2023

We really do get all the news we need from Bill Spragins’ weather report, which started with his “greetings from the ‘finally’ sunny Bay Area (actually for three weeks now!). I am fortunate to report that during this winter’s deluge our drainage systems all worked, and street runoff stayed away from our front yard. We will end up at 40+ inches for the ‘rainy season’ with the norm being less than 22. Although more problems will likely come with the spring run-off in the next few months, the good news is all CA reservoirs will be full. Now hopefully the big snows the Rockies received will help dent the Colorado River problems at Lake Powell and Lake Meade, a different drainage system than us.”

Bill added, “Barbara’s son Spencer landed in the engineering school at UC - Santa Barbara after during his senior year earning the Eagle Scout Badge and captained the robotics team to its first regional win in 15 years. UCSB is perfect as it is Barbara’s hometown and far enough away to establish some independence but close enough in case something is needed. With Spencer at college, we spent the last year taking in some of the great places in this area of the state, including long weekends at 1) Yosemite last spring where we climbed to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls after a 6” snowfall, 2) Monterey and its fabulous new ‘Deep Sea’ exhibit at the aquarium, 3) a lesser known piece of wine country where it was less crowded and less commercial than Napa and the wines are just fine, thank you, and 4) a couple trips up to Lake Tahoe in January to enjoy the piles of snow at Northstar and Heavenly Valley.”

“Nobody is retiring here for the next couple of years,” Bill wrote. “With the pandemic receded, I am as busy as I’ve ever been and am taking only the projects I want to work on (including a few in Maryland), and Barbara stays busy at the patent office working from home.”

reported by John Wharton '76