26 September …

 

This coming Saturday is the final radio event for 2018.  We will be doing the Headwaters Trail Runs.  It is an event for runners with three courses (30K, 50K, and 10K) all over dirt trails through beautiful country.  Our function is to keep track of the runners on the courses so the event coordinators know where they are, and to be available to help with any problems.  My station is as liaison to the event’s master planner.  He is a personable young man named Gerad Dean who works as a data collector for the USFS.

We are using a new tracking system this year.  It promises to be more accurate and easier to use.  I’ll let you know next week how it went.

We had agreed last spring to do this event so we were already committed when a chance came to do the Run4salmon with the Winnemem Wintu tribe.  I would have liked to do that event and to have made a contact with the tribe, but oh well …

~~~

Our weather has been doing the usual off and on thing.  We had a couple of coolish days (even had a morning warm-up fire in the house one day), but it is supposed to reach 90 today.

There was a breakout of over 1,000 acres on the Delta fire yesterday, but they had it under control easily.  Current bad fire is west of Happy Camp down river (quite a way away).

I’d make a statement about our situation here except it might be tempting fate so I will resist.

~~~

The chickens are doing well … with one exception.  One or two of them seem to prefer to lay their eggs on the floor or ground.  One has made a nest in a corner of the house and Mark found a clutch of eggs outdoors under a gooseberry bush. 

We are getting six or seven eggs a day and I am beginning to see fertile eggs so we know the rooster is doing his job.

~~~

Autumn continues to creep in.  The catalpa has begun to change colour and the maple is overall catching up with that one blazing branch.

 

This year the ground is littered with seeds from the evergreens. 

 

 

The last time I remember seeing this kind of an autumn carpet was a year when the trees had been stressed and put a lot of energy into reproduction.

I’ve been trying to remember what the following winter was like, but no luck.  Guess we will have to wait and see. 

~~~

Yesterday was a busy day for me.  I had an appointment in Yreka at 1000 that took two hours.  Then I had to be at St. Barnabas’ for the food center at 1300 and the drive between home and Yreka takes me almost an hour.

I made it in time but the delivery truck was late and we weren’t able to start unpacking and arranging until there were already folks lined up waiting. 

Provisions this time included canned chicken, oats, grated cheddar, canned apples and potatoes and carrots and tomato sauce and spaghetti sauce and mixed fruit and diced tomatoes, powdered milk, rice cereal, dried blueberries, peanut butter (both chunky and creamy), frozen eggs, dry beans, processed cheese (think Velveeta), and cranberry-apple juice … all good nutritious food.

I will be working the two remaining sessions this year … one fresh produce in October and a final one like yesterday in November.

I had to leave St. Barnabas early to get Paul and take him to his taiko lesson.  The lessons are going better.  He fools around less as he gets more comfortable at what he is doing.

Yesterday the teacher had some of the advanced students demonstrate the basic kada (practice piece) for the new learners.  I was impressed.  There are three good drummers in that group … all less than high school age.

It looks as if I will be attending taiko recitals for the foreseeable future.

And now you know why the blog is a day late.

~~~

Spinzilla (the week of nothing but spinning) is next week.  I have my fiber drafted and bobbins checked.

 

 

(Sorry for the blur.  Looks as if I will soon need to use a tripod for close-up picture taking.  Darn “essential” tremor.)

 

~~~

Three fourths of 2018 gone already.  My how time flies etc. etc. etc.

Just know that …

 

If it makes you happy, you’re doing it right.

 

So … ‘til next week …

 

19 September …

 

Fire report …

All the local fires are under control.  We’ve even seen blue sky a couple of days.

The Hirz is contained.  The Carr is contained and nearly out.  The Delta report this morning is 60,277 acres and 87% contained.

The Hirz burned over a large section of the Winnemem Wintu land, but they are going ahead with the Run4salmon. They requested help from the radio club on the 29th and 30th, but we are already committed to the Headwaters Runs on the 29th.  I may be able to be at the finish on sunday to provide communications.  I’d enjoy that.

~~~

Yesterday was the fresh produce tailgate “party” day. 

I seem to have established myself as the check-in person.  My truck wouldn’t start when I was ready to go, so I called to tell them why I wasn’t there.  Then Mark came home and jump-started me and I went.  As I arrived, Heather said something to the effect of “Wow … you made it.  Hooray.” and turned the check-in table to me while she went to oversee the event.

It’s nice to feel needed.

This month we had bell peppers, zucchini, corn, cantaloupes, GF pasta, cheese and cracker snack packs, and pears Pears PEARS.  Remember a few months ago when we had strawberries?  Well … we gave away three BIG bins (3’x3’x3’) of beautiful pears yesterday and I had a nice conversation with a little, old man who wasn’t going to take any pears because he has a pear tree in his yard.

I will be doing up pear butter as soon as I can (things are getting busy).  I’ve had a request for pear butter and pear cake.

Only one more giveaway before winter. 

I have met some nice people there and enjoy the time spent (and the fresh produce received) so will make sure I’m on the list for whenever they start again next year.

~~~

Autumn is making its way into our area.  Trees are turning colour and dropping leaves … some of the pullets are molting … the squirrels are very active as are the bears … there are fir and pine seeds all over the place … summer birds are leaving …

 

The red maple is putting on a show.  Only one branch has completely turned. 

Sure looks strange.

 

~~~

Egg production is increasing.  We’re up to five or six eggs a day.  I still buy an occasional dozen for baking etc., but breakfast eggs are now always ours.

Remember Picasso, the hen with the weird beak?  I’ve been watching her in the morning to make sure she has her share of the garbage I take out.  What a blast.  She stakes out her share and if another comes to cut in, instead to giving up or chasing them off, she just rotates her tuchis to block them and keeps on eating.  Smart girl.

Thinking about breakfast …

Hot cereal is coming back onto the menu and Paul is learning to eat it without complaining.  Yesterday I put applesauce and cinnamon sugar on it.

Last week I got some Black Forest bacon.  I had heard of Black Forest ham, but not bacon.  Turns out it is sweeter (and blacker) than regular bacon and goes nicely in a quiche or with scrambled eggs and potatoes.

~~~

Paul’s taiko lesson went well last week.  Lesson three this afternoon.  His big problem is learning to keep his elbows straight rather than bang the bachi  (taiko drum sticks) like throwing a baseball.

At the end of last week’s lesson, Ms. Julie read them a story about how taiko started.  It involved Amaterasu, the sun goddess, and her attempt to punish an infraction by not coming out of her night cave.

We’re learning greetings and farewells in Japanese, and how to count as well.

~~~

… a thought to end the week …

 

Joy is distinct from happiness …

Happiness is taking pleasure in what you have.

Joy is the pleasure in anticipating future good.

 

So … ‘til next week …

 

12 September …

 

Things began getting really exciting last Wednesday afternoon.  I was due to pick up Paul and take him to his first taiko drum lesson (more about that later).  I left home about 1430 and on my way to town I noticed a smoke cloud in the direction of Castle Crags.

                         No mistaking that for water clouds. 

By the time we were at class the sky had gotten dark and the sun was blood red … as was the sunshine coming in the windows.

A parent at the class told me it was a new fire at Railroad Park which is at the foot of the Crags.

By the time we got home from class, I-5 was closed in both directions because the fire was on both sides of the freeway between Vollmers and Gibson,

and evacuation order warnings were issued for Dunsmuir.  Our family in Dunsmuir had made their “priority” decisions and were ready.  I too have packed the first-to-go stuff, but no warnings or even hints here.

However, these are some photos over the days here at Cold Comfort …

Long story short … it is called the Delta fire (the last one of that name was in ’88), was human caused, and was to the west of the Hirz fire (they are now joined) which followed the Carr fire … all within worry distance.

Had it moved northeast it chanced coming right up the I-5 canyon and taking out Dunsmuir, Mt Shasta, and who knows how much else of the Shasta Valley.  But the wind stayed from the east northeast and so the fire moved mostly west toward the edge of the Carr fire.

The main danger we were in was from DENSE smoke (it was soooo thick they were unable to use helicopters and retardant bombers due to lack of visibility) and from the ash drop even this far away.

We have all been having trouble with our throats, eyes, and sinuses.  So far no lung involvement.

And the pre-winter bear activity is on an upswing.  Guess the darkness or the smell of smoke has them agitated.  One has been making nightly forays in our neighborhood, but the local dogs are doing a good job.

Report on the Delta this morning is 15% contained at 53,837 acres.

~~~

Mark took Paul to see the movie “A Wrinkle in Time” and came home disappointed.  He then borrowed the audio book from the library and listening to it closed every family evening all last week.  The final chapter was last Sunday.  I’d forgotten so much of the story I was able to enjoy it all over again. 

The woman reading did a very good job.  At times she was juggling four or five voices.

One of the Hardy Boys books is our current bedtime read. 

                                                                                   Go Frank and Joe!

~~~

We are getting three or four eggs a day.  One hen is having a bit of trouble getting her eggs shelled.  We’ve found three (so far) with the membrane, but no shell.    Interesting.

One of the black chickens (can’t remember the name of the breed) is on her way to being at the bottom of the pecking order.  Twice she has been out in the yard when all the rest are in the house and up on the roost ready for the night.  And an evening earlier this week she was in the house but still roaming around on the floor.  I picked her up and put her on the roost causing a burst of agitation and scolding.

Bullies in the chicken house … oh my.

~~~

Earlier I mentioned taiko …

33 years ago   Russell Baba and Jeanne Mercer got a grant to teach taiko drumming here in Mt Shasta.  For those who don’t know, taiko is a Japanese style of group drumming requiring great timing and physical endurance.  Russell and Jeanne were (are) Masters of the art.  

If you want to know more … http://www.shastataiko.org/Public/About-Shasta-Taiko

They began teaching and developed the locals into one of the top groups in the US.  Their son is now a Master as well and travels the world performing.

Shasta Taiko is entering its fourth generation and Julie Bennett (one of the original group) has begun teaching elementary age children.

Paul goes for his second lesson this afternoon. 

~~~

 

The birch trees out my window have begun their change into gold.  Sometimes I think it is more beautiful only because it lasts such a short time … and this year it may be even shorter due to the weather and the fires. 

 

So I will enjoy.

~~~

I’ll end the week with a reminder …  

I’ve seen better days, but I’ve also seen worse.  I don’t have everything that I want, but I do have all I need.  I woke up with some aches and pains, but I woke up.  My life may not be perfect, but I am blessed.

So … ‘til next week …

5 September …

 

Mornings are coming later and later.  Twilight is starting earlier and earlier.  Breezes are beginning to carry a nip. 

 

First red red maple leaf is on the ground (not a redundancy … it was a red leaf off the red maple tree) …

and the last of the summer blues are fading (they are chickory).

However, the dog has yet to begin filling out his winter coat.

~~~

We are now getting four eggs a day and the pullets aren’t due to start laying for another two or three weeks.  We get enough eggs that I have stopped buying eggs.

So far we’ve had three double yolked eggs.  I read in a magazine, dedicated to chickens, that double yolks are an inherited trait and that hen chicks hatch with all the ova they will ever have already in situ … just like human females.  Interesting …

~~~

My choice for the VanGogh for September is called “New Church and Old Houses” and was painted early in his career … August 1882.

Just plain what he saw.  Not yet any of the extra vision.

                                   Just plain seems to be appropriate.

~~~

My reading is providing me with more coincidences.

In the Louise Penny book I just finished, the work of an artist depicting three friends with a slight space between two of them was interpreted as being actually of four friends, one of whom is absent (dead? away?), and the crack/space is letting her light in.

Then a scene in another book involved concern over a crack in an antique.  The concern was answered by “It’s not a defect.  It lets light from the past shine through.”

The latest coincidence was a facebook post, the context of which I forget, centered around the same words.

Do you think I’m being advised something about all my wrinkles? If so, maybe you’d better be wearing your dark glasses next time we meet.

~~~

The TinMan radio event was last Sunday.  I used to be at a corner on the bike route and George was on another corner.  Kamille and Mark were doing those stations this year.  I was Net Control (the center of the reporting hub) and spent my time in the clubhouse, physically away from all the action … and action there was.  For about an hour and a bit I couldn’t get away from the radio.  One contact would end and, without a break, another would begin.

I’d been awake since 0430 but my radio hours went from 0700 to 1142.  I was home and asleep by 1330.

~~~

For the last three days we’ve had BLUE skies.  There has still been light smoke to the east and those in Dunsmuir were afraid because of a breakout fire on Shasta Lake, but we are clear and safe for the moment.

~~~

Last, but not least, on the subject of “cracks” …

 

One small crack does not mean that you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn’t fall apart.”

-Linda Poindexter

 

So … ‘til next week …