THE TRICKLE DOWN THEORY!!

Unfortunately it has nothing to do with money ... well, actually it does in the end.

While the East Coast is buried in snow and rain, California is dry as a bone.  I don't ever remember it being THIS rain-free.  It's a real problem for us and will result in huge expenses if the weather systems don't keep coming our direction.

The reservoirs in California WERE used for irrigation until Los Angeles decided THEY should have the water instead for all the subdivisions they have built.  I'm know there is more involved than that, but I won't get into it here.  Some lakes have even been totally drained of water as it makes it's way south.  When that happened, there was even less water for irrigation.

In my particular area, water was almost always available, although at a high price, which helped the local cattle ranchers (including us) go bankrupt.  We couldn't irrigate the pastures enough to feed the cattle because the water was too expensive and the cost of buying and raising cattle ended up being MORE than the sale price for meat.  Eventually, as the snowpacks were lower each year, the water companies dug VERY deep wells around this area to provide irrigation water when the reservoirs went dry.  You can imagine how expensive THAT water became.  It was like GOLD!!!

Many years ago, I went skiing in the Sierras on top of 11-12 feet of snowpack in November!!  It's February ... and we have no snow at all ... maybe a little bit from yesterday.  The backlash of no water is that the price to irrigate the fields that produce the food we eat will skyrocket, resulting in MUCH higher prices for us at the grocery store!

There is another problem that will take even more money from our pockets.  When the water companies start pumping all the ground water for irrigation, water tables will drop like a shot!  You wouldn't think that would have much effect ... but many wells in this area are less than 100 feet deep. When you turn on the faucet and find a lot of sand in your drinking water, it's probably because the water table has dropped enough your well has nothing to pump.  It has already happened to a couple of my neighbors near the ranch.

I suppose everyone will blame it on "Global Warming" ... but I think it's just nature.  If you look back over millions of years, the water and ice tables ebb and flow like the tides.  As we get older (and live longer) we see more of the effects of Mother Nature.

Today it is supposed to rain almost an inch!!!  That means I have to get in gear, making sure all my gutters and downspouts are headed in the right direction!!  Not only do we really need the water, but I parked my Jeep outside because it is in dire need of a wash!!  An inch of rain should do it up nicely!!