We live in Fresno, California. This is in the San Joaquin Valley, near the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We are about midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. By car, we are less than an hour away from Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The Pacific Ocean is 2 1/2 hours to the west.
The city of Fresno has a population of a little more than 500,000 people, making it the fifth largest city in California. Only the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco have larger populations.
Fresno is surrounded by many highly productive farms and ranches. They provide food for people around the world. More than 200 different commodities are grown in the area, inculding almonds, grapes, olives, garlic, pistachios, tomatoes, citrus fruits and stone fruits.
Cattle raising and dary farming are also big time in our area. Did you know that California produces more cheese than Wisconsin? Perhaps it's because California cows are more contented! Could it be that the cows in Wisconsin don't really care for all of that cold weather and snow?
Our climate is Mediterranean-like. The summers are hot and the winters are quite mild. Although there is almost no rain during the summer, the winters can be pretty wet at times. Almost all of the rain falls in the winter. Our annual rainfall is about 12 inches.
We don't have a lot of snow shovels in this area. That's because we don't need them. We only get snow about once every 25 years. Since most people around here don't drive very well in the snow, it's best to stay home until after the snow has melted.