One morning I woke up to the sound of helicopters. Scratch that. I woke up to the CONSTANT drone of helicopters, flying back and forth, back and forth. Now, during Waldo Canyon I got used to the sound of planes flying over my house constantly. That was just life for a couple weeks. However, I had gotten used, again, to not hearing things flying over my house all the time. Silly me!
This time, it was not due to fear of flames, but fear of water. Those of us within a certain distance of the burn scar are now living in a flood plain. In order to mitigate the risk of flooding, they are dumping a mixture of sand, wood chips and seeds (I believe) on the stripped hillsides.
The sound I heard was the choppers picking up loads of this drought mitigation mixture from a nearby quarry and dropping it on the hills. You can actually see, quite clearly, where they have dumped it. I haven't gotten a picture of that yet, but I did get photos of the choppers flying back and forth. There were two criss-crossing each other. It was fun to watch them.
Now for some links:
Taking Submissions:
eSteampunk, an imprint of eFiction Magazine, is taking steampunk submissions for short stories, poetry, articles, serials, book reviews, interviews and artwork.
Criminalelement.com is putting together their first e-collection of short stories, and are taking submissions under the theme of Girl Trouble for Malfeasance Occasional. Pays $350. Deadline October 10.
Andrew Karre is taking submissions of novel-length fiction for Carolrhoda Books from October 1 through October 31.
Poisoned Pen Press has announced a new YA Mystery imprint called Poisoned Pencil Press. They are taking novel-length submissions.
Other:
Andrew at Strange Pegs will be releasing Part 6 of his "Shadow Spinner" series for free Thursday, October 4. Be sure to review it if you download and read it.
Susan Kaye Quinn is hosting a giveaway to celebrate 10,000 sales of her novel "Open Minds." You can enter to win a Kindle Paper and/or several sets of books, some e-, some physical.
Rachel Sang-hee Han posted 7 of the Coolest Libraries in the World on CNN.com. And they ARE cool!
Anything to share? Are you completely over photos of flying machines? Ever been the recipient of flood mitigation? Live in or near a flood plain? Have you gotten any writing done lately?
May you find your Muse.
14 comments:
Hah, forgot about your closeness to the burn areas!
Glad they are mitigating the burn areas now, before the rains, before possible floods. Those seeds will sprout and hold on the hillsides and scorched areas from becoming additional tragedies.
We used to live in Southern Cal. where summer and autumn fires would scorch entire neighborhoods in one afternoon. Working fast to prevent further damage is most important at this time.
Thanks for the links. One day, I might just get myself organized enough to submit something.
No, I like flying machines and seeing photos. If no one looked up at the sky or the heavens and the stars, we wouldn't have a lot of our inventions today.
Hope things improve in your area. Take care and keep yourself safe. I remember your posts on the fires.
Live near a flood plain but never been flooded, even after hurricanes.
Hey, wow! Thanks for the shout! It's not free until tomorrow, though.
That's interesting what they're doing there. Neat. Let's hope you don't get flooded.
Rosaria, I hope you do get to where you can submit something. Does the flood mitigation usually work pretty well?
D.G., I'm glad to hear it, thanks! I had a bunch of pictures of them turning, because I was oddly fascinated with how that looked.
Alex, that is definitely reassuring! I'm in a pretty good location, but spoke to someone the other day who lives on a creek in Manitou Springs and has been warned that she should be prepared for a 15 foot wall of water. How does one prepare for that!??! She is also uninsurable due to her location.
Andrew, whoops, I will fix that as soon as I'm done responding. It's been fascinating to watch them. I imagine they have experience with other mountain areas with stuff like this, so I'm going to hope they know what they're doing. We've had a bunch of mudslides, but none near me.
Thanks for the shout-out! And something about the name "Poisoned Pencil" is intriguing. :)
I do not live on a flood plain - thankfully! - and I am half way through my last revision of my current wip. After which it will be on to query land!
That's great that they're planning ahead to stop mudslides (someone should tell Portugal to do the same thing). There are some great links here, thank you.
Gaaaah. Crazy happenings! Hope you guys are okay! We were evacuated a couple months ago due to fire, but it's not a *normal* occurrence where we live. Flooding is AWFUL... And I think the pics are cool! And great links! :)
Lovely Shannon thank you for these suggestions, you're so generous to share them. I wish you good luck with the writing and a lot of quiet...no more helicopters :)>
I don't live near a flood plain, but I do live near an airport. So I can identify with the waking to the sound of planes flying overhead, and how, surprisingly, you get used to it and don't hear it anymore after a few weeks/months. :)
...and thanks for the links.
I was fascinated by the pictures. I've seen images of water being used to put out fires but not this. Thank fully, I don't live in a flood area. But sadly severe flooding is becoming more and more common with the UK.
Off to visit the coolest libraries now. Thanks for the link.
I hope the fires are not too bad and everything turns out okay. I live in an area which is subjected to many threats! Fire, Flood, Storms and Cyclones (Hurricanes)!
Susan, I thought so, too!
Marcy, good luck with finishing that up!
Susan, I hope it does what it's supposed to!
Morgan, fire is terrifying! While it's a normal occurrence in Colorado, it's never been this close to us, but we are safe.
Petronela, the helicopters appear to be done, at least for now! Thank you for your always wonderful wishes.
Linda, I used to live near an airport as a kid. I was so scared of the planes flying over. I did, however, get quiet used to the planes during the fire. It was just rough hearing planes overhead again, when I associated that sound with the fire.
Ellie, I remember the massive flooding in the UK in the last couple years, just from news reports. Scary that it is an increasing problem.
C.M., that does not sound like fun! I don't know how those of you who live in those areas do it. My cousin has a "to grab/to do" list on her fridge due to the frequent fires (in California). No thank you!
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