Water is for fighting

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

I’m here with a glass of wine and there’s the smell of ginger and cinnamon on the stove, and Zing! is asleep under the bed. It sounds peaceful … but it follows a busy day. Zing! went to daycare, which always tires him out, and I am also tired because I went to Sausalito with a group in a van. Anyone who has sailed on a small boat knows to avoid being trapped in a vessel with others … unless you love them! But I saw this “field trip” sponsored by the community center where I take ukulele … it said “lunch under the bridge.” I signed up. 

I will keep it short, but it is complex. Water is a big issue in California, as as it is in Florida and in many other states. The area where we live -- the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta -- is rich in water, while some of the state is drier. They want/need what we have. Two-thirds of California residents and farms and businesses get their water from the Delta, so  water flow isn’t exactly natural anymore. All kinds of things are done to get water where it is needed/wanted; I was surprised to learn that the first and most devastating was hydraulic mining during the Gold Rush. Now there are also canals, levees, and in the future there may be water tunnels. 

Today we saw a model of the Delta — kind of like models you made in school, but this was built to help The Army Corps of Engineers learn what to expect when changes are made to the Delta system. The Corps tried things out on the model before they did it to the actual Delta. This is no science project — the model is the size of a giant warehouse, and it’s normally covered with water, but today a computer glitch made it dry. Never mind — we got to see the locks and dams. 

The model is just for education now. The Corps uses computer models, which are more exact and cost less.. 

One sign at the model quoted Mark Twain: “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.” (However, it seems Twain never actually said it. Politicians just like to attribute it to him.)

And we did have lunch at The Dead Fish restaurant under the Carquinez Bridge.

Love,

k

Carquinez Bridge -- that's smoke, not fog

view from The Dead Fish restaurant

Part of the model, which most days is covered with water
OK-- it looks boring, but it was a useful tool