#Folsom car wash

[moroautospausa]

Top Car Vinyl Wrap in Sacramento and Folsom Car Wash Services

When it comes to enhancing your vehicle's appearance, few options are as versatile and impactful as a car vinyl wrap. Moro Auto Spa in Sacramento offers premium car vinyl wrap services that not only give your vehicle a stunning new look but also provide added protection to its original paint. Whether you want to change your car's color, add custom graphics, or protect its finish, a car vinyl wrap from Moro Auto Spa is an excellent choice.

The Benefits of Car Vinyl Wrap in Sacramento

A car vinyl wrap is more than just an aesthetic upgrade. It offers a range of benefits that make it a popular choice among car enthusiasts in Sacramento. First and foremost, a vinyl wrap can completely transform the look of your vehicle without the need for a permanent paint job. This is particularly appealing for those who like to change up their car's appearance frequently or who want a unique design that stands out on the road.

Another significant advantage of car vinyl wrap is the protection it offers. Sacramento's harsh sun and varying weather conditions can take a toll on your vehicle's paint over time. A vinyl wrap acts as a protective layer, shielding your car's original paint from UV rays, minor scratches, and road debris. This means your vehicle stays looking newer for longer, and when you're ready to remove the wrap, your car's paint remains in pristine condition.

At Moro Auto Spa, we use high-quality vinyl materials and the latest application techniques to ensure a flawless finish. Our expert technicians have years of experience in wrapping vehicles of all shapes and sizes, ensuring that every curve and contour is covered perfectly. Whether you're looking for a sleek matte finish, a glossy shine, or a bold, custom graphic, Moro Auto Spa has the expertise to bring your vision to life.

Pairing Your Vinyl Wrap with Folsom Car Wash Services

After investing in a car vinyl wrap, keeping it clean and well-maintained is essential to preserve its appearance and longevity. Moro Auto Spa offers top-tier Folsom car wash services designed to keep your vehicle looking its best. Regular washing is crucial for maintaining the integrity of the vinyl wrap, as dirt, grime, and pollutants can accumulate on the surface over time.

Our Folsom car wash services are tailored to meet the specific needs of vehicles with vinyl wraps. We use gentle, non-abrasive cleaning products that are safe for vinyl surfaces, ensuring that your wrap remains vibrant and intact. Our technicians are trained to handle vinyl-wrapped vehicles with care, avoiding high-pressure washing and harsh chemicals that could potentially damage the wrap.

In addition to standard washing, Moro Auto Spa also offers detailing services that can enhance the overall appearance of your vehicle. This includes hand washing, waxing, and polishing, all of which are designed to complement the protective qualities of the vinyl wrap. By pairing your car vinyl wrap with regular Folsom car wash services, you can enjoy a vehicle that not only looks incredible but also remains protected for years to come.

Why Choose Moro Auto Spa?

At Moro Auto Spa, we take pride in offering exceptional car vinyl wrap and Folsom car wash services to our clients in Sacramento and beyond. Our commitment to quality, attention to detail, and customer satisfaction sets us apart from the competition. We understand that your vehicle is an investment, and we’re dedicated to helping you maintain and enhance its appearance with our expert services.

Whether you're looking to completely transform your vehicle's look with a car vinyl wrap or simply want to keep it clean and protected with our Folsom car wash services, Moro Auto Spa is your go-to destination. Our team is passionate about cars, and we strive to provide each customer with a personalized experience that meets their unique needs and preferences.

In conclusion, if you're in Sacramento and considering a car vinyl wrap, Moro Auto Spa is the place to go. Our professional team is ready to assist you in selecting the perfect wrap and ensuring it’s applied with precision. And, to keep your newly wrapped vehicle in pristine condition, don’t forget to take advantage of our specialized Folsom car wash services. Visit Moro Auto Spa today and discover how we can help you elevate your vehicle's style and protection.

Learn More: Achieve Impeccable Car Care with Moro Auto Spa in El Dorado Hills and Folsom

[tawdrytalk]

Watch a Man’s Life Fall Apart

The anxiety is going to kill me. I feel like I’m teetering on the edge of the abyss.

My legs are literally shaking right now; I was sitting in a car wash stall over on Folsom-Auburn Road near the clinic when the whole car started shaking. I didn’t think too much for the first second or two, and it seemed to return to normal. I shut the engine off while the wash robot did its thing.

Tried to turn the engine back on when the dryer started, but it stalled out every time I put it into drive. Tried backing out of the stall, but that didn’t work, neither. So I pushed the car backward out of the stall, then it gained momentum as the slope was slightly downhill and it got away from me and the open door hit the brick column that holds the payment kiosk there at the entrance to the car wash. The door made this sickening crunch, and the window came out of its frame on the inside of the door, and it is sitting at a skewed angle in the door.

I was able to push the car forward uphill enough to dislodge the door, and set the parking brake. Sat in the driver’s seat and tried to close the door; it is not level, but it did close and latch, although the door open warning light is lit. The window sits at a forty-five degree angle in the window opening. I tried to start the car a few times and it finally started and idled normally.

Nervously, I put the car into drive and with trepidation took my foot off the brake and gave it a little gas; it moved, Flying Spaghetti Monster be praised! The engine seemed touched by its noodley appendage.

Where to go, though? The clinic parking lot is just narrow enough to make being towed away by AAA nigh impossible. So I daringly, possibly foolishly decided to drive over to get some food, so I’m currently sitting in the McDonald’s at East Bidwell and Riley. I figure that as long as I need to be somewhere to potentially wait for a tow, I may as well sit in air conditioned comfort and sip a diet Dr. Pepper and contemplate next steps.

If the car is truly dead, this will be my ruination; because I’ve been temporarily been ousted from my apartment, I’m living over on Northgate Blvd, and transit options are truly limited. Getting downtown to my office and out to Folsom for clinic are going to be extraordinarily challenging. It’s like this is 2019 playing out again. For the moment, I can’t face it.

I. Just. Can’t. Face. It.

I’m trying to have a sense of humor, but all I can think of is Lucille Ball in 1985’s Stone Pillow. I’m going to end up sleeping in a doorway dishing out sage advice to young, inexperienced social workers, until I’m beaten to death by another vagabond for my (admittedly fabulous) shoes.

I. Just. Can’t. Face. It.

It all just seems too much to bear right now.

Fuck, now I’m crying in a stinking McDonald’s.

[lcrdoflies]

SAWYER MCLAREN ( THOMAS DOHERTY ) is an EIGHTEEN year old from CONRAD, MONTANA. HE is known around the island as THE WILD CARD because he is EASYGOING and FREE-SPIRITED but can also be STUBBORN and FOOLHARDY. HE reminds of baseball bats, dog-eared books, and single-malt whiskey.

BASIC INFORMATION

NAME: sawyer dean mclaren

NICKNAMES: the hick/texas, soy dog, blue eyes

BIRTHDAY: december 2, 2002

AGE: eighteen

HOMETOWN: conrad, montana

BIRTHPLACE: conrad, montana

RELIGION: agnostic atheist

ETHNICITY: white

NATIONALITY: american

EDUCATION: some high school, no diploma

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: single and always trying to mingle

SOCIAL CLASS: lower

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

HEIGHT: 6’0

EYES: blue

HAIR: dark brown

BUILD: slim athletic

DISTINGUISHING MARKS: a scar on the left side of his nose that extends to the corner of his mouth

NOTABLE FEATURES: strong jawline, skin that freckles in the sun, tattoos of varying propriety

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES: if you pay close attention, you can see he walks with a limp in his gait; sawyer likes to tell people he got it in a brawl with a grizzly bear (he didn’t)

ALLERGIES: none

PERSONALITY & BEHAVIOR

HOBBIES: wood-carving, knife-throwing, bed-rocking

LIKES: big dogs, bad ideas, comic books, the smell of rain, open fields, fireflies, fast cars, conspiracy theories, cheap liquor, expensive liquor, stick-and-poke tattoos, falling in love, collecting patches, writing on his hands and clothes

DISLIKES: the man™, conservatives, commitment, tension, tight jeans, dark chocolate, going to church, being told what to do

QUIRKS: speaks with a lazy country twang that’s often mistaken for southern, refers to people by pet names, uses laughter as punctuation, likes to philosophize about the future of the universe, thinks jack daniels is an acceptable substitute for water, writes illegibly, can recite the entire ending passage of the great gatsby from memory but can’t tell you what he ate for breakfast yesterday morning

STRENGTHS: a natural leader, thrives on teamwork, uses the “uneducated hick” label people put upon him to his advantage when it comes to outsmarting others

WEAKNESSES: once he gets an idea in his head, it’s hard to convince him otherwise; puts a little too much trust in others, bad with directions

POSITIVE TRAITS: charismatic, sociable, open-minded

NEGATIVE TRAITS:  stubborn, aimless, reckless

MENTAL DISABILITIES: adhd

SHARE 5 FUN FACTS ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER

sawyer served 14 months of an 18-month sentence in juvenile detention for auto theft and joyriding. the fun part about this fact is that the only difference between juvie and deserted islands is the food.

with two older brothers, sawyer is the youngest child in a family of four. his mama dipped when he was a kid: old enough to remember a life with her in it and young enough to brush off the hurt she left behind. his daddy, on the other hand, took a “tough love” approach to raising sawyer and his brothers. if they got hurt, he let them cry it out. when they made mistakes, they had to figure out how to right ‘em on their own. on sawyer’s twelfth birthday, his father gave him a rifle and taught him how to shoot – said he needed to learn how to defend himself. sawyer spent the better part of his adolescence chasing after a childhood he never really had in the first place.

sawyer probably would’ve made the top percentile of his class if he’d ever formally gone to school. despite his impetuous antics, he’s naturally intelligent and loves to learn. he used to spend a lot of time in the library as a child, reading whatever he could get his hands on, from comics to nonfiction. some of his favorite books are treasure island, don quixote, and the odyssey.

he picked up stick-and-poke tattooing in juvie as a creative outlet for folsom prison blues. sawyer’s not an artist by any means, and most of the tats he has look like bad children’s drawings, but he takes pride in his ability to help others make equally terrible decisions.

no, he’s not related to that mclaren. yes, he absolutely knows how to gun a car down the freeway. 

WHAT WAS YOUR CHARACTER WEARING ON THE FLIGHT?

on the flight to kona, hawaii, sawyer was wearing:

a ratted, army green jacket with a hood and four pockets

a long-sleeved sweatshirt

a white undershirt

a black bandana tied around his neck

slim cargo pants, rolled at the ankle

a plain pair of socks

a plain pair of boxers

black sneakers with duct tape wrapped around the right sole

PLEASE LIST 3 PERSONAL ITEMS OF YOUR CHARACTER THAT WASHED UP ON SHORE

a rusted dog tag with the initials O.S.Y. engrained into the metal, seemingly by hand

a paperback copy of lord of the flies, most of its pages illegible or torn from water damage

a 30-day supply of adderall xr with twenty-two pills left

EXTRAS:

spotify + will update as added

[randomahsheadcanons]

Galangdon Headcanons

• They’re like a gay version of Gomez and Morticia Addams.

• Gallant likes to count Michael’s rings.

• It helps him fall asleep.

• Michael gives him one of his rings every time they have to spend some time away from each other.

• He takes Gallant’s hand, puts the ring on his finger and then kisses it.

• Gallant kisses the ring after Michael leaves.

• It’s like an indirect kiss.

• They have very different styles.

• Michael only wears black outfits and Gallant has the most fabulous clothes, most of them being pink or magenta.

• He doesn’t like wearing black but he still wears Michael’s coats and claims it’s “for the aesthetic”.

• Michael doesn’t mind.

• Gallant likes to put on pink lipstick and somehow it always ends up on Michael’s lips (and other parts of his body).

• Gallant likes to braid Michael’s hair and do his makeup.

• Michael allows him to use his hair to practice.

• “I’m gonna do a french braid”

• “You’re not expecting me to wear it, are you?”

• “Please? For me?”

• “Ugh, fine. The sacrifices I make for you…”

• “I’ll suck you off later to repay you”

• “Oh, you better!”

• Gallant’s soul and body literally belong to Michael and he’s surprisingly okay with it.

• Michael says there’s a special place in hell for him.

• “Don’t worry, doll. It’s not as hot as you think”

• “It’s not? I thought it was lit”

• “…I hate you”

• They’re the kinkiest motherfuckers.

• Gallant moans louder than a professional porn star.

• They kept the rubber suit.

• Gallant is supposed to call Michael “master” or “sir” but he always ends up forgetting and calling him “Mikey”.

• Michael slaps him every time he does that and he keeps doing it on purpose.

• He’s a masochist.

• Actually, they’re both into BDSM.

• Bible Discussion & Study Meeting.

• Gallant is not allowed to go to the Folsom Street Fair anymore.

• Not since… last time.

• But that’s okay because Michael is a good dom.

• And Gallant loves to be his sub.

• He’s really into being tied up and spanked.

• He has a tattoo somewhere that says “sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me”.

• Michael loves to whip him.

• Especially because he moans loudly every time he does it.

• Ritual sex? Ritual sex.

• Blood play; knife play.

• Gallant likes to be humiliated and praised at the same time.

• Ritual sex it’s the wildest sex they have.

• Michael always brings someone for them to kill.

• Gallant has no problem with killing people as long as they’re bad.

• For example: Michael is not allowed to kill a random innocent guy but if he wants to brutally torture and murder a pedophile, Gallant’s on board with that.

• He actually enjoys to watch Michael murder people.

• Especially if he eats their heart.

• Yes, Gallant has a heart eating kink.

• Michael does that Tongue Thing and it drives him crazy.

• They have a special day of the week where they have hearts for dinner.

• It’s Heart Tuesday.

• Obviously Gallant has his cooked, like a normal person.

• It’s a beautiful scene.

• Gallant is a gentleman, eating with knife and fork and using a napkin.

• Michael eats like an animal.

• He practically chews the beating heart, eats with his bare hands and gets blood everywhere.

• It’s like that one scene from Beauty And The Beast.

• Gallant casually sips wine and stares at Michael with a contemplating look on his face.

• Michael and Gallant are both extremely needy, although Michael at least tries not to show it.

• No one has ever loved him and needed him as much as Gallant does and it’s a relief to be with someone that he knows won’t leave him.

• Gallant needs constant reassuring that Michael loves him and doesn’t consider him disposable.

• Mallory and Michael became friends because Gallant and Coco are always hanging out.

• They go shopping and drag their lovers with them.

• Mallory and Michael bond over the fact that they both hate shopping.

• Michael is not a huge fan of pet names but he calls Gallant “Gal”, “doll” and “sweetheart”.

• He also calls him a lot of pet names in Latin like “cara”, “deliciae” and “pulchra”.

• Gallant loves it.

• He went to a very prestigious catholic school so he’s practically fluent in Latin.

• They speak Latin to each other all the time when they don’t want other people to understand what they’re saying.

• Gallant is basically an attention whore.

• Michael has to kiss him all the time otherwise he’ll cross his arms and pout.

• “Mikeeeeey! Why don’t you ever kiss me anymore?”

• “We were making out five minutes ago”

• He’ll interrupt an important meeting with the Cooperative just to sit on Michael’s lap.

• Michael lets him stay and play with his hair.

• “You have to stop distracting me in the middle of a meeting”

• “But it’s booooring!”

• Michael is a sucker for Gallant’s cute little pouty face.

• He can get anything from him if he just pouts: money, car, jewelry, dick.

• He’s kind of a dumbass so Michael has to be the voice of reason in this relationship.

• He also gets easily distracted by shiny things, especially diamonds.

• Michael gets him a ton of expensive jewelry that he doesn’t even wear, he just likes to admire it.

• If he has a stressful day and cries about something, Michael just gives him the shiniest jewel he can find.

• “You don’t understand! I never- t-they didn’t even payed for my h-hard work!”

• “I understand, doll”

• “And s-she still wouldn’t gi- oh, is that a RED DIAMOND?!”

• Gallant has an unhealthy obsession with Michael’s hair.

• He likes to sleep with his face buried on his hair.

• Sometimes they shower together and Gallant spends most of the time washing Michael’s hair.

• He grabs his hair to sniff it before going to work and it’s really creepy.

• “I want your hair inside of me”

• “For the love of Satan, get some help!”

• When Michael told him his hair was starting to bother him because it was too big and asked him to cut it, he almost cried.

• He agreed to give him a haircut but he cried the whole time.

• And he saved every single piece of hair he could find.

• “All of this precious hair on the floor of MY salon? Nonsense, I’ll keep it”

• Their fights are intense.

• Sometimes they scream at each other’s faces in Latin and no one understands what’s going on.

• Michael gets childish when they fight and starts throwing stuff around.

• Gallant just goes full on sarcasm mode.

• “Nice, Michael. Break everything! I’m sure that’ll help me understand how mature you are”

• Their fights mostly end when Gallant gets tired and starts crying.

• Michael stops yelling immediately.

• “Oh, don’t- don’t cry, sweetheart. Please don’t cry, I’m sorry!”

• Michael hates seeing Gallant upset about something.

• When he’s sad, Michael wraps his arms around him and absorbs all of his negative emotions.

• Gallant doesn’t notice it.

• They always talk about how awful their grandmothers are.

• “Nana used to lock me on the closet… literally”

• “Grandma smacked me every time I told people how old she really was”

• They had pretty shitty childhoods so they try their best to be there for each other no matter what.

• “I love you, Mikey”

• “You know I absolutely adore you, pulchra”

• “Oh, really? I thought you wouldn’t fuck me if I was the last man on earth”

• “Shut up”

[bermudaroad]

Words for Charles

Good morning.

 On behalf of our family, I want to thank you all for being here.  Losing a patriarch can be a watershed time for a family and we appreciate the support of our family and friends. The last few months were not easy, but we have a lot to be grateful for:  that Daddy was not in pain, that his mind was intact until the very end, and that we were able to be together and say all the things we needed to say.  We are also grateful for all of those who were there to support us with prayers and acts of kindness. Special thanks go to Paige Procell and Mrs. Mary Farmer for their help with Daddy’s care.

 One unexpected benefit of the last 7 months is that Karla, Cade and I have spent more time together and with Mama and Daddy than since we were kids.  We’ve told a lot of stories – plenty that can’t be repeated – and gone through old pictures and we’ve had time to visit with folks who shared stories about Daddy. Like Dolly Parton said, “Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.” Daddy didn’t want this service to be sad. He wanted us to talk about the good times.

 Daddy was born in Rodessa, where Papaw was working in the north Caddo Parish oilfield, on Aug. 26, 1937. He was named Charles after the doctor who delivered him. Daddy was the oldest of seven children and his brothers and sisters always looked up to him. They grew up playing around Lanan Creek, riding horses and hunting squirrels. Mamaw and Papaw Pilcher came from big families so there were always lots of cousins to play with.  Daddy remembered the Eisenhower Military Maneuvers and watching what seemed like a thousand horses and cavalry pass in front of his Grandpa Lopez’s house. It was quite a sight for a bunch of country kids.

 Daddy always liked music, country music and old time rock and roll, and outlaw country.  When he was 14, he bought a guitar at Horn’s Drug Store in Many for $35. He earned the money doing farm work and jobs for his uncles. His friends taught him some chords, but he was mostly self-taught. Daddy and Uncle Wayne used to play music at Mr. Willie Anderson’s place with their friends Kenneth and R.H. Sometimes Daddy would wake us up on Saturday mornings playing ‘Folsom Prison Blues.’ But Daddy lost part of his ring finger in an oilfield mishap and he didn’t play as much after that. I’ll get to that story in a minute.

 Daddy went to school at Alliance until the schools consolidated and he went to Negreet where he played right field on the boys softball team and graduated in 1955. He did not have a stellar academic record, but that was no reflection of his intellect. Clay said one time he wondered what Daddy would have done if he had studied business or engineering or both because of his aptitude in those areas. But Daddy didn’t take school seriously as a kid. He was the class clown. Still, he read all the time and was self-educated on a lot of topics. He could figure stuff in his head and seldom forgot facts.  

 As soon as they finished high school, Daddy and several of his friends went to work on the pipeline, and that work took them all over the U.S. from the Gulf coast to the Midwest, the northeast and western states. He was in Kingman, Arizona, when he joined the Army National Guard and he served with the Guard till after he and Mama were married.

 As a young man, Daddy affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at Little Flock and was a 50-year member. His grandfather and great-grandfather on the Pilcher side were also Masons. He was Worshipful Master of the Lodge and president of the Sabine Shrine Club in the year 2000.  Mama and Daddy helped organize and volunteered at the annual Shriners Classic basketball tournament and several other events to raise funds for Shriners Children’s Hospital in Shreveport. He also really enjoyed riding in the parades.

 Daddy liked cars and his first car was a 1956 Ford Fairlane Victoria, black and white. Bonnie and Connie said Daddy would get them to wash his car and pay them a quarter each. You can imagine Charles as a young man, a good-looking guy cruising around in a cool car.  He was probably pretty freewheeling in those days. And then he started dating Sarah Walker.

 On July 1, 1961, Mama and Daddy eloped to Jasper, Texas. They were married over 60 years. To celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, they had a ceremony to renew their vows, and we celebrated their 50th anniversary with a big family gathering.

 Speaking of gatherings, Mama and Daddy hosted a lot of big get-togethers, the Lopez reunion and the Pilcher reunion for many years. One year they threw a big Christmas party and folks from all sides of the family were there. That’s the year Daddy bought himself a karaoke machine and entertained the crowd with Elvis songs.

 Y’all know my Mama and Daddy are two of the hardest working people around. During his long career in the oilfield, Daddy worked all over Louisiana and Texas, in the Middle East, the North Sea, South America and the Gulf of Mexico. As a young man supporting a wife and child, Daddy worked as many shifts as he could. He was working on a land rig out of Many when his hand got caught in a chain that took off part of his finger.  Trying to drive himself to town, Daddy’s truck got stuck, so he had to get the come-alongs and pull his truck out of the mud to get himself to the doctor.

 Aunt Bobbie asked me to share something.  In 1974, she and Uncle Tommy were living in Abu Dhabi where he was working, when Uncle Tommy had a heart attack and died. Daddy was also working in the United Arab Emirates.  He left his job and went to help Aunt Bobbie and accompanied her back to the U.S. with Uncle Tommy’s remains and my cousin Tom Tom, who was about 11 years old at the time.

 Back in the gulf, Daddy was a senior toolpusher / OIM for Penrod for many years and experienced more than one well blowout offshore.  On March 1, 1979, a blowout on a production platform took the lives of eight workers.  Daddy and the rest of the crew escaped in a survival capsule. Like all oilfield families, we had to adjust our holidays so we could celebrate when he was at home. He missed a lot of Christmases, graduations and birthdays.

 Daddy also raised cattle on the side and spent most of his off time off occupied with the farm, messing with the cows, cutting hay and fixing fence.  It gave us a great childhood.  Daddy was a strong man who stayed fit doing manual labor, tinkered on cars, trucks and tractors and he could fix just about anything.  He always figured out how to do things for himself.  

 I mentioned our large family. Our generation has lots of cousins, too, and they loved to come to our house in Zwolle. Laura and Colleen told about how when they lived in Franklin, Daddy would pick them up on his way home from work to come stay with us.  Laura, who was in about 8th grade at the time, would drive home -- in the company car -- while Daddy slept in the back seat. Uncle Charles taught several of his nieces and nephews how to drive, swim, ride motorcycles and shoot guns.

 After Daddy retired from the oilfield, he and Mama had a lot more time for leisure.  They got in with a local RV group and took several trips to different parts of the country. Daddy was not much of a dancer, but Mama got him to join a square dancing group for a while. After they had the camp they got involved with the Toledo Bend Lake Association and they made many, many friends with other retirees on the lake. Daddy was a board member of TBLA and was instrumental in establishing the annual Bass Unlimited program, their biggest fundraiser. He also looked after his brothers Jerry and Stan when they became unable to take care of themselves.

 Mama and Daddy bought their camp at Lanan in the 90s and it’s actually located where Grandma and Grandpa Lopez’s place was before the lake came in.  In 2006, the state of Louisiana paid Mama and Daddy for their house in Zwolle, where they had lived since 1970, and it was torn down to make way for the four-laning of Hwy. 171.  That’s when Mama and Daddy built their house at Lanan.  The joke at the time was that Mama was going to live in the new house and Daddy was going to live in the camp.

 Mama Sarah and Papa Charles enjoyed their grandkids and kept them all pretty often.  They took the kids out to the farm, out on the lake, took them to airshows, to movies, to the sale barn. Last Christmas Claire compiled a book of memories called “Tales from the Grandkids.”  Some of the common memories are of Pop’s crazy antics and silly pranks he would play to get Mama Sarah’s goat. They wrote about swimming, camping, fishing, flying kites, playing dominoes and Papa Charles teaching them to drive in the pasture. They talked about one time when Pop jumped in the pool with all his clothes on. They thought it was hilarious! They never forgot it.  When Karla and her family lived in Coteau, Daddy would stop at their house and surprise Claire and Joey with donuts and one time they met him in Amelia and he let them on the rig.

 Gracyn wrote about going out on the barge with Pop in the evenings, looking up at the sky, looking for the North Star and the constellations, some that were real and some that were made up.

 Cale said “as we got older, our fun outings turned into work outings:  working cows, working in the hayfield, working on equipment and helping Mama Sarah move things in her house.”

 Chas had an interesting conversation with Pop about the creation of Toledo Bend. He told Chas about the farmland, now underwater, in front of their house that had belonged to the Pilchers, the gas station in Sabine Town where he used to get gas because it was the cheapest, ferries that went across the Sabine River and how the water just seemed to creep up and it didn’t take long for the land he grew up on to be completely under water.  Chas said, “I felt this was the reason they built the house where they did, so he’d be able to look out on what was once his childhood.”

 The boys also wrote about how much it meant for Mama Sarah and Pop to attend all their ballgames. Mama and Daddy went to see three of their grandsons play football in the Super Dome.

 Then, the great-grands came along. Karly and Joseph best remember Pop cracking jokes, playing pranks to drive Mama Sarah crazy and Pop slipping them some cash on the sly. Olivia and Lily Kate obviously have fewer memories but Claire said Olivia was in Walmart one day and started yelling at a man with gray hair and a plaid shirt that she thought was Papa Charles. She said “Come back!  I hold you!” I hope that Olivia and Lily Kate will remember Papa Charles before he got sick, our last Easter and the last Father’s Day. And our family keeps growing. A couple of weeks ago, Joey and Katie Facetimed Pop to tell him he was going to be great grandpa again.

 One other little about Daddy is he had a sweet tooth.  He loved ice cream, Hershey bars, M&Ms and he often used the grandkids as an excuse to go get a blizzard from Dairy Queen. Walker Roe said that one time Pop ordered a blueberry blizzard for Clayton, knowing he wouldn’t like it, so Pop conveniently ate the whole thing.

 In recent days, Mama and Daddy lived quietly. Daddy enjoyed watching NASCAR, football and basketball. They watched Jeopardy every day. In the last seven months, Mama hardly left Daddy’s side and he received the best care possible because of her.  She said it was the closest time of their marriage.

 Daddy was a character. Anything he said was completely unvarnished. He never sugarcoated anything. Uncle Jim said Daddy got his smark-alecky nature from our Papaw Pilcher and that gene is quite persistent in our family. We’ve shared a lot of laughs telling hilarious stories about Pop. He wasn’t a saint.  He wasn’t a regular churchgoer until his retirement years.  When he was working in Brazil, he had a life endangering experience that precipitated his profession of faith. Gracyn said he often told her that she should always go to church and tithe faithfully.  During his illness Mama and Daddy read a prayer card and said a special prayer every night.

 There’s about a dozen other stories we wanted to tell today, but time runs short. However he was referred to, Charles, Bubba, C.L. (whenever anybody was mad at him), Daddy, Papa Charles, Uncle Charles or Pop, he was one of a kind.  

 The last few weeks were agonizing. But we looked for the blessings.  This past Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. Daddy took his last breath surrounded by his wife, his children and his brother and sisters.  We prayed over him and he slipped away, surrounded by love.  And this is how God works:  Brother Tony showed up about 10 minutes later. He was stopping by to check on us after church and his timing was perfect.  He prayed with us and he said, “Death is not always a tragedy.” I’m not sad that Daddy left that old body.  That’s not how I will remember him anyway.  I’ll remember the guy who would walk on his hands up and down the hall to entertain the kids.  

 I’ll close with a passage of scripture that a friend shared with me recently.  It’s also printed on the back of your bulletin.

 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

 So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

 God rest your soul, Daddy.  We love you.  

[architectnews]

MIRA Tower San Francisco Condominiums

MIRA luxury condominium community, Tishman Speyer San Francisco Apartments, California Building Images

MIRA Tower San Francisco

Aug 7, 2020

MIRA San Francisco Luxury Condominiums

Design: Studio Gang, Architects

Location: 280 Spear Street, near the Embarcadero, San Francisco, California, USA

Photos by Scott Hargis

MIRA Condominiums San Francisco

Mira Welcomes New Residents Into Its 400-foot Twisting Tower

Interested Buyers Can Now Tour Four Fully Furnished Models in the 40-Story Community

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – MIRA, the new, 392-residence luxury condominium community developed by Tishman Speyer, has received its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) and residents have begun moving into their new homes. MIRA has unveiled a number of luxurious models for interested buyers to tour privately by appointment. Located on the 23rd floor of the 40-story, 400-foot tower, the two-bedroom, two-bathroom models have been staged and fully furnished by Jeff Schlarb Design Studio. Virtual tours of all models are also available at MIRASF.com.

Located one block from the Embarcadero, MIRA’s forward-thinking architecture and interiors are designed by award-winning architecture firm Studio Gang, led by Jeanne Gang, the only architect named to the 2019 TIME 100 list of most influential people. MIRA features a distinctive, dynamic tower with large bay windows spiraling up the façade to offer sweeping views of San Francisco Bay, the Bay Bridge, and the city skyline.

“Studio Gang designed the homes at MIRA to be a seamless extension of the architecture, and we’re excited to move our first residents into this beautiful community,” says Carl Shannon, Senior Managing Director at Tishman Speyer. “Our homes offer fresh air, expansive views through panoramic bay windows, and create a dynamic façade that has transformed the neighborhood with Studio Gang’s groundbreaking, forward-thinking architecture.”

Prospective buyers can visit MIRA’s Sales Gallery by appointment, located at 260 Spear Street on the 23rd floor, where they can tour MIRA’s new models, available floor plans, and view options. The Sales Gallery is currently open by appointment. Stringent safety protocols are in place to protect all visitors to the Sales Gallery and model homes and ensure that appointments are private. Sales at MIRA are represented by Polaris Pacific, the West Coast leader in high-density new home residential sales and marketing.

MIRA offers bright, modern, and spacious one-, two- and three-bedroom condominiums and townhouses with large bay windows. The community features amenities such as a courtyard, attended lobby, rooftop deck, private dining and lounge, a Jay Wright-designed fitness center, children’s playroom, conference room, dog washing station, valet parking for 340 cars with electric vehicle charging stations, parking for 150 bicycles, and over 10,000 square feet of retail at street level.

Located in the emerging Transbay neighborhood where SoMa meets the Embarcadero, MIRA will offer convenient access to the waterfront, the new Salesforce Park and Transbay Transit Terminal, and a wide array of retailers, nightlife, restaurants, transportation options, and sports and entertainment venues. MIRA will contribute to the dynamic neighborhood created by Tishman Speyer’s nearby Infinity and LUMINA projects. The site was previously known as Block One of the Transbay Redevelopment Plan. Interested parties can visit MIRASF.com to join the MIRA interest list and receive project updates.

About MIRA MIRA offers a new, fresh, and forward-thinking take on luxury living in San Francisco. Conveniently located steps from the Embarcadero at the corner of Spear and Folsom, MIRA comprises 392 modern residences and bold, iconic architecture by Studio Gang. Each home features fanning bay windows and striking, sweeping views of the City or the Bay, and residents have access to amenities such as a courtyard, rooftop decks, private dining and lounge, children’s playroom, business and conference room, and a Jay Wright-designed fitness center.

About Tishman Speyer Tishman Speyer is a leading owner, developer, operator and fund manager of first-class real estate around the world. Tishman Speyer’s visionary leadership team and on-the-ground experts are unparalleled in their ability to foster innovation, anticipate global and local needs, and cultivate new initiatives, such as Zo, Studio and Kin, that focus on the people in their buildings, not just the buildings themselves.

Founded in 1978, Tishman Speyer develops, builds and manages premier office, residential and retail spaces for industry-leading tenants in 29 key markets across the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Tishman Speyer’s portfolio, valued at approximately $94 billion (US) and totaling 175 million square feet across 411 properties, incorporates such iconic projects as Rockefeller Center in New York City, The Springs in Shanghai, TaunusTurm in Frankfurt, and the Mission Rock neighborhood currently being realized in San Francisco.

Photographs: Scott Hargis

MIRA Tower San Francisco Condominiums – Building Information

Address: 280 Spear Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

Sales Gallery: 163 Main Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 415/488-6972

Developer: Tishman Speyer One Bush St., Ste. 500 San Francisco, CA 94104 415/536-1850

Connect: Facebook: @livemirasf Instagram: @livemirasf Website: MIRASF.com

Delivery: Winter 2020

Project:

Located at the corner of Spear and Folsom, MIRA offers creative design, distinctive Description layouts, and expansive views. Designed by award-winning architecture firm Studio Gang, MIRA features a twisting façade and luxury condominium homes that are fresh and forward-thinking, offering potential buyers an opportunity to own a part of an architecturally iconic building in San Francisco.

Developed by Tishman Speyer, MIRA is their latest in a series of high-quality condominium properties where SoMa meets the Embarcadero. This inspired community will include a 40-floor luxury tower of residences topped by a Panorama Collection of penthouse homes offering stunning views and expansive floor plans.

Just steps from the Embarcadero, MIRA delivers convenient access to San Francisco’s wealth of extracurricular activities including waterfront recreation, the city’s buzzing nightlife and restaurants, luxury retailers, iconic landmarks, and local sports and entertainment venues. The property offers valeted and secure underground parking and is situated within walking distance of myriad transportation alternatives including the Salesforce Transit Center, SF Ferry services, BART, MUNI, and Bikeshare, with a projected Walk Score® of 91, Bike Score® of 86, and Transit Score® of 100.

Amenities • Jay Wright-designed Fitness center • Stylish, staffed lobby with lounge areas • Private dining room and amenity lounge with outdoor deck and BBQ • Children’s playroom • Conference room • Dog washing station • Valet parking for 340 cars • Electric vehicle charging stations • Parking for 150 bicycles • Rooftop lounge areas • Landscaped courtyard

Configuration

• The 40-story tower will offer a mix of 392 one-, two- and three-bedroom condominiums, townhouses, and penthouses averaging approximately 1,300 square feet. There will be over 10,000 square feet of retail at street level. The project is targeting LEED Gold certification.

1 Bedrooms: 33 Junior 1 Bedrooms: 5 2 Bedrooms: 153 3 Bedrooms: 17 Townhomes: 8 Panorama Collection: 20 BMR homes (BMR rate is 80-120% of AMI): 156 Total: 392

Contacts

Developer: Tishman Speyer

Architect: Studio Gang Architect

Associate Architect: Perry Arcitects

Associate Architect: Barcelon Jang Architecture

Landscape Architect: INTERSTICE Architects

General Contractor: Lendlease

Structural Engineer: Magnusson Klemencic Assoc.

Civil Engineer: Urban Design Consulting Engineers

Sales and Marketing: Polaris Pacific

Public Relations: Pike & Company Gary Pike, APR, President 132 Hamerton Ave. San Francisco, CA 94131 415/585-2100

The features, finishes and specifications are subject to change.

Studio Gang Architects

MIRA Tower San Francisco Condominiums, California images / information received 060820

Location: San Francisco, California, USA

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San Francisco Architecture News

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Salesforce Tower Office Space Design: Feldman Architecture photograph : Paul Dyer Salesforce Tower Office Space

Peninsula Residence, San Francisco Bay Area, California Design: Richard Beard Architects ; Kelly Hohla Interiors provided interior design photograph : Paul Dyer Peninsula Residence San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Architecture Offices – architecture firm listings on e-architect

The Italian Swiss Colony Building Lobby Architects: jones | haydu photograph : Matthew Millman The Italian Swiss Colony Building Lobby

Big Ranch Road Retreat in the Napa Valley Design: WDA (William Duff Architects) photograph © Matthew Millman Photography Napa Valley Barn Renewal

American Architecture

Comments / photos for the MIRA Tower San Francisco Condominiums Architecture page welcome

Website: San Jose

The post MIRA Tower San Francisco Condominiums appeared first on e-architect.

[gordonwilliamsweb]

California GOP Consultant Rues ‘Big Mistake’ That Led to Family’s COVID Infections

SACRAMENTO — The tweet Richard Costigan posted July 23 was bluntly honest: “We tried our best to limit exposure to #COVID19 but we slipped up somewhere.”

Costigan tweeted while waiting anxiously in the parking lot of a hospital outside Sacramento. The veteran Republican political consultant had just dropped his wife, Gloria, off at the emergency room. He wasn’t allowed to go in with her.

🙏 needed 🚨! My wife is in the #ER as she can’t catch her breath. She has been having severe coughing fits that won’t stop. We tried our best to limit exposure to #COVID19 but we slipped up somewhere. I am coughing as well. This🦠 is nasty. I am waiting in parking lot.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 24, 2020

His thoughts traveled back to the small family gathering they had attended in Georgia nearly two weeks before with their 23-year-old daughter, Emma, and 17-year-old son, Andrew. They had planned it so carefully. Nobody wanted to get Gloria’s 88-year-old mother sick.

But here they were, Costigan’s wife battling for breath in the ER, and Costigan sitting in his car coughing.

The family’s journey since then has been one of sleeplessness, pain and worry about the future. And it’s one that Costigan, who worked as deputy chief of staff for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is taking to social media and his 4,400 Twitter followers.

And our night continues to get worse – now I can’t stop coughing. I am going to need to leave Andrew in the room. #COVIDー19 is insidious – it’s like it knows you are stressed and scared and then decides what can it do to pile on. When we got here – I was fine.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 26, 2020

Looking back, Costigan, 54, doesn’t think he and Gloria, 53, contracted the virus on their separate flights to Georgia, where the family owns a home. The flights were nearly empty and the passengers and crew wore masks, he said.

In Georgia, the family continued its regimen of social distancing and wore masks whenever they left the house — protocols they had followed for months at home in California. And when they gathered with their relatives on that sunny Saturday in July, they were careful to space the chairs 6 feet apart in the backyard.

But they didn’t wear masks, he said, and family members went in and out of the house to grab drinks and use the restroom. “We thought we’d done everything right, and we screwed up,” Costigan said in a July 29 phone interview. “We made a big mistake.”

Now seven of the 10 family members who attended that backyard gathering are sick. Emma and Andrew don’t have any symptoms but haven’t been tested. Exactly who introduced COVID-19 to the group is unclear. No one showed signs of sickness at the time. The first person to become sick was Gloria’s sister, then her niece — then her mom.

Gloria Costigan became sick after they returned to Sacramento, spent a night in the hospital, needed an oxygen machine at home and developed COVID-related pneumonia. By Saturday, however, she no longer needed supplemental oxygen.

Folks please #MaskUp #practicesocialdistancing #StayHome – you cannot get complacent. This 🦠 just needs one small opening and 💥- as of right now half of our family has it. It is scary. Every time I cough now I worry. I can’t see my wife in the hospital.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 24, 2020

Costigan’s reputation as a straight shooter, respected and liked by both Democrats and Republicans, could help change minds about the virus, said Barbara O’Connor, emeritus director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University-Sacramento.

“I think that Richard is being very honest about what’s going on,” said O’Connor, who has known Costigan for decades. “It’s not political. It’s really human.”

Lawmakers who have responded on Twitter with messages of support include state Controller Betty Yee, and state Sens. Richard Bloom and Steve Glazer, all Democrats. Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), a physician who chairs the Senate Health Committee, has texted well wishes to Costigan.

For his followers, Costigan’s chronicles of the virus remain grim.

“I can’t go very far without needing to lay down,” he wrote in a July 25 tweet. “Been sleeping constantly last two days and the joint pain is intense.”

In another tweet two days later, the symptoms were the same:

#Coughing continues, joints ache. All I want to do is lay on the floor and sleep. I have a complete lack of energy. Every time I try to take a deep breath, I start coughing. I just don’t want to move. My wife’s O2 levels are still low even with machine.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 27, 2020

Gloria’s 88-year-old mom is at home with a cough, he said.

Costigan talked to California Healthline about his family’s disease odyssey and what he hopes people will take away from his COVID-19 Twitter chronicles. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: You have tweeted in such detail about the horrible symptoms you experienced. How do you feel now?

My ribs just hurt with the coughing and the fatigue, and my joints hurt. I have the sweats and vivid dreams. I sleep on the floor because it’s more comfortable than the bed.

This thing just hits like a ton of bricks. It’s also the nervousness of it. How long is it going to last? Who are we going to expose to it? I just don’t know what the end game is.

Q: What is it like at your house now?

I wear a mask inside, Gloria wears a mask inside, and Andrew wears a mask. Gloria is sleeping in Emma’s old bedroom, I’m in our bedroom, and Andrew stays upstairs. When I’m hacking, you can see the spit come out. I’m worried about getting pneumonia. That’s something I’m worried about giving to my kid. It’s not just COVID.

Our daughter can only stand on our front porch. She delivers food to us. She puts it by the door, rings the bell and stands 6 feet back.

Q: You suspect you got COVID from the family gathering in Georgia. How do you trace it to that event?

When we looked at everybody that was at the gathering, we were trying to figure it out. It started with my sister-in-law getting sick. Out of 10 of us, seven of us are sick.

We never thought of our family being the one to harm us. Sometimes, you can’t control your anger. You want to be mad at someone. Gloria and I just decided we’re not going to blame anyone. We just don’t know who had it.

Q: How has this experience been so far for you and your family?

It’s been a bizarre week. I went to Kaiser Thursday night. You drop your significant other off. You can’t go in. Off they go to the tented area and I wait in the parking lot. She is admitted. Her oxygen levels are low. She gets a CT, she gets a shot in her stomach for possible blood clots. She gets out Friday and they send oxygen tanks to your house. … She’s in her early 50s and doesn’t have any health issues [otherwise].

Saturday, my son is doubling over in pain. I end up in the ER with my son, and I start coughing. I’m getting the side eye from everyone. Thankfully, he had a kidney stone.

Q: What kind of precautions have you and your family taken these past few months?

We hadn’t been anywhere for months. It was: Stay home. Work from home. No school.

Going to the store was extremely stressful. You go to the store, mask up, glove up, you bleach your shoes when you come home, spray down your car, wash your hands, use a towel to dry your hands, the towel goes straight into the washing machine.

Our son got frustrated with us because we wouldn’t let him see his friends. He saw photos of friends of his partying at Folsom Lake. We were the hardcore parents.

Q: In posts on social media, you are asking people to wear a mask. Why do you think it’s become a political issue?

I’ve been taking flak from friends of mine because I’ve been posting “wear a mask.” Wearing a mask — somehow it has become a freedom issue. It’s not a grand conspiracy. Wearing a mask is a simple thing to do to prevent someone else from getting sick. I do not understand how this has turned into a political issue. The government has a role to play. This is a health care crisis.

It’s been a tough 48 hours – two trips the ER. First my wife, Gloria who is now home, and now Andrew who just was taken for a CT scan. Folks – this 🦠 is bad. Please Please Please take precautions. #mask #maskup #practicesocialdistancing — Our medical professionals are amazing! pic.twitter.com/nW0GZHwpji

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 26, 2020

Q: How do you move forward in this pandemic?

We’re locking down. Nobody is coming into our circle. I don’t want it again. To see my wife this way is hard.

I want folks to realize this thing is non-discriminatory. It doesn’t matter who you are.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

California GOP Consultant Rues ‘Big Mistake’ That Led to Family’s COVID Infections published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[dinafbrownil]

California GOP Consultant Rues ‘Big Mistake’ That Led to Family’s COVID Infections

SACRAMENTO — The tweet Richard Costigan posted July 23 was bluntly honest: “We tried our best to limit exposure to #COVID19 but we slipped up somewhere.”

Costigan tweeted while waiting anxiously in the parking lot of a hospital outside Sacramento. The veteran Republican political consultant had just dropped his wife, Gloria, off at the emergency room. He wasn’t allowed to go in with her.

🙏 needed 🚨! My wife is in the #ER as she can’t catch her breath. She has been having severe coughing fits that won’t stop. We tried our best to limit exposure to #COVID19 but we slipped up somewhere. I am coughing as well. This🦠 is nasty. I am waiting in parking lot.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 24, 2020

His thoughts traveled back to the small family gathering they had attended in Georgia nearly two weeks before with their 23-year-old daughter, Emma, and 17-year-old son, Andrew. They had planned it so carefully. Nobody wanted to get Gloria’s 88-year-old mother sick.

But here they were, Costigan’s wife battling for breath in the ER, and Costigan sitting in his car coughing.

The family’s journey since then has been one of sleeplessness, pain and worry about the future. And it’s one that Costigan, who worked as deputy chief of staff for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is taking to social media and his 4,400 Twitter followers.

And our night continues to get worse – now I can’t stop coughing. I am going to need to leave Andrew in the room. #COVIDー19 is insidious – it’s like it knows you are stressed and scared and then decides what can it do to pile on. When we got here – I was fine.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 26, 2020

Looking back, Costigan, 54, doesn’t think he and Gloria, 53, contracted the virus on their separate flights to Georgia, where the family owns a home. The flights were nearly empty and the passengers and crew wore masks, he said.

In Georgia, the family continued its regimen of social distancing and wore masks whenever they left the house — protocols they had followed for months at home in California. And when they gathered with their relatives on that sunny Saturday in July, they were careful to space the chairs 6 feet apart in the backyard.

But they didn’t wear masks, he said, and family members went in and out of the house to grab drinks and use the restroom. “We thought we’d done everything right, and we screwed up,” Costigan said in a July 29 phone interview. “We made a big mistake.”

Now seven of the 10 family members who attended that backyard gathering are sick. Emma and Andrew don’t have any symptoms but haven’t been tested. Exactly who introduced COVID-19 to the group is unclear. No one showed signs of sickness at the time. The first person to become sick was Gloria’s sister, then her niece — then her mom.

Gloria Costigan became sick after they returned to Sacramento, spent a night in the hospital, needed an oxygen machine at home and developed COVID-related pneumonia. By Saturday, however, she no longer needed supplemental oxygen.

Folks please #MaskUp #practicesocialdistancing #StayHome – you cannot get complacent. This 🦠 just needs one small opening and 💥- as of right now half of our family has it. It is scary. Every time I cough now I worry. I can’t see my wife in the hospital.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 24, 2020

Costigan’s reputation as a straight shooter, respected and liked by both Democrats and Republicans, could help change minds about the virus, said Barbara O’Connor, emeritus director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University-Sacramento.

“I think that Richard is being very honest about what’s going on,” said O’Connor, who has known Costigan for decades. “It’s not political. It’s really human.”

Lawmakers who have responded on Twitter with messages of support include state Controller Betty Yee, and state Sens. Richard Bloom and Steve Glazer, all Democrats. Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), a physician who chairs the Senate Health Committee, has texted well wishes to Costigan.

For his followers, Costigan’s chronicles of the virus remain grim.

“I can’t go very far without needing to lay down,” he wrote in a July 25 tweet. “Been sleeping constantly last two days and the joint pain is intense.”

In another tweet two days later, the symptoms were the same:

#Coughing continues, joints ache. All I want to do is lay on the floor and sleep. I have a complete lack of energy. Every time I try to take a deep breath, I start coughing. I just don’t want to move. My wife’s O2 levels are still low even with machine.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 27, 2020

Gloria’s 88-year-old mom is at home with a cough, he said.

Costigan talked to California Healthline about his family’s disease odyssey and what he hopes people will take away from his COVID-19 Twitter chronicles. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: You have tweeted in such detail about the horrible symptoms you experienced. How do you feel now?

My ribs just hurt with the coughing and the fatigue, and my joints hurt. I have the sweats and vivid dreams. I sleep on the floor because it’s more comfortable than the bed.

This thing just hits like a ton of bricks. It’s also the nervousness of it. How long is it going to last? Who are we going to expose to it? I just don’t know what the end game is.

Q: What is it like at your house now?

I wear a mask inside, Gloria wears a mask inside, and Andrew wears a mask. Gloria is sleeping in Emma’s old bedroom, I’m in our bedroom, and Andrew stays upstairs. When I’m hacking, you can see the spit come out. I’m worried about getting pneumonia. That’s something I’m worried about giving to my kid. It’s not just COVID.

Our daughter can only stand on our front porch. She delivers food to us. She puts it by the door, rings the bell and stands 6 feet back.

Q: You suspect you got COVID from the family gathering in Georgia. How do you trace it to that event?

When we looked at everybody that was at the gathering, we were trying to figure it out. It started with my sister-in-law getting sick. Out of 10 of us, seven of us are sick.

We never thought of our family being the one to harm us. Sometimes, you can’t control your anger. You want to be mad at someone. Gloria and I just decided we’re not going to blame anyone. We just don’t know who had it.

Q: How has this experience been so far for you and your family?

It’s been a bizarre week. I went to Kaiser Thursday night. You drop your significant other off. You can’t go in. Off they go to the tented area and I wait in the parking lot. She is admitted. Her oxygen levels are low. She gets a CT, she gets a shot in her stomach for possible blood clots. She gets out Friday and they send oxygen tanks to your house. … She’s in her early 50s and doesn’t have any health issues [otherwise].

Saturday, my son is doubling over in pain. I end up in the ER with my son, and I start coughing. I’m getting the side eye from everyone. Thankfully, he had a kidney stone.

Q: What kind of precautions have you and your family taken these past few months?

We hadn’t been anywhere for months. It was: Stay home. Work from home. No school.

Going to the store was extremely stressful. You go to the store, mask up, glove up, you bleach your shoes when you come home, spray down your car, wash your hands, use a towel to dry your hands, the towel goes straight into the washing machine.

Our son got frustrated with us because we wouldn’t let him see his friends. He saw photos of friends of his partying at Folsom Lake. We were the hardcore parents.

Q: In posts on social media, you are asking people to wear a mask. Why do you think it’s become a political issue?

I’ve been taking flak from friends of mine because I’ve been posting “wear a mask.” Wearing a mask — somehow it has become a freedom issue. It’s not a grand conspiracy. Wearing a mask is a simple thing to do to prevent someone else from getting sick. I do not understand how this has turned into a political issue. The government has a role to play. This is a health care crisis.

It’s been a tough 48 hours – two trips the ER. First my wife, Gloria who is now home, and now Andrew who just was taken for a CT scan. Folks – this 🦠 is bad. Please Please Please take precautions. #mask #maskup #practicesocialdistancing — Our medical professionals are amazing! pic.twitter.com/nW0GZHwpji

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 26, 2020

Q: How do you move forward in this pandemic?

We’re locking down. Nobody is coming into our circle. I don’t want it again. To see my wife this way is hard.

I want folks to realize this thing is non-discriminatory. It doesn’t matter who you are.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/california-gop-consultant-rues-big-mistake-that-led-to-familys-covid-infections/

[stephenmccull]

California GOP Consultant Rues ‘Big Mistake’ That Led to Family’s COVID Infections

SACRAMENTO — The tweet Richard Costigan posted July 23 was bluntly honest: “We tried our best to limit exposure to #COVID19 but we slipped up somewhere.”

Costigan tweeted while waiting anxiously in the parking lot of a hospital outside Sacramento. The veteran Republican political consultant had just dropped his wife, Gloria, off at the emergency room. He wasn’t allowed to go in with her.

🙏 needed 🚨! My wife is in the #ER as she can’t catch her breath. She has been having severe coughing fits that won’t stop. We tried our best to limit exposure to #COVID19 but we slipped up somewhere. I am coughing as well. This🦠 is nasty. I am waiting in parking lot.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 24, 2020

His thoughts traveled back to the small family gathering they had attended in Georgia nearly two weeks before with their 23-year-old daughter, Emma, and 17-year-old son, Andrew. They had planned it so carefully. Nobody wanted to get Gloria’s 88-year-old mother sick.

But here they were, Costigan’s wife battling for breath in the ER, and Costigan sitting in his car coughing.

The family’s journey since then has been one of sleeplessness, pain and worry about the future. And it’s one that Costigan, who worked as deputy chief of staff for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is taking to social media and his 4,400 Twitter followers.

And our night continues to get worse – now I can’t stop coughing. I am going to need to leave Andrew in the room. #COVIDー19 is insidious – it’s like it knows you are stressed and scared and then decides what can it do to pile on. When we got here – I was fine.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 26, 2020

Looking back, Costigan, 54, doesn’t think he and Gloria, 53, contracted the virus on their separate flights to Georgia, where the family owns a home. The flights were nearly empty and the passengers and crew wore masks, he said.

In Georgia, the family continued its regimen of social distancing and wore masks whenever they left the house — protocols they had followed for months at home in California. And when they gathered with their relatives on that sunny Saturday in July, they were careful to space the chairs 6 feet apart in the backyard.

But they didn’t wear masks, he said, and family members went in and out of the house to grab drinks and use the restroom. “We thought we’d done everything right, and we screwed up,” Costigan said in a July 29 phone interview. “We made a big mistake.”

Now seven of the 10 family members who attended that backyard gathering are sick. Emma and Andrew don’t have any symptoms but haven’t been tested. Exactly who introduced COVID-19 to the group is unclear. No one showed signs of sickness at the time. The first person to become sick was Gloria’s sister, then her niece — then her mom.

Gloria Costigan became sick after they returned to Sacramento, spent a night in the hospital, needed an oxygen machine at home and developed COVID-related pneumonia. By Saturday, however, she no longer needed supplemental oxygen.

Folks please #MaskUp #practicesocialdistancing #StayHome – you cannot get complacent. This 🦠 just needs one small opening and 💥- as of right now half of our family has it. It is scary. Every time I cough now I worry. I can’t see my wife in the hospital.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 24, 2020

Costigan’s reputation as a straight shooter, respected and liked by both Democrats and Republicans, could help change minds about the virus, said Barbara O’Connor, emeritus director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University-Sacramento.

“I think that Richard is being very honest about what’s going on,” said O’Connor, who has known Costigan for decades. “It’s not political. It���s really human.”

Lawmakers who have responded on Twitter with messages of support include state Controller Betty Yee, and state Sens. Richard Bloom and Steve Glazer, all Democrats. Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), a physician who chairs the Senate Health Committee, has texted well wishes to Costigan.

For his followers, Costigan’s chronicles of the virus remain grim.

“I can’t go very far without needing to lay down,” he wrote in a July 25 tweet. “Been sleeping constantly last two days and the joint pain is intense.”

In another tweet two days later, the symptoms were the same:

#Coughing continues, joints ache. All I want to do is lay on the floor and sleep. I have a complete lack of energy. Every time I try to take a deep breath, I start coughing. I just don’t want to move. My wife’s O2 levels are still low even with machine.

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 27, 2020

Gloria’s 88-year-old mom is at home with a cough, he said.

Costigan talked to California Healthline about his family’s disease odyssey and what he hopes people will take away from his COVID-19 Twitter chronicles. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: You have tweeted in such detail about the horrible symptoms you experienced. How do you feel now?

My ribs just hurt with the coughing and the fatigue, and my joints hurt. I have the sweats and vivid dreams. I sleep on the floor because it’s more comfortable than the bed.

This thing just hits like a ton of bricks. It’s also the nervousness of it. How long is it going to last? Who are we going to expose to it? I just don’t know what the end game is.

Q: What is it like at your house now?

I wear a mask inside, Gloria wears a mask inside, and Andrew wears a mask. Gloria is sleeping in Emma’s old bedroom, I’m in our bedroom, and Andrew stays upstairs. When I’m hacking, you can see the spit come out. I’m worried about getting pneumonia. That’s something I’m worried about giving to my kid. It’s not just COVID.

Our daughter can only stand on our front porch. She delivers food to us. She puts it by the door, rings the bell and stands 6 feet back.

Q: You suspect you got COVID from the family gathering in Georgia. How do you trace it to that event?

When we looked at everybody that was at the gathering, we were trying to figure it out. It started with my sister-in-law getting sick. Out of 10 of us, seven of us are sick.

We never thought of our family being the one to harm us. Sometimes, you can’t control your anger. You want to be mad at someone. Gloria and I just decided we’re not going to blame anyone. We just don’t know who had it.

Q: How has this experience been so far for you and your family?

It’s been a bizarre week. I went to Kaiser Thursday night. You drop your significant other off. You can’t go in. Off they go to the tented area and I wait in the parking lot. She is admitted. Her oxygen levels are low. She gets a CT, she gets a shot in her stomach for possible blood clots. She gets out Friday and they send oxygen tanks to your house. … She’s in her early 50s and doesn’t have any health issues [otherwise].

Saturday, my son is doubling over in pain. I end up in the ER with my son, and I start coughing. I’m getting the side eye from everyone. Thankfully, he had a kidney stone.

Q: What kind of precautions have you and your family taken these past few months?

We hadn’t been anywhere for months. It was: Stay home. Work from home. No school.

Going to the store was extremely stressful. You go to the store, mask up, glove up, you bleach your shoes when you come home, spray down your car, wash your hands, use a towel to dry your hands, the towel goes straight into the washing machine.

Our son got frustrated with us because we wouldn’t let him see his friends. He saw photos of friends of his partying at Folsom Lake. We were the hardcore parents.

Q: In posts on social media, you are asking people to wear a mask. Why do you think it’s become a political issue?

I’ve been taking flak from friends of mine because I’ve been posting “wear a mask.” Wearing a mask — somehow it has become a freedom issue. It’s not a grand conspiracy. Wearing a mask is a simple thing to do to prevent someone else from getting sick. I do not understand how this has turned into a political issue. The government has a role to play. This is a health care crisis.

It’s been a tough 48 hours – two trips the ER. First my wife, Gloria who is now home, and now Andrew who just was taken for a CT scan. Folks – this 🦠 is bad. Please Please Please take precautions. #mask #maskup #practicesocialdistancing — Our medical professionals are amazing! pic.twitter.com/nW0GZHwpji

— Richard Costigan (@richardcostigan) July 26, 2020

Q: How do you move forward in this pandemic?

We’re locking down. Nobody is coming into our circle. I don’t want it again. To see my wife this way is hard.

I want folks to realize this thing is non-discriminatory. It doesn’t matter who you are.

This KHN story first published on California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

California GOP Consultant Rues ‘Big Mistake’ That Led to Family’s COVID Infections published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[chimaeracabra]

Nathan's plug fell out when we were taking a shower last night. The back went down the drain but I got the plug itself before it could follow. I feel like it was my fault because of how I went behind his ears while washing his hair. But at least he didn't blame me, and I got the plug before it could go down the drain. Sure he would have been more bummed if THAT had also gone down the drain.

So we went to DV8 in Roseville so he could get a new back for it. When we got to the shop, we saw Jeffrey (his friend that I met before who does tattoos). He hugged us both. Lol, yesterday I posted on Jeffrey's timeline on Facebook that we drove by there and saw him outside the shop talking to someone (when we were on our way to Folsom lake).

Nathan talked to an artist that did his tattoos years ago named Ant, and rescheduled his tattoo appointment to June 5th, which was supposed to happen yesterday, but Ant never responded 🙄 Nate wants to cover up his Underoath tattoo and get full sleeves, and something on his hand. He said when he was little, kids used to make fun of how pale he is. And I said it's great because he's a blank canvas. And he can do colors because they'll actually show on him. Anyway, the same guy that pierced my nose back in October gave Nate the backs for his plugs, but by the time we got to the car, he tried fitting the backs on and realized they were too large. We got out of the truck and started walking back and then Nathan didn't want to go back in because it was too busy. So we drove around Roseville and searched about 3 different tattoo shops, one of which was tattoo only, and another one didn't have the right size backs. So, we drove BACK to one we had visited after DV8 where the guy tattooing a black woman said that the piercer there would not be back until 3:30PM. And we waited there like an hour and 5 minutes at the front on a bench and Nathan brought over some of the tattoo albums. He whispered to me how crappy the art was and we laughed under our breath at how bad a lot of it was. Finally, the woman who does piercing at that shop came back and she found the right size backs for Nate's plugs. They only cost him $4.

Then we stopped by Chipotle and Nathan bought me the vegan bowl. I got myself some chips and salsa and he got himself a turkey and chicken burrito.

We went back to the house and ate while watching The Office before walking Nero and then went to Walmart for more almond milk. We keep drinking smoothies. Just almond milk and frozen fruit is amazing! Nate puts peanutbutter in his. We came back and had our smoothies and watched The Office. Now Nate is sleeping like an old man and I'm going to shower soon and paint my toenails this beautiful yellow polish I bought yesterday at Ulta.

Lol I kept telling Nathan to go to sleep and he said, "No, because I have to worry about you running around and hurting yourself." He always makes weird jokes.

[mcvfd]

Interlude: Honey Heist

As an interlude between seasons, the gang played a one-off game called Honey Heist, where the characters play criminals trying to execute a complex plan that requires precise timing, and also they are GODDAMN BEARS.

CHARACTERS:

Jen: Mr Bellflower, grizzly bear, washed up muscle, but still terrifying. Dressed in a beige trench coat, peach velour bellbottoms, a flat cap, and a button reading "BEAR AND PROUD"

Steve: Mr Goldenrod, panda bear, adorable but incompetent hacker. Dressed in a powder blue frilly t-shirt, blue denim smart trousers, a beautiful blond wig and a crown.

Vicki: Mr Razzmatazz, honey badger, slick face-bear specializing in carnage. Dressed in a black-and-white crop top, leopard-print skirt, trilby hat, and cool shades.

Mart: Mr Amber, polar bear, retired driver, excellent swimmer. Dressed in a fluorescent yellow tuxedo shirt, grey y-fronts, a top hat & monocle, and a cowboy hat.

SCENARIO:

Dangerous truck convey is coming through our woods, we want to steal the queen bee and get all the honey ever. The queen bee is being delivered to a honey convention in Fresno and we know the route that’ll be taken to deliver it.

——PLANNING DISCUSSION——

Steve suggests hacking the traffic lights in the woods (they’re there to keep deer from running into each other).

We apparently had a Vespa riding koala that radios in from down the road that there are 2 hummers, one in front and one behind the semi truck containing the queen bee. Several people in each hummer.

Order of operations:

Honey badger shred the wheels of the back hummer.

Grizzly maul the occupants of the first hummer.

Polar bear takes over the semi truck.

Panda bear hacks the traffic lights to make the convoy stop and then drives the school bus in front of them, then hacks their phones and sends them pictures from each other’s photo rolls to there.

Group meets up at the animal cracker factory afterwards if we get split up.

Alternatively going to Folsom street to blend in with the bears??

And now our semi truck might be disguised as a big black dildo.

And we may be driving into the Robin William’s tunnel.

We have a small squad of red panda mechanics waiting in the tunnel (we are giving the school bus to them afterwards).

——LET’S GO——

Steve is ready to hack the traffic lights and drive into the intersection. First there’s a series of screens where Steve is furiously typing in credentials and solving mini-games (there’s a lot of “Access Denied”) but then he’s able to reroute the IP address to the GUI and suppress the packets somehow so then the screen turns green and Steve says “Give me a real challenge” and then he hangs out until the convoy approaches. Then he turns their light red and his light green and then rolls the school bus right in front of the front hummer.

Jen bursts out of the safety doors of the bus and gets her paws underneath the front bumper of the hummer and uses her terrify skill. She flips the car so hard it goes end over and and lands upside-down and people are pancaked and can’t get out. The people in the car are stunned for a bit until they crawl out.

Mart was hiding in the woods about a hummer’s distance away from the road, strolls up to the semi truck with some attitude because he’s an old bear. As he approaches the semi, there is a driver just wearing a jumpsuit (not a fully armed guard) but there is a passenger that is fully armed. They see a bear coming in a fluorescent yellow tux and cowboy hat and freak out. Mart wrenches the door right off the truck and then throws the driver and the door off the road. Then he throws a couple of scary swipes at the guard, who freaks out and leaves.

Vicki does a drive-by swipe at the back wheels, and manages to get the front wheel too. The back hummer won’t be able to chase us later. Vicki then keeps going forward and comes face to face to the passenger running out of the semi truck. In a fluid motion, she swipes at the radio (that is also making an ear-splitting shriek since Steve didn’t manage to properly scramble the radios) and accidentally comes away with a few fingers.

Jen climbs back into the school bus after she sees everything going down. Steve accidentally keeps burning the clutch and stalling the school bus for a little bit (bears aren’t good at driving stick). He manages to get it moving, but it takes long enough that some of the guards have run up to the semi.

Mart watches the rearview mirror and then tries to maul the guy’s face off just as he gets close enough to see there may be a bear in the car, but the guy wasn’t as close to the semi as he hoped. Vicki waits until the guy gets up to the window and jumps at his face and starts fucking his shit up and then jumps right back in. Steve is able to get the school bus going, so Mart puts his foot down in the truck and starts driving out of sight of the guy with a gun.

Steve, Jen and Vicki see a blinking red light on top of the semi where there wasn’t one before. Steve doesn’t recognize it visually but sees the distinctive signature of a remote controlled bomb on his chart of electromagnetic things. Steve and Jen successfully driver swap (not their first time), and then Steve makes his way to the back of the bus to jump onto the hood of the semi.

Steve climbs to the top and see a bunch of C4 strapped to the top, most likely with a dead man’s switch held by some guard that we left behind). The beeping gets faster and he just barely manages to defuse it in time. We reach the turnaround spot and start heading down to San Francisco, but now there’s a police chopper with a spotlight on us following us down.

Audience wait in anticipation, it’s a tense but cinematic scene as the helicopter follows the crew all the way to a tunnel. The bus and semi barrel in and the helicopter goes to the other side waiting for us….. and then there’s a scene of red pandas rushing to the vehicles, bolting on everything that we had asked for. And then suddenly a giant black dildo truck comes out of the tunnel, ejaculating glitter. The helicopter’s spotlight shines onto the semi-dick.. and then they pass by unscathed.

They get to Folsom, and then get to a garage. They park the truck and open up the back — and see hundreds of containers of bear-shaped honey, and a bee hive packed in styrofoam and labeled “Endangered”. Everyone hi-fives.

——HEIST COMPLETE——

[ethelbertpaul444-blog]

25 Surprising Facts About Americas Most Infamous First Ladies

The position of First lady seems like more than a full-time activity; women who occupy its own position are examined to for than politics. First Ladies were supposed to be little more than mouthpieces, but many have rotated the role into something special. Some of our most popular First Ladies exerted that are affecting to pave the way for real societal change, to champ causes, and to succeed alongside their Presidential spouses. There hasn’t yet been a girl President, right? You might reflect again after seeing what some of our most prolific First lady did with their time in the White House! Advertisement div > Don’t menace Nellie Taft with a good time. div > via: Getty Images Helen Herron “Nellie” Taft, the partner of President William Howard Taft, was the first First Lady to own and drive a car, inhale cigarettes, write her own memoir, frankly support women’s suffrage, and travel in the President’s inaugural ceremony. She’s too responsible for the abundance of cherry trees in Washington! Advertisement div > div > Abigail Adams, or should we say the co-President? div > via: Getty Images Abigail Adams, while a First Lady, was rarely refers to as “Lady.” Instead, as a key advisor to the President with a keen mind for politics, she was often refers to as “Mrs. President.” Advertisement div > div > Dolley Madison was already a semi-First Lady when her husband won the Presidency. div > via: Getty Images Because his precede, Thomas Jefferson, was a widower and James Madison was Jefferson’s Secretary of State, Dolley acted as a hostess and accomplished usual “First Lady” functions. Advertisement div > div > Dolley Madison to the save! div > Dolley Madison was likewise the only First Lady to be given an honorary seat in Congress. She’s considered a hero for saving important the documentation and a photograph of George Washington when the British burned the White House down in 1814. Advertisement div > div > The first female President has kind of already been a thing. div > via: Getty Images Edith Wilson actually took over decision-making for the President when Woodrow Wilson suffered a severe stroke in 1919. It’s still iffy how many decisions made during Woodrow’s illness and recovery were Edith’s work, though it is assumed that she was basically acting as President for those working months. Which First Lady’s love life led to a spectacular Italian elopement? Keep reading to be informed about! Advertisement First Lady, first blogger, all-around badass. div > Eleanor Roosevelt was virtually the nation’s First Lady blogger, in that she wrote a newspaper column announced “My Day, ” describing her political goals and personal life. She hosted a weekly radio present and comprised routine press conferences. Eleanor likewise learned to shoot her own handgun rather than circumvented herself with Secret Service constantly. Advertisement div > div > Eleanor likewise moved with the one and only Amelia Earhart. div > via: Getty Images Mrs. Roosevelt was also the first First Lady to move in an airplane, after she snuck out of a White House dinner with Amelia Earhart. The two hijacked an aircraft and wasted the night floating over Baltimore! Advertisement div > div > Martha Washington will always be THE First Lady. div > via: Getty Images Martha was the first to be dubbed “Lady” by the press, called “Lady Washington, ” and was the first First lady to appear on a US postage stamp. Advertisement div > div > Why hasn’t the romantic drama of Rose Cleveland’s life been made into a movie yet? div > via: Wikipedia Rose Cleveland was the sister of President Grover Cleveland. He eventually married Frances Folsom and she grew the First lady, but before this, Rose handled their exercise of a First Lady. She also fell in love with a woman called Evangeline, and though the two separated when Evangeline marriage a bishop, they revived the relations between the two countries after his death and moved to Italy together. Rose lived the rest of her life living with Evangeline in Bagni di Lucca. Advertisement div > div > Meanwhile, back in Washington… div > via: Getty Images Frances Cleveland( nee Fulsom) is still the youngest First Lady. She wedded Grover Cleveland at the age of 21, and is the only First lady to marry and give birth in the White House. You’ll never guess which First Lady was sidekicks with the mythical captain: Amelia Earhart! Advertisement Anna Harrison never even lived in the White House. div > via: Wikipedia Anna Harrison had the shortest term as First Lady ever. Her partner, William Henry Harrison, died from illness only a month after induction, and she had been too ill to affiliates him in the White House before he died. Advertisement div > div > Being decorated for 20 hours? No thanks! div > via: Getty Images First Lady Sarah Polk was the first First Lady to be photographed while in Office. She was also a strict Presbyterian, and restricted cards, dancing, and strong drink from the White House. Advertisement div > div > Eliza Johnson educated her husband how to read and write. div > via: Getty Images Both of those things are pretty essential for a President, and Andrew Johnson was barely be permitted to do either when he married Eliza. Advertisement div > div > Florence Harding was all about the 19 th Amendment. div > via: Getty Images The first First lady to honestly campaign for her husband, Florence Harding understood the Washington media and often hung out with movie stars at the White House. She was also the first to vote in an election. Advertisement div > div > Lucretia Garfield connected the ranks of women’s suffrage crusaders. div > via: Getty Images First Lady Garfield was a vehement early proponent of equal pay for women, even asking that the female specialist listening her husband on his deathbed be compensated fairly. First Ladies can be the breadwinners extremely! One of them was even a millionaire before her husband resided the stronger plight in the two countries. Read on to find out who! Advertisement Bess Truman was not a fan of the D.C. area. div > via: Getty Images Hailing from Missouri, First lady Truman was often homesick and toured home as frequently as possible. She even disliked how her laundry was be done in order to Washington, and would obstinately communicate her laundry all the action back to Kansas City to be washed. Advertisement div > div > Which would you preferably have: Easter eggs or booze? div > via: Getty Images Lucy Hayes( bride of President Rutherford B. Hayes ), inaugurated the lore of hosting an Easter egg roll on the White House lawn. She also restricted all alcoholic beverages from the White House, for which people took to calling her “Lemonade Lucy.” Advertisement div > div > Mary Lincoln also had an interesting romantic history. div > via: Getty Images Mary Todd Lincoln was law by her husband’s notorious government challenger, Stephen Douglas, before ultimately marriage Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Too, they had an roughly comically cute meridian gap, with him standing at 6’4” and her at 5’2”. Advertisement div > div > Betty Ford was known for her impartial approaching as First Lady. div > via: Getty Images She was unapologetically in favor of equal salary and gun control, pro-choice, and a feminist who preached for equal compensate. She too invoked awareness of addiction, being the first First Lady to make public her contends with alcoholism. She even founded an booze and dose therapy center in California. Advertisement div > div > Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson constructed bank before ever becoming First Lady. div > via: Getty Images Lady Bird is the first First lady to become a millionaire in her own right, after serving as president of the LBJ Holding Co ., and the investment in radio and television stations. Next up, there have been a few First lady in more recent years who have re-defined what has become a “First Lady” necessitates. Speak on to find out how! Advertisement Rosalynn Carter was accused of transgressing the covers of a “First Lady.” div > via: Getty Images But she was having none of that! First Lady Carter refused to bend to heritage and prevented herself fully informed, sitting in on Cabinet fills, and concerning herself in activism and humanitarian efforts. In 1979, TIME Magazine called her “the second more powerful party in the United States.” Advertisement div > div > Three First Ladies have passed away while in the White House. div > via: Getty Images Letitia Tyler( depicted above) vanished of a stroking in 1842, Caroline Harrison of tuberculosis in 1892, and Ellen Wilson due to Bright’s Disease in 1914. Advertisement div > div > Eleven dames have acted as the Second Lady( which is the partner of the Vice President) and then later became the First Lady. div > via: Getty Images In chronological order, we have: Abigail Adams, Letitia Tyler, Abigail Fillmore, Eliza Johnson, Edith Roosevelt, Grace Coolidge, Bess Truman, Pat Nixon, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Barbara Bush( portrait above ). Advertisement div > div > Let a girl wear breathes, already! div > via: Getty Images Pat Nixon was the first First lady to regarded a graduate degree, and, oddly enough, the first to wear throbs in a public forum. Advertisement div > div > Hillary Clinton, unsurprisingly, fills a ton of First Lady ‘firsts.SSSS div > via: Getty Images These include prevailing elected power( as a senator of New York ), prevailing a Grammy, and serving in the Cabinet as Secretary of State. She’s too, of course, the first First lady to run for President, be nominated by a major U.S. registered political party, and to have won the popular vote in a U.S. Presidential Election. Like this story? Share these facts about some of our country’s truly remarkable ladies with your best friend! Advertisement Read more: http :// twentytwowords.com/ surprising-facts-about-americas-most-infamous-first-ladies /~ ATAGEND http://dailybuzznetwork.com/index.php/2018/06/14/25-surprising-facts-about-americas-most-infamous-first-ladies/

[yeelawgrouppc-blog]

Starting a Childcare Business: What You Need To Know

As long as there are parents, there is a ready-made market for child care professionals. For some, the best way to take advantage of their skills is to start a childcare business. However, there are licensing and liability concerns that need to be addressed before you start looking after children during the day.

You Will Likely Need a License

Most states or local jurisdictions require that care providers have a license. It may also be necessary to submit to an inspection of any premises that will be used to provide care. You should do regular inspections on your own to make sure that there aren't any safety hazards for your children.

For instance, you should make sure that they can't touch a stove or or that there aren't any small toys to choke on. It will also be important to make sure that you don't have more children in your home or place of business than allowed by law. In addition to potential financial or criminal penalties that may be levied, having too many children in one space could increase the odds of injury.

What Type of Structure Will You Choose?

It may be best to organize your company as an LLC or corporate entity. This is because liability is limited to the assets within the company as opposed to your personal assets. Knowing that your home or car isn't as risk if a child gets hurt can give you peace of mind in addition to being a smart business decision.

Buy Liability Insurance

Although you may not be personally liable for any damages incurred by your business, they will still need to be paid somehow. A business insurance policy may provide much or all the money needed to pay a judgment or handle other emergencies that come up. Talking with an attorney as well as an insurance agent to determine an adequate level of coverage for your facility.

Perform Regular Health and Safety Checks

There are many ways in which a child could get sick or injured. If you allow a sick child into your home or place of business, that child could get others sick by sharing toys or sharing a sleeping area. Infants and toddlers are especially vulnerable to getting sick, and it is possible that some have not yet been vaccinated or immunized. Therefore, bedding should be washed and cleaned daily, food should be inspected regularly, and dirty diapers should be thrown out immediately.

It may be a good idea to create a written policy regarding children who are sick or have yet to be vaccinated. It may also be a good idea to create a written policy as to you deal with children who do get hurt or sick while in your care. This may help to guard against liability issues in the event of a personal injury claim against your business.

If you are ready to start a childcare business, make sure to consult with a business attorney first such as the top business formation lawyer Folsom CA locals trust. It may also be a good idea to read up on local, state and federal laws that govern where and how you may take care of children. Doing so may increase the odds that your business is ready to meet the needs of the children while doing so in accordance with the law.

Thanks to authors at Yee Law Group PLLC for their insight into Business Law.

[robertvasquez763]

What the Killers Left Us: Tracing the Saint Francis Dam Disaster in a 2017 Porsche 911 Turbo S

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William Mulholland was a ditch digger turned emperor, an Irish immigrant who presided over the transformation of Los Angeles from a dusty backwater settlement to the tail that wags the golden bear. Monterey Bay had been the first port of major import in California, and its namesake city was its first capital. San Francisco and Sacramento grew up as a result of the Gold Rush; the former was a debarkation point for the gold fields of the western Sierra, and the latter—at the crotch of the gold-bearing American River and the bay-connected Sacramento—thrived first on the comings and goings of those bound for golden glory, then as the state capital, profiting from the goings-on of governing what became the most populous state in the union. Los Angeles, though? Everybody knew that was nowhere.

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The Owens River in 2008. Its parched valley was once an agricultural idyll. Its purloined waters filled the Saint Francis Reservoir via the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

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The semi-arid strip trapped between the Transverse Ranges and the Pacific was barely livable, with only the Los Angeles River to keep its thirst slaked. Its harbor, now one of the primary economic engines of California, was too shallow for any serious shipping without dredging. Because of its lack of habitable area owing to a paucity of fresh water, the City of Angels seemed to be doomed to its status as a town of little consequence. As the chief engineer of the Bureau of Water Works and Supply, Mulholland, with the aid of some of L.A.’s most prominent men, cajoled, connived, and some would say outright stole the water rights from farmers up in the Owens Valley, a remote area of agricultural land sandwiched between the majestic Eastern Sierra and the Inyo Mountains. In 1928, after having paved the way for a modern metropolis that dictates much of the way America thinks, eats, shops, listens, and views the West Coast, Mulholland’s seemingly unstoppable rise came to a shattering halt up on San Francisquito Creek.

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In the heat of the summer, San Francisquito Creek is a completely unassuming trickle through a desert canyon northeast of Los Angeles.

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In the Los Angeles that Mulholland irrigated, a mid-century Eden built on the back of bustling aerospace, entertainment, and petroleum industries, Johnny von Neumann, an Austrian émigré, began selling Ferry Porsche’s little Volkswagen-based sports cars via his Competition Motors shop. Porsche has often regarded California as its most important market in the world, and von Neumann’s shop was the beachhead from which that market sprang. East Coast importer Max Hoffman’s idea for a stripped-down, open 356 found a home here, and there are few cars more emblematic of the Golden State’s salad days as the world’s automotive epicenter than the beloved Speedster.

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The area’s affluence, scenery, and obsession with the automobile all came together with the weather, which encouraged year-round cruises to the beach or blasts through the area’s numerous canyons. If Porsche’s literal home lies on the Swabian autobahn, Southern California played nearly as important a role in its development, standing as a finishing school with laureates including everything from the 356 to the Cayenne to the car I hustled up San Francisquito Canyon, a Miami Blue 2017 911 Turbo S.

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The Porsche 930, first in a line of 911s to wear the Turbo badge.

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Conceived to homologate the 934 and 935 race cars for FIA groups 4 and 5 during the 1970s, Porsche’s original Turbo was venerated for its astonishing performance during an era when there wasn’t much performance to be had. It was also derided as a tricky-to-drive widowmaker. With the GT2 and GT3 models taking over as the hirsute, race-bred monsters of the line in the 1990s, the Turbo has gradually become a more friendly car, even as its performance numbers push into the rarefied air of all but the most exalted supercars. It’s a car as safe as milk for a Hollywood producer buried deep in his iPhone, yet ostentatious enough to let the masses know he spent plenty of money.

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Its benefits and/or negative ramifications aside, the Los Angeles Aqueduct is a hugely impressive piece of engineering. As is the current 911 Turbo S.

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Some 35 miles northeast of Hollywood, in the mountains south of the dry Antelope Valley, the Santa Clara River rises up at the eastern edge of the Angeles National Forest. Just before little Acton, the Santa Clara is joined by the Aliso Canyon fork, and west of the town, the tributaries roll in one after another, feeding the river as it flows west toward Ventura. Mulholland had his eye on one tributary in particular: San Francisquito Creek. Designed to hold Owens Valley water from the Los Angeles Aqueduct in reserve, as well as to generate power for the city to its southwest, the Saint Francis Dam was a 205-foot-high edifice holding back 38,168 acre-feet of water, a thumb in the eye of an ecosystem seemingly bent on thwarting mass human habitation of the L.A. basin. With its western side built atop an old landslide, the detection of which was beyond the scope of 1920s equipment, the dam stood for only two years.

–

Compared with Shasta, Oroville, Folsom, New Melones, Friant, and Trinity—major California dams that followed it during the golden age of Western dam building—Saint Francis held back a relatively small volume of water. In contrast, Northern California’s Shasta Dam impounds 4,552,000 acre-feet of Sacramento River water, creating the largest reservoir in the state. If drained, Lake Shasta could cover an area the size of Connecticut with more than a foot of water. In comparison, the capacity of Saint Francis Reservoir would have about the same effect on an area comparable to San Francisco. Still, as its residents will proudly tell you, San Francisco ain’t exactly nothin’, and when unleashed at three minutes to midnight on March 12, 1928, Saint Francis’s 12-billion-odd gallons carved a devastating path to the sea.

–

Crews and area residents had been concerned with leaks along the structure’s western abutment, prompting Mulholland himself to come out for an inspection on the day of the collapse. While the old ditch tender judged that that section of the dam would require further work, he declared the dam safe. Within 24 hours, the Owens River water held at San Francisquito Creek would reach the Pacific at Ventura, more than 50 miles away.

–

–

The “tombstone” segment of St. Francis Dam after the structure’s failure.

–

On some heavenly plane, the simple friar from Assisi surely wept as the dam that bore his name gave way, given the cost in human lives. It’s not known exactly how many people perished in the disaster, but estimates place the death toll between 400 and 600. As a man of nature, however, Saint Francis would appreciate the area of the dam site as it stands today. For years, San Francisquito Canyon Road ran right alongside the location of the mammoth structure’s collapse. In 2005, torrential rains washed out that section of the rural highway, leading authorities to establish a new right of way less prone to the ill effects of elemental whim. The old section is unceremoniously blocked off with a couple of Jersey barriers, with no sign to mark the significance of what lies beyond.

–

–

Beyond the Jersey barriers lie the remains of San Francisquito Canyon Road’s old right of way, as well as the dam disaster site.

–

Hop over them, amble down, and marvel at the work that 12 short years of human noninterference can do. In places, the two-lane blacktop isn’t even visible. Thickets of desert scrub have grown up around and through the pavement; a layer of silty soil has washed over it. In other spots, teenagers with aerosol cans and shotguns have left their marks on signs and asphalt. You have to know you’re looking to find remnants of the dam off to your left, and even then, it’s a guessing game without having viewed recently annotated photographs. The “tombstone” section of the dam, the portion left standing upright until it was dynamited in 1929, is well into its return to the soil. Toothlike concrete protrusions from its edge are the only clue that man was somehow involved in this reshaping of the landscape.

–

–

The tombstone today. It was dynamited a year after the dam’s collapse, and you wouldn’t recognize it unless you knew what you were looking for.

–

After a hike back up the decommissioned stretch of road to the car, back down San Francisquito Canyon the Porsche and I went, eyeing the canyon walls for evidence of the scouring that 12 and a half billion gallons of water gave it 89 years ago, back toward the Santa Clara River, into Santa Clarita, now a a bedroom metropole with a population of nearly 182,000—as big as Los Angeles itself was during the first decade of the 20th century. At a stoplight, a man in a sano lifted and besnorkeled Toyota Land Cruiser rolled down his window and said, “I like your ride.”

–

“Thanks, man. I like yours, too.”

–

“I’ve got one too, an ’09 Turbo.”

–

In 2009, you could still get a 911 Turbo with a manual transmission. A millennial Porschephile friend groused about the new Turbo S in dismissive internetese: “No manual, no care.” He drives a 912E, the bastard offspring of the ’70s G-model 911 and the four-cylinder 914 2.0. With the mid-engined 914 ending production and the 924 still a year out, the 912E—conceived as a stopgap for the 1976 model year—was too slow to live and too rare to die. Long scoffed at by 914 guys and 911 nerds alike, an E, like pretty much anything air-cooled these days, can now cost real money. It is, after all, the last Porsche to be produced with a pushrod valvetrain. A 912E with a 1970s slushbox in front of its engine sounds like an absolutely abysmal proposition, but in the Turbo S, the car is so completely ruled by technology that a third pedal would feel anachronistic. Porsche’s precise, lively psychic warrior of a dual-clutch box absolutely suits the character of the car.

–

–

Alongside State Route 126.

–

If you want elemental, buy a classic, one where you feel the crack of the carburetor’s throat under the ball of your foot. Where the steering is an unboosted, kinetic delight. Where the whole thing is a contraption to be bent to your will, to be cajoled and manhandled into doing your bidding. If you want all that with a warranty, buy a motorcycle. The kind man at the Harley-Davidson store will happily sell you a brand-new air-cooled vehicle with a purposefully mechanical transmission, a chatty clutch, and the requirement of your utmost attention. Meanwhile, the Turbo S devoured San Francisquito Canyon Road with a speed and alacrity that would exhaust a young man on Aprilia’s techno-wizard RSV4 sport bike. In the Porsche, I did little but dart my eyes from entry to apex to exit to entry to apex to exit until the road ran out of entries, apexes, and exits.

–

Yet the fallacy inherent in writing off the Turbo S as a soulless confab of computer-whiz gimcrackery is that it communicates. You want to dismiss it out of hand as a car for Beverly Hills plastic surgeons too dumb to buy a high-winding GT3, but you’d do so at your own peril. The front end natters away when you need it to, not as isolated as the early Carreras of the 991 generation. Press the PDCC button, for Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control. Depress it. It doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of difference. Twist the knob on the steering wheel to Sport, and it just does everything a little more quickly, though not necessarily better. The Turbo S is as it is, an implacable 205-mph rocket sled with a narration track at the helm, and changing its drive mode seems to change its character not a whit.

–

–

On the other side of Castaic Junction, where State Route 126 branches off from Interstate 5, a valley filled with farms and dotted with small towns carries the Santa Clara toward the sea. Piru, Santa Paula, Fillmore, and Saticoy were all swept up in the disaster’s path, the canyon’s 120-foot wall of water having broadened into a menacing freshwater tide. State Route 126 cuts right down the floodplain, and the Porsche excelled here, too, without whimper or complaint when the going got trafficky. On the straight highway sections, it rolled along pleasantly, as any other car would, its 580 horsepower wholly irrelevant. There were no tramlining histrionics, no unhappy low end of the powerband, no balkiness from the high-performance transmission. The Turbo S is as well behaved as an Accord. It’s hard to reconcile its docile and forgiving nature with the old 930’s reputation as a killer—one that spawned lawsuits against Porsche in the 1980s—just as it’s hard to imagine the desolate, windblown Owens Valley as an agricultural paradise. Or San Francisquito Canyon filled with water behind a dam whose remnants are very nearly part of the natural landscape at this point.

–

Pressed for time, I didn’t exactly get to the mouth of the Santa Clara. I parked at the marina in Ventura for a moment, just north of the spot where the lifeless, formless jumble of rubble and bodies poured out into the Pacific. Music was playing. People were enjoying drinks as the evening summer sun hung low over the water. A light coastal mist lent the proceedings an ethereal, silver-gold glow. Indignation took over for a moment, and I thought to myself, “How can you guys party when almost 90 years ago, this place was littered with the dead, killed by the hand of a power-mad autodidact engineer bent on remaking the very fabric of this state?”

–

–

Of course, my rage was was a bit silly and impotent. Our culture, our infrastructure were built on the backs of the dead: men, women, and children who died in massacres or of disease brought across oceans. Men and women who died of old age in their beds. High steelworkers who fell to their doom. People killed in war and people killed by freak happenstance. To stave off death by starvation and thirst in inhospitable environs, they built aqueducts and planted acreage. To defend against death on the road, they added seatbelts and sensors and airbags, used materials more efficiently and effectively, and sent power to more wheels. When the money to be made and the glory to be earned is too good to resist, as it is in Los Angeles, as it is for Porsche, the resultant engineering astounds. And sometimes it kills. Humanity fumbles on, hoping that somehow, nobody ever actually disappears completely, optimistic that one day, science or faith will make that hope a reality.

–

–

–

Lightning Lap 2017: Porsche 911 Turbo S

–

1978 Porsche 930 Turbo Instrumented Test

–

Porsche 911 Turbo/Turbo S: News, Reviews, Photos, and More

–

–

–

A week before I made my journey from the dam’s ruins to the sea, the United Kingdom announced that no new automobiles powered by internal combustion alone would be sold on its shores after 2040, which followed France’s announcement that they’d do away with petroleum-burning new cars within the same time frame. Surely, an announcement from Germany on the same topic is due within the next few years, and with Europe’s big players on board, as well as China’s heavy push toward electrification, it may be that 911 Turbo is well into late middle age as a nameplate. Or, given the Teutonic propensity toward unhinging model names from reality, perhaps they’ll just keep calling the most powerful, luxurious, all-wheel-drive electric 911s Turbos.

–

Below the dam site, the reaction turbines of old Powerhouse #2 are still spinning big generators, still churning out 46 megawatts of electricity courtesy of Owens Valley water. One of the first casualties of the dam’s collapse, the electrical plant was quickly rebuilt following the debacle. And as long as enough snow falls in the Sierra Nevada to keep water flowing through the aqueduct, the future 911s of Los Angeles, the city that made Porsche, will owe some of their electrons to the man who made the city itself possible.

–

–

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[eddiejpoplar]

What the Killers Left Us: Tracing the Saint Francis Dam Disaster in a 2017 Porsche 911 Turbo S

-

William Mulholland was a ditch digger turned emperor, an Irish immigrant who presided over the transformation of Los Angeles from a dusty backwater settlement to the tail that wags the golden bear. Monterey Bay had been the first port of major import in California, and its namesake city was its first capital. San Francisco and Sacramento grew up as a result of the Gold Rush; the former was a debarkation point for the gold fields of the western Sierra, and the latter—at the crotch of the gold-bearing American River and the bay-connected Sacramento—thrived first on the comings and goings of those bound for golden glory, then as the state capital, profiting from the goings-on of governing what became the most populous state in the union. Los Angeles, though? Everybody knew that was nowhere.

-

-

The Owens River in 2008. Its parched valley was once an agricultural idyll. Its purloined waters filled the Saint Francis Reservoir via the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

-

The semi-arid strip trapped between the Transverse Ranges and the Pacific was barely livable, with only the Los Angeles River to keep its thirst slaked. Its harbor, now one of the primary economic engines of California, was too shallow for any serious shipping without dredging. Because of its lack of habitable area owing to a paucity of fresh water, the City of Angels seemed to be doomed to its status as a town of little consequence. As the chief engineer of the Bureau of Water Works and Supply, Mulholland, with the aid of some of L.A.’s most prominent men, cajoled, connived, and some would say outright stole the water rights from farmers up in the Owens Valley, a remote area of agricultural land sandwiched between the majestic Eastern Sierra and the Inyo Mountains. In 1928, after having paved the way for a modern metropolis that dictates much of the way America thinks, eats, shops, listens, and views the West Coast, Mulholland’s seemingly unstoppable rise came to a shattering halt up on San Francisquito Creek.

-

-

In the heat of the summer, San Francisquito Creek is a completely unassuming trickle through a desert canyon northeast of Los Angeles.

-

In the Los Angeles that Mulholland irrigated, a mid-century Eden built on the back of bustling aerospace, entertainment, and petroleum industries, Johnny von Neumann, an Austrian émigré, began selling Ferry Porsche’s little Volkswagen-based sports cars via his Competition Motors shop. Porsche has often regarded California as its most important market in the world, and von Neumann’s shop was the beachhead from which that market sprang. East Coast importer Max Hoffman’s idea for a stripped-down, open 356 found a home here, and there are few cars more emblematic of the Golden State’s salad days as the world’s automotive epicenter than the beloved Speedster.

-

The area’s affluence, scenery, and obsession with the automobile all came together with the weather, which encouraged year-round cruises to the beach or blasts through the area’s numerous canyons. If Porsche’s literal home lies on the Swabian autobahn, Southern California played nearly as important a role in its development, standing as a finishing school with laureates including everything from the 356 to the Cayenne to the car I hustled up San Francisquito Canyon, a Miami Blue 2017 911 Turbo S.

-

-

The Porsche 930, first in a line of 911s to wear the Turbo badge.

-

Conceived to homologate the 934 and 935 race cars for FIA groups 4 and 5 during the 1970s, Porsche’s original Turbo was venerated for its astonishing performance during an era when there wasn’t much performance to be had. It was also derided as a tricky-to-drive widowmaker. With the GT2 and GT3 models taking over as the hirsute, race-bred monsters of the line in the 1990s, the Turbo has gradually become a more friendly car, even as its performance numbers push into the rarefied air of all but the most exalted supercars. It’s a car as safe as milk for a Hollywood producer buried deep in his iPhone, yet ostentatious enough to let the masses know he spent plenty of money.

-

-

Its benefits and/or negative ramifications aside, the Los Angeles Aqueduct is a hugely impressive piece of engineering. As is the current 911 Turbo S.

-

Some 35 miles northeast of Hollywood, in the mountains south of the dry Antelope Valley, the Santa Clara River rises up at the eastern edge of the Angeles National Forest. Just before little Acton, the Santa Clara is joined by the Aliso Canyon fork, and west of the town, the tributaries roll in one after another, feeding the river as it flows west toward Ventura. Mulholland had his eye on one tributary in particular: San Francisquito Creek. Designed to hold Owens Valley water from the Los Angeles Aqueduct in reserve, as well as to generate power for the city to its southwest, the Saint Francis Dam was a 205-foot-high edifice holding back 38,168 acre-feet of water, a thumb in the eye of an ecosystem seemingly bent on thwarting mass human habitation of the L.A. basin. With its western side built atop an old landslide, the detection of which was beyond the scope of 1920s equipment, the dam stood for only two years.

-

Compared with Shasta, Oroville, Folsom, New Melones, Friant, and Trinity—major California dams that followed it during the golden age of Western dam building—Saint Francis held back a relatively small volume of water. In contrast, Northern California’s Shasta Dam impounds 4,552,000 acre-feet of Sacramento River water, creating the largest reservoir in the state. If drained, Lake Shasta could cover an area the size of Connecticut with more than a foot of water. In comparison, the capacity of Saint Francis Reservoir would have about the same effect on an area comparable to San Francisco. Still, as its residents will proudly tell you, San Francisco ain’t exactly nothin’, and when unleashed at three minutes to midnight on March 12, 1928, Saint Francis’s 12-billion-odd gallons carved a devastating path to the sea.

-

Crews and area residents had been concerned with leaks along the structure’s western abutment, prompting Mulholland himself to come out for an inspection on the day of the collapse. While the old ditch tender judged that that section of the dam would require further work, he declared the dam safe. Within 24 hours, the Owens River water held at San Francisquito Creek would reach the Pacific at Ventura, more than 50 miles away.

-

-

The “tombstone” segment of St. Francis Dam after the structure’s failure.

-

On some heavenly plane, the simple friar from Assisi surely wept as the dam that bore his name gave way, given the cost in human lives. It’s not known exactly how many people perished in the disaster, but estimates place the death toll between 400 and 600. As a man of nature, however, Saint Francis would appreciate the area of the dam site as it stands today. For years, San Francisquito Canyon Road ran right alongside the location of the mammoth structure’s collapse. In 2005, torrential rains washed out that section of the rural highway, leading authorities to establish a new right of way less prone to the ill effects of elemental whim. The old section is unceremoniously blocked off with a couple of Jersey barriers, with no sign to mark the significance of what lies beyond.

-

-

Beyond the Jersey barriers lie the remains of San Francisquito Canyon Road’s old right of way, as well as the dam disaster site.

-

Hop over them, amble down, and marvel at the work that 12 short years of human noninterference can do. In places, the two-lane blacktop isn’t even visible. Thickets of desert scrub have grown up around and through the pavement; a layer of silty soil has washed over it. In other spots, teenagers with aerosol cans and shotguns have left their marks on signs and asphalt. You have to know you’re looking to find remnants of the dam off to your left, and even then, it’s a guessing game without having viewed recently annotated photographs. The “tombstone” section of the dam, the portion left standing upright until it was dynamited in 1929, is well into its return to the soil. Toothlike concrete protrusions from its edge are the only clue that man was somehow involved in this reshaping of the landscape.

-

-

The tombstone today. It was dynamited a year after the dam’s collapse, and you wouldn’t recognize it unless you knew what you were looking for.

-

After a hike back up the decommissioned stretch of road to the car, back down San Francisquito Canyon the Porsche and I went, eyeing the canyon walls for evidence of the scouring that 12 and a half billion gallons of water gave it 89 years ago, back toward the Santa Clara River, into Santa Clarita, now a a bedroom metropole with a population of nearly 182,000—as big as Los Angeles itself was during the first decade of the 20th century. At a stoplight, a man in a sano lifted and besnorkeled Toyota Land Cruiser rolled down his window and said, “I like your ride.”

-

“Thanks, man. I like yours, too.”

-

“I’ve got one too, an ’09 Turbo.”

-

In 2009, you could still get a 911 Turbo with a manual transmission. A millennial Porschephile friend groused about the new Turbo S in dismissive internetese: “No manual, no care.” He drives a 912E, the bastard offspring of the ’70s G-model 911 and the four-cylinder 914 2.0. With the mid-engined 914 ending production and the 924 still a year out, the 912E—conceived as a stopgap for the 1976 model year—was too slow to live and too rare to die. Long scoffed at by 914 guys and 911 nerds alike, an E, like pretty much anything air-cooled these days, can now cost real money. It is, after all, the last Porsche to be produced with a pushrod valvetrain. A 912E with a 1970s slushbox in front of its engine sounds like an absolutely abysmal proposition, but in the Turbo S, the car is so completely ruled by technology that a third pedal would feel anachronistic. Porsche’s precise, lively IFTTT

[jesusvasser]

What the Killers Left Us: Tracing the Saint Francis Dam Disaster in a 2017 Porsche 911 Turbo S

-

William Mulholland was a ditch digger turned emperor, an Irish immigrant who presided over the transformation of Los Angeles from a dusty backwater settlement to the tail that wags the golden bear. Monterey Bay had been the first port of major import in California, and its namesake city was its first capital. San Francisco and Sacramento grew up as a result of the Gold Rush; the former was a debarkation point for the gold fields of the western Sierra, and the latter—at the crotch of the gold-bearing American River and the bay-connected Sacramento—thrived first on the comings and goings of those bound for golden glory, then as the state capital, profiting from the goings-on of governing what became the most populous state in the union. Los Angeles, though? Everybody knew that was nowhere.

-

-

The Owens River in 2008. Its parched valley was once an agricultural idyll. Its purloined waters filled the Saint Francis Reservoir via the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

-

The semi-arid strip trapped between the Transverse Ranges and the Pacific was barely livable, with only the Los Angeles River to keep its thirst slaked. Its harbor, now one of the primary economic engines of California, was too shallow for any serious shipping without dredging. Because of its lack of habitable area owing to a paucity of fresh water, the City of Angels seemed to be doomed to its status as a town of little consequence. As the chief engineer of the Bureau of Water Works and Supply, Mulholland, with the aid of some of L.A.’s most prominent men, cajoled, connived, and some would say outright stole the water rights from farmers up in the Owens Valley, a remote area of agricultural land sandwiched between the majestic Eastern Sierra and the Inyo Mountains. In 1928, after having paved the way for a modern metropolis that dictates much of the way America thinks, eats, shops, listens, and views the West Coast, Mulholland’s seemingly unstoppable rise came to a shattering halt up on San Francisquito Creek.

-

-

In the heat of the summer, San Francisquito Creek is a completely unassuming trickle through a desert canyon northeast of Los Angeles.

-

In the Los Angeles that Mulholland irrigated, a mid-century Eden built on the back of bustling aerospace, entertainment, and petroleum industries, Johnny von Neumann, an Austrian émigré, began selling Ferry Porsche’s little Volkswagen-based sports cars via his Competition Motors shop. Porsche has often regarded California as its most important market in the world, and von Neumann’s shop was the beachhead from which that market sprang. East Coast importer Max Hoffman’s idea for a stripped-down, open 356 found a home here, and there are few cars more emblematic of the Golden State’s salad days as the world’s automotive epicenter than the beloved Speedster.

-

The area’s affluence, scenery, and obsession with the automobile all came together with the weather, which encouraged year-round cruises to the beach or blasts through the area’s numerous canyons. If Porsche’s literal home lies on the Swabian autobahn, Southern California played nearly as important a role in its development, standing as a finishing school with laureates including everything from the 356 to the Cayenne to the car I hustled up San Francisquito Canyon, a Miami Blue 2017 911 Turbo S.

-

-

The Porsche 930, first in a line of 911s to wear the Turbo badge.

-

Conceived to homologate the 934 and 935 race cars for FIA groups 4 and 5 during the 1970s, Porsche’s original Turbo was venerated for its astonishing performance during an era when there wasn’t much performance to be had. It was also derided as a tricky-to-drive widowmaker. With the GT2 and GT3 models taking over as the hirsute, race-bred monsters of the line in the 1990s, the Turbo has gradually become a more friendly car, even as its performance numbers push into the rarefied air of all but the most exalted supercars. It’s a car as safe as milk for a Hollywood producer buried deep in his iPhone, yet ostentatious enough to let the masses know he spent plenty of money.

-

-

Its benefits and/or negative ramifications aside, the Los Angeles Aqueduct is a hugely impressive piece of engineering. As is the current 911 Turbo S.

-

Some 35 miles northeast of Hollywood, in the mountains south of the dry Antelope Valley, the Santa Clara River rises up at the eastern edge of the Angeles National Forest. Just before little Acton, the Santa Clara is joined by the Aliso Canyon fork, and west of the town, the tributaries roll in one after another, feeding the river as it flows west toward Ventura. Mulholland had his eye on one tributary in particular: San Francisquito Creek. Designed to hold Owens Valley water from the Los Angeles Aqueduct in reserve, as well as to generate power for the city to its southwest, the Saint Francis Dam was a 205-foot-high edifice holding back 38,168 acre-feet of water, a thumb in the eye of an ecosystem seemingly bent on thwarting mass human habitation of the L.A. basin. With its western side built atop an old landslide, the detection of which was beyond the scope of 1920s equipment, the dam stood for only two years.

-

Compared with Shasta, Oroville, Folsom, New Melones, Friant, and Trinity—major California dams that followed it during the golden age of Western dam building—Saint Francis held back a relatively small volume of water. In contrast, Northern California’s Shasta Dam impounds 4,552,000 acre-feet of Sacramento River water, creating the largest reservoir in the state. If drained, Lake Shasta could cover an area the size of Connecticut with more than a foot of water. In comparison, the capacity of Saint Francis Reservoir would have about the same effect on an area comparable to San Francisco. Still, as its residents will proudly tell you, San Francisco ain’t exactly nothin’, and when unleashed at three minutes to midnight on March 12, 1928, Saint Francis’s 12-billion-odd gallons carved a devastating path to the sea.

-

Crews and area residents had been concerned with leaks along the structure’s western abutment, prompting Mulholland himself to come out for an inspection on the day of the collapse. While the old ditch tender judged that that section of the dam would require further work, he declared the dam safe. Within 24 hours, the Owens River water held at San Francisquito Creek would reach the Pacific at Ventura, more than 50 miles away.

-

-

The “tombstone” segment of St. Francis Dam after the structure’s failure.

-

On some heavenly plane, the simple friar from Assisi surely wept as the dam that bore his name gave way, given the cost in human lives. It’s not known exactly how many people perished in the disaster, but estimates place the death toll between 400 and 600. As a man of nature, however, Saint Francis would appreciate the area of the dam site as it stands today. For years, San Francisquito Canyon Road ran right alongside the location of the mammoth structure’s collapse. In 2005, torrential rains washed out that section of the rural highway, leading authorities to establish a new right of way less prone to the ill effects of elemental whim. The old section is unceremoniously blocked off with a couple of Jersey barriers, with no sign to mark the significance of what lies beyond.

-

-

Beyond the Jersey barriers lie the remains of San Francisquito Canyon Road’s old right of way, as well as the dam disaster site.

-

Hop over them, amble down, and marvel at the work that 12 short years of human noninterference can do. In places, the two-lane blacktop isn’t even visible. Thickets of desert scrub have grown up around and through the pavement; a layer of silty soil has washed over it. In other spots, teenagers with aerosol cans and shotguns have left their marks on signs and asphalt. You have to know you’re looking to find remnants of the dam off to your left, and even then, it’s a guessing game without having viewed recently annotated photographs. The “tombstone” section of the dam, the portion left standing upright until it was dynamited in 1929, is well into its return to the soil. Toothlike concrete protrusions from its edge are the only clue that man was somehow involved in this reshaping of the landscape.

-

-

The tombstone today. It was dynamited a year after the dam’s collapse, and you wouldn’t recognize it unless you knew what you were looking for.

-

After a hike back up the decommissioned stretch of road to the car, back down San Francisquito Canyon the Porsche and I went, eyeing the canyon walls for evidence of the scouring that 12 and a half billion gallons of water gave it 89 years ago, back toward the Santa Clara River, into Santa Clarita, now a a bedroom metropole with a population of nearly 182,000—as big as Los Angeles itself was during the first decade of the 20th century. At a stoplight, a man in a sano lifted and besnorkeled Toyota Land Cruiser rolled down his window and said, “I like your ride.”

-

“Thanks, man. I like yours, too.”

-

“I’ve got one too, an ’09 Turbo.”

-

In 2009, you could still get a 911 Turbo with a manual transmission. A millennial Porschephile friend groused about the new Turbo S in dismissive internetese: “No manual, no care.” He drives a 912E, the bastard offspring of the ’70s G-model 911 and the four-cylinder 914 2.0. With the mid-engined 914 ending production and the 924 still a year out, the 912E—conceived as a stopgap for the 1976 model year—was too slow to live and too rare to die. Long scoffed at by 914 guys and 911 nerds alike, an E, like pretty much anything air-cooled these days, can now cost real money. It is, after all, the last Porsche to be produced with a pushrod valvetrain. A 912E with a 1970s slushbox in front of its engine sounds like an absolutely abysmal proposition, but in the Turbo S, the car is so completely ruled by technology that a third pedal would feel anachronistic. Porsche’s precise, lively IFTTT