Perez Studios

Today, I join with millions of other bloggers throughout the world and share with you a message about water and how important it is to many people all over.  So, I ask you this one question, how has the water crisis affected you and your area?  For many the Central Valley seems like just some ordinary valley that produces many crops for parts of west coast but truly the Central Valley is probably the bread basket of the United States if not other countries in the world.  It produces many crops throughout the year from cantaloupes to cotton, it has many different ways that it contributes to the world and that doesn’t even mention the jobs that it produces for many of the migrant workers that come to perform seasonal jobs to earn a living doing very hard work that not many other people will do.

The Central Valley has been in a major crisis for some time now ever since the water levels have been cut over and over that is supplied to the farmers to water their crops.  Some farmers have been able to improvise and use equipment like you see in the left to allow them to use drip systems to cut back on the water they give their crops.  This helps the water crisis and the crops still get enough water to grow.  I recall writing an article stressing how important the water is for our farmers which can be read here!

The Water Crisis has been so bad that it is affecting the enrollment in schools due to the lack of people moving and living in the valley.  The people don’t move here because there isn’t any jobs for them to work and provide food for their families.  There aren’t any jobs because there isn’t any water for the crops.  I know that people stress how important it is to save some fish but when do the lives of some fish become more important than our very existence? 

I only stress to you all that please be cautious on the amount of water you use to water your lawn, wash your car, brush your teeth and even wash yourself.  The water is scarce now and soon we will hopefully get another great amount of water this winter but if we don’t get any soon then a lot more farmers are going to have to shutdown their crops and move on somewhere else.

That is all I have for today and this week!

Thanks for reading!

Semper Fidelis,

Manuel Perez

My wife and I went on a weekend getaway on Labor Day back in 2003 and we did some hiking!  We tried to get higher and farther than we did but my old Dodge Neon wasn’t cooperating too much off road. 

We just explored the mountains as we approached Shaver Lake which was nice but we wanted to go higher.  We then finally approached Huntington Lake which was also nice but we wanted to go farther.  We couldn’t go any further because the day was ending and we needed a place to camp.  We setup camp there and decided to go up higher the next day.

We looked at the map and we seen so many places that we wanted to see.  From the John Muir Wilderness area to the Ansel Adams Wilderness it was all amazing places to see.  We took the Neon up as far as we could.  We stopped at a couple of places along the way.  We got to Edison Lake which was just so peaceful.  There was only one small boat in the middle of the lake. 

We drove on and saw that the road was getting rough.  We turned back to a small parking lot.  We parked and looked at two paths.  One said “The Devils Bathtub – 4.5 miles” the other said “Glacier Point – 15 miles”.  I asked my wife which one she wanted to take and she laughed.  We took the shorter one of course.  It was amazing that we didn’t see too many people on this hike.  We passed a couple of groups along the way and then it got quiet and I mean very quiet.  Finally I was excited to see a man coming down from the trail.  I asked him, “How much farther?” and he said, “You are about half way there.”  I thought oh my it seems like we had been walking forever and we are only half way there.  We continued on not coming across anyone else.  We came to about a mile before the finish line when it just seems to go straight up hill.  We kept on moving and finally reached the top. 

The Devil’s Bathtub was beautiful.  Looked like a piece of glass was the water because it was so calm and clear.  We had our lunch and just enjoyed the moment of piece and quiet.  We headed back home and we thought to ourselves, “We have to do that again but with a bigger car.”

That’s all for today!

Thanks for reading!

Semper Fidelis,

Manuel Perez

With the weather looking better here in California, I am thinking about taking some road trips but not sure how its going to fit into my schedule.  I know we really need to take the family to the snow up in Yosemite and to the beach to go see Monterey and Pismo. 

This photo is from when we went to visit San Francisco a while back.  It was nice to get away from the valley and get some fresh air in those lungs.  I cant wait to get out again. 

Thanks for reading.

Manuel Perez

I heard that the Central Valley Farmers are supposed to get more water this year.  That is great because the Valley really hasn’t been the same since the cut backs on the water.  Because of the water loss many farmers have closed their ranches and left.  This leaves a lot of farm workers without jobs and ways to support their families which in then crashes the economy because the workers leave the area lowering the population and causing cutbacks in school attendance which in then crashes everything else. 

I hope that people will realize that the world doesn’t revolve around one fish to save over million of people.  Don’t they realize if there is no water for these crops then there is no food for the millions of people that get their produce from our fields? 

I know that it should hopefully increase the chances of taking more agriculture photos.  I love to capture the moments of the harvests.  I have been waiting for the chance to catch the photos of the cotton harvest.  I have been wanting to do that ever since my grandfather was an irrigator and used to drive the cotton picker during the season.  Even when I worked for the local John Deere company in town did I get a chance to snap a photo of the huge combines that pick the cotton.  Hopefully this year!

Thanks for reading!

Manuel Perez

This is a photo of a flower that is in the middle of the gardens next to the mission in San Juan Bautista, California.  I went on the field trip with my daughter to view the mission.  It had been more years than I can remember since the last time I have been there.  Very interesting place and lots of history.

This is a photo that I took of “The Passion Flower”.  I took this photo while I was visiting San Juan Bautista, California and saw this beautiful flower.  I didn’t know the name of it until my wife told me what it was called.  Very beautiful name and very beautiful flower.  As you can tell it gets its name from Jesus Christ.  Amazing!

This is a photo of Yosemite Falls.  My family and I went up there a couple of years back while there was still snow up there.  There wasn’t too much water coming off the falls but it sure was beautiful.