Robinson plans Lazy-Boy Furniture store in Hanford
Hanford merchant Mike Robinson is building a 7100sf Lazy-Boy furniture store next to his carpet outlet on 11th Ave in Hanford.
Robinson says he “hopes to open by the New Year” selling the popular line of furniture including recliners.”There was a time when recliners were out of style but lately – they’ve been making a comeback.” Robinson and he son also sell Thomasville furniture in River Park in Fresno.
Mike says the LazyBoy line “is both very popular and affordable” and expects the new store will do well. He should know. “Our family has been in this location for 25 years and in Hanford for 38 years.” Concrete for the new showroom is being poured this week next to their Robinsons Interior Carpet One store at 230 N 11th.
Short term interest rates on the rise
The three-month overnight borrowing cost, known as the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, has risen to about 2.3 percent, up from 1 percent in January 2017.Libor reflects what banks charge to borrow dollars from each other and is used as a benchmark for trillions of dollars worth of loans including adjustable mor
Wet weather not over
The Kings River snowpack was 65% of April 1 average, up from 18% of March 1 average.The San Joaquin 5-station precip index for March 2018 was 15.3 inches or 250% of average compared to February that came in just 16% of average. For the water-year this index is currently at 76% of seasonal average at 33.4 inches. Last year it measured 65 inches at this time.
Kings River Water Association General Manager Steve Haugen says conditions are “sure a lot better than they were a month ago.” Haugen says so far, he is not too worried about warm mountain temps bringing down the snowpack early. “It is still freezing at night” at the upper elevation of the Kings watershed. Haugen says “we are watching the coming Atmospheric River” event set to hit northern California Friday/Saturday this week. The storm has advertised 8 inches of rain to the north but NWS Hanford is expecting only warm “a good soaking” in our area on upper terrain. Grant Grove could see 2 or 3 inches of precip, probably rain.
Haugen says the next important measurement will be next week that will estimate the water yield from the winter adding it is possible Pine Flat will fill – if snow melts fast.
NWS says “dry weather looks like a sure bet by Sunday with the dry period lasting into Tuesday before another system may brush the far northern parts of the forecast area”
Dairy federal order moves closer
Looks more like milk production in California may be overseen by a new federal order. Local dairyman and co-ops hope this will mean higher prices and expect they can still manage their own quota system. This past week USDA moved the ball forward announcing that on April 10, 2018, USDA will be conducting a public meeting to explain and answer questions about the proposed California FMMO starting at 9 a.m. at the Clovis Veterans Memorial District Building located at 808 Fourth Street, Clovis, CA.
USDA will conduct a referendum among dairy producers to determine whether they support the proposed federal order. The referendum will be held from April 2, 2018 through May 5, 2018. USDA will mail ballot materials to all known eligible dairy producers supplying milk to the proposed marketing area. The FMMO would become effective if approved by two-thirds of the voting producers, or by producers of two-thirds of the milk represented in the voting process. FMMOs are legal instruments that regulate the sale of milk between dairy farmers and the first buyer.