I had to participate in something to do with the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors for the County today over Zoom on my laptop computer. 4 other members of my family were their online too. In fact, my daughter and her husband drove up closer to the San Francisco bay area so we could be mutually supportive and helpful regarding all this. So, we had three laptops and one big iMac set to the zoom site all at once. By the way if one of you (while doing this) is speaking you have to mute all the other laptops so people can hear on the other end. So, luckily we all did this when any of us spoke on Zoom. (you have to mute all the other computers so there aren't infinite feedback loops) in the sound because it would create infinite echoes unless you mute all the other computers.
I found this very very strange and started to realize how difficult it would be for children to function online in this kind of Zoom situation as students (especially if they are under 12 years of age). We were looking at architectural plans for the county and so you would see a little box 2 or 3 inches wide of the person speaking on the board of Supervisors for the county of Santa Barbara as a little box looking at a video of the person with most of the screen full of architectual plans of various things planned in the county. We were there for something regarding our property in Santa Barbara but had to wade through about 10 other items first for an hour or more being worked out by the board section helping us. So, at first I had a hard time grasping what was happening. Then I realized I would have to add my name to the roster for those who wanted to speak to the board. Then there is a little hand you click on to raise to say you want to speak and then they tell you when you can speak. I wound up being first to speak of my family which I also did not expect. But, because of everything I observed I was able to be very quick and succinct. Then in the process the board told us what they were concerned about which was not as diverse as we had thought what they specifically wanted to deal with so I had to eliminate 75% of what I wanted to say because they were only dealing with one aspect of what was going on in any of these situations. They mostly were dealing with the aesthetics of the situation and where trees and landscaping goes and does and what trees can be cut down and what trees cannot be cut down. They were also concerned about how all this affects the value of everyone's property where we have our 2nd house. But, this didn't really affect us in the way they were set up to address. Then other people hadn't notified enough people of the changes they wanted to make and so according to federal law this was tabled because not enough people had been notified by this company trying to change things where our house is.
For example, we have a several hundred year oak tree on our property but that isn't why we were doing this because we have it trimmed by professional arborists so it cannot fall on our house during a storm. Instead it is specifically trimmed professionally so if it ever went down it would fall into the street (even though it might also smash one or more cars there too and knock down a telephone pole next to our garage. But, this is important in order to save the house and any lives of anyone there when that might possibly happen from a heavy wind off the ocean or from a Santa Ana Wind off the desert either of which might get up to 80 or 100 miles per hour which is why fires burn so many houses down in Southern California sometimes all the way to the ocean. This oak tree is so big that at it's base it is about 5 or 6 feet through and some of the limbs are at least 4 feet through. If you know anything about oak trees they are very very dense and heavy. So, oak generally is one of the hardest woods on earth and one of the heaviest and most dense. But, for people who like to burn wood for warmth in some places in the mountains like Mt. Shasta, it is likely the wood that will burn the longest along with Manzinita burls.
What are Manzinita burls? (they are the root ball of manzinita bushes)
Here are some google images of manzinita burls that are very hard sort of like oak. However, when you burn a manzinita burl the gases it gives off are a little toxic. However, I have a friend who has burned them in his wood stove for about 40 or more years especially winters even though his girlfriend would rather he burn something else for heat.
Manzinita burls can come in many different sizes from several inches to 2 to 3 feet long and about a foot through. So, once you dig up the burl you don't have to cut it like you would other wood you only have to cut off the branches of the plant in order to burn the burl for heat. However, it's better if you dry it first for 6 months or a year in a pile out of the rain. (you can put a tarp over them to keep them dry) and weight the edges of the tarp with rocks or small burls to keep the wind from blowing the tarp away.
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