Random Ramblings

Dara told me the other day that she did not know what I was thinking, because I'm not blogging as much. Hmmm. Mostly we have been taking advantage of the warm and unseasonably dry weather to work in the garden. I got in my first mowing of the year last weekend, which should get us thru the long weekend with Kyla in the Rockies. I'm looking forward to that. Colorado claims to have had the best snow season in eight years.

It's been so warm here lately that many things are blooming early. (Even some irises, Mom!) Finally this week we've had a little rain, but not enough to make much of a dent. Here in northern California we're talking about severe water rationing, since the snowfall is something like 61% of normal, a pattern that has been in place for three years now. If you've ever seen the central valley of California, marketplace to the world, you know that the only reason it is so productive is because the deep soil and copious sunshine get coupled with lots of irrigation. This year they're talking about entire groves of trees just being left to die.

Working in the garden gives me lots of time to crawl on my hands and knees and contemplate world events. I thought I'd be able to shake my political obsessions now that we have a new president, but they seem to be even more relevant today than they were toward the tail end of the campaign season. For example, I found this chart to be incredibly scary.

Of course, California is in its own special kind of hell. The governator, who rode into office on a recall election by excoriating his predecessor for letting a vehicle tax exemption expire, is scrambling to figure out how to sort things out. Surprise, the "car tax" is a big part of the problem. Oh, along with the increase in spending he's presided over. We have a terrific prison system, though!