This post had been planned under vastly different circumstances. Then monday the 20th happened. Short form … I wound up in hospital with left lower lobe pneumonia. Wasn’t able to break free until saturday afternoon. Am recovering at home under oversight by son Mark and family and fairly constant observation by neighbor Diane.
In the meantime, you are getting the previously planned post and will get the rest of the story in days to follow.
Basic report … I am at my home in McCloud, mainly on my own. Recovering more slowly than I would like, but grateful to be recovering.
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The previously planned post follows …
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The call of migrating wedges of ducks overhead was a sound I thought I’d be missing with the move to my new home. But one evening last week, as I sat out knitting on my front porch, that unmistakable sound made me look up to see not one but two wedges flying out of the southeast. With further thought, the direction seemed wrong for this time of the year. Then I remembered I am now in a different area of Siskiyou County and the lakes and rivers are in different directions.
I wonder if the Canada geese follow this flyway too.
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Another sound I miss is the sound of the trains on still morning air with their two longs a short and a long as they cross North Old Stage just north of Deetz Road. I once wrote a poem about it …
However, there has been a replacement … logging trucks on Hwy 89. Now If I can only teach them to give a short blast on the air horn as they cross Squaw Valley Road/Broadway, just not before 0700 or after 2000.
That leads to thoughts of the RV park next door. The owners are very thoughtful of those of us who live on the other side of the fence. Rules there would appear to include no high outside lights, either in height or intensity, as well as no noise of any kind after 2100 … no barking dogs, no noisy children, no loud radios or other music makers, and no noisy parties.
Friends from my nursing days were staying there last weekend and invited me to join them for breakfast the day they were leaving to be followed by a tour of my new digs.
And I will be letting cousins from southern California know about the RV Park next door. They used to come north to visit George and me and now can resume visits while staying close.
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It took a couple of weeks after escrow closed (more about escrow later when I can be more objective) to get the new flooring installed and the big furniture out of storage and into place (however temporarily since I may change my mind about places later).
Now unpacking boxes is the rule of each day. That is consistently interesting. As I unpack and put things away, each placement seems logical. Then, as I go to get something, it is never in a logical place and requires a search followed by replacement to some other logical place.
Oh well …
Mark and Paul were here last thursday. They brought the big tv with them, but it isn’t operational yet. The library table, which will be its site, is still in storage.
My computer did get put in place and connected. Hence the resumption of the weekly (at least I am hoping they will be weekly) blogs.
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Settling into a routine is taking a bit of time, but it is happening. A couple of factors are helping. A neighbor, who used to be a fitness trainer, takes her dog Jewel for a walk most mornings beginning about 0900. According to her, a circuit of the streets in this community is about a quarter of a mile so she goes around four times. Seems a short distance for a fitness trainer, but I have noticed an unusual hitch in her get-along, so maybe she had a recent injury.
Another reliable, at least so far, timer is the breeze which stirs the quaking aspen across the street into scintillation every afternoon about 1500. They have yet to begin changing colour so maybe that marker will change when winter gets here and their leaves drop.
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Now that I am semi-settled, we had begun planning a weekly “family” evening for dinner and a movie or some telly time together. The day selected was friday since that ends the week and sets the weekend free.
So far, it hasn’t happened.
First delay was caused by Paul being exposed to Covid at school requiring a two week quarantine which was lifted when he tested negative.
This past week the cancellation was caused by the threat of actions by the “Proud” boys over the arrests resulting from the attack on the Capital. Vandalism attributed to that group had already occurred at the Episcopal Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento which is considered to be “Liberal”. Mark’s presence there was required as a result of responsibilities inherent in his position with the Northern California Diocese.
Maybe next friday will finally be a “go”. It’s been over a month since we shared an episode of “the Librarians” or watched a movie together (I bought a copy of “Spirit”, a movie I missed at the local theatre).
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I’ve met some of the neighbors. They seem like a congenial lot … so far.
The woman to the east (Diane) is a widow whose son lives with her. They are both insulin dependent diabetic. She also has kidney failure and sleeps hooked to an abdominal dialysis machine.
The other people on the cul de sac used to own all this land but grew old and sold. They are seldom seen.
The men who care for the community garden (Mark and Dave), and their families, live to my west – side by side. They both ride motorcycles but not at full throttle until they are out of the immediate neighborhood.
The current owner of the development (Juttus) has a nice wife and three very young children. He works for CalFire (he was away a lot of my first weeks here working as a dispatcher on the massive Dixie fire down in the Lassen area). He also volunteers with the local fire company and makes regular checks on the health of Diane.
I’ve already told you about Jenny who walks with her dog Jewel.
There is one empty house (currently for sale) and three other houses in the community whose residents I haven’t yet met.
I’m thinking of baking cookies and going door to door sometime before the snow flies. Hallowe’en might be a good time.
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An interesting side effect to global warming is happening.
A while ago, glacial melting on the east side of the Mountain near McCloud resulted in a mudslide across one of the well-used roads necessitating a longer route ‘round the Mountain.
Then last week the same thing happened on the west side near Weed. As reported by the local paper “According to emergency scanner traffic, the slide is about sixty yards wide and a foot deep, caused by mudflow from the Whitney Glacier and rainfall overnight. According to the California Highway Patrol’s incident management page, three semi trucks and a car were temporarily stuck in the slide, but there were no injuries.”
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A welcome rain came last saturday. It started about 1000 in spite of the weather report that said “mostly sunny”. Rather heavy rain lasted through noon then subsided to showers. I need to get a rain gauge.
The lavender coloured butterfly bush outside the office window, which is also beside the “front door”, was bent with the weight of the water. I’ll prune it back some although it is still blooming.
I have already lopped off the lower branches of the volunteer Ponderosa pine outside the dining room. It will make a nice site for holiday lights as long as I am able to reach high enough.
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To end this blog my affirmation is that things will go well for all of us, or at least begin to go well …
Realize that everything that happens in your life is for a positive purpose. Some purposes you will recognize. Some you won’t. When you doubt … repeat “This too is for the good.”
So … ‘til next week …