MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The snow is falling;  the phone is ringing; the cabins are ready!!  After singing Christmas Carols at the local assisted living home and at the homes of our "shut-ins" it does FEEL like Christmas.  Holiday seasons are a lot like delivering a baby.  You prepare, you plan, you feel the adrenaline start to stir you into the work involved, but until you hear that first cry you don't really believe the reality of the event. 

Christmas is a lot like that, the candlelight service, the dinner, the gifts, maybe a game or a puzzle, and then it is over...or is it.  Christmas in other countries is celebrated over the course of twelve days and it is ALL ABOUT Jesus, not gifts, not Santa, and certainly it is "not YOUR Birthday!"  Families gather at a different home each night and enjoy time together, trade stories, create traditions, enjoy each others company OR NOT!!  

Do I try to do too much, expect too much, hurry too much.  Every year I TRY to get a handle of the preparations to make sure that our celebrations are managable but memorable, but every year I start to get grouchy - more like Mr. Scrooge than I would like!  Maybe, just maybe, I tend to compare our "laid-back" once a year event to those of other families where EVERY ONE shows up, the "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..." Norman Rockwell like celebrations.  Isn't that one of the ten commandments - Thou shalt not COVET?  As I used to tell my sister when she lived far from family, surely there are others who have no place to go, no "home" that they can get to, or no way to get there!   I just need to focus on the needs of others, and those who have no one to love them, no one to care for them, no one who wants them around on a Holiday.

GOOD PLAN Martha, now get with it and quit with the Mr. Scrooge thoughts!!   To quote the jolly old elf - Merry Christmas to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT! 

IT IS SNOWING!!!!

Finally, the rain is past and the snow season is HERE!   Bring the skiis, the snow boards, the sleds and the kids!!  Let the winter begin!  After a dry winter last year, we are READY for some weather, some winter business, some FUN!

It was a gorgeous and long-lasting Fall, even two heavy rain storms with winds did not get all of the lovely leaves to detach from the oak trees, but we are ready for some winter fun.  That is one reason that we LIVE here in the Central Sierras - four seasons.  I can remember during our "early married" years in Southern California we had to take a long drive over Angeles Crest Highway in order to see the change in the seasons.  The drive from Sonora to Strawberry is MUCH SHORTER and lovelier since there is no SMOG - unlike LA in the 60s!!!

Be sure and stop at the "NEW" Europa on Washington St. as you drive through Sonora (unless you stay on the bypass)  Try not to laugh when you see the monstrous changes along the highway in East Sonora where CalTrans and their contracted highway construction crews are building a monument to CA's financial problems - TWO 60 foot HIGH overpasses for the two lane extension of the bypass.  It will be quite the sightseeing spot when finished - except it will have to have tall fences to prevent vandals from dropping "stuff" on the cars below - so no chance to see anything!!

Common sense is so lacking that we need to find a new name - like uncommon sense?!  It is interesting to watch "the boys" playing with "their toys" moving dirt and rocks, blasting and moving some more rocks.  At least some folks are working - with the high unemployment maybe they should have done it with pick axes and shovels, it would have put MORE people to work!!  But no one asked me; I guess I had better just smile at all the sign holders, the Highway Patrolman with the flashing lights reminding us all to go 34 MPH rather than 50, and the "boys on their toys!"

Keep thinking SNOW, SNOW, SNOW - we need the water, the reservoirs are empty.
See you all soon!!

A CHANGE in the WEATHER

There is a saying in CO where I was raised "If you don't like the weather stick around, it will change!"  That can be just as true here in the Central Sierras; we have had lovely Fall weather for the "leaf watching crowd" and the aspens on Sonora Pass were exquisite two weeks ago when made a trip over the top.  The weather was so nice we didn't need the jackets that we toted along "just in case!"  Shirt sleeve weather even in windy Bodie - a gold rush ghost town off of Hiway 395!

The fishermen in Unit #4 this past weekend were commenting that the LAST  TIME they were here at this time of the year BIG FOOT had a foot of snow on his head.  The Strawberry Store has a carved statue of BIG FOOT decorating their front lawn.  Sure enough one of the fishermen had the photo on his phone!  That was two years ago when we had an early winter and Dodge Ridge was able to open for Thanksgiving Weekend!!  I invited him to come again NEXT MONTH and "bring the snow with you!"

Tomorrow all of that changes when the first of three storms comes through with rain at the Sonora level and turning to snow tomorrow night at Strawberry!!  Dodge Ridge actually NEEDS six inches of rain to wet the dirt before the snow comes or it just sublimates instantly and there is nothing to pack down as a base.  Hopefully, the snow level will be higher at least to start with.
I have called in the troops tomorrow to remove all of the summer deck furniture before it gets soaking wet.  It weighs a ton if it gets wet!  I do love the change of seasons.

When we lived in Southern California as newlyweds we would drive up Angeles Crest Highway just to get a feeling of seasonal change both spring and fall/winter.  There is beauty in every season if you have "eyes to see" and I love to see that changing time.

Open your eyes and behold the beauty of Creation!  Call me to arrange an extended stay at The Rivers Resort to really get the feel!!

TRICKS of the TRADE

I just spent a lovely afternoon with a retired / semi-retired florist!  She is attending our Methodist Church in Sonora and offered a flower arranging class for the ladies!!  What fun and learned so much - like those dropping roses are suffering from an "air lock" and the cure is to put them UNDER WATER TOTALLY.  If long stemmed you might have to use the bathtub!  Straighten them out, keep them totally submerged for an hour after you cut 2 inches from their stems while under the water!!  They WILL re-hydrate and stand tall.  You might have to put a soda bottle on them to keep them under water, but they will recover.

When wetting "oasis" to hold your flowers just let the "oasis" soak up the water, don't try to rush by holding it down as it will get air pockets which will cause the flowers to droop.  ALSO spritz arrangement daily with a water spray to keep lovely for two WEEKS!!

I had enjoyed classes in flower arranging by an oriental lady and even had a couple of books on that type of arranging, but this was a classic type of florist arranging using a triangular shape.  We all made different arrangements and all were deemed excellent - must have been the inspiration of the teacher!!  Mine had evergreen and Virginia Creeper from Strawberry, and even some flox that was still in bloom on the hill by the office in Strawberry.  It was fun; now I am off to make supper for the young people at the CAVE.   We have ice cold watermelon for dessert.  Come on by if you are in Sonora!!

Summertime and the livin' is easy, summertime...

It has been an INTERESTING summer!!  We have now had FOUR WEEKS of nearly 100 degree weather in STRAWBERRY, and over 100 in Sonora.  Weather where you could fry an egg on the sidewalks!!  This evening you might get a poached egg since we had a bit of a thundershower.  We are praying that the lightening only strikes the ROCK at the crest of the Sierras!  Don't need any more fires in California!  What a year. OK, OK, maybe there is something to global warming, except I remember one other year in the last 18 when the weather was this HOT.  Also, the last time that the water company had to pump from the river because of the lack of water in Herring Creek was 2007 (I found the letter that I wrote to the water company after THAT experience.  This year they installed a wall of hay / straw bales to absorb the sound and smell of the deisel-powered pump.  It seems to be helping; that and the guys on duty here in Strawberry have tried very hard to pump when it disturbs the least.  THANK YOU Brian and Matt.  We really appreciate your consideration.

What else is new this summer in Strawberry?  Well, we have TEN cabins available for sale - this is the most in the 33 years that we have been here...economy, age of owners, the Del Oro Water Company?  Your guess is as good as mine.  So if you have ALWAYS wanted a place in the quiet, small village of Strawberry, now is your chance!!  OH, and Unit #1 at The RIVERS RESORT is not even in that number since it is not "officially" listed, but I am ready to retire.  The job has been good to us for the past eighteen years, but it is time to move into the "next chapter" of our adventurous life.  So call me if you are a people-lovin' person who wants a part-time job managing a delightful resort in the Central Sierras with nine other owners to help with maintenance and any problems that might surface!  Not a bad situation at all!

So zap me an email if you are interested in "my job" or just want to yack about "the old days" here in Strawberry, population 164, elevation 5,280 feet where the livin' is easy and the temps are 10 degrees lower than Sonora, and 20 degrees lower than the VALLEY!!

The other new item - OUR BATH TOWELS arrived!  Two weeks late due to a delay at the factory in GA...won't even need all of them in another week!!  Great timing -  Timing and Location the two most important real estate criteria.   Not trying to do the "Real Estate THING" was a blessing this year.  Family is most important and between husband Tom and the grandkids THAT is a full-time job.

SUMMER TIME and the livin' is easy?

SUMMER TIME and the weather is COLD!  Summer Time and the pool temp is warmer than the outside temperature.  SUMMER TIME and it is over too soon!  We have had SEVERAL of our long-time families have to cancel their weeks this summer, but are so thankful that the phone keeps ringing, especially on Monday and Tuesdays - is that when folks have had the weekend to compare notes with their families and make a tentative plan for the rest of the summer"?  All is well, great hiking and fishing weather, no snow to deal with, and we would love to accommodate your family and friends here on the banks of the Stanislaus River in central California.

The Pinecrest movie schedule is out and there are some good flicks awaiting at the ampitheater.  The rangers have their summer plans firmed up and they include hikes for all ages and abilities.  The Game and Fish toss nice trout in the river and sometimes if you are still and quiet, you can actually see them swimming in the shallows.


Call ME, the phone rings in my pocket except when I am in CHURCH on Sunday, in a meeting, or a doctor's office.  LEAVE a message and I will return the call ASAP.  PLEASE note - the pay phone on the deck of the Strawberry Store cannot be redialed and if you have a RESTRICTED cell phone number I cannot call you back either!!  So if your cell phone does NOT work in Strawberry PLEASE call me back from the pay phone in half an hour; I might just be on the phone with another customer!!  1800.514.6777

SUMMER is HERE!

WHEW~~!!  Summer is here!  It is supposed to be over 100 with gusty winds in SONORA this weekend!  Burning, even at night, is suspended due to the high temps and winds expected.  The Father's Day Fly-in at Columbia Airport could get blown away.  One of these days my husband is determined to buy a flight for each of the grandkids.  They were all four - only the younger four - in our car one day and we took a detour past the airport to show them where Grandpa used to fly in and out going to work in the Bay Area when their daddies were in school and Grandma was flipping eggs at the Strawberry Inn.  We could NOT believe that they had never seen an airplane land!!  They were thrilled to sit there and watch the planes land and take off.  As a former pilot, I can tell you that it is a thrilling thing to go from being a vehicle on the ground to a bird and back to being a vehicle on the ground!!

The pool, as well as Pinecrest Lake, should be very popular this weekend.  We have had several guests at the Resort complain about the NO PETS rule at the Lake, but like so many things the ill manners of a few tend to make life impossible for the many!!  We have found that MOST of our guests are very considerate if allowed to bring their pets on vacation.  The ones who aren't get a note next to their name for NEXT TIME they want to come.  It has only happened a couple of times in eighteen years so I will stand by my earlier statement.  Most of our guests are considerate, after all they are using "the cabins of other people!"

Seems we did have some "vandals" hiding in the guest list last weekend.  The long lasting pink fish on the wall by the pool was pried off, as were all the other sea critters, and the pieces tossed in the pool.  The same bratty people thought that wiping melted ice cream on the four phone books left on the counter / wall by the Post Office was a form of "art?"  Good thing that most of the locals had already picked up their phone books!  I left them a note regarding the definition of the word VANDAL, perhaps they had never even heard the term - the note was gone the next day!!  I can't believe how many winters that pink fish, made by the W.A.T.C.H. folks, had survived stuck to the concrete block wall!!

W.A.T.C.H. stands for Work for Amdor, Tuolumne, Calaveras Handicapped and the organization provides opportunities for the adult mentally-challenged folks.  They have the contract to clean the beaches and the shopping center at Pinecrest, Washington St. in downtown Sonora.  They learn to stuff envelopes for various organizations and businesses and also do simple organizing / packaging chores. Their ART activity is making ornaments from clay to sell in the GOOD STUFF thrift store on Stockton Street.  Their FISH are so colorful and unique, I might just have to buy some more!!

ICONS

The internet is a'changin' AGAIN.  It is even more visual, and less "wordy".  Take this blogger dashboard - you have to figure out that the pencil is for writing a new post instead of WORDS saying "new post."  On another site that I use, the pencil is for editing or changing.  It didn't take long to figure this out.  But I would speculate that there are rooms full of folk thinking up new ways to do the "old stuff" just so they have jobs.  In my work as a contractor for the US Postal Service I have the same feeling - change is a "make work" option for many of the mid-level desk jockeys.  It doesn't matter whether the change is needed, wanted, or just makes life more difficult out in the trenches where the mail is actually delivered! Change WILL happen.

Icons are physical items that have a special meaning, a special place or possibly remind us of something significant.  The Eastern Orthodox branch of the Christian faith uses icons to focus attention on the thoughts and attitudes manifested by the person the icon resembles or represents.   In newspapers the HEADLINE is the icon representing the story beneath it.  If the headline was in large type it held more meaning, it made a larger impression, whether it truly represented the item in the report was often questionable.  Let's face it visual cues can be misread, but a word aptly chosen leaves no room for mistaken motives, no room for compromise.  It says what it says!  Note the photos that lead all the headlines on the internet news sites now!   If a picture is worth a thousand words, we don't even need to read the headline let alone the body of the news item?  Oh, really?
 
What does the internet resemble? A bushel basket full of icons?  What does "social media" represent in our time?  Pablum as far as I can tell!  Something to fill an empty stomach, something to fill an empty span of time, to amuse and entertain.  Perhaps to "know" what is going on in the world without too much effort on our part, social media is certainly easier than walking to a friend's house and chatting on the porch as our ancestors did.  Does skimming the headlines make you knowledgeable?  Does anyone spell check what they write in response to "news items" and what makes them think that anyone CARES what they think or how obnoxious their remarks are? Does it really matter in those cases if you chose the wrong spelling of a word with two spellings, two meanings?  The spelling of the word could change the entire response, no wonder people get upset!  Spell checking is just good manners, like being kind to children and animals, saying "excuse me!" and "thank you!" and cleaning up your own messes!

I love the cute little icons dancing on the bottom of the internet forwards that I receive from friends, but does anyone really use them as a means of communication?  I have had to try to "find" the icon on my dashboard / toolbar to cut and paste, to change colors, to change font, etc.  by trial and error.  I guess that I could take a class in keyboarding like my grand daughter is taking in High School.  I used to type nearly 80 words a minute on an old manual typewriter!  Not many choices and no spell check, no cut and paste; it took practice and skill.


So if I were an icon, what attitude would I want to represent?  Is there an icon for gratitude?  What emoticon would represent thankfulness?  I am not sure that a smiley face would capture the depth of feeling, the scope of the emotion, the sheer size of an "attitude of gratitude."  Perhaps a neon sign on Mount Baldy overlooking the LA basin, or a banner on the Golden Gate Bridge.  Now that would be some icon!!

SPRING has sprung

"Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, where last year's careless driver is!" - BurmaShave

Slower times allowed you to read the BurmaShave signs posted along the hiways and byways of America.  Now we have instead AMBER ALERTS.  I am sure we had children abducted back then, we just didn't have a national data base - wasn't even a word for data base!  People also took summer vacations of two weeks to a month to recharge their batteries, their bodies, and their souls.  Fast forward to the present and many a family gets a few long weekends, if that, each year!!  

One of our resort guests was chatting with me about how she wanted to have a bed and breakfast UNTIL she talked to an owner who was lamenting the fact that it was a 24/7 business...the phone was always ringing with reservations, in the middle of a movie, or a quiet conversation with your family!!  I told her that in the 51 years of marriage we had never had anything BUT a 24/7 career!  Computers that need fixing do not care if you have something else to do.  I remember the baptism of our first son - his dad kept his hand on his beeper (vibrate was a few years away!!) since he was on call that morning!  A family doesn't have sickness on your schedule as a mom, and that includes the INN years when an employee getting sick meant an extra shift for "mom"  - the boss!  Then there is being a pastor, also a 24/7 schedule (supposedly with FOUR WEEKS vacation! (:-D)  So it is just the way life has been for US, thank GOD it is not that way for everyone or we would have NO BUSINESS at The Rivers Resort in beautiful downtown Strawberry, population 164 and holding!

The flowering plum is blooming and with the 75 degree weather this weekend, those buds should ALL be open by Monday!!  That means just one more Spring snow storm - TRADITION, TRADITION!!  I put all of the snow shovels away yesterday, just to make sure we will have that one more storm!!  After all, the FISHERMEN are coming NEXT weekend - that would seem like a good time for a snow storm, and it wouldn't be the first time!

Call soon for your summer reservation; the spaces are getting fewer and ESPECIALLY for the large cabins. We do have one week in Cabin #5 - the first week of July!

Happy Easter from the Central Sierras

It is a LOVELY weekend here in Strawberry, chilly in the early morning, but great weather by noon.  Since several schools were out LAST week, and even more are out this coming week, Dodge Ridge is staying open until next SUNDAY !  So if you haven't had those skis out of the garage yet this year, it is not too late YET!  We are expecting a storm on Tuesday, and possibly one on Saturday which will add to the base at the ski area and make for the best skiing - fresh always trumps "machine groomed" even if those groomers are geniuses at finding and moving around the white stuff that makes skiing possible in a relatively DRY winter!

We have vacancies at The Rivers Resort and if you mention MountainMartha you can have the off-season rates THIS WEEK even if our rates are not SUPPOSED to change until after Sunday the 15th!!  I'm just the curious sort RE: guests READING my blog!!

The daffodils are blooming as far up the mountain as Sierra Village, but the flowering plum next to the Post Office in Strawberry has NOT bloomed yet, so we still have some more storms coming!   Cal Trans moved the winter closure point to Eagle Meadows Rd to allow folks to find some snow to play in.  The Leland SNOW PLAY is open www.snowplay.com as well as DodgeRidge.com where you will find the best web cams in the Sierras!!  I think that everyone must check the weather using the web cams as I get very few "Is it snowing?" calls anymore.

We are thankful that this weekend is a sunny one for all of the Easter Egg Hunting children, but will be thankful for the additional moisture in the high country - we need that as well!  Have a blessed Easter and be thankful!!

It is Winter AGAIN!

BRRRR!!  After a week of Spring, it is snowing again!  Today I had to turn the heater on in the office in Strawberry, I wore my rain coat over a turtle neck and nearly froze until the heater did its job!  But the phone is ringing for SUMMER!!  Did everyone just decide that winter was OVER because the daffodils are blooming down below?   It isn't even Easter Week YET!  Dodge Ridge always TRIES to stay open until the Easter Break which is the first week of April this year.

I had to give my meteorology lecture again this afternoon to someone from the Bay Area.  He asked if we had lots of snow around the cabins?  I asked him if he had had lots of rain down there where he lives, you can't have one without the other!  Kinda like the old song about "Love and Marriage, love and Marriage, go together like a horse and carriage.  This I tell you brother, you can't have one without the other!"
I know, I am REALLY giving away my age!  They just don't write songs like in the "olden days."

"This ol' house is getting shaky, this ol' house is gettin' old, this ol' house lets in the rain, this ol' house lets in the cold.  On my knees I'm getting weary but I feel no pain or fear cuz' I see an angel peekin' through that window frame right there."  Then there was Tennessee Ernie Ford singin' about loading 16 tons!  I wonder how many kids even KNOW what a ton is, let alone how to shovel, and shovel and shovel some more!  They just don't write songs like that any more!  Songs of LIFE, songs of HOPE, songs of TRUTH.  I guess that it is not politically correct, but I miss the days when we could sings Christmas Carols at school and still learn about the holidays of others as well!  Seemed more politically correct the way we did it back then, and think of all the parties we had - we celebrated everyones "Holy Days!"

My mom even took us to every Vacation Bible School in the neighborhood - same Bible, same songs, even some of the same crafts!!  One week we were Nazarene, couple of weeks later we were Lutheran, and the next time we were Baptists.  Sure didn't hurt us and we all knew the 23rd Psalm and the Lord's Prayer - found out some folks said "sins" and others "trespasses" but knew that they all meant - hey, GOD FORGIVES YOU, you better forgive others!!  Our Methodist Church has been cooperating with the Catholics across the street the last three years.  They have an air-conditioned large building, we have lots of adult helpers and about a third of the kids are ours!   Praise GOD!

How did I ever get from SNOW to Vacation Bible School?  Must have been the popped corn...we used to glue it to trees for either snow or blossoms!!  We had corn for supper tonight?!  (;-)

So come and see the pretty puffy snow of the trees before the sun melts it all (unlike the popped corn!)  Have a great week, I am waiting for your call!!

THANK YOU MOTHER NATURE!

It is SNOWING in Strawberry, and all the way to Sugar Pine!!  I measured 5 inches on the tops of the trash cans!!   I wish that I had had my camera today - it looked like a Christmas Card with the snow clinging to the pine and cedar trees.  My favorite is the way that it clings to the naked oak trees, outlining them against the grey skies.

Now if we can just convince some customers that DODGE RIDGE is open as is LELAND SNOW PLAY just up the road.  Today was a sschool Holiday but not many vehicles on the road.  Most of the teachers and aides must have used the day for shopping, if the number of cars in the parking lots at the shopping centers were any indication. 

I am just NOT a shopper; I have a hard time even remembering to go and get things that I actually NEED - like a key made, some connectors for the new faucet, and a 60 inch hunk of fleece for a project!!  I was spoiled by too many trips to May Company, J.C. Penny and "Monkey Wards" with my mother, the shop-a-holic.  We never missed a Month End Sale, a white sale - sheets, blankets, rugs...can't buy ANYTHING unless it is "on sale."  I did discover in traveling to other countries that I could "find" a SALE SIGN no matter what the language it was written in.  ALL the practice when I was just a kid!!

The last time that I went shopping with my mother, she was in a wheel chair by then, she purchased another COOK BOOK and I asked what on earth she planned to do with ANOTHER cookbook, and her reply was, "Don't you worry, I will use it!"  She did; it was my Christmas Present that year!!  I still have it!

The Winter that WASN'T

You just can't trust Mother Nature!  Last year and the year before were fantastic snow years; Dodge Ridge and the Snow Play Area were able to open for Thanksgiving Weekend and Halloween Weekend respectively!!  This year - no snow until the end of January and just barely enough to open the two snow attractions that our guests come to use!!  We are hoping AGAIN that the storm due this weekend will "open the storm door" and allow some moisture to come our way...it gets very boring having no one around to play in the snow!!

Of course last year we ran out of places to PUT THE SNOW, and this year it is SPRING already.  The flowering quince in my garden in Sonora is blooming and the roses have had their Spring Trim.  I got one TOO - no sense in keeping the hair long when you don't need it for warmth.  The swimming pool still has snow in it, but with 50 degree days it won't be there for long...

The local water watchers are starting to get furrows in their brows, worrying about the summer following the winter that wasn't!!  Meanwhile, we are all trying to keep upbeat attitudes amidst low occupancy numbers!!

We see work starting on the next section of the "SONORA BYPASS" east of the Standard Road light.  So if you are coming this summer, you can take Tuolumne Road to the Black Oak Casino and avoid the work area - it is a bit of a "dog leg" through Tuolumne but Tuolumne Road NORTH intersects with 108 at Twain Harte and you are less than a half hour from US in beautiful, uncrowded (even in summer) Strawberry!!  The Mi-Wuk Indians at the Casino can even use a contribution this year!

Come on up and support the local economy - Tuolumne County needs you!!

IT IS SNOWING!!

FINALLY, Mother Nature is blessing us with that incredible white stuff.  I just checked the Dodge Ridge website to get a look at their fabulous web cams, and they do have snow - just not quite enough to open!  But it is drizzling in Sonora just now, so hopefully they will be getting some snow up there tonight and tomorrow.  We have 5 inches in Strawberry, the phone will be ringing just as soon as Dodge announces an opening day!!  It sure is lonely in ski country without that white stuff!!


The Rivers Resort is full for the THREE DAY President's Weekend, but we have plenty of vacancies between now and then, and even the week following should that be one of your family's vacation weeks!!  Just give me a call 1800.514.6777 - it rings in my pocket wherever I am, except for church on Sunday morning!!

HOPE to see you soon!

ECONOMY - HELP!!

Mother Nature is NOT helping the Tuolumne County economy.  OUR unemployment rate is already close to the highest in the State of CA.  No SNOW means many things - no winter customers for another Holiday Weekend, no snow for CalTrans to plow so they are doing all of their SPRING crack filling (what will they have to do in the Spring?), no Room Tax to be collected for Tuolumne County yet the county's infrastructure costs continue.  Is this that "trickle down" theory that the media likes to discount as being a false economic theory?  The media should have to actually put feet on the ground and see the ghost towns caused by Mother Nature withholding the SNOW from the Sierra!

PLEASE send some prayers that it snows SOON in the Sierras, even the ski areas with snow making equipment must be spending wheel burrow loads of money for water and power to build a carpet down the center of their runs in hopes of getting SOME business. 

The other SERIOUS issue with no SNOW is NO WATER for the summer in the areas downhill from the Sierras.  We were congratulating ourselves that two years of exceptional snow fall had ENDED the drought.  Not so fast said Mother Nature - hope you saved some of that record water for the next round of drought! Of course, it has often snowed the entire month of March, but the skiing only lasts until the Spring activities begin - softball, boating, fishing, gardening!!   We will hope and pray that March is again super wet, if only for the water needs of our "desert environment" where we attempt to pretend that green grass is a constitutional right!!  OR worse yet starve the farmers of the Central Valley where all the FOOD is grown using water from the mountains!!  FOOD GROWS where WATER FLOWS!!