2019 Fall September 27 Friday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Fall_of_19

74  degrees this morning, 72% humidity, wind 15 mph.

Thursday started with more thunderstorms and rain (when I normally walk, of course) and then was a relatively nice day, although it was cloudy all day and even a few raindrops in the afternoon.  

We decided to shut down our sprinkler system outside for the season.  It is amazing what we (and other people) pay to keep a non-native grass green during a time it isn’t supposed to be green.  Water, grass cutting, trimming, treatment, etc, I don’t even want to add up the cost. 

There is a lot of commotion in this city about the cost of water all of a sudden.  Sometimes it is difficult to understand that having to build infrastructure “for the top demand” is extreme expensive.  The most expensive water is the “top demand” during the summer.

Kind of like “the last mile” in delivery of any service, it is the most expensive and difficult. 

In reality, people who don’t use a lot of water are probably subsidizing the cost of the water for people who use a lot.  

We always struggled for the appropriate rate when I worked for a City.  It takes a minimum amount to even provide any water, so everyone should pay their share of that minimum charge.

The massive increase in infrastructure “per gallon” is hard to determine, since it may cost millions of dollars to supply “the last mile” of water, or the highest point of demand, with very little return.  

The real cost is that, except for that short period of maximum demand  for water,  all of the expensive “last mile” infrastructure normally is unused during the year, so it costs money but is not bringing any money in.  

Of course, try to explain that to someone angry about their water bill!

I always tried to explain it with the example of a house.  Most of the year there was, say, 4 people living in it.  If for two weeks during the summer you had 10 guests, there may not be enough room.  However by the time you expanded your house to accommodate the additional guests, it  wouldn’t be cost effective to spend $50,000 plus the additional maintenance, taxes and interest , etc.,  to save $500 per year in motel fees!  

Last night we did the first of some maintenance work on the yard of the house.  It probably will take all winter for us to complete the work.    I want to wait until winter so all fo the bugs, snakes , etc., aren’t around to scare the heck out of me.

Last night I was pulling some old ground sheeting out and a large stick popped up.  It looked like a big thick snake, and for a second I thought it was!

My Apple Watch indicated my pulse doubled when I saw the stick and thought it was a a snake!

That’s it for now, Friday, September 27, 2019. 

#Resist