Weather has been pretty consistent. Made a trip around the Mountain with neighbor Jenny yesterday. She drives. I have yet to give it a go. Am planning on next week.
Here in McCloud there is still snow piled up at the street sides where snow plows cleared and around 18-20” on the flat with a few bare patches. But there is no obvious snow on the Mt Shasta side of the Mountain except above the tree line.
Although morning temperatures are below freezing, days are pleasant in the 50s.
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Amy, the Aussie pup who lives at the end of the street and was not quite a handful in size when she arrived, is now a bouncy small armful. Her owner shares her and the older mini-Aussie whenever I’m out on a walkabout at the same time as he is out with his “ladies”. I’m too old to start raising a pup now, but this sharing fills my “puppy” fix need.
And there is the part-Dalmatian named Jewel who walks (runs) with Jenny when she makes her therapeutic walkabout every morning. However, Jewel is usually too busy checking out to see who or what was out and about during the night to waste time with neighbors.
Last evening there was a brave rabbit scouting the open space across the street. I’d seen tracks, but this was the first close time I’ve seen a rabbit.
That got me thinking about the community garden handled by the two neighbors down the street from me. Mark and Dave are good neighbors who maintain the garden and share garden produce with neighbors. I wonder what, if any, trouble rabbits give them.
I talked with one of the gardners yesterday and he told me a greenhouse is being added to the garden this year in order to extend growing time. Maybe an additional round of fencing across the bottom of the existing fencing with small enough mesh to keep rabbits out?
But after all, I’m not on that committee.
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And speaking of Dave … there was a large white vehicle at his place last evening after dark (about 1930 – 2000) with flashing lights and blinkers, but no noise makers. I don’t know how long it was there, and I wasn’t where I could see the vehicle markings as it left.
Guess I lived in a rather isolated place for all those years where anything unusual which I could see from the house was worth investigating. Now I’m turning into the little old lady who notices everything unusual in our small neighborhood.
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My daily walkabout now includes a round starting at my driveway, out to the main entrance to the Village, back to the cul de sac with a go-around, then back to the starting point at my driveway. Maybe in a few days I’ll start doing a second walkabout in the afternoon.
Next step will be making one complete round with Jenny – she has measured it at a quarter mile.
I’ve probably already told you all this, but my progress in increasing stamina is exciting to me.
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There is a major crossing place at the intersection between the north and south parts of McCloud with the business district (if you can call one long block a “business district”) on the north including the “Company” houses, The Company Mercantile (now shops and a hotel), the old time hotel, the churches, schools, library, and post office. To the south includes some smaller scattered residential areas, the golf course, and the cemetery.
I live on the south side of highway 89 and so have to cross the “Freeway” to get to the post office and the grocery store. There is a fair amount of view in each direction on 89, but the trucks come through at a rather good clip so caution is advised. I’m not sure what the speed limit in the area is, but I am told it used to be lower until truckers complained they couldn’t get up enough momentum at that speed to get up the hill headed toward the local kids’s sledding and beginner ski area known as “Snowman’s Hill” and the turnoff to the ski park which is the spot where the downhill slope begins. So to accommodate truckers, the speed limit was raised. Now to get across 89 requires attention.
Someone suggested an elevated crossing for locals (vehicular, bicycle, and foot traffic) but we all know what chance that kind of suggestion for a small village like McCloud has of ever seeing even a planning meeting.
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Just had a call from a former amateur radio connection. So far I haven’t found my handheld radio and so haven’t been on the weekly net. He plans to make a visit, and that will be nice.
Or maybe I’ll find my radio … or maybe the horse will learn to talk (to quote the moral in a folk tale).
In the meantime, here’s a reminder …
Helping ourselves doesn’t need to mean pushing others out of the way. It can be asking for help when we need it. Be kind today. If you’re generous-hearted with others, you’ll get the help you need.
So,‘til next week …