I finished and submitted a proposal to the US Geological Survey hazard reduction program. Given the federal sequester, the funds available for outside research are something like 70% (or less) of what they might have been. That is not a 70% cut for me: it could be a 100% cut. The last 2 times I was funded by USGS I was in a gray area where I was recommended for funding, but there was not enough funding guaranteed, so I had to wait a couple/several months and was eventually funded.

So, as soon as the proposal was done I spent 2 1/2 hours on my small vegetable garden. I call this my sequester-proposal vegetable insurance.

The proposal was on the fault system between Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Pt Conception...about 100 km-long. It extends onshore far east of Ventura: the Santa Susana fault responsible for the 1972 San Fernando quake is part of it....and the trend continues with the Sierra Madre fault.

Had my first sail of the year in a 15 foot (4+ m) 50 year-old sailboat that no one really owns.
Chris