Happy New Year everyone! I have become accustomed to and accepting of the winter curtailment, but I continue to find it difficult to get my head back into work after a complete shut down for a week or so. I must not be alone because this week is quite light on meetings. I suspect a fair number of people have taken an additional week. Maybe some are spending it listening to the water. Hopefully all are safe from the travel challenges of the last two weeks. I have a flight scheduled late next week but remain unconvinced the airlines will be caught up by then.
Congratulations to Chutima and team! Their work was selected by NIFA to be showcased as one of the SNAP-Ed (CalFresh Healthy Living) success stories! Be sure to congratulate the team. What great news to start of the new year!
My in-person meetings this week have largely converted to Zoom. Tomorrow is the annual meeting with the Davis CE Specialists. We were so optimistic about an in-person meeting, but will make do with remote. Either way, it is always nice to meet with the CE Specialists as a group. I have a number of meetings related to ECOP again this week. Friday finishes out with a monthly ECOP meeting for directors. Fortunately, my responsibilities for the meeting are minimal, giving me more time to prep for next week.
Program Council meets next week to review the CE Advisor position proposals. The multi-day meeting promises to be a lively discussion with the work made easier by all of the effort already put into the process by directors and program teams. Program teams continue their work by reviewing the CE Specialist proposals over the next month. It is an exciting time and likely the only time in my career that we will have the opportunity to fill so many positions!
Another nice problem to have is all of the recent precipitation! I suspect many of you might have had weather-related travel challenges over the break, but nothing compared to the backup on I-95 in Virginia. I am having water challenges in the back yard. We look like a water fowl preserve. The dogs have lost the yard, but gained some excitement in trying to scare off herons, ducks, egrets, and the occasional sandhill crane. Hard to believe our area is still considered in ‘extreme drought'.