Our weather has been erratic to say the least. One day last week we had clouds, rain, bright sun, snow, overcast, hail, and strong wind all in the same day. Since then it has been chilly, really chilly. Mark has started a fire a couple of times. But I’m still sleeping warm under just one comforter.
The chill is touching the trees. There is more and more red showing. Even the catalpa is reacting to the chill by beginning to show her yellow. And the milkweed pods are erupting all along the road.
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Last Saturday was the Headwaters Trail Runs. We tried some new things this year. In the past, net control has been at the Marina on Lake
Siskiyou where the runs start and end, and stations reported every runner’s number as they went through an aid station.
This year I stationed an operator at the Marine to act as liaison with the event managers and moved net control to the clubhouse. That was a wise move since in the past communication at the Marina has been location touchy. This year communication with all stations was quite clear. One thing we have to correct next year is since we use two operators at net control, we need to delineate responsibilities and train more net control operators so there are fewer complications.
The other change was that rather than reporting every runner number, the station operators kept a running tally but reported only the first and last runners. When we had a question about a runner, it was simple to start near the end and check stations back toward the start until we found the station where the runner in question was last noted. Information was readily available and the air waves were noticeably clearer.
It was a good event and the information is ready for next year’s planning.
Oh yes, the day with “weather” I told you about earlier … that was the day.
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The Winneman Wintu Tribe under Chief Colleen Sisk, from the Lake McCloud area, each year do a Run4Salmon. The dam at Lake Shasta down near Redding cut off access for spawning resulting in fewer and fewer salmon using the river. Now the tribe is working to bring back the salmon by calling attention using an event which starts with running in the Chico area, continues in canoes across Lake Shasta, and ends with horseback up the canyon to tribal headquarters on Lake McCloud.
Last year I got involved with the idea of using hams to track participants. This year they had 5 hams of their own involved. I plan to contact the organizers to ask how that went and see if we can coordinate local ham clubs to monitor them along the way.
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A new activity has been added to my week … free lunch on Monday. Did I tell you about that last week? Maybe I better read the previous week’s post before I write a new one.
Anyhow, this week a local eats and wifi café served. We had ham-chicken-cheese rollups with both green and fruit salads. Large chocolate chip cookies were the dessert.
Next week … Mexican from Casa Ramos.
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I was finally able to get back to the writing class at COS. I’d missed two classes due to the surgery.
It was an interesting session. Most of those in class are writing memoirs. I seem to be the only one writing fictionalized stuff.
One woman wrote a great poem about pens … writing pens. Her meter was reminiscent of Dr Suess. I’ve been thinking of telling her she ought to work it over, find an illustrator, and publish it as a children’s book.
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Last Friday, on our Paul&Nuna Day, we went to the Mt Shasta Museum down near the fish hatchery. We wiled away over an hour with the play areas (miniature trains, coloring tables, train and old-time cabin mock-ups) and some time with photographs of the Mountain.
The big discovery was their gift shop. Loads of ideas for holiday gifts. We will be going back to put shopping lists together. Paul assured me he could help me make a list of the items he would like to have (indulgent grandmother smile here).
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I’ve been thinking about the blog notice I used to post for those of you who are (were?) regular readers. The computer crash took my email address book with it. If you would like me to resume the notices, let me know and I’ll try to put another together.
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And the thought (lesson?) for the week …
A day enters, opens its doors, tells its story, never to visit again. Never – for no two days of your life will share the same wisdom. … Rabbi Tzvi Freeman.
So … ‘til next week …