California Livin': April 2014

Growing up in the Midwest we had some "droughts". To me, the suburban girl, that meant that we would water our grass a lot and the corn might not be as tall, or look more pathetic than a regular year. At worst water rationing would be you can only water your grass every other day, and that was for people on city water, not a well like my family had. We had our pool, took long showers, played in the sprinklers, it just rained less and that meant more pretty days to play outside!

Well droughts are serious business when you don't have one of the largest sources of fresh water at your back door. It has been the talk ever since we had an abnormally warm fall. People told me it would start to rain in November...well it didn't rain until mid December, and then it barely rained. January was bone dry, no rain at all. Beautiful compared to the winter I was escaping in Chicago but devastating to the landscape here.

A synopsis of the current conditions for Alameda County from the Alameda County Water District:

California is currently experiencing the worst drought in its recorded history.

2013 was the driest year on record for the state.

The latest snow survey measured the water content of the Sierra snowpack at 29% of normal.

Lake Oroville, which supplies water to the State Water Project, is currently at 48% of its capacity.

ACWD has been informed that it will receive 0% of its yearly allocation from the State Water Project.

The San Francisco Public Utility Commission has asked ACWD to reduce its use of Hetch Hetchy water by 10%.

Local runoff from the Alameda Creek watershed, which recharges our groundwater basin, is currently at approximately one-third of normal.

We are not in danger of running out of water, but to ensure a reliable supply for the remainder of the year, ACWD is asking all Tri-City residents and businesses to observe the mandatory water-use restrictions that are now in place.

Like....what? The state said, "Nope, no water for you guys. Actually how bout you cut your use of another water source by 10%". Ummmm...Okay...

About every other week in the mail I receive an update to the "Drought Emergency" and what new water restrictions are put in place. Currently, residents in my county are barred from refilling swimming pools, hosing off driveways or side walks, they can only water their lawns and plants once a week except for while establishing new, drought resistant landscaping. Then you can water those plants up to three times per week. I haven't seen anything about washing cars yet but I'm guessing that's an obvious no-no. If you are caught in violation of these restrictions you'll either be hit with misdemeanor charges including a fine or have your water shut off entirely, depending on the severity/frequency of your violation. Water conservation is serious business.

So serious, in fact, that the city I live in is removing grass. They're burning it wherever it is in large patches and putting these signs up all over.

With the removal of grass and plants all around I am concerned for the likely scenario of an El Nino ( I don't know how to include special characters in Blogger) this coming fall. A moderate El Nino means increased rainfall here and with the mass removal of plant life it looks like a messy land-slidey scenario to me.

I am interested to see what my apartment complex does. We have large grassy areas with an irrigation system they can now only use once a week. Last fall it was on probably every other day, at least. Probably half the plants are not what I would call "drought resistant". Also the office park where I work has BEAUTIFUL landscaping that will most likely all die or be mostly torn out. Seriously, sometimes I think I work in the botanical gardens or something. They have been working to thin out a lot of it since I arrived in August but there are still a ton of plants everywhere. And there are at least five fountains/ponds on the premises; will those be filled as the water evaporates or will they be shut off? It will definitely be an interesting thing to ride out.

As a meteorology student we didn't talk too much about what happens when there isn't exciting or stormy weather. High pressure and dry air masses are "boring" and relatively easy to forecast, not making for the most teachable of weather systems. Only when the conditions persist as long as they have do things become interesting.

Thankfully no one will be checking to see how often I water my lemon tree! They're getting bigger, now the size of large mutant limes, but still have awhile to go before they're mature and ripe for the pickin!

a very dirty quarter for size reference

Such a happy little tree :)

Last week I went home and visited my darling nephew for the first time! Heidi and Calvin came to pick me up at the airport and I almost immediately burst into tears when I held him, he's so small!

Yes, I do have a Hogwarts sweatshirt. Be jealous.

And within the first 30 seconds of me holding him, Calvin said hello by ripping a big ole wet fart and pooping his pants. He must really love me.

After airport tears and a lost pacifier (later miraculously found again) we headed for Portillos and some much craved cheese fries. I don't know why but no one can do cheese fries like Portillos.

During the week I was working remotely so I needed to be tethered to my computer from 9-5 but that was okay because we weren't too busy so I got paid to snuggle with Calvin. The week days went a little like this: wake up, maybe get dressed, work while watching the Today show, get dressed or become more presentable if I am already dressed, head over to Heidi's (or Heidi and Calvin came to me), have lunch with the duo, work in the afternoon while simultaneously baby snuggling. It was a marvelous week. I did some stuff in the evenings like hang out with the boyfriend, eat pizza with my dad, and watch the final episode of Psych. But the purpose of this trip was to meet my nephew and give him lots of snuggles because I don't know when I am going to be able to again.

Because everyone loves funny baby pictures, here are some of the gems I captured during my trip home.