The Conejo Valley Guide "Welcome" blog covers a wide range of topics, local information, highlights of local things to do, compilations and other items. Focus is on information relevant to Ventura County and surrounding areas, including Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Newbury Park, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Malibu, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Moorpark, Somis, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Barbara and Moorpark.
The Conejo Valley Guide® "Welcome" blog covers a wide range of topics, local information, local things to do, holiday event compilations, announcements and more.
It’s been raining almost nonstop throughout Ventura County since last Thursday through today, Super Bowl Sunday and anticipated for another day or two. When there’s rain, there’s a rainbow awaiting. Here are some beauties.
Rams practice facility at Cal Lutheran, seen from the hills above CLU.
Having been a Los Angeles Ram fan as a kid, until they left for St. Louis in 1995, then again when they returned in 2016, I was excited for today’s Super Bowl game. Making it even more exciting is that the Rams are headquartered right here in the Conejo Valley in Agoura Hills and have practiced at Cal Lutheran since 2017.
The Los Angeles Rams had played in only one other Super Bowl. They lost 31 to 19 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 14 on January 20, 1920. The St. Louis Rams played in two Super Bowls with a 1-1 record. But otherwise, Super Bowl 53 was only the second time in history that the Los Angeles based Rams made it to this game.
And it was an utter disappointment. The Rams lost in Atlanta to the Patriots by a score of 13 to 3.
Some of the records set or tied at Super Bowl 53 included:
Fewest points scored by both teams: 16 (previously 21 at Super Bowl VII in 1973)
Fewest points by winning team: 13 (previously 14 by Miami at Super Bowl VII)
Tied for fewest points by losing team: 3 (tying Miami’s score at Super Bowl VI in 1972)
Longest punt - 65 yards by Johnny Hekker (probably the highlight of the game for Rams fans)
Next year’s Super Bowl 54 will take place at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida on February 2, 2020. Crossing my fingers for the Rams to come back with a vengeance next year like Miami did in 1973.
Congratulations to the New England Patriots!
Long-time resident and artist Linda Dark enjoys capturing local Camarillo scenes in oil paint.
Built in 1892, the Camarillo Ranch House is a grand, three-story, 15-room home built by Adolfo Camarillo in the Queen Anne Victorian style. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in February 2003. Dark captures this local icon on a partly cloudy day.
I had taken this photo of the Camarillo Ranch House, independent of Linda, on another, conveniently partially-cloudy day.
To reach Linda, contact us.
The roadrunner is a chaparral bird that is a member of the cuckoo (Cuculidae) family of birds. They are found in the southwest U.S. and Mexico. These non-migratory birds live in mountainous shrubland, which is why you may seen them from time to time here in the Conejo Valley. These are great birds to have around, dining on insects (including tarantulas), snails, lizards and even rattlesnakes (because of their quickness, roadrunners are one of the few animals that dine on rattlesnakes).
Seen above is some brief footage of a roadrunner seen yesterday on Tarantula Hill and some other footage from Rancho Sierra Vista from last year.
The U.S. Postal Service announced last October that the following price changes will take effect on January 27, 2019:
First class letter postage increase from 50 cents to 55 cents.
Additional ounces on letters actually decreases from 21 cents to 15 cents.
The price of sending postcards remains at 35 cents.
Regular flat rate envelope increases from $6.70 to $7.35.
The coast was clear tonight as we viewed several of the Channel Islands from the Rancho Potrero Open Space this final Friday of January 2019. Perhaps the coast IS clear now that the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history ended today, January 25th. Or perhaps not. We will monitor the situation from one of our many perches with a view here in the beautiful Conejo Valley.
As like many of you, I’ve received a number of notifications from the Clean Power Alliance and due to my sheer lack of time, desire, interest, energy, procrastination and/or (fill in the blank), have waited until now to actually investigate what this means.
So let me impart my newfound wisdom to you.
Clean Power Alliance (CPA) of Southern California was established in 2017 to provide cost competitive “clean” electricity to residents in certain parts of Los Angeles County and several other cities. It quickly grew to 31 communities, including our local Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Camarillo, Moorpark, Ojai, Oxnard, Simi Valley, Ventura and unincorporated Ventura County.
What CPA does is purchase renewable, clean energy, while Southern California Edison (SCE) will continue to deliver it and bill for it.
Each member city that opted in to this program established a default rate option for residents to acquire electricity from CPA via SCE. This is just a default rate. You can change it (see below). The CPA website describes these rates at cleanpoweralliance.org/rate-options/residential-rates:
Lean Power - costs 1-2% less than SCE’s default rate (Lean Power provides 36% renewable energy content at the lowest possible cost)
Clean Power - comparable to SCE’s default rate (0-1% savings) (Clean Power provides 50% renewable energy content)
100% Green Power - at most, 7-9% premium to SCE’s default rate (as the name indicates, this is 100% renewable energy content)
CPA further noted that SCE has proposed a double digit increase to 2019 rates to make up for a budget shortfall. If these increases are approved, they will likely take effect in March/April 2019 and CPA rates will also change accordingly.
Here are the “default” power products from CPA that local agencies in the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County areas have selected:
Lean Power (36%) - Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Camarillo, Simi Valley
Clean Power (50%) - Malibu, Moorpark
100% Green Power - Ojai, Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Unincorporated Ventura County
You can verify your own rate default option at cleanpoweralliance.org/rate-options.
As mentioned above, you are not required to stick with the default option. You can switch to a different option at any time. Do so as follows:
Go to cleanpoweralliance.org/rate-options and log in, using your 10 digit SCE customer number (remove the dashes), last name and zip code.
There you will see your account status and the other rate options. You may opt down, or up, as it were, to one of the other options, based on your current default.
You may opt out if you’d like, but be aware of the fine print: If you opt out, you will be charged a one-time account processing fee by SCE and will be prevented by SCE from returning to CPA for a minimum of 12 months.
The City of Thousand Oaks provides additional information about CPA at THIS LINK. One other item of note on that page for solar users is “Although applications for onsite solar will still need to go through SCE for interconnection to the grid, CPA will pay customers at a higher rate than SCE for any excess solar energy generated.” Sounds pretty good to me.
More Info:
Clean Power Alliance: cleanpoweralliance.org
So Cal Edison: www.sce.com
Conejo Valley Guide covers events, activities and things to do throughout Ventura County and surrounding areas.
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