More thoughts in the time of COVID-19 …
Day 143 since the California lockdown with 245 thousand US dead …
A day late and a dollar short … as one of my parents or grandparents would say (I can’t recall which one right now).
Yesterday was just one of those days. I left the house at 0700, almost finished the list of to-do stuff, and got home in time for dinner at 1700 (5:00). I failed to go into Mt Shasta for the last thing on the list, but Kamille will do it for me today.
So, here I am … a day late. My busy day seems to be falling on Wednesday regularly. Maybe I should change the blog day.
Oh well …
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Let’s see … yesterday began with the need to be in Yreka at the courthouse around 0800 and so no time for the blog. My apologies …
First stop in Yreka was the office of the Siskiyou County Supreme Court to get a copy of a trial decision from a case heard back in 1990. It was a case between neighbors (two of whom are now dead and one living on Maui) over water flow and the uses thereof. It might be important to the current controversies over water in this area.
Second stop was the office of the County Recorder to research the deed and easement rights of a parcel of land pertinent to a controversy over the use of one of the Hammond Ranch East subdivision’s roads. The Planner, in charge of this subject in the Recorder’s office, and I were in “conference” for about two hours. We looked at (and he explained to me the meanings of) a clutch of documents and maps dated as far back as 1968.
The first result of that interaction was the discovery of a glaring error in re one Ranch road which needs to be corrected. It is listed in the County maps as a US Forest Service road when it is actually a private road belonging to those holding access easements. I will need to bring that to the attention of the landowners’ association and figure out what hoops we need to jump through to get it corrected so that tourists and holiday guide books stop sending people through our area as a way to access to public lands.
The other big discovery was that a parcel of land between our subdivision and an adjacent subdivision is actually part of neither. It seems so strange to be dealing with “subdivisions” in this remote, rural area, but back to the learning session. That parcel is, after several changes in parcel boundaries, multiple owners, and grievous confusion, a source of trouble caused either by stupidity or as a result of possibly intentional misrepresentation by the original land developer.
So I now have a handful of documents to bring to the next decision-making meeting over this problem … and some new knowledge about how our County government does things.
When that interaction was finished, I was hungry. I hadn’t taken time for breakfast before leaving home. Bacon burgers, fries, and a drink at 1130.
Next was the drive back south to the local food share where I picked up a week’s supply of food for the neighbor who dropped the tree on his leg. Home to Yreka is nearly an hour each direction.
The food pick-up, which always involves at least forty-five minutes to an hour in line, was followed by my weekly trip to the library. By then it was already an hour or two into the afternoon.
Then to the local feed store for chicken food. We were completely out so I had to get layer pellets and scratch and spend a friendly amount of time talking with Barry, who runs the feed store from his house. He has personal medical issues (he knows I am a nurse) and an elderly, arthritic dog with whom he is deeply involved. It is a local business so it requires a bit more time than the in-and-out of a bigger commercial interaction.
On the way home I had to stop by the home of one of the new HLA Board members to deliver her informational packet and then by Rodney’s place to drop off his food. The stop at Rodney’s also required chatting time. He lives alone, is a rather queer-duck with few friends or contacts, knows one of his town contacts has been diagnosed with COVID and so is insistent about maintaining distance which, in addition to the deep laceration and broken bone, made getting the food into his house a bit complicated. By the time that was done and I got home it was 1600 (4 o’clock), I hadn’t had time to go to the toilet all day (like doing a full 10hour shift in the Emergency Department … coffee before the shift began, toilet after it ended), and was very glad I was not the one required to fix dinner.
After dinner the chicken feed had to be taken to the chicken house, the evening chicken routine handled, the day’s emails checked, and the dinner dishes washed.
By 1930 I was able to get into bed and read my current adventure book for an hour before nodding off. It took me to Palestine pre-Israel.
And that is why this week’s blog is a day late. However, I am still a dollar short.
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The other big event last week was my first appointment with a dentist in way too long a time. Dental appointments leave me an anxiety wreck dating back to experiences as a kid.
My lower left molar had lost the cap a few months ago. Following consultation and x-rays, I was told there is a partial fracture across the space between the working surface of the tooth and the roots (molars have two), the beginning of infection at the base of both roots, and the only way forward is extraction. That is scheduled for the 30th at 0900. Fortunately the new dentist believed me when I told him I would need novacaine bigly and nitrous if I am to survive. We shall see. I have never had a tooth pulled with the exception of a couple of wisdom teeth and that was done under anesthesia because they had to break the teeth to get them out.
I’ll let you know how I survive … or not.
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Weather last weekend and all the way into yesterday was a switch to cold, wind, and rain. Over three days we had between 3 and 4 inches of rain. Had it been snow we’d be knee deep.
At least it put a dent in the fire danger. They haven’t yet declared the season over, but essentially that is the state of things.
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Oh … and I forget to tell you we lost one of the white laying hens. She had been acting off for a couple of weeks … not roosting with the others, showing signs of being low on the pecking order such as loss of head and tail feathers, seemingly not interested in food, the last to start the day and the first to end it … just generally not so good. Monday evening she was on her side out in the yard being pecked on by the others. Attempts to move her were unsuccessful and she was dead by morning. When something like that happens, it makes me sad … but nature knows what she is doing. Or so I have to believe.
That leaves sixteen layers and that is still enough to feed this family. I had a rasher of bacon, an over-easy egg, and a blueberry roll for breakfast this morning.
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That’s enough for this week. It is now nearly noon.
This week’s thought …
Do not be dismayed by the hypocrisy of others, nor by your own inconsistencies. Our lives are all journeys through hills and valleys.
So … ‘til next week …