OFFICE REOPENING

As of Monday, November 1st, we will reopen the office to foot traffic.

We appreciate everyone’s continued efforts to keep our office safe with only having 1 person in the office at a time with a mask covering your mouth and nose.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Clean Water Movement

We are blessed in Pine Cove with the best, cleanest water around. All thanks to the Water District’s diligent monthly testing, filtration system with ( 2 ) aeration plants, and good management and infrastructure.
But what about other places?

I recently read a short article about a young girl who has activism in her blood and her effect on others to help with the Flint, Michigan water issue and beyond.

The article is laid out well and I encourage you to read it. Maybe it will encourage you or someone near you to help where help is needed.
Read the story here

Most people thought I was an 11 year old with a simple science fair idea, but if I could get this to work I could help so many residents of Flint.
~Gitanjali Rao

Another 11 year old who won the Little Miss Flint pageant in 2015, she used her title to initiate a dialogue between Flint’s children and the police.

I am one of the children affected by this water, and I’ve been doing my best to march in protest and to speak out for all the kids that live here in Flint.
~Mari Copeny

Three young engineers, dubbed S3 Trio, began looking for long-term solutions to create a water filter that you can see working.

With Little Miss Flint giving voice to the voiceless, the S3 Trio was likewise inspired to set an example by pitching in.

Combined with Entrepreneur Doll Avant, these women are making strides towards cleaner water.

We should treat it the same way we treat money. Money is a limited valuable asset, so you have all these sophisticated tools around managing it. We need the same sophisticated tool set around managing water.
~Doll Avant

Avant started a company to create the world’s largest water database with the intent to give consumers useful direction should they discover compromised water.

If you’re between the ages of 13 and 18 and have an idea for how you can solve a problem in your community using science, technology, engineering, or math, submit your idea to Google Science Fair here.

Local Services for Seniors

As we continue through this pandemic and head into the fall and winter seasons, our senior community residents are relying more and more on services that are available on the hill. Here is a listing of services I have found to be helpful and even fun.

Idy’s Helping Hands
Website: IdysHelpingHands.org
Phone: 619-219-9866
Email: Admin@IdysHelpingHands.org
Mailing: PO Box 1501, Idyllwild CA 92549

Services: Transportation Services, Resource Connections & Paperwork Assistance, Local Food Bank Pickup & Delivery, Home Visits, Wellness Checks & Companionship, Respite Services for Caregivers, Shopping & Errands Assistance, Companionship & Socialization, Outreach Phone Calls, Events & Outings, and my personal favorite that I signed my grandmother up for – Meals for Seniors (click here to enroll).

They also have a Directory of Services on their page that they have developed a relationships with to assist in remaining healthy at home here on the hill.

Idyllwild Community Center
Website: https://www.idyllwildcommunitycenter.org/
Phone: 951-965-0456
Email: info@idyllwildcommunitycenter.org

Services: In addition to The Kinder Program and Youth Sports, they also have Adult Activities that include Fit After Fifty, Wii Bowling, Community Lunch, and more (Covid dependent of course).

Although most services are limited due to Covid, they are still currently continuing with their Food Share program Feeding America, Farmers Market every Sunday, and free Covid testings.

Forest Folk
Website: https://forestfolk.org/
Email: info@forestfolk.org
Shuttle Bus Phone: 951-426-9688
Shuttle Email: manager@idyllwildshuttle.com

Services: Shuttle Bus, Warming Center, Informational Meetings, Additional Resources as available.

You will find monthly schedules here, and any changes to the schedule due to road conditions, etc., are posted as soon as possible. You will find quarterly brochures that include connection information to other transit options in the desert and in Hemet. Recreational events and other events of community interest are also posted there. You will also find this information on their Facebook page.

Currently the Idyllwild Shuttle Bus is running Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am-4pm for Door-to-Door Service from Pine Cove to Mountain Center by calling 951-426-9688 on the day you need a ride; Off the hill for medical appointments only on Mondays to Palm Desert and Palm Springs via Mountain Center, and Wednesdays to Hemet via Mountain Center. Reservations are Required by calling 951-426-9688 between 9am and 5pm one week in advance at the earliest, and 3pm the day before travel at the latest.

They also have a Helpful Resources page with helpful phone numbers and internet addresses.

Idyllwild Help Center
Website: https://www.idyhelpcenter.org/
Email: TSM@idyllwildhelpcenter.org
Phone: 951-659-3000
Physical Address: 26330 CA-243, Idyllwild CA 92549

Services: 1 weekly bag of non-perishable food items, firewood for heating, health and hygiene products and when grant funding is available: utility assistance and medical assistance.

Additionally, there is the Mountain Disaster Preparedness group and the American Legion Post 800 for Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.

What other services do you know of? We would love to add to our list.

Stay safe and keep an eye out on others as best you can. We are a community here!

Local COVID-19 testing

Riverside County will host another free COVID-19 testing day at the Idyllwild Library from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9. Visit https://gettested.ruhealth.org/ to make an appointment or call 800-945-6171.

COVID-19 testing is available for those with or without symptoms. Testing is free and available for everyone.

Additional testing
Residents can also visit www.rivcoph.org/coronavirus/testing to schedule an appointment online or call 800-945-6171 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. to make an appointment over the phone for drive-up testing. Looking for a shorter wait time when calling to make an appointment? The county suggests calling between the hours of 5 and 10 p.m.

State testing sites are also operational in Riverside County. To make an appointment, visit https://lhi.care/covidtesting or call 888-634-1123.

Fern Creek Medical Center in Idyllwild offers a COVID-19 antibody test.

No Board Meeting in September

September’s Pine Cove Water District Board Meeting previously scheduled for Wednesday, September 9th has been cancelled.

The next planned meeting will be Wednesday, October 14, 2020.

Water Saving Kits available for FREE at PCWD

Did you know?
We have FREE Water Saving Kits for Pine Cove residents available at the Pine Cove Water District.

We appreciate everything you do to help us save and conserve water and here is an additional way to make sure we are all doing our part.

This kit includes:
Earth Massage 1.5 gpm Showerhead – 2 setting massage spray showerhead
Kitchen Swivel 1.5 gpm Aerator – Dual-spray functionality, with wide-spray radius and water pausing on/off valve
( 2 ) Bathroom Faucet 1.0 gpm Aerators – Half the flow, twice the power. Commercial grade aerators for the home
Toilet Water Saver (Fill Cycle Diverter) – This patented water saver takes excess water from the bowl and diverts it to the tank to reduce water consumption. (This is NOT a flow restricting device)
Toilet Leak Detection Tablets – FDA-certified, non-toxic dye tablets used to detect leaks in toilets
Flow Meter Bag – Kit bag doubles as a flow meter to identify water wasters throughout the home
Water Conservation Wheel – Provides useful ways to conserve water around the house
Installation Instructions

To get your kit, come visit us in the office. We are open to the public (masks are required, 1 person in the office at a time). Or you can call us at 951-659-2675 or email info@pcwd.org.

Thinking about saving water for your garden this year?

Here in Pine Cove, many residents like to garden and even grow some of their own food. Now is the time to start thinking about spring projects and what you can do to conserve water in the garden.

If you have an existing garden, there are several things you can do to reduce the amount of water you use in the garden. First, be sure to add compost to your existing garden. Soil that is high in organic matter stays moist longer. Improve your soil by adding a source of organic material such as compost or well rotted manure. If you consistently work to improve your soil each season, the texture and water holding capacity of your soil will increase and your garden will require less water. In order to make this easier for you, we have wonderful compost available to our customers for free!

Once you have freshened your soil with compost, it is time to add some mulch. Mulch aids the garden in several ways. It adds a source of organic material which and will eventually improve the structure and the water holding ability of the soil. Mulch slows surface evaporation so you will water less and it helps to smother weeds, making your gardening easier! As it happens, we also have mulch (Wood Chips) available to our customers for free as well!

One wonderful thing you can do to help keep your garden looking good throughout the summer is harvest rainwater. Rain water is FREE water. Just catch it and store it then use it. You can search for rain water harvesting online and find a ton of helpful information and lots of examples on how to set up rain harvesting system.  By using your roof water you will reap water benefits from even a gentle rain by capturing all of the water that falls onto your roof surface. This can be as simple as a rain barrel under your down spout or shallow trenches to divert the rainwater to the garden.  Adding berms strategically in the garden will keep the water form running off. You can even go so far as to install a large water storage tank either above ground or underground in order to store thousands of gallons of rain water. 

Installing a drip irrigation system will deliver water directly to the plants root zone instead of watering the entire surface of the garden. Although, a drip irrigation system can be expensive initially it will certainly pay off in drastically reduced water use if you intend to grow a  garden year after year. The hoses, emitters, fittings and valves must be laid out to deliver the water to each plant. If you can’t afford to install a drip system,  an easy alternative is to use soaker hoses that allow water to seep through the porous material along their entire length. Soaker hoses are less expensive to install and you can put them under the mulch to prevent evaporation.  Both methods are better alternatives than sprinklers or letting the hose run.

Flu Season and Humidity Protection

Higher the humidity lowers your risk for airborne viruses. Do you run a humidifier in your home during cold an flu season? If you don’t it might be time to consider investing in a humidifier for your home or office to reduce your risk of getting sick. Researchers found raising indoor humidity killed 85% of airborne flu virus within an hour, 100% within 24 hours. In dry air, the virus thrived for days. Increased humidity can also help with other health conditions like Asthma, coughing, snoring and dry skin and hair. According to WebMD, “Changes in humidity in different seasons may also affect how often people get sick. The most common cold viruses survive better outside the body. Also, cold weather may make the lining of your nose drier and more vulnerable to an infection by a virus.”

Our humidity level here in Idyllwild and Pine Cove is notoriously low. With the cold weather running your heater or burning a fire can suck the moisture out of the air. Keeping a cast iron pot or kettle on your wood burning stove while burning a fire can help raise the humidity level as well. Keeping the humidity level up and investing in a humidifier seems like a relatively simple solution to protect your health this time of year.