Flying Frost control or why your lemons are pricey!

[CAJW]

Last month, Central California experienced about a week of freezing temps sometimes down into the teens, which is bad for citrus just about to be harvested. As a part time gig, I do some helicopter flying and was lucky enough to take my son along on one of the flights which he shot some video of. The trick is to push down the warmer air (inversion layer) that rests anywhere from just above the trees to 40'-50' up, depending on conditions. The ranch manager on the ground was getting increases of 5-6 degrees when I flew over his truck and we ended up saving his crop with very minimal damage so the costly flight time was warranted. If your lemonade is pricier this season, now you'll know why!

I've given up on trying to compile these clips on Movie Maker, just not worth the grief as the files end up being too large to do anything with. I just don't do enough of this stuff to warrant buying a program and screwing around with it to make it work, so if interested, you'll need to view each clip separately. Below are a couple of clips with more here: https://www.youtube.com/view_all_playlists

https://youtu.be/QDz0KNA1aa0

https://youtu.be/0fyTYwAXHkk

Well.... it appears I've got issues in imbedding these videos, which appear to be a different format than the test I did last night. Can someone help a brother out in fixing this? Technology, gotta love it!

 

[ionbeam]

<Assist>

Someone turn on the lights.



Let there be light.

 

[CAJW]

Thanks Alan. Please shoot me a PM to enlighten my caffeine starved brain how to do this.

 

[beemerdons]

John I am definitely showing my age here, I grew up on a citrus orchard in Orange County, California. My job for my family when freezing temps were threatening the crop was to light the smudge pots and keep them filled with fuel during the night.

We later got wind machines in the groves, but I still had to start them and keep them filled up with fuel during the night!

 

[CAJW]

John I am definitely showing my age here, I grew up on a citrus orchard in Orange County, California. My job for my family when freezing temps were threatening the crop was to light the smudge pots and keep them filled with fuel during the night.
We later got wind machines in the groves, but I still had to start them and keep them filled up with fuel during the night!

Right there with you brother! In high school, I got a job lighting smudge pots and later we used diesel misters ignited by throwing a match at the pot. As you know, high school kids staying up all night end up getting a serious case of the munchies so we hit Jack in the Box about 6am and ate more than our nights' wages in Jumbo Jacks!

 

[FJRay]

I used to cruise the orchards and steal full pots to heat the shop and trade them for full ones. I guess all I was stealing was the fuel cause the pots got returned.

 

[Bounce]

Thanks for the clips. Must be nice to fly the whirlybirds.

I've given up on trying to compile these clips on Movie Maker, just not worth the grief as the files end up being too large to do anything with. I just don't do enough of this stuff to warrant buying a program and screwing around with it to make it work

Try iMovie. It's free with the OS.

 

[CAJW]

Thanks for the clips. Must be nice to fly the whirlybirds. It beats working for a living.

I've given up on trying to compile these clips on Movie Maker, just not worth the grief as the files end up being too large to do anything with. I just don't do enough of this stuff to warrant buying a program and screwing around with it to make it work

Try iMovie. It's free with the OS.

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

 

[Bugnatr]

Where's the news tart that did the interview? Cool vid, can we get those hilo lights for some night riding?

Don, thanks for the smudge pot pic as I have never seen one in operation.

 

[dcarver]

I wanna ride!!

 

[CAJW]

I wanna ride!!

Sure enough Don. Second thought, with your proclivity to taking things apart to see what makes them "tick", I'd have to insist that you leave your tool box behind.