Hello everyone. A big THANK YOU to everyone that has helped in keeping our office as germ free as possible. We have been very good over the last year+ and kept viruses at bay here at the Pine Cove Water District.
Lately, we have noticed that people either don’t see or ignore our multiple signs on the front door stating the requirement of wearing a mask before entering. Even though there is no “mandate” for mask wearing, as long as the numbers are high, we are requiring mask wearing and limited entry in the office.
PLEASE for the safety of EVERYONE, DO NOT come to our office without wearing a mask. Even if you are dropping off a payment.
No mask? Don’t want to wear a mask? Put the payment through the mail slot in the front door, mail, or call in.
It is extremely frustrating to go through these safety measure to have our notices completely ignored.
August billing is going out this week. If you get emailed bills, you should’ve already received yours.
This months mailed billing includes a notice of Possible Water Conservation Changes, a family friendly Wildfire Readiness event on August 7th, a flyer from the fire department with Wildland Fire Safety for Your Livestock and Pets, as well as an informational brochure from National Weather Service San Diego with helpful information. In case you don’t get the paper mailing, I’ve attached those items here.
Water bills are mailed around the 1st of the Billing Month (even months). All bills are due and payable by the 1st of the following month (odd months). Any bill not paid by the due date will be termed delinquent and subject to a $15.00 late fee and/or termination. If shut off, a reconnect fee of $75.00 will be charged, in addition to current amount due, to re-establish service.
There are several ways to pay your bill. ACH Auto Draft is a free service; the payment is automatically taken out of your bank account. (filled out form required). You can log on to your account online, and pay with a Visa/Mastercard/Discover, or E-check. To register your account online, you will need your account number, and the Municipality Code which is PineCoveWDCA. Go to www.pcwd.org and click the “Billing” tab and the Payment option link. Next, click on the www.ub-pay.com link and register your account from there. You can come into the office and pay by check, cash, or card. One person at a time with a mask. Drop payments thru the slot on the front door or mail a check or money order. Please note that there is a convenience fee of $3.00 per hundred dollars charged if using a credit card.
Have you moved recently? Have you gotten a new PO Box? Have you changed your phone number? New email address?
When a situation arises, it is important to us that we get a hold of you in a timely manner. Having to call multiple phone numbers that are disconnected or getting emails kicked back is not efficient and we really want to be as efficient as possible.
Please, please, please, make sure all of your information is updated in our system to avoid wasting time and materials.
Welcome to Summer!! The sun is shining, the plants are blooming, and we are looking forward to seeing happy faces outside.
While the mask requirements have eased across the state, we are still staying extra diligent with asking people to mask up before coming into the office and limit amount of people that are in at a time.
Have you lost a pair of reader glasses? We have a pair here in the office that were left.
Bills are due July 1st. There is a $15.00 late fee that will be applied to all accounts that are not paid by the due date. At this point, I’m not sure I would rely on the postal service to get your check to us in time but you can always drop off your payment night or day by coming in and saying hi or thru the slot on the front door. You can log onto your account online and pay with a Visa/Mastercard/Discover, or E-check. There is a merchant fee of $3.00 per hundred spent for this option. To register your account online, you will need your account number and the Municipality Code of PineCoveWDCA. Go to our website at www.pcwd.org and click the “Billing” tab. Follow the links from there. If you are signed up for the ACH Auto Draft payment option, your bill will be automatically paid on the 1st.
Thinking gardening time is just around the corner? Just in time for spring cleaning, the PCWD offers free mulch and wood chips to its customers. If you are interested in either wood chips or mulch just come on by the Dutch Flats location anytime. Both are great for gardening, holding in moisture of soil and they make a nice added touch to spruce up your yard or potted plants.
You must bring your own materials to gather or shovel and haul the mulch or wood chips away. If you are planning on gathering a large amount on your own, please let us know in the office as we want to be sure there is enough for everyone.
If you need a larger load of either call the office and we can deliver a dump truck load for $125 delivery charge.
APRIL SPECIAL Get a dump truck load of WOOD CHIPS for ONLY $75.00 Our deliveries are around 9 cubic yards and you just need to indicate where to leave the pile.
We are a full month into 2021. The pandemic has played a major role in all of our lives over the last year. Businesses have been affected and we are no different.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, in addition to sanitizing all surfaces, wearing masks, and washing our hands often, we took additional precautions such as limiting the amount of in-person services we accommodate and even building a partition at the entrance of our building as well as in between our desks. When the numbers escalated, we split the office shifts to reduce the amount of personal contact we have with each other.
We are happy to announce that as of February 1st, Becky and Jennifer are in the office for their normal business hours of 9am – 4pm. We are still limiting the amount of in-person services and keeping our office “closed” to the public. Our mail slot in the door is accessible at all times to drop off payments and communications, we are available by phone at 951-659-2675, our emergency after hours number 951-294-8282, and by email Becky@pcwd.org and Jennifer@pcwd.org.
Through all of this, it is important to check in on each other. Reach out to your friends and family. If they are isolating during this pandemic, they could probably use someone that cares.
We were so excited this morning when we went out to look at our milkweed and found 16 NEW MONARCH CATERPILLARS!
We get to start over! They are SO cute.
Of course we are very careful about what we use to take care of our garden. Did you know that there are reports saying glyphosate weedkiller like Roundup is killing the Monarch butterfly growth?
According to a recent article from Genetic Literacy Project; media and advocacy groups are not fully reflecting the issue. “Why are Monarchs in decline? It’s a hotly-debate issue, with many studies with competing conclusions. Anti-biotechnology activist groups have singled out the herbicide glyphosate as a major driver of the decline, so the issue is embedded in a wider, inflamed debate over the controversial weedkiller. Which makes it all the more important that any new science on this issue should be contextualized and reported with nuance.”
From what I’ve read, it seems to be a domino effect with the weedkiller being used on the milkweed and killing that, leaving nothing for the caterpillars and butterflies to eat and lay their eggs on.
Of course there are conflicting studies that say there is a much bigger issue than the glyphosate theory. Some say the real issue is ‘how do we restore weeds’. My definition of weeds has always been a plant that I don’t want growing in my garden bed. But milkweeds are ALWAYS welcome.
Bottom line in my mind – use natural remedies on your plants to maintain the natural balance of nature. And I always recommend that people read multiple sources if interested in a “controversial” subject and form your own conclusion.
In the meantime – enjoy our little guys.
A little baby caterpillar we re-located to the milkweedA bigger caterpillar on the milkweed
Looking for a Halloween hand out to promote milkweeds and future Monarchs? I came across this promotion: Milkweed seed Halloween Promotion. (I have never ordered from them before and cannot validate their product)
We are trying our best to help the Monarch Butterfly population with planting milk weeds, bringing the caterpillars in to a safe habitat when they look like they are about to form a chrysalis, and releasing them into our garden when the butterflies emerge.
Our season looks like it’s complete as all of the caterpillars we had have hatched and flown away. We are happy that a couple have decided to stick around and play in our milkweeds and look forward to next year when we can help the community more.
Here are some pictures of the development.
Caterpillars starting to ‘J’ and form chrysalisesA chrysalis almost ready to openJust hatchedBeautiful Monarch released
I recently read an article in The San Diego Union-Tribute dated July 13, 2020 that said butterfly plants are in short supply. They cited the pandemic-fueled gardening boom as well as public’s awareness of shrinking monarch population and wanting to help increase it. The Center for Biological Diversity put a release out on March 13, 2020 that stated the yearly count of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico shows a decrease of 53% from last year’s count and is well below the threshold at which government scientists predict the migration could collapse. They attribute the decrease of Monarchs to milkweed being devastated by increased herbicide spraying in conjunction with corn and soybean crops that have been genetically engineered to tolerate direct spraying with herbicides. Additionally, they are being threatened by other herbicides and by neonicotinoid insecticides that are toxic to young caterpillars and decrease the health of adult butterflies.
At the Pine Cove Water District, we were lucky enough to procure several new narrow-leaf milkweed as well as tropical milkweed for our butterfly garden. We’ve even seen a couple of visitors and look forward to seeing more as we come to the end of the season.
There’s a little guy hanging upside downAnother bigger guy across the garden
What can you do to help?
Plant the right milkweed. According to The Laid-back Gardener, Monarchs seem to like common milkweed best but also fed happily on swamp milkweed. Apparently, butterfly weed isn’t too well liked in the caterpillar community.
Cut your milkweeds back. Prior to blooming, cutting back the plants make them more attractive hosts for caterpillar larvae. Research at Michigan State University shows that female monarchs prefer to lay their eggs on fresh young stems that haven’t flowered yet. Heavy pruning doesn’t harm the milkweed plants and they quickly rebound.
Know your sources and avoid pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides. When purchasing flower starts or seed, know the source. Make sure they are all natural and have no pesticides. Additionally, keep that same mind set when amending your soil and use natural compost like the compost we supply at the Water District to Pine Cove residents.
Plant additional flowers to feed adults. Although the female monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweeds and their caterpillars only feed on those same plants, adult monarchs feed on nectar of additional flowers like Wild Bergamont, Mountain Mint, Pale Purple Coneflower, and more. Try to provide a wide range of flowers that bloom through the entire growing season. It is also suggested that you grow single plants isolated from others by mulch or wood chips (which the Water District also can supply to Pine Cove residents) instead of mixing them as the butterflies rely on seeing the plant shapes to know where their food is.
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