My Thoughts by Michele Harvey
Drought
Letters
continued from page 2 me others get a lump in their throat when the Submariners go by. Everyone claps and stands in appreciation of those guys who during WWII risked their lives in tiny capsules deep under the sea to keep us safe. We have been told by them that Julian is the only town that gives s them any recognition. How about the Marine Color Guards? Seeing them in presenting the Colors after the National Anthem?. I know that we all appreciate the Legion when those men show us how much they appreciate and love the USA when they march every year. Not too many dry eyes then either. As I ferried individuals in my golf cart, I could her America The Beautiful ringing through the pines. What an exquisite experience that was for me. Would we stop having the town beautifully decorated with American Flags that remind us that a very special day is approaching.? , One that should remind us of what those early patriots gave up to establish us as a nation?. Many who signed the Declaration of Independence lost everything. Many died in poverty. When they said “We Pledge Our Lives Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor, they meant it. How hard was it for them to separate from a country they had loved all of their lives?. What courage! I guess I would also ask why do we get donations from merchants and individuals in Julian and elsewhere? I believe they would like to contribute to the celebration of the nations birthday One of our parade committee members wrote me in response to your article. This is what he wrote. It really touched me as it obviously comes from the heart from a lover of this country. “Awhile back Mike Menghini told me how exciting it was when the parade rounded the turn and headed down Main Street. I have never seen it ( parade duties prevent it) but the image left its mark. We are telling a story. A story of what America is about. It's about people living here and living free to do as they wish. Some with antique cars, some reliving history, some with scouting or baseball, and some who fought to preserve this nation. All celebrating that freedom on the 4th of July in a little town in a big state and a bigger nation all because we can. This is a story that needs to be told. It should never get old. If it does the better part of what it means to be American will be gone”. As you know I have a home in Julian but do not live here full time. I still participate in the Julian Fourth of July Committee because of the people on it and because I treasure this small city. The committee works hard every year beginning in September and not stopping until the last “No Parking” sign is put away on July 4 at approximately 1 P.M. when the parade is over. We wait a few weeks and then begin again. We love our country, we love this
town, and we love the people in it. The parade is our love letter to all of the above. It is a shame if, according to what you say, that the town does not care or appreciates what we do. You know I care about you and we always agree to disagree. As a famous writer in the Julian News has oft said, These are my thoughts. Mary Morris
The question(s) I have is When? 1. When will the Chamber of Commerce stop providing one of the best retail locations in town for “out of town” merchants? These merchants are in direct competition, virtually every weekend with the town merchants who work every day good or bad. I thought the function of the Chamber of Commerce was to serve Julian business, not outof-towners. 2. When will the Julian water board lighten up and let the town use Frank Lane Park for parking and for fall venues? 3. When will the merchants stop parking in front of their businesses, denying access to their customers? 4. When will some things be done about the pan handlers who set up next to the Miner’s Diner with horses and a llama, fleecing tourists out of money, under the guise of a “non- recognized animal rescue group”. 5. When will the C.H.P. step up to bat and direct traffic at Main and Washington during busy weekends? After all, isn’t it a safety issue especially during fire season? 6. When will the Chamber of Commerce stop insulting tourists by charging for use of the public bathrooms? I have never ever been to a tourist town that charges for bathrooms. $5000.00 of bathroom income translates into $100,000.00 of ill will with out-of-towners who spend money at pie stores, restaurants and gift shops. 7. When will we give up on this foolish idea of a new fire station, when we have one structure fire every two years, while hundreds of thousands of dollars of firefighting equipment lays idle. Let Cal-Fire handle the rare structure fire and dedicate our fire station to the paramedics who handle all of the medical calls for distressed residents, tourists and for accidents. If anyone needs a new fire station, it’s Cal-Fire. 8. When will we develop a strategy for economic development to help rekindle the town service businesses we have lost? When will this all change? When will we decide as a community that When is Now? Rick Campbell Good Samaritans At approximately 10:35 a.m., Julia resident, Thomas Lawrence noticed a fire on Hwy 78, about 2 miles S/E of Wynola Road. He was heading down Banner Grade to give a quote for removing a continued on page 9
Drought isn’t just about wells running low on water or possibly going dry. Drought affects most of what we do and how we do it. It affects the animals and plants that surround us and we’d better be ready for the changes as they come. Officially we have lived through 3 years of drought. Unofficially and in my own memory, I think we have had 15 years of less than ideal amounts of rain and snow. I think that most people who live here in the back country of Southern California know that we all need to conserve water. We can also put water out for the wild animals that walk through our properties. Coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, bob cats, mountain lions and other natural predators need water just as much as the deer and birds that live around us. The predators eat rodents, rabbits and ground squirrels. When they can’t find enough natural prey, because of its scarcity during an extended drought, they turn to our small farm animals and to our pets for food. Recently one of my friends walked to her chicken coop and saw a massacre. Four hens were killed and a rooster was injured. Up until that morning she thought that her chicken coop was predator proof. This is a good time to check our pet and livestock enclosures to make certain that they really are predator proof. Scientific studies have proven that during hard times, such as drought years, coyotes and foxes give birth to smaller litters than they do when plenty of natural food is available. However, they still create babies who have to eat, so again, do your best to make your animals safe. Conserving water in small ways can be as simple as washing dishes in a plastic tub, then throwing the water outside on plants. Some plants that get regular watering become more fire resistant. I once had a neighbor in downtown Julian who had no outside faucets or other ways to water her plants. Her solution was to wash her dishes in a dish pan and throw the used water outside. Not only did she have the best looking flowering plants in the neighborhood, her plants were also free of aphids because the soapy water than she poured on the plants killed all the aphids. San Diego Gas and Electric Company has hints for conserving water. We don’t have many swimming pools in the Back Country, nor do many of us have lawns, but I still think these are good ideas for us all. “Make a big splash by doing your part to conserve water. When you save water, you save energy. Here are some quick tips on how to get started: • Replace your inefficient pool pump, clothes washer and water heater. SDG&E offers rebates! • Run your dishwasher full and skip the dry cycle for extra energy savings. • Install low flow showerheads and aerators. Apply for a free water savings kit. • Purchase discounted water savings fixtures from TechniArt at a community event near you. • The San Diego County Water Authority offers a variety of residential rebates on things like turf, rotating sprinklers, rain barrels, high efficiency toilets and more. “ Basically, adapting to drought conditions is not so much about cutting down on water use. It’s also about utilizing the water that we have. Flushing toilets every other time you use them, or even better, don’t flush them when you only pee will save water. I remember the saying “If it’s yellow keep it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.” I remember years and years ago when low flush toilets were popular for saving water. Many of us put a brick or 2 in our toilet tanks to make sure our toilets flushed less water per flush. I ended up taking the bricks out of my toilets because so little water went through each time I flushed that I ended up flushing over and over just to get the toilet paper to go away. No water savings there. I’m sure today’s low flush toilets work a lot better than the ones that were manufactured in the 1970s. Water conservation doesn’t need to mean water deprivation. Utilizing water so that it does the most good is very important. I looked at the website for California Drought Preparedness at http://www. cadroughtprep.net/watcons.htm and found lots of helpful information and I also saw that the people who have written for that website write in ways that we can all understand. As I read their homepage, I thought “Of Course.”, over and over. From the CDP, “There are many approaches to water conservation. Some of the basic ones are repairing leaks, purchasing low-flow appliances, being alert to water wasting actions, native plantings, rain gardens, and "smart" sprinklers.” For instance, if you have outdoor faucets that are actually in your yard, not attached to your house away from plants, one may be surrounded by more lush greenery than the rest of the yard. This could mean a leaky faucet. We recently found and repaired one in our yard. Being alert to water wasting actions is really important too. When you decide to take a shower, don’t turn the water on until you are ready to step in. Washing dishes is another area where water can be saved. Don’t let the water run as you are scrubbing a dish or other item unless you are actually using that water. Native plantings are often drought tolerant. But remember that they may need lots of water for their first year until they get established in your yard. I don’t know how the state of California defines “smart sprinklers”. However, I think common sense can tell us not to install a sprinkler that mists when you live in an area that is constantly blasted by gusty or even continuous wind. I avoid watering outside my house with sprinklers on windy days. If plants are so thirsty that they droop, I like to lay a hose next to them and slowly water them with a flow on the ground. I know my trees use a lot of water and I try to keep them healthy by trickle watering them. I want my trees to continue growing because I believe that Global Warming is real. As our area gets drier and hotter each year, I think the one thing that will keep us nearly comfortable will be the trees. I try to conserve water and I try to keep my trees healthy. This may sound contradictory, but the birds that nest in my trees seem to thank me with their songs. These are my thoughts.
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The Julian News 5
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Back Country Diary #1
April 16 2014
by Lyn de Jersey
A whole family of bald eagles overhead today - mother first with a meal, then dad and 2 young came out and all 4 rode the thermals over the lake for a few minutes before disappearing back over Mesa Grande. This was about lunchtime - the same time I saw the adult male last week. Our house seems to be on their return route from hunting. The pelicans are pretty much gone from the lake now. Down from 52 a month ago, about 30 last week, I can only see 1 today. Lots of other birds are coming back from their winter vacations. I can't identify all of them but regularly see Western scrub jay and house finches which are so pretty with their sky blue (jays) and flame orange (finches) plumage. The smaller birds are starting to find the bird bath. A robin, a towhee and something very bright orange were in it today. The robins are very tame. Earlier I watched one hop leisurely down into the rosemary with a bee in his beak no more than 2 feet from me and yesterday one wandered into the house. I had to catch him and put him out. There are several lemon yellow butterflies in the garden. They're not interested in the lupines. I can't see what they're going for; could be mallow or wild mustard or something else I haven't identified yet. Mark had to liberate a huge spider from the dining room this morning. I haven't googled it yet but it looked like a tarantula. Pros and cons in the veggie garden. The red onions are bolting so I'm having to lift them. They taste good, sweet and mild, but are more like big salad onions as their bulbs haven't developed properly. The yellow onions and garlic seem to be fine. The fennel also hasn't developed bulbs properly but tastes good so it's being eaten. Lifted the carrots and beets today to clear space for the next planting. I wasn't expecting much - they've been struggling to grow since last July - but the carrots are surprisingly tender and carroty. Maybe the beets will be ok too. On the plus side, there are tons of fat earthworms in the garden - a very heartening development. On the minus side, I found one of Roscoe's burial sites, containing a decomposing chicken leg. I've planted a jalapeño right over the top of the reek and will keep watch to see whether this has any impact on the crop. I've relocated a few herbs to make space in the veggie garden some thyme, oregano and borage. They're all looking somewhat the worse for the experience this evening, especially the borage. I hope I didn't kill it; it was the sole seed from a whole packet to germinate and is (was!) the most magnificent specimen, far more vigorous and spectacular than anything I ever grew in England. The next couple of days will tell. They'll either recover or give up the ghost. All I can do is keep them watered and whisper softly to them. A bit like I do to my husband. Lyn de Jersey British national married to an American and living in the Lake Henshaw area for the past year. She started keeping a diary of the birds and plants she sees around, and other things that interest her. It began as a record for her own benefit so that, for example I could compare bird migration patterns year on year. It’s developed over the weeks into a story of my journey, as a foreigner, to settle in an alien and unknown environment.