Welcome to the Central Valley (California) Kossacks group! The creation of this group was inspired by navajo's SFKossacks, wherein San Francisco Bay Area Kossacks have a place to talk about topics of local interest and make plans for meet-ups in the real world.
I've been to two real world activities with people I've met here at Daily Kos - one was a birding day with the Dawn Chorus and one was with the SFKossacks group at the California Maritime Academy. It makes such a difference to meet and talk to people one-on-one. And a warmer welcome you cannot imagine - you have so much in common with the group that it's comfortable from the word go. I'm a fairly shy person, especially in a group of strangers, but I've had wonderful conversations with people I've just met at these events.
Me with lineatus during our birdathon - going Galt (borrowed from lineatus)
So why the entire Central Valley? Primarily because I couldn't think of a way to break the geography into a neat chunk centered around the place I live. But I'm also hoping that people who live in very red parts of the Central Valley can join with those of us in the blue parts to find kinship and opportunities to find friends with common interests, even if those friends are a hundred miles drive (or more) up and down I-5.
I don't have an idea yet about an icebreaker meet up - if you do, please share in the comments - but figured we can at least get the conversation started. Below the orange squiggle, I'll start with my own introduction.
From the comments, mrsgoo suggest a meet-up to watch Restoring the Delta at the Crest Theater in Sacramento, Wednesday, August 8. US Representative George Miller and Senator Lois Wolk will be there. Leave a comment if you'd like to participate.
I am tgypsy, UID 89908, joined Daily Kos on June 4, 2006, after reading Crashing the Gates - I guess that's the obligatory "what's your DK sign" question to get past. What else? I live in Woodland, which is the county seat of Yolo County, though Davis and West Sacramento are its better known neighbors. I've been here since 2002 after many years in the SF Bay Area (I lived in Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood - still miss it) and a brief stint in southern Oregon - long story but it involves a guy who I am still with. He now lives in Woodland, too.
I love birds and birding. Most of the diaries I've written here are about birds and the places where I've seen them. I look forward to winter around here because there are so many more birds around then - both number of species and number of individuals. I do love the Swainson's Hawks and Western Kingbirds of the summer but I find the heat a bit oppressive.
Dunnigan Hills in the Spring
Dunnigan Hills in the Summer
Of course, the reward for tolerating the heat is the bounty of the farmers markets and small fruit/vegetable stands overflowing with goodies at this time of the year. There's nothing like a tree-ripened nectarine that melts in your mouth on a 100+ degree day, or the melons that you can't get in the grocery stores because they don't travel well in big trucks.
In government, Woodlanders are lucky to be represented by Democrats at the state and federal level. At the state level, we are represented by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada in the 8th Assembly District and Senator Lois Wolk in the 5th Sentate District. At the federal level, we are currently in California's 1st Congressional, represented by Mike Thompson. With the November election, we'll be part of the 3rd Congressional District. If the election goes our way, we will be represented by Congressman John Garamendi. If it doesn't go our way... I'd rather not think about that alternative!
The floor is open - tell us a little about yourselves and what you'd like this group to be.