Weekend Trips

Thank you for visiting our website.  We are the filing system specialists that started this business in 1983.  Ken was Director of Medical Records at UCLA Hospital & Clinics for years and gained a lot of knowledge and experience in Records Management and End Tab Filling.  
   Ken started his hospital experience when he graduated from college with a BS in Biological Sciences and was commissioned an Officer in the US Army.  Being the Distinguished Military Graduate, his choice of speciality was Medical Services (hospital administration). Ken was an assistant administrator and company commander at Walson Army Hospital, Ft. Dix, NJ.  Walson was a 700 bed hospital full of young men returning from fighting in Viet Nam.  He started out (only a 2nd Lt.) as Company Commander of 180 men who worked at the hospital. After one year he became the Night Supervising Officer of the Hospital (after the other hospital administrators had left for home, each evening). 
    The emergency department at the hospital thought of Lt. Jones as their personal Medical Records clerk.  Because he was the only person with all the keys, he was called upon to find medical records for patients who had been to the hospital previously.  It was a dungeon and nobody else could find a thing down there.  This was Ken's introduction to color coding and terminal digit filing.  He also learned about laws concerning private medical information and protecting patient rights.  After two years in the Army Ken returned to college and earned a Master's Degree in Hospital Administration. He obtained a internship at UCLA, thanks to his uncle who was a nationally known Physician and hospital administrator.  
     Early during Ken's internship, the UCLA Hospital Director told him about a department, in the hospital, that was over budget and underperforming.  He said he had sent other young administrators and none had been able to fix the problem.  Would I like to fill the position of department head?  At that time, I was ready for anything.  There were 110 employees in the Medical Records department, including those in several smaller departments. 
     After firing 20 employees who broke all the rules, could not come to work on time or left early, came back from lunch smelling of alcohol or illegal substances, or were just the regular run of the mill trouble makers, suddenly the 80%, who were excellent employees, were able to complete the work everyday, and  on time.  Ken created a hierarchial structure within the department.  Promoted two of the best workers to Assistant Administrators and created 12 Super Clerk positions.  Soon Ken really had nothing to do    all day.  He enrolled in an MBA evening program at a major university and spent all day doing homework.  
    Upon graduation, completion of the MBA, it just felt like time to move on.  September, 1983, Ken and his best friend created Coastal Office Systems, Inc.  Ken bought out his partner a few years later.  Not too long after that his Daughter, Kim joined the company and --- here we are today.
    We started the company in Los Angeles County and were immediately successful.  In 2006 our business was nationwide and growing.  We decided to move both households and the business to a small farm town in Eastern Idaho.  This move immensely reduced the cost of living and doing business.  As a result, Covid has not been more than a small setback for Coastal.  Government assistance has fully covered losses we experienced and we have come out a lot stronger and better organized.

Recently we have taken a few long drives and visited some of the wonders of our part of the world.  It started with a terribly long drive accross Wyoming to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore.  We were there less than an hour, took a few pictures on a very cloudy day.  Suddently there was a 5 minute break in the clouds and we got two pictures with the sunlight on the faces on the mountain.  Because of the US Goverment restrictions everyone was masked, even outside.  Only a handful were allowed in the Museum and the Gift Shop at a time.  Lines were around the block.  We started back and picked up our T-Shirts and a brochure in town on our way home.
    2nd week in October we went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, got a T-shirt.  We turned North and drove through Grand Teton National 
Park, got a T-shirt.  Then we continued North and entered Yellowstone National Park.  We paid another $35 (well not really).  I had purchased a Senior's pass for $10 a few years back and we got into both parks FREE.  We went to Old Faithful Lodge, saw the eruption and bought another T-shirt.  We visited a few very deep, hot pools of boiling water and started for home.  We stopped at Buffalo Bar in West Yellowstone last time so we went to Pond's Lodge in Island Park, Idaho, and got some of their famous pizza and a wedge salad.  
     When I lived in Los Angeles I knew all the best low and middle class places to eat.  Asking me for directions was asking for a guide to the best taco trucks, hamburger joints, sandwich shops, and jewish delecatessens.  Turn left at King Taco, right at the Hat sandwich shop, and look for Junior's. 
     
     I just  left the office for a half hour to get a haircut and missed the truck delivering our 55 gallon barrel of Glue from California.  We tell everyone to just open the big door and leave it, but I guess the driver didn't want to use our forklift while we're not there.  I hope they deliver on Monday next week.  We have only about a half gallon of glue left. 
     Yes, we leave the entire place open and unlocked all of the time.  You can leave an expensive bicycle on the front lawn and it will still be there tomorrow.  I even leave the keys in my cars parked in the open garage and in the driveway.  It's really a calm and relaxing life, most of the time.
     Internet here is sketchy.  I asked the company how I could improve my internet connections.  His response was, "Move to Washington DC or New York."  Well, I'm afraid that will cost more than I had planned on spending.  
   It's time to go home and the phone has stopped ringing.  I'll post a new story, or three, when we take our next trip.  It will be very soon, don't worry.  I checked my spelling.  This site does not have grammar or spell check, so if I missed something,  please forgive me.

How deep are these boiling pools?  Well they might go to the center of the earth.

The sun came out (sort of) for about 1 minute.  Theodore is kind of hiding the the back.  

On my way up to West Yellowstone.  This is the tourist trap at the West entrance to Yellowstone National Park.  On the way I can see the Tetons in the distance.  This is about twice the distance that Rexburg (home) is from the mountain range.  Three quarters of the way to the right are the "three sisters" shown in pictures above.  Just to show that these mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains that separate Idaho from Wyoming and Montana.  Just a bit taller and  appearing suddenly out of the ground.  
     This part of Idaho is mostly farm land.  This far north, (approaching Montana), the only potatoes grown are Seed Potatoes because of the short growing season.  The "seed potatoes" are bought by the farmers further south to plant for the longer growing season.  I don't know if everyone knows that you plant potatoes to get more potatoes.  The colder weather here also helps limit the pests and diseases making the seed potatoes the best choice for planting next year.  In the annual potato harvest there are lots and lots of little potatoes harvested.  However, they are all loaded in separate trucks and turned into Potato Flakes for Instant Potatoes.  
     This picture does not show the farms but sagebrush.  A large part of Eastern Idaho is covered in Lava Flow from the many extinct volcanos in the area and from Yellowstone.  I asked one of my neighbors if any of this land could be habilitated to become good farms.  His response was that every square foot of land that could possibly be used for farming was already being used.  Kind of that adage "farmland, their not making any more of it".  That is why billionaires and China are buying it all.

6/14/22
​We have been having a lot of heavy rain storms and the Snow in Yellowstone is finally disappearing.  Too Fast.  The park is closed because of roads being impassable.  Mud slides and rivers overflowing have distroyed a lot of roads and bridges in and around the Park. Better wait a year or so before visiting.  It will take that long for these roads to be repaired (based on previous road projects I have observed). 
     Beautiful waterfalls are like drinking from a fire hose today.    It is interesting to watch but I can watch it on youtube and that is close enough for me.

There is a road somewhere beneath this mud slide.

     6/29/22   Yellowstone is sort-of open.  Only the southern half (the part with Old Faithful) is open because of the roads are washed out in the North half of the park.  We tried to go yesterday but they have a new program:  Only cars with an even # license plate get into the park on even # days.  Of course our vehicle had an odd # plate, so we had to turn around and go back home.  If you have a reservation for a campsite or for a $400/night stay at the Lodge, you can get in anyday.  Forget it for getting a campsite.  A lot of the campsites are in the North end and are closed, so everyone planning on camping is fighting over half or less of the sites available.  Better luck next year.  But you can still visit.

    A couple of my good friends took me fishing on Island Park Reservoir this past weekend.  They decided to troll with pop-gear.  Thee poles hanging off the back of the boat.  We started really early and had very little luck until we reached the other end of the lake.  Suddenly we had fish on all thee poles at the same time and everytime.  We caught a ton of fish (released of course).  It was always in this one area of the lake.  Are the big fish in the lake all hanging out in one little area?  Anyway, we criss-crossed this patch four or five times and caught lots of fish each time.  About 10:00 AM the cabins lining the reservoir suddenly came to life and every cabin had two or three jet skies.  We were rocking left and right so much we decided to call it a day.  Thank goodness we did, because I was so sunburned that I had blisters on my nose that bled and are still not healed.   
    The boat owner is my very good friend Bryce.  He is much younger than I.  I was the scout master and he was the best scout in the troop.  He was already an accomplished hunter and fisherman at age 12.  He and I (and always another adult)  fished every lake, stream, and branch of the Snake River together.  Today he is married with two boys and a little girl.  But we still have that bond of friendship that developed so long ago.
   After a phone call from Bryce's brother, we decided to keep the largest fish we caught on our last pass.  Yes it was cold.  The high altitude does that. 
   Rainbow trout.  Brown, cut-throat, and brookies are native to Idaho.  However, if you introduce rainbows, because they are much more fun to catch and they grow heavier, it is not very long, thereafter, that you have only rainbows living in the lake.  Rainbows kill and eat everyone else.
     That is why we like to go a little further north to Henry's Lake.  There are no rainbows in that lake. This weekend the wind was generating 3-4 ft waves on Henry's.  Our boat is only 2 feet above water so we could not fish at Henry's.  Bryce's brothers were fishing on Henry's very early that morning.  When the wind storm came up they had two anchors dragging and were still being pushed dangerously close to the shore.  Of course, they caught nothing.  That's why they called.  When we met up later for lunch at Big Judd's we gave them the fish. I don't know if they really like to eat trout or if they needed trophies to show the wives when they got home.

July 14, 2002
     How do you know that you bought more property than you neally need or than you want to water and mow?  Well you take 1/4th of your land, fence it, and just let the weeds grow.  That is what I have here.  The doctor who built this house and large shop (warehouse) did exactly that.  I have used the area only a few times.  I mow the weeds every couple of weeks.  My son in law (the car guy) parked his "project" vehicles in rows there.  What is it about car guys that they never have enough old cars to work on.  
     Lately I have created a burn pile in the center of that area.  pallets, tree limbs, grass clippings, and junk my family decides is too big to put in the dumpster and will "Probably" burn.  
     Yesterday morning there was no wind and it was beginning to lightly rain.  Out came the gas can and a match.  I set the pile on fire.  The flames went straight up about 8 feet and it was going well when suddenly the rain stopped and the wind picked up.  Well, the fire got away from me.  it burned the whole back area and went under my fence into the neighboring fields, but only a couple feet.  These fields are under cultivation and there was nothing dry enough to burn, thank God.  
​     I thought you might like a couple of pictures.

Fire got away from me. Alfalfa growing in the distance. Nearly burned my pine trees down.

7/25/2002      This weekend I read an article about Mt. St. Helena and that the caldera floor is rising rather rapidly,  Only a few centimters a year. However, it is still alarming.  Mt St Helens erupted in May 1980, killed 57 people, destroyed 200 homes, railways, highways, bridges, etc.  
     Living near Yellowstone we are constantly aware of the precarious position here in Rexburg.  Starting near the borders of Idaho, Oregon, and Utah in south western Idaho, there are 7 major caldera leading up to the junction of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming and the Yellowstone Caldera.  The only active one is Yellowstone.  The Snake river begins with two rivers from Yellowstone joining together near Idaho Falls and forming the Snake River.  One flows through Idaho and the other flows through Wyoming and crosses the state border & flows to Idaho Falls.  We are in the middle of the Heise Caldron, just south of Yellowstone.  
       There is a park with hot pools and a large swimming pool heated year-round by hot springs to the South-East of town.  Otherwise there is no other significant action in our area.
       The story behid this row of 8 caldera from the West border of Idaho to the East border and Yellowstone is explained by plate tectonics.  The North American Plate is sliding over the Juan de Fuca plate coming under the ocean from the west.  There is a very hot spot (magma very close to the surface) on the Juan de Fuca plate and as the N.A. plate slides over this hot spot a volcano is created and erupts.  As the hot spot continues to the North East volcanos become caldera and mostly die.  Creaters of the Moon park is part of the caldera to our South West.  It is the remnant of a huge lava flow from the past.  There is a lot of land near here which is nothing but lava and only good for sagebrush and antelopes.   Rexburg is blessed to be along the Henry's fork (half of the Snake River) and has been covered by very good soil for growing grain and potatoes.  The potatoes are flowering now and doing very well.  The wheat is turning yellow and will be ready for harvesting soon (as long as we don't get too much rain).  The rain does not seem to be much of a problem this year.  We are experiencing the same Drought as the rest of the Western States.  Lakes are down and the snowfall in Yellowstone and the mountains, that surround us, has been quite low.  
        I mentioned the drought and my heavy use of water at my property and home to a neighboring farmer on Sunday.  He said I didn't need to worry because my water was all percolating to the ground water resevoir to be used again and again.  His worry was that farmers to the South and West of us are also drawing water from the Snake River and lakes fed by the river.  Many of these farmers have "water rights" older (created earlier) than farmers in our area.  If we draw our water from a decreasing supply and these farmers further down the river have difficulty obtaining the water they need for their fields, there might be a lawsuit that would drastically reduce the amount of water available here.  In fact he admitted that farmers in our area had already agreed to reduce their fields under cultivatin by 25%.  He mentioned the large amount of land he was not farming this year.  

      The company, Coastal Office Systems, is getting ready for the year end rush.  We do about half of our annual business during the last three months of the year.  A lot of this is because of year labels.  We are running a special on our two favorite colors.  We chose these colors not only because we liked them but also after evaluating the past 5 years, the best selling colors for those years, and looking ahead to colors coming in the next few years.  The two colors we chose were CORAL (kind of a pinkish orange) and PURPLE (Smead's #1 seller).   We have also decided to make the Coral year labels in rolls of 500 and packs of 4"x6" sheets of 252 (half of a roll).  We think the "half a roll" page format makes sense for a lot of offices.  Those who do not use a full roll, those who have several employees who put on year labels and, in the past, have had to share a roll.  Now just take a page at a time and as many as 28 people can share one pack

We are also running a special for the Mylar Protect Labels, AD235.  We have packs of 100 and boxes of 500.  You save nearly 50% when you order boxes but if you do not need that many, just order a pack.  These label covers are 2" x 3-1/2", which is the most popular size and the Standard.  Our mylar protect labels are 3 points which is 4/100ths of an inch thick.  This is also standard.  One large company is selling 1.5 pt (2/100ths) and 1-11/16" wide labels for twice our price.  20% smaller and half a thick for 200% the price.  If all we cared about was profit, we might sell their brand.  We have the lowest price on Amazon and elsewhere.  Very soon we will dominate this market.  We just have to give away a few million more free samples.  

September 4th again.
    I forgot to tell you, the 100 acres adjacent to my property has been sold.  They plan to build more than 40 homes next door.  Everyone will have 2 acres or more of property.  Lots similar in size to these, in this community, are selling for $50-80K.  They paid $1 million for the property.  If they sell the lots for only $60,000 each they will have $2.5 million. If they build all of the homes and then sell them how much can they make?
   A surveyor showed up and dug up the monuments showing the actual corners of the property next door.  He found one corner to be about 12-15 feet on my property. If they realign the property I will loose 5,000 sq. ft.   I haven't figured out if I am grandfathered and can keep my fence and lawn intact or if they can move 15 feet closed to my house.  Looks like I need a lawyer.

,We always assumed that the large bent metal pipe was the property corner.  Actually I am sitting on top of the monument in the middle of the street looking West.  If you look carefully, under the first larger trees, you can see my well-head (a brown pipe with a lighter colored steel cap.  If they realign the property, my well will be very, very close to the back fence of my new neighbors.

This is my neighbor to the North.  Alfalfa.  The houses in the distance are some of my closest neighbors and friends.  NOTICE the hill in the distance.  This is called Rexburg mountain.  Hardly a mountain, really.  It is actually an extinct small volcano.  There is a string of similar extinct volcanos, to the west of the highway, going all the way down to Pocatello.  Now we see where a lot of the volcanic flows came from.  I imagine that our area once looked like a prehistoric cartoon with hills smoking all around and dinosaurs running around.   I am sitting on top of a huge aquifer but, unfortunately, no oil.  And then, I don't have any legal right to the water because the owner of the alfafa fields did not sell, but kept, the water rights when he sold this property to a builder 30 years ago.
   By the way, the monument for this corner is perfectly aligned with my fence and all my pine trees.  These trees were planted by the original owner.  There are about 30 pine trees and, I'm not sure but, I think every one is a unique species of evergreen.  I was an eagle scout in Central California and I learned the names of the three or four different species of trees growing there, but evergreens all look alike to me.
    Something interesting about the alfalfa.  I am beginning to see alfalfa sprouting and growing in all of my yard.  Especially along the margins of the lawn and in the various areas where I have spread tree bark.  It is also growing in the cracks of the concrete and asphalt of my driveways.  
     I purchased some Round-Up and sprayed the heck out of these plants.  It did nothing to help.  I asked a local kid why the Round-Up was not working.  He laughed and told me that the Alfalfa grown in this area is Round-Up Resistant.  Genetically engineered.  Well I have to use another weed control.  The resistant plant is designed to be planted and then, when it begins to grow, they spray the field with Round-Up to kill all the weeds.  The spray does not effect the alfalfa.  Now, the alfalfa harvested is weed free and worth a lot more money.  The bales of hay (alfalfa) used to weigh about 75 pounds.   Most of the adults living here grew up tossing these heavy bales onto trucks and trailers.  There are a lot of huge and very strong men living here.  Today the bales are too heavy to be lifted without a fork lift and little skinny kids load the trucks.  a
     One of my good friends and neighbors is a welder.  He has designed as baler that makes bales about 40 pounds and are really small.  He found out that he could package 25-50% more weight on a truck with the smaller bales.  Kind of like laying bricks inside the trucks.  Since a lot of the best Alfalfa is shipped to Tennessee, Kentucky, and that area of the country, the more you get on each truck, the more money you save on shipping.

Look buffalo!!  I'm not sure, what is the plural for buffalo or buffalos? Time for a traffic jam.  Everybody stop and take a picture.  This picture was taken from our moving car, window down.

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This is just our slice of the Rocky Mountains.  We live just on the other side.  We get up late every day because the sun does not rise until about 9:00 am. We live in the shadow of the Grand Tetons.  (disinformation).

They call this the Three Sisters.  I see 5.  Do these really look like "Tetons"?  I know it is cold up there, but really.  Maybe the ones on the left.   The angle of the picture below explains the three sisters.  All part of the same huge mountain in the center.  Yes I know people who have climbed all three of them.   13,775 ft high.  About 8,400 feet higher than Denver.  Maybe we can create a 2-mile high stadium.

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Just exiting the lodge with my delicious lunch and ice cream and look.  There it goes again.

The people standing in the foreground give you perspective as to the height.  I took 73 pictures in a row and this one was the highest and I still cut off the top.

This picture is at a different location and too early.  I didn't take this one.  Kim did. The hills in the background are the rim of the Yellowstone caldron.  Same for the picture above. Most of Yellowstone park is outside of the caldron.  

Some of you may have seen pictures of my home and backyard on google business.  Well, my wife bought a lot of daffodil and tulip bulbs and burried them throughout our yard about 8 years ago.  Every spring and summer they pop up through the bark in my planters.  All colors and not all at the same time.  Very beautiful.

Yellowstone National Park closed to all traffic due to Flooding and Mud Slides.  This primarily affects the North half of the Park.  But the Park is even closed to through traffic.   The "get around" is driving many, many miles.  With these gas prices most will just forget about going anywhere,

When we moved here 16 yrs ago, Rexburg was a good stopping place along the way to Yellowstone.  In fact, Yellowstone Hwy goes through the middle of town and was the way North before they built the freeway just to the west of town.  The hotels and restaurants in Rexburg were full during the summer months with busloads of people going to Yellowstone National Park.  The town of West Yellowstone (at the West entrance to Yellowstone), in Montana, has grown substantially over the past few years.  Prices there are twice what a hotel or meal costs in town here, but that has not detered the buslines and travelers from skipping Rexburg and gowing  to West Y.  
     Well with all the Highway Signs from Utah and South telling everyone that "Yellowstone National Park is Closed" the traffic North has stopped and the new fancy Hotels and expensive restaurants are experiencing big losses during, this, their otherwise busiest time of year.  The only ones celebrating the park closing are the wildlife.   
     With my "lifetime free pass", I usually visit the park a couple of time a year.  It's a good thing I bought the DVDs a few years ago.  I can at least watch them, again, this year.

7/6/22  Another friend who had never been to Yellowstone showed up so we went last weekend.  The whole park is open.  Some detours exist in the north loop because of damaged roads but the South loop is open.  Crowds are average size and there is no odd/even license plate requirements for entering the park.  Only a couple of deer and one buffalo in the South.  We only had one day so we didn't go north.  

This trip we saw all the regular sights and then went looking at the very hot bubbly pools. That seemed to interest everyone.  I am trying to upload a video of a very active hole in the crust that was only a yard from the board walk.  There are 3,000 deep bubbling pools in Yellowstone.  They say that is more than all the same kind of pools in the US outside of Yellowstone.
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I just found a YELLOWSTONE MONTHLY UPDATE OF ACTIVITY that I found extremely interesting. Take a look.  ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Py_lW2Iwo

1980 Mt. St. Helens, Oregon

I am currently reading a book "Catastrophe" which is the history of the 5th and 6th centuries (1500 years ago).  A volcano erupted near the end of the year 535.  It was the largect explosion ever recorded.  The entire northern hemisphere was covered by smoke and ash.  It is reported that the sun was less bright than was the moon  prior to the eruption.  Crops failed in every country and civil unrest was in every continent and country of the hemisphere.  It took 200 years for things to return to normal.  So many changes occured because of the drought and lack of sunshine.  To name a few: the plague came from Africa to the mediterranian killing about 70% of some populations, the end of the Roman empire, the formation of new states and countries throughout the middle east and europe, the end of the Mayan and other civilations in North and Central America, AND I am only about 25% of the way into the book.

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Finished the book 475 pages.  Reading this book felt like solving extremently difficult math problems.  Hard reading. Too much detail and references.  Like the author felt people would not believe what he was saying without a lot of references (proof).  The entire world changed during the 6th and 7th century.  Nations which were weak before suddenly became strong.  Unlike the United States which is strong and has no ambition of world domination and acquisition, these civilizations decided to eliminate and kill populations which had previously been the strongest.  They particularly killed, tortured, and enslaved the "Ruling Class" or previously "Rich and Powerful" people.  Poor civilizations with no crops being harvested (the Sun did not shine for many years) were often forced into canabalism.  Kind of like a zombie movie.
     They say the same volcano, that caused all of this devastation, is growing (the floor of the caldera is rising) every year.  

September 4, 2022
    The wheat was harvested a few weeks ago.  After the grain was trucked to the silos, the (straw) was cut and baled.  The bales are huge and stacked everywhere.  Some enterprising farmers make Straw Mazes with the bales.  Two bales high that are twice the height of a person placed to make trails that lead nowhere.  Everyone gets lost.  They hire high school kids to sit on the tops of the bales to "bail-out" the lost customers.  Sort of like California where prisoners are not allowed to spend the night in jail.  Do you think the citizens of California appreciate the huge economnic saving the State gets from not keeping felons behind bars.
     Yesterday we first noticed the hundreds of trucks carring potatoes.  The  potato harvest has started.  It will only last a few weeks.  The schools in Eastern Idaho are closed for a week during potato harvest.  This is a traditional week's vacation carried over from the era when families needed their student children to help harvest the potatoes.  A lot of older students do drive trucks and sort potatoes during this week, however, with the new harvesters and trucks it is more automated.  Fun to watch but little chance for an old man, like me, to help.  A couple of years ago I got a part-time job driving a truck during harvest.  At the end of the three weeks the owner told me not to return next year.  He said something about the fact that his 14 yr old daughter was a better driver than I.
     Once the wheat was harvested and the straw baled the farmers planted next year's wheat.  They plowed the fields and planted the grain.  WELL, I just noticed the previously vacant brown fields are turning green.  The wheat is growing.  The wheat begins to grow and then we get snow for 5 or 6 months.  When the snow disappears next year the grain will already be half grown.  This allows a earlier harvest and excapes the disasters that sometimes happen because of bad weather or early snow.
     I used to love the snow because it meant that I didn't have to mow my lawn every week for many months.  Kind of like my vacation.  But now, my son in law hooked me up with his gardener and my lawn gets mowed every week anyway.  He also edges and cuts the grass around my fence.  
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This is the field across the street.  The new wheat is starting to show.  The wheat is only showing where the rotating sprinklers reach.  The corners will start to grow as soon as the snow falls and melts.  That will water the corners just fine.  On the bluff above, the corners are ignored and not planted but here, at my level, every square inch of ground is under cultivation.  I think you can see that this bare ground was planted.  
     The bluff in the background starts here in Rexburg and continues for 20 miles or so to the south.  A long time ago, the ground I live on just dropped or the bluff just raised 200-300 feet and more.  

     My father, passed on now, was a Doctor of Civil Engineering specializing in Water Quality and Pollution Control in California.  He was perhaps the most expert in this field and was Executive Officer of the California State Water Quality Control Board.  Everytime we passed a truck hauling Alfalfa he would say "There goes another truck full of water."  We did not understand until he explained that it takes soooo much water to grow Alfalfa.  Well, one thing that we have in my neighborhood is Water.  We have water canals criscrossing this entire area.  These canals were dug by hand by the pioneers of our area.  They come straight off the several rivers in our area.  Used to be great fishing in the canals but they have since placed screens in the canals to keep the fish in the river.  I  have a canal flowing behing my property and that is the source of water for the Alfalfa fields next door.