A FARMER AT HEART … glad to see that State Sen. Lois Wolk is promoting both art and farming by “hosting artwork inspired by the farmlands of Yolo County” in her Sacramento office … apparently various farm/art folks — let’s call them “farmists” — have contributed to the exhibit, and my only gripe is that no one asked me, given that I’m someone who loves both art and farms, not necessarily in that order …

Truth be known, I didn’t love farms so much when I was picking tomatoes between here and Woodland in the summer heat and had to struggle mightily to get the exceedingly heavy lug box to the end of the row so I could get credit for it when we got paid at the end of the work day … and I wasn’t especially fond of art when I was unable to get any grade higher than a “C” in that subject throughout my illustrious elementary school career in the DJUSD …

I do, however, still have a framed copy of my “Farmer with Sugar Beet” watercolor that was commissioned by my second-grade teacher at West Davis Elementary, Margaret O’Brien … both the farmer and the sugar beet are labeled so you can tell one from the other … it received a “Good Effort” commendation from my appreciative teacher and is available on loan if Lois wants it … I’m willing to bet there’s nothing quite like it in her current collection …

GO BEARS … the college football season began last week and I’ve been bombarded with “special priced” tickets from major universities up and down the West Coast … the most interesting, though, came from Cal, which is following Stanford’s lead and introducing something called “Dynamic Pricing” for its six home games this fall … and don’t the Old Blues just hate it when the Berkeley brass plays follow the leader with the folks down on The Farm? …

“With dynamic pricing,” the mailer explains, “single-game ticket rates for home games can fluctuate based on factors affecting supply and demand, including game time, opponent, ranking and more. Buy early and save, because prices can change at any time.” … in other words, if Cal ever schedules the Blue Hose of Presbyterian again, everyone gets in for free … then again, if you always “save” when you “buy early,” it means ticket prices are not going to “fluctuate” as promised … nope, it’s just another excuse for charging more …

SPEAKING OF CAL … if there’s a better setting in the country to watch a college football game than Strawberry Canyon, I haven’t found it …

LOST OPPORTUNITY … the good news for Aggie basketball fans came over the summer when a truly intriguing schedule was announced, including a number of interesting home matchups … the only bad news during the off-season is that men’s powerhouse San Diego State rejoined the Mountain West Conference and dropped plans to compete with UC Davis in the Big West Conference … the Aztecs, who may just be the best men’s college basketball team in California, also rescinded their previous move for the SDSU football team to the Big East Conference, which does not affect UC Davis …

The Big West could have used the star power San Diego State would bring, but it wasn’t to be … it would have been a treat for local fans to have the Aztecs visit The Pavilion once every winter on their way to yet another NCAA tournament bid … the conference also loses longtime member and Aggie rival UOP to the West Coast Conference next year … some call it the West Coast Catholic Conference, given that among the many members are Gonzaga, Portland, USF, St. Mary’s, Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount and the University of San Diego, Catholic schools all … last time I checked, however, new member BYU is not a Catholic school, nor is UOP …

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected]

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