking in mid-September. A marker indicates the current date as July 28, just before activity begins to rise.
On average, 86% of all named tropical systems in the Atlantic occur after August 2, and the first hurricane doesn't form until August 11.
We have a long season to go. Prepare now – Learn how at weather.gov/safety/hurricane
*LOOK* at abbaetha's magnificent blackwork
A drone view of the patterns of water channels in an inland fjord near where it meets the sea. The colours are mostly turquoise and the patterns look a little like folded material. On the right hand side some ripples on the water's surface are visible and reflecting the light above.
Sometimes the patterns of the river braids and estuaries in #Iceland look three-dimensional.
#DronePhotography #DJIMavic3Pro
You didn't need to have a passport to travel to Mexico or Canada. I went to Mexico for a day almost a decade before my first passport.
Leaving for a wildfire like:
1. Packing the night before, and all the luggage needed for 14 days of camping and GIS
2. 3:00 am puppy goodbye
3. Leaving my husband something to remember me by (mac & cheese is my weakness)
4. Missing home already
I really have no words to describe how excited I am about this purse.
I'm telling myself that I got it as a reward for passing the GISP exam, but I think we all know that's an excuse. 😂
Scientists have released the closest images ever taken near the sun, captured by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe flying 3.8 million miles above the solar surface.
See more images of solar eruptions on the sun: wapo.st/3Irm3P3
My favorite thing about Arcade is knowing a programming language that my software-engineer-husband doesn't.
But the topic of wildfire GIS is really on my mind tonight because my supervisor gave me approval to change my status to Available. Once I go Available, I could be boarding a plane within 24 hours, so I am digging out my giant suitcase and making my preparations.
(Also, CalFire talked about going up in helicopters during in the Plenary - yeah, that's for the cool kids.
We uncool kids spend 16 hours a day inside a wall tent. Or an old volunteer fire department, hotel conference room, community college, etc. Wherever they can rent space.)
We use Field Maps, Survey 123, AGOL, ArcPro, and Dashboards throughout the whole data life cycle, including data collection, editing, and cartography - lots and *lots* of cartography. You can export 45+ maps in a night. Thankfully there are templates to help with map creation.
During today's ESRI Plenary talk, CalFire alluded to other agencies that use GIS on wildfires.
I happen to work for one of those agencies and work on several incidents each year. And while I haven't gotten to use the exciting tools that Calfire demonstrated, it's still a pretty interesting job.
Map of Ecosystems of North America Completed!
@natureserve.bsky.social has released a first-of-its-kind map of ecosystems across the conterminous U.S. & nearby regions w/ a level of detail & consistency not previously available.
🧪 🌎 #GISchat
geohub-natureserve.opendata.arcgis.com/maps/Natures...
And a few i missed:
21. Capturing this great dragonfly.
22. An early morning hardware store run, complete with iced coffee.
23. A weekend stitching, reading, and playing video games.
19. A nice evening dog walk downtown.
20. Catching the sunset at the overlook.
