Totally get it. Our country bathtub is kept full of water for the same reasons. (We shower.). In CA we are in a power and water crisis that few acknowledge.
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Sadly the drought is alarming there, and sad to see all the fallow fields in the Sacramento Delta area, and elsewhere. Living in Nevada for 9 years during severe drought was eye opening as well. I fear what may happen if Utah is pressed to request their share of the Colorado river…the entire west is in dire straits IMO. We’ve gotten some badly needed rain and snow just lately and hope it continues.
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THESE are our golden days. The entire west, particularly super-populated California, is in grave and I’m afraid irreversible peril.
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Sadly, it’s all too true.
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Holy cow . I ordered more cheese. 2 year old aged Parmigiano reggiano. I’ll will be wrapping slices 2 year and the 4 year aged in parchment paper to give to friends. For a tasting . Cheers 
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Back in the mid to late 1960s, only about 10% of Britons went to university. Now it’s about 40%.
I doubt whether I’d be in that 40% and certainly wasnt close to the 10%. I finished full time education at 16 and got a job as a clerk at the local town hall and continued in broadly similar clerical/admin jobs till I retired.
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My father’s family were mostly college educated entrepreneurs.
My sister was the first to graduate from college from my mother’s line.
Dad’s family are polite but not particularly close.
Mom’s family are loving and very close.
No real point there.
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We’re friends, aren’t we?
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Sometimes I am thankful that I live on this small, cold, wet island off the coast of northern Europe. Sometimes I am not thankful - but I shall obey the no politics rule
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The west really begins at the 100th meridian in agriculture terms, where irrigation becomes necessary to grow crops.
That used to work when there were (relatively) few denizens.
Now, the population has increased many fold while the always scarce precious water has not.
We’ve seen this coming for 40 years and in true American style have ignored the once coming and now here crisis.
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Word. The problem is exacerbated by general ignorance about the water table. People have no realization that agriculture and exurban growth have drawn down the historic levels. i.e., there is considerably less underground water on average in many areas. In the valley, they are putting in baby orchards of high profit crops: almonds, pistachios, which are water intensive crops a, all dependent on new wells. We are recently having heavy storms and people look at how much rain we have received compared to an average year. This comparison is useless and spurious. It would take a decade or more of such storms and heavy snow pack to replace what we have already drawn from the water table. Husband has watched significant tree damage in the country where the soil is totally sapped of its usual held moisture. Even rocks, which indeed hold a measure of moisture, are bone dry. Many places are essentially green dust bowls.
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We may not be too far behind America,as outlined in this article. FWIW, both reservoirs photgraphed for the article are only 30 miles from me.
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Last year the story was that folks were pulling almond orchards up and letting them die. I didn’t realize new almond orchards were being planted.
I found this.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/almonds-swept-california-farms-then-the-water-ran-out-11625490000
And this
Someone from Japan planted some walnut orchards near here a few years ago.
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We’re working hard, obviously. It’s hard not to be swept up in the urgency of the day. 
Slices, quarters, halves, or the whole hand //
holding an orange ball like the morning sun //on a day of soft wind and no clouds //
which it so often is.
-Mary Oliver
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Enjoy the warm sunshine; what kind of orange is that?
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If only this were current reality. In the past 24 months we have seen hundreds of acres planted with NEW almond orchards in San Joaquin county. Both west and north of Lodi. The latter, former pasture.
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How do you learn about it? I’d love to follow some references, especially near the central valley.
Thank you. 
Sorry I don’t know but they’re still sour and need more time.
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Endless possibilities, even when sour! Enjoy.
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