#HetchHetchyHypocrites

I just received the following email from my congressman and I have to post it here.  It's very annoying to me that we here in the Central Valley of California are being shortchanged so that those living in the Bay area, particularly San Francisco, remain comfortable.  It's time people spoke up about it.

While our lawns are dying and farmers are plowing under their crops, the San Francisco and coastal communities continue to plunder the reservoir in Yosemite with no restrictions attached.

A recent UC Davis study projected the costs of the California water crisis this year. The researchers found:

·         The net water shortage will be 2.5 million acre-feet in 2015.
·         In response, farmers will fallow 542,000 acres of land.
·         The crisis will cost the California economy $2.74 billion this year, with the loss of 21,000 jobs.

The study finds that California agriculture is faring better than many predicted. Some areas are suffering much more than others, however. As the researchers previously noted, “The impacts are concentrated mostly in the San Joaquin Valley.”

For decades, elites in the Bay Area, which is a primary support base for many radical environmental groups, have successfully fought to divert huge amounts of Delta water from Central Valley families and communities to environmental causes. Meanwhile, the Bay Area’s own water supply is not subject to these diversions. San Francisco and other coastal communities enjoy an uninterrupted water supply piped in across the state from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park. As Valley farmers fallow their dried up land, take a look at Hetch Hetchy – these photos were sent to my office by a Valley farmer who visited Yosemite last month:   

 

It’s quite amazing how much water the Bay Area has kept for itself by exempting Hetch Hetchy from the punishing water regulations it has foisted on the Central Valley.  

Let’s see if we can draw the Bay Area’s attention. If you have pictures of Hetch Hetchy brimming with water, please post them on your social media accounts with the hashtag #HetchHetchyHypocrites.

Sincerely,

Devin Nunes

MEMBER OF CONGRESS

Losing Someone is Never Easy

One of my husband's coworkers, a fellow teacher, passed away suddenly a few days before school started and a shock wave went through our small community.  I wrote down a few thoughts about these tragedies.

 An end-of-the-year 2014 picture of Bill Gardenhire (or Mr. "G" as they called him) 

and my husband with one of their students.

Mr. "G" in his end of the year Wizard costume, a student, and my husband hidden in his spacesuit costume

Whenever one of my adult children would call to tell me the devastating news of one of their young friends tragically passing away, so sudden and shocking, I would try and come up with some words of wisdom and/or comforting words for them.  

Usually my first words would be, “life is so fragile,” and it truly is.  We are just one heartbeat away from leaving this life, our earthly bodies, and so many that we love and cherish; so much that we want to do and see; so much life yet to live.  I would tell my children to treasure these days and hug those whom they are near.  

It is a nasty reminder that everything must come to an end one day, even our own lives.  It is also a reminder to be close to the ones you love; to live a reality that one day may be all you have.  This sense of urgency and closeness washes over us.  

When my mother was dying of cancer she received a phone call from one of her friends.  What horrible news her friend said, how awful it all is.  My mother exclaimed, “Why?  I have lived a full life; I have done many things that I have enjoyed; I have a wonderful family.  Why be unhappy?”

Even in the end she was so positive.  Will I be that way, I wonder?

Whenever someone close passes away, I always have these same thoughts.  I don’t know what other comforting words there are or any words of wisdom that haven’t already been said or repeated.

Then I am reminded of another story my mother loved to tell.  She had just lost her father and the next day she got the news that her second grandson had been born, my first born.  She was thrilled and she would say – “When one life passes and lights the sky, another is born.”  Life continues on.  “For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.”  I Cor. 13:12

I can already see Mr. G’s huge smile lighting the skies.

Summer Fun 2015

Sadly, we leave our summer home tomorrow morning.  Our working vacation is over and now we return to the real world, at least for the time being.  Here are a few good-bye happy-times pictures:

Tie-dyed T-shirts hanging to dry

I caught these campers hanging their newly made tie-dyed T-shirts from Wishon Village's Saturday activity.

My last campfire

I cleaned up around the RV and made my last campfire for the season.

A little frog who liked to inhabit the bathroom showers during our daily clean up chores.

Ta-Ta - until next time

Amazing Wooden Door

It's sad to see one's heritage pillaged and looted:

AMAZING WOODEN DOOR--to many; and a painful history for many others.

Armenian handmade art work, this door dated 1312 A.D. used to be the door of the Sourp Garabed Church in the Armenian City of Mush - Western Armenia. Present day Turkey.

Currently, the door is part of a private collection in Canada. As to how and why, a piece of the Armenian National Treasures, was looted - sold and bought ...?

In the year 1976 The German Artist Rikhter buys the door from his Turkish neighbor who had it in his position. A year prior, the Turkish neighbor had discovered the door in a neighborhood populated by Kurds in Mush, and had the door transported to Istanbul. Once in Rikhter's posession, he arranges for the door to be transported to Germany with the help of his connections at the German Embassy in Istanbul.... however, in 1996, after Richter passed away The Armenian Historic Sourp Garabed Church door showed up at an Auction in London and sold for $50000. The rest is history....