February 2019 – Musings …

27 February …

So much for Punxsutawney Phil …

A note from CHP last Thursday … “At this time, there are multiple vehicles off of the roadway. This is due to drivers attempting to drive at the posted speed limit sign’s of 65 to 70 mph.”

And a post on the county Emergency page … “TC – Northbound 5 just north of Grenada. Another rollover. Vehicle in the median.”

TCs totaled more than 18 before noon – black ice and snow on ice.

It is weather I don’t remember ever seeing after 40+ years of living here. During the day, the sun shines, we have melting and, at best, we have skiffs of snow. But overnight 2-3” (or more) of snow will fall. So first thing in the morning, there is snow on ice. Treacherous if you are unaware. Vehicle problems galore … jack-knifings, spin-outs, off into ditches, traffic collisions, you name it. Mark was away from home, busy with fire company rescues. A neighbor with GREAT equipment has been clearing us out first thing, and the young ones know how to handle snow (carefully). Being the fire keeper and cook has its advantages.

Sunday was interesting. The Amtrak train got stuck in four feet of snow between Portland and Klamath Falls. It was there for a day and a half.

Then Monday the 25th Kamille and Paul got into town and to school okay, only to have school cancelled before noon. A note from a friend up in Oregon said “We were hit with a foot of snow !! Power has been off for 18 hours now. No heat, but I do have a gas range, so been eating chicken noodle soup to stay warm. This area I live in NEVER gets this amount of snow. I know 1 foot is nothing down there ! Don’t laugh at us ‘flatlanders’ !! It’s a mess up here. I-5 is closed for 95 miles up here and many highways off it. Oakridge is totally blocked off from both directions out and into it !!”

Tuesday was a bit different. Wind overnight had plugged the drive and Kamille and Paul were late. Kamille’s truck got stuck and Mark had to take them in. And the ski park was closed due to too much snow.

Here are some comparisons … 25^th and 27^th.

Out front …

Lilac bush …

Courtyard …

And some extras …

Tuesday overnight we got about 14” of new, wet snow. This morning started with shoveling.

The satellite dish out back …

My pickup truck (it’s the small hump behind the big hump) …

The fog sitting on 4’+ of snow out back …

Tuesday night was the first time I had been alone in the house since George died. Mark, Kamille, and Paul went in to stay at the fire house so Kamille and Paul could get to work and school without problems (the live-in students are gone … their contract was up). Tyler was out in his “house” (actually the courtyard cottage which had been the playhouse when Tyler and Mikayla were young).

It has been a loooooooonnnnnngggg time since I’ve seen storm after storm like this. It was a bad time for those who have no idea how to drive in this weather.

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This blog is late because I was without internet connection for some time due to snow load in the dish. Hope you liked the photos.

Regardless, to finish this week … here’s a hint to my spirituality.

Elder’s Meditation of the Day February 21

“Every thing or living being that exists in this world, be it trees, flowers, birds, grasses, rocks, soil of the earth, or human beings, has its unique manner of existence – its essence, its spirit that makes it what it is. That is what is meant by connectedness.”

So … ‘til next week …

20 February …

This is a week for pictures …

“Potentially Historic” Avalanche Reported on Mt. Shasta

This D4 whopper in Avalanche Gulch on Mt Shasta occurred during last Wednesday’s rapid warming event following several feet of snow overnight” the Avalanche Center wrote on Facebook. “Debris 30’ high and terminus at 7,200 feet. This potentially historic avalanche ran several miles and nearly 4,000 vertical feet.”

Avalanches are measured on a D scale, with D1 being the smallest and D5 being the largest. Thankfully, no one was on the mountain during the dangerous event.
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That was the height of excitement for this area last week. Avalanche Gulch is the draw on the mountainside where the ski resort was located when we first moved here. Avalanches had already wiped out a resort with lodge there in the past. Who knows why they chose to rebuild in the same place. Then another, small avalanche wiped out the one I remember, and this time when they built a new ski resort, they built on other slopes more on the McCloud side of the Mountain below Coyote Butte.

Here’s proof I live in a calendar. Here’s what it looked like around here …

At the reservoir (snow on ice) …

Coming up our hill …

The meadow with next year’s firewood …

Paul in the center driveway …

and a neighbor’s car in fuel conservation mode …

Other California areas also had their share of excitement what with floods, DEEP snow, and landsides. We aren’t envious.

Temperatures have been below freezing for the last few days but egg production is back up.
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The Met is to reveal their 2019-2020 selections today. I wonder how many will be new operas, how many will be new productions, and how many will be old standbys. My “opera friends” and I will be making our selection(s) soon. I don’t know what I’d like to see and/or hear … maybe “Lakmi” for the duets.

I do wish they would put one of the old standbys into English. I think it would be a challenge for the singers and an incentive for the audience. Maybe “Elixir …”.
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As you know, I’ve been reading Christie’s Poirot canon. I am about half-way through. Some of her character descriptions are a blast in spite of the tale supposedly being a mystery rather than a comedy. One character in the last one I read is described as having a “rocking horse face” with “flaring red rocking horse nostrils”. Can’t you just see her?

And her descriptions of Poirot … you have to read them to appreciate Suchet’s take on the role. I read somewhere he said that to catch Poirot’s walk, he put a coin between his buttock cheeks. Now that’s getting into the role, right?

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Here’s a shopping list from when I was young.

That’s why the cost of the neighbor’s snow removal equipment left me reeling … over $45,000.

George and I paid less than $13,000 for our first house – a 3 bedroom, 2 ½ bath, 2 garage on a quarter acre.

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And to finish for this time … for your edification …

Elder’s Meditation of the Day February 18

“Laughter is a necessity in life that does not cost much, and the Old Ones say that one of the greatest healing powers in our life is the ability to laugh.”

So … ‘til next week …

13 February …

0730 …

Hip deep snow drifts (on my 6’5” son) with WIND. And it’s still snowing. A storm like the old days before the turn of the century. I-5 is closed northbound just above Redding and southbound just south of Yreka. Snow Day at all the local schools.Very little snow on the trees because of the wind. None of us will be going much of any place today. But we’re secure. Mark got the woodshed full last fall and there is food aplenty as well. It has been a few years since I’ve seen this kind of storm.

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The opera … !!!

Two friends and I saw this year’s Met production of “Carmen” last Wednesday. What a romp. Don José is such a dunderhead and Carmen kept trying to pop out of her bodice.

I love mezzo sopranos so this is an opera for me. I remember hearing Risë Stevens sing some of the arias in recital back in 1947.

Don José and Michaéla were sung by a married couple so watching their interactions was interesting.

However, for me the highlights were the bass-baritone who sang the Lieutenant (Richard Bernstein) and the second mezzo (Samantha Hankey).

Bernstein is a good actor as well as having a nice voice. He is a deNiro type (probably because he is from Brooklyn).

And Hankey is brand new. She just made her Met debut. She sounds good, acts good, and I will be watching for her to sing the Carmen lead in the next few years and to pair with a good coloratura for those wonderful duets which in the past have been done so nicely by the Horne-Sutherland and (more recently) the Garanča-Netrebko duos.

The three of us will be going again the 2^nd of March, this time to see “Daughter of the Regiment”. The drive up should be a bit different. Last time there was snow at the summit which showed the earth striations from the plate upheaval clearly … and snow and fog on the madrones on the way down into the valley.

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They seem to have managed the first taiko lesson for this year without me. Paul tells me two of our learners from last fall are back and there is a new one. Counting me, that will be five in the class. I’m looking forward to starting again … but it won’t be today.

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More on the weather ..

The Polar Vortex has moved west and our weather has become VERY cold. Not as bad as the Midwest had it last week, but cold enough for us.

These were the icicles yesterday …… this morning after the wind packing.

The hens have stopped laying and we have to bring their water into the house every night because it freezes. This is supposed to last another three or four days.

Everything is icy so walking is treacherous You either crackle or slip. I walk everywhere out there with a ski pole and this morning may need to use snowshoes.

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Tomorrow morning I was supposed to go to the Great Northern warehouse in Weed to help pack the holiday take-home snack bags for south county elementary school children. Great Northern’s food sharing includes lunches for children during the summer and snack bags for all school breaks for elementary and middle school students.

Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be there to help.

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One more thing about “Carmen” … the stage curtain was captivating. It was black with a red slash like blood thrown from the point of a knife.

This is the best picture I could get.

And “just one more thing” (to quote a grandchild’s telephone conversation closings from when he was younger) … It seems the staging at the Met this year is innovative, to say the least. This is the second opera we’ve seen where action on stage has started with the overture. No more sitting through the overture waiting. With “Carmen”, each overture provided a dance synopsis of the coming act danced Smuin style in front of a partially open curtain.

The first instance of the use of overture time which I saw was “La Traviata” where Violetta’s death was pantomimed by the main characters during the initial overture.

Makes me wonder what they’ll do with “Daughter …”.

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0845 …

It has stopped snowing. Now the WIND is whipping around and blowing snow off the trees and roof. Just like old times.

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A reminder …

Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being.

… or to paraphrase an insightful author …

No one is as bad as the worse thing they’ve ever done.

So … ‘til next week …

6 February …

It is said (in reference to the groundhog) …

“If Candlemas dawns bright and clear, there will be two winters in the year. If Candlemas dawns dark and gray, winter has come and gone away.”

This past saturday (Candlemas/Imbolc/Groundhog Day) was dreary, grey, and raining here so we should be heading into Spring soon. Garden planning has started and I’ll get the seed order out in the next few days.

However …

This was the scene Monday morning …

It has been snowing and/or raining ever since. Tuesday morning and this morning it has been below freezing and we’ve been getting only three or four eggs a day.

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The first meeting of this year’s beginners’ taiko class will be this afternoon. Paul will be there but I won’t. I had already made plans to see “Carmen” in Medford with two friends.

Oh well …

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The birthday party last Saturday went well in spite of the wet weather. I guess wet weather is one of the hazards of being born in January or February.

It was a “dinosaur” party.

The gifts (both those received and those sent home with guests) were aimed at dinosaurs.

The food was dinosaur themed and decorated.

I asked when Kamille and the others were going to hire out as party planners.

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If my amateur photos of the Mountain aren’t enough, or you want to see “live” what’s happening, the Chamber of Commerce has a cam on top of the Police station aimed at the Mountain.

https://mtshastachamber.com/live-cam/

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Another thought about winter pictures …

I find amazing scenes every time I step outdoors into snow. I am always gobsmacked (a word Jane Fonda recently used on an interview and the interviewer didn’t know what she was talking about … guess you have to be more than a certain age to recognize it).

However, I understand not everyone feels this way so here is only one picture.

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Finally, something to consider …

The art of happiness lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things. … H B Stowe

So … ‘til next week …