I've been in San Francisco for ten years, Six.

I lived in South San Francisco (separate city in San Mateo county) for a few years when I first moved to Northern California, about 2 miles from SFO. My dad used to love to sit on the stoop and smoke; he'd served in the Air Force for a couple of years and was a big plane guy. He never liked San Francisco as much as he did the areas around it -- wasn't his thing.

I've only been to Fremont a couple of times and sometimes go to Hayward for work, but I worked and spent a lot of time in San Jose. Downtown San Jose changed a lot in the six years that I worked there and even more since. It's very metropolitan now. You probably wouldn't recognize it today.

(03-18-2015, 08:42 AM)Maggot Wrote: I almost got a tattoo in San Diego in 78. Tijuana was a lot different then.
There was a reason I started this thread, some people are blaming Global warming on the drought but its the people and all the population increase that has used up the water that was never really there from the start. I hope they can make it through the summer. It's gonna be tough.

I figured that's where you were coming from.

I have no idea whether global warming plays a part, but it's true that California has been increasingly dry for several years. We're getting less and less wet as time goes by; never a good thing IMO.

The state's water supply has been dropping 12 million acre-feet since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of the losses are attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in the Central Valley. Farmers have little choice but to pump more groundwater during droughts, especially when their surface water allocations have been slashed 80% to 100%.

In any case, we need to ration and I think statewide rationing mandates, stricter than any before, are coming soon and that California residents are generally ready to embrace and adhere to them. I am, and I'm not what anyone around here would consider "green".

We can't do anything about the weather in the short term if at all, whether one believes in global warming or not. So, we need to use less water, period. Also, more investment is being poured into converting salt water into potable water, but it would likely take years and years for that to become a reality. Some people -- especially those in agriculture -- may leave the state. A significant population decrease would, of course, alleviate the problem all other factors equal, but I hope it doesn't come to that.

"It never rains in California" -- not entirely true, but too true these days. We've got a serious problem and I wish it would rain like a bitch for months on end. But, I know that's not gonna happen and it will be up to man to adapt to nature and reduce our consumption and/or population, regardless as to why we're in this predicament.

Flush the toilet only once a day per person. Drink spit, I can think of all kinds of things.

I think I probably use a ton of water needlessly.

(03-18-2015, 11:59 AM)Maggot Wrote: Flush the toilet only once a day per person. Drink spit, I can think of all kinds of things.

Thanks. But, trust me, there's no shortage of ideas on ways to reduce water consumption.

Enforcement of the many rationing ideas and mandates is a bigger challenge.

But, the biggest challenge, where more ideas are needed and spit-drinking doesn't help, is increasing the water supply IMO. We can reduce demand through rationing, conservation and lifestyle changes. But, that's not a mid to long term solution to the problem if the supply continues to shrink at a greater rate than the demand possibly can. That's how I see it, anyway.

(03-18-2015, 08:01 AM)SIXFOOTERsez Wrote: I spent most of 85 through 88 out there, mainly in the Bay Area. Had a blast, met a lot of great people, saw some cool stuff.
Had a corporate appt in Fremont and office in Hayward right by the bridge. Hung out in Niles mostly or running around the hills on the bike.
Did a Lot of diving in Monterey, bunch of runs to Napa.
Fav bars were the Derby and the one up at the top of Niles Canyon, can't remember the name.
HOTD, what part of the bay are you in?

That's funny, when I was there was the summer of either 85 or 86, living literally parked on the side of the road in Niles canyon there. That was one of my extended "off the grid" periods. There was a little enclave of homeless folks out there with us, fun little group of crazies. You probably rode past us hundreds of times. We were sitting on land owned by SF water district so technically the cops couldn't roust us out of there, but they sure as fuck tried to a few times. If you ever saw a raggedy ass little travel trailer parked off the side of the road there where the river came closer to the road on the Fremont end...that was us. Howdy.

And in case you aren't enough creeped out by the California water situation... just know that we were bathing in it.

(03-18-2015, 11:59 AM)Maggot Wrote: Flush the toilet only once a day per person. Drink spit, I can think of all kinds of things.

This reminds me of my mother's husband (retired Colonel) who liked to control situations if you get my drift. Anyway, he was a bit frugal, also so he told (not asked) her not to flush toilet more than once a day.....

I could go on and on about global warming, which has nothing to do with warm and cold extremes, it goes back to temp of ocean, tides. I took a course in Oceanography in college but can't remember much except that the Denver area was a tropical area so maybe climate does evolve over millions of years due to natural changes in ocean temps. However, when I think of how our planet is over populated (need to teach more birth control, through Planned Parenthood, etc). We are running out of room and natural resources. There just isn't enough to sustain this planet through eternity. I can remember back in 70's and 80's. living in Rapid City, S.D. and there were water restrictions back then. Odd number addresses could water on certain days and so on......We should quit using grass especially in desert area. We should be landscaping with rock, not grass.....In cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix, you see the sprinklers going all the time into the streets, when it is raining, etc....We waste our resources. It needs to stop now....These resources, e.g., fossil fuels are not renewable....
Technology and of course, just progress into the year 2015 has filled our lakes, oceans, rivers, ponds with all sorts of trash, toxins, etc....which in turn kills wildlife affecting the food chain and many humans end up with cancer caused by all the anti-biotics, hormones, injected into food plus toxins in water sources (including groundwater). Whales beach themselves, sea lions are starving, polar bears have lost some of their homeland, birds are dropping out of the sky and let's not forget the small leak of radiation coming from Japan nuclear plant as result of tusami several years ago. We have seen some strange mutations in sea life also...Some of our seafood which we eat most likely has these toxins in them....wow... Man will destroy this planet, not an asteroid IMO.....
Finally, we need to emphasize birth control more, develop better ways to rid environmental toxins, find, search for alternate power and energy, e.g. wind mills, solar systems, etc....conserve water for God's sake and quit planting grass......quit taking farmland and building more housing developments, and quit covering all the fertile soil with concrete.....Wouldn't surprise me if they started developing food in a petri dish cuz we have run out of land. Now I am really depressed.

(03-17-2015, 07:39 PM)Donovan Wrote: I haven't been on the PCH since the late 80's but I would imagine it's as beautiful as ever. And HotD, why in the world would you assume "goofy hippie chick" was an insult? Let your freak flag fly, sweets.

The Pacific Northwest is one of my favorite parts of the country, bar none, and I extend that all the way down into the Frisco bay area. It's like heaven if one were inclined to believe in that sort of thing.

I have to agree with you on the Pacific Northwest and SFO.

(03-18-2015, 06:14 PM)Donovan Wrote:

(03-18-2015, 08:01 AM)SIXFOOTERsez Wrote: I spent most of 85 through 88 out there, mainly in the Bay Area. Had a blast, met a lot of great people, saw some cool stuff.
Had a corporate appt in Fremont and office in Hayward right by the bridge. Hung out in Niles mostly or running around the hills on the bike.
Did a Lot of diving in Monterey, bunch of runs to Napa.
Fav bars were the Derby and the one up at the top of Niles Canyon, can't remember the name.
HOTD, what part of the bay are you in?

That's funny, when I was there was the summer of either 85 or 86, living literally parked on the side of the road in Niles canyon there. That was one of my extended "off the grid" periods. There was a little enclave of homeless folks out there with us, fun little group of crazies. You probably rode past us hundreds of times. We were sitting on land owned by SF water district so technically the cops couldn't roust us out of there, but they sure as fuck tried to a few times. If you ever saw a raggedy ass little travel trailer parked off the side of the road there where the river came closer to the road on the Fremont end...that was us. Howdy.

Wow, thats pretty cool. What was the name of the bar at the top of the canyon? Can't remember, good times..
I remember seeing you guys up there, always wondered if it was some kind of hippie commune or something and just never stopped to ask.
Being from Texas, Hippie Communes and weirdos was all we knew about California ya know. Was a good experience for me, couple years living in company apartments and running around the country with my bike, truck, dive gear and a microwave.

(03-18-2015, 06:14 PM)Donovan Wrote: that was us. Howdy.

(03-18-2015, 10:18 PM)SIXFOOTERsez Wrote: I remember seeing you guys up there, always wondered if it was some kind of hippie commune or something and just never stopped to ask.

Woooo. Freaky cool.

(03-19-2015, 05:40 AM)Duchess Wrote:

(03-18-2015, 06:14 PM)Donovan Wrote: that was us. Howdy.

(03-18-2015, 10:18 PM)SIXFOOTERsez Wrote: I remember seeing you guys up there, always wondered if it was some kind of hippie commune or something and just never stopped to ask.

Woooo. Freaky cool.

Not exactly hippies, but it was definitely a strange group. I was about 17 then and more of a pothead than a drinker so I don't remember the name of the bar, but we spent a lot of awesome hours wandering those hills. There was drunken Bob and Mexican Bob, two old winos who lived together in a tent like a permanently inebriated Ernie and Bert. They were funny as hell and were our substitute for tv. There were two young guys who were suburban hippie types, Mike and Eric I think were their names, and Eric's sometime girlfriend. They would spend a lot of time down there and wander away, like they had someplace to go. Me, my pop and little brother had the only trailer, pop was working but SF was and is ridiculously expensive just to get INTO a place, like three grand even back then. First, last and deposit. We called the place Harley Rock after the graffiti on that bigass boulder next to the highway, I know you saw it 6footer. It was a landmark.
But the unquestioned best character out there was Stormin Norman, this old hippie wise man who was the deepest and most philosophical dude you could meet, and who only had one hot button which was the Reagan-Bush era politics and the Iran Contra affair. Dude could rant for fucking HOURS on the key players involved, and to this day he is the reason I know who guys like Daniel Inouye and Ollie North were.

When certain people die and I can write some of these adventures down, the adventures at Harley Rock will be told I am sure. Good times and scary shit went down there.

Yes I remember that rock. That was a great short ride from Fremont up to the top of the canyon. I had all the chrome scraped off my pipes and a notch ground in the peg on the left side from leaning over far enough to hit the road reflectors running up and down that road.

You'll appreciate this: the way we wound up in Niles Canyon was, we came out from Dallas to Vegas in the trailer overloaded with tools and crap and a broke down van that never should have made the end of the block. Got it all the way to Vegas with the clutch slipping so bad we got stuck going up the long side of Hoover Dam being unable to downshift into first and thought we were going to slide backwards and take about a hundred cars stuck behind us out along the way. I'm not a religious man, but I prayed a little that day. Then when Pop decided Vegas was a bust, we loaded up and went north west toward the Napa valley. The van wasn't any better and it finally gave out on that nasty outside curve halfway between Fremont and the other side.Westbound. At 5pm. On a Friday. We broke down bent around that curve with our whole van and camper blocking traffic in both directions for the entire stretch almost, and pop sent me down the road on a moped to try and get help while he fixed the van. I found Storman Norman who had this big-ass Caddy, so he followed up the wrong way on the road trying to outrace the cops and tow trucks because pop was illegal as hell.

So they're desperately trying to hook a chain up and use the caddy to drag us the rest of the way to the campsite, the van ain't budging, the miles of cars are getting louder and longer, and about six cars back inching forward is the tow truck. The cop had got to us but said we could leave without being towed if Norman can pull us, but the fucking thing WILL NOT BUDGE. Finally just as the truck gets there and the cop says "OK you gotta unhook her and get this road clear NOW!" Pop yells "OH SHIT I HAD THE PARKING BRAKE ON!" lol what a clusterfuck that was. I have been cursed out many times by people before and since, but never by quite so many people at the same time. That was our intro to Niles Canyon Road. Tell me that isn't a story you want to hear more of.

(03-16-2015, 03:06 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: Maggot and Six are higher than a couple of UC Berkeley art majors at a weekend hemp fest.

95% of California is still undeveloped rural open space in what, by definition, will always be a desert state.

Like Texas, we just have a larger population than most states living in the developed urban areas.

And, last time I checked, we Californians had not managed to concrete over all of our beaches, mountains, national forests, etc... We're too busy flushing away all the water reserves, praying for rain, and riding our bicycles naked through gay pride parades!

You are riding around naked on bikes?? When is that gay pride parade?

The whole adventure is amusing Donovan. I'd like to hear more.

But, truthfully, you had me at:

(03-20-2015, 07:40 PM)Donovan Wrote: Westbound. At 5pm. On a Friday.

It's a deathtrap, a suicide rap just being on the road around here on that day at that time, much less holding up traffic.

The Northern California honking coalition must have been going off. People are effin' horny up here, seriously. I don't really get it, but suspect it might be the red meat-deprived vegans venting their repressed aggression.

I have no proof to back up that suspicion; it's just the strong hunch of an unapologetic carnivore who very rarely feels the need to make a bunch of noise in the middle of the street or highway.

(03-21-2015, 03:04 AM)Mohammed Wrote: You are riding around naked on bikes?? When is that gay pride parade?

Well...not me personally, Mo.

I'm holding off on the naked peddling until we get a straight pride parade around here, damn it!

Even then, I'll still probably wear socks, lest I get cold feet about the whole display.

(03-20-2015, 07:40 PM)Donovan Wrote: You'll appreciate this: the way we wound up in Niles Canyon was, we came out from Dallas to Vegas in the trailer overloaded with tools and crap and a broke down van that never should have made the end of the block. Got it all the way to Vegas with the clutch slipping so bad we got stuck going up the long side of Hoover Dam being unable to downshift into first and thought we were going to slide backwards and take about a hundred cars stuck behind us out along the way. I'm not a religious man, but I prayed a little that day. Then when Pop decided Vegas was a bust, we loaded up and went north west toward the Napa valley. The van wasn't any better and it finally gave out on that nasty outside curve halfway between Fremont and the other side.Westbound. At 5pm. On a Friday. We broke down bent around that curve with our whole van and camper blocking traffic in both directions for the entire stretch almost, and pop sent me down the road on a moped to try and get help while he fixed the van. I found Storman Norman who had this big-ass Caddy, so he followed up the wrong way on the road trying to outrace the cops and tow trucks because pop was illegal as hell.

So they're desperately trying to hook a chain up and use the caddy to drag us the rest of the way to the campsite, the van ain't budging, the miles of cars are getting louder and longer, and about six cars back inching forward is the tow truck. The cop had got to us but said we could leave without being towed if Norman can pull us, but the fucking thing WILL NOT BUDGE. Finally just as the truck gets there and the cop says "OK you gotta unhook her and get this road clear NOW!" Pop yells "OH SHIT I HAD THE PARKING BRAKE ON!" lol what a clusterfuck that was. I have been cursed out many times by people before and since, but never by quite so many people at the same time. That was our intro to Niles Canyon Road. Tell me that isn't a story you want to hear more of.

LOL, Pretty funny, Now at least.
I really should have stopped in up there.

I think the explosive traffic situation was the only reason we skated on all the flagrant vehicle violations. That cop wanted us the hell outta there and fast.

It's time...



Conserving water in California isn't just a suggestion anymore. It's the law.

On Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown announced there will be mandatory water cutbacks in the drought-stricken state for the first time in history.

"This historic drought demands unprecedented action. Therefore, I'm issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reductions across our state. As Californians, we must pull together and save water in every way possible."

The orders come the same day Brown joined officials at a snowpack measure in the Sierra Nevada mountains that revealed levels are are at an all-time recorded low, at just 6 percent of the long-term average for this time of year. The previous low was 25 percent, set in 1977 and again in 2014.

Under the new restrictions, the State Water Resources Control Board will enforce a 25 percent water use reduction in every city, conserving about 1.5 million acre-feet of water throughout the next nine months. According to the governor's office, that's nearly the amount of water currently left in Northern California's Lake Oroville. Shrinking water levels made the lake one of the drought's most jaw-dropping visuals.

The state will also partner with local governments to rid California of 50 million square feet of lawns and replace the water-intensive greenery with drought-tolerant landscaping. Campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes often covered in sprawling lawns will be required to make significant cuts, the announcement notes. Watering ornamental lawns on public street medians will be banned.

Brown also called for increased enforcement of these water restrictions. He's requiring local water agencies to implement conservation pricing and agricultural water users to report additional water use activity to state regulators.

Gov. Moonbeam is right as rain on this one.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/01...87444.html