From my friend and graphic artist, Dan Danbom.
Happy Valentine’s Day
From my friend and graphic artist, Dan Danbom.
From my friend and graphic artist, Dan Danbom.
Monterey County to Hold Community Meeting on Medical Marijuana Regulations
The County of Monterey will hold a public meeting for stakeholders and interested members of the community to discuss regulations pertaining to medical marijuana in the unincorporated areas of Monterey County.
Date: February 16, 2016
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Monterey Conference Room
168 W. Alisal Street, 2nd floor
Salinas, CA 93901
Draft ordinances regarding medical marijuana regulations area available for review online through the Clerk of the Board’s website. For those needing detailed navigation: go to https://monterey.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx, select the Board of Supervisors hearing agenda for February 9, 2016 and click on the links for the medical marijuana status report under agenda item 35. Anyone interested in marijuana regulations is encouraged to attend this meeting. If you have any questions about the meeting please contact Craig Spencer, project planner at (831) 755-5233 or spencerc@co.monterey.ca.us.


What the Frack ? Fracturing our County
Big Sur Grange
Tuesday February 9th, 6-8 pm.
A soup, salad and cornbread supper will begin at 6
Free but donations gratefully accepted
Please bring a place setting
Big Sur Advocates for a Green Environment (B-SAGE) voted fracking as our most pressing environmental issue, so we decided to host an event on this topic. Fracking has been banned in Scotland, Bulgaria, Germany and France. Here in the United States, New York State, and the state of Vermont have also instituted bans. In California, three counties and the city of Los Angeles have passed bans. Currently, Monterey County is one of the 10 counties in California where fracking is known to have occurred. Over half of the frack-able oil in the U.S. is in the state of California.
Fracking is
a. a petrochemical extraction process using water to flush energy-rich components out of shale
b. an excellent way to cause earthquakes!
c. the key to U.S. energy independence
d. an obscenity
e. profitable
f. a painful procedure, much like a lumbar puncture, performed upon a planetary body
g. an issue that can be discussed cordially
h. a process that pollutes huge amounts of water, even during an historic drought
B-Sage invites everyone who agrees with “g” to our upcoming event on fracking, whatever your other answers might be. Members of Protect Monterey County (protectmontereycounty.org)plan to attend.
with speakers and inclusive discussion of this divisive issue to follow. In the next few elections to come, voters will be asked to make critical decisions on this issue. Email Jessica at winterkoning@gmail.com if you would like to speak at this event, need directions, etc.

By popular demand, here are a couple shots from this afternoon. The clouds dissipated, the sun came out to play, and Cone and Twin Peaks finally displayed their winter clothes. Thank you, Big Sur.
These snow photos preempted my intended 1/31/98-1/31/16 comparison post, so I will post that tomorrow. Still hoping for a spectacular sunset shot, too.
Big, big flakes started about 8:15 this am. Soft, drifting 1/2 dollar size flakes, some silver dollar-sized. If it continues and sticks, I will have photos. Right now, I need to build a fire, have a second cup of coffee and watch with amazement. Later, I will have a 1/31/98 journal entry to compare to today’s totals (hint: we are seriously behind the 1998 totals.) Oh, my, this is so beautiful! BTW, Cone Peak shots are unlikely, as we are shrouded in the clouds.
From SLO Meterologist: “Total rainfall amounts will range between 0.75 and 1.75 inches with higher amounts in the Santa Lucia Mountains. Snow levels will fall as colder air filters into California. Snowfall will range between 12 and 18 inches for the southern Sierra & 6 and10 inches across the Tehachapi Range.
Snow levels will continue to drop to around 2,500 and 3,000 feet by tonight with a chance for some snow accumulation to reach down into the higher mountains of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.”
As of 7 am, I have received .54″ since midnight. NOAA Monterey says:
“SYNOPSIS…LIGHT RAINFALL IS EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF TODAY AS THE
TAIL END OF A SYSTEM MOVES TO THE EAST. THE NEXT SYSTEM WILL
SPREAD RAIN ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA ON
SUNDAY…WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE ALONG THE BIG SUR COAST
AND IN THE SANTA LUCIA MOUNTAINS….
.DISCUSSION…AS OF 3:25 AM PST SATURDAY…KMUX RADAR IS
CURRENTLY OUT OF SERVICE…AWAITING PARTS TO REPAIR IT. EARLIEST
IT COULD BE REPAIRED WOULD BE THIS AFTERNOON.”
This is one I took from the conference I attended during last weekend’s storms. I am caught up momentarily, so will be back keeping an eye on all things Big Sur.

And here is the requested one, Jan 2015 tp Jan 2016.

i love the look of this!
