howdy
we have moved from our big place in santa ynez to a smaller place in lompoc (we were getting too old to keep the place up)
we used the money from the sale to buy or house in lompoc and two houses in south eastern washington (as rentals)
i no longer need the vinegar or liniment you recommended, i got a gastric bypass and have shed over 150 pounds with another 100 pounds to go
i no longer need most of my medications and within a year i will not need almost all of them
i know what you mean by how hardworking immigrants are...i was running electricity from my house in the city of san fernando to my garage and i had to dig a ditch between the house and garage
at the same time i had hired two men to paint my house, one of them saw me struggling with my pickax and took it from me and in a short time had dug the ditch for me, he worked quite hard and fast
we enjoy living in lompoc - we live in an old neighborhood where people know each other and watch out for each other
the population is an interesting mix of people that work at vandenburg air force base and latinos, also the weather is better
as for the illegals that cross the border, most come in through az, nm and tx now, although many still make their way in to the food growing areas of ca...mostly farms and ranches
solvang does not change very much nor do the ranches and farms
although the residents are somewhat conservative, they are getting more liberal...especially the workers not the big property owners
we have people here that commute to la and santa barbara from here, in fact quite a few that commute from the santa ynez area to la
there is some new housing, but there is a 5 acre restriction on how small new properties can be
as for the op, winterborn described the costs involved rather thoroughly
while finger print scanners have gotten lower in price, the retinal scanners are still rather expensive - also there may be constitutional issues, especially if the feds get involved, there is a lot of resistance to a national id database among liberals and conservatives
and yes, i remember cesar chavez, i was born and raised in the pacific palisades (a suburb of la located on the coast between santa monica and malibu)
i did not make it to his funeral either, my family had moved to santa barbara before he died, he did good work organizing the farm laborers - unfortunately he is still needed
also, there are an estimated 13 million illegals in the u s of a
right now people caught crossing the border illegally are being fingerprinted and if caught again (either by la migra or local law enforcement) they are jailed and eventually deported, also if they are caught committing a crime or even arrested, their fingerprints are put in a national database - some law enforcement are collecting dna from people arrested even if they are later released as innocent (there is a case before scotus challenging the legality of that right now)
i hope all is well with you and yours, dq