Okay … Ready …
Set …
Go …
I’ll start with the weather.
We are going into the second week of cool nights, chilly mornings, with afternoons and evenings above average for this time of year.
Still no rain since the thunder and lightning storms several weeks ago.
As of friday the 7th, it seems there are two strong low pressure centers quite a distance off shore to the west and corresponding high pressure centers on the border between us and Nevada. None seem ready to move.
The result is clouds full of water off shore and clear dry skies just east of here keeping us dry.
Walkabout times are dependent on temperature and dawn. They have become later and wear an extra layer.
~~~
Now to try to recreate the Pulitizer Prize worth blog you will never get to read.
Oh well …
~~~
In unpacking another bin, I found a cookbook which my friend and former neighbor Elizabeth put together as a fundraiser for her church’s women’s group. She gathered recipes from friends as well as church members.
In it I found recipes from Miriam Lowry, Elaine Komrij, me, and of course Elizabeth and her church ladies.
What a trip down memory lane.
For several years Elaine and her husband Henri, George and I, and Elizabeth had a dinner group which met together in each house in rotation.
The recipes in the book are mostly fairly good. Naturally the recipes from the dinner group are all great.
Among mine was my paternal grandmother’s lemon pie which was a staple for family birthdays. Grandma called it her Down Time Lemon Pie because it tasted best when the lemons were so ripe they began to fall down off the trees. That pie is on the list of items I need to do while reclaiming my cooking skills.
Elaine and I may be the only ones left alive from that dinner group and I’m not sure about Elaine since she hasn’t replied to my mail in over two years. That would leave only me.
Finding the cookbook triggered another step forward in my path toward regaining the self-confidence I lost when I spent that fiasco in the hospital over more than a year and a half ago. I’ve been driving for quite some time. I upped the walkabout to three quarters of a mile several times a week and ad hope to up that to a full mile in a couple of weeks.
But I wasn’t sure I could cook more than the simple meals I’ve been doing just for myself. Then I found the cook book and thought “Yes I can cook” and decided to start with my Aunt Virginia’s Blueberry muffins.
They were a success. They were even good enough to share with a couple of neighbors who really liked them.
Thank you Aunt Virginia.
I haven’t decided what I will try next.
~~~
There had been a rather large split in the street right off the corner by my house. It was about two inches wide. Not wide enough to hinder cars, but enough to cause me to be cautious on my walkabouts when I use George’s walking stick.
Last week the landlord spent two days repairing it.
One of the neighbors told me she thought it was the result of snow weight combined with seepage of water to under the ground from watering lawns and flowers and water being caught in the cracks which caused the road cracks all over the area.
Most of them aren’t very wide. Just the one across the corner where Chelsea Lane meets Kenady Way (don’t blame me – I didn’t name them).
But whatever the cause, the one at my corner is no longer a concern for me.
And on the subject of water … McCloud gets its water from springs on the Mountain filling a big storage tank from which the water is delivered to the town. No one in the town pays a water bill.
A couple of weeks ago the lines from the springs to the tank were damaged. My Village and all other parts of town were put on a cutback of irrigation use of water to a limited number of days per week on a rotating schedule. Our scheduled days were monday, wednesday, and saturday. That didn’t bother me since I have a very small area needing watering.
We could flush toilets, take a couple of short showers and limit the use of dishwashers. That lasted two or three weeks before the usage cutback was lifted.
Then last saturday we were notified the water line from the springs to the tank is finally repaired but now the tank needs to be offline while it is drained for cleaning until the system is again authorized for use.
So we are again on a rotating use schedule. We are to be restricted to no irrigation watering until next saturday.
Not too high a price to pay for free water.
~~~
While clearing out some of the leftover paper clutter from before the change in my life, I found a lot of records which had not only my name but a lot of information which would be a goldmine for identity theft. First thought was to burn it, but with my new living situation there is no place to burn stuff.
I used to have a paper shredder but gave it away when clearing out stuff planning for my move.
Fortunately, one of my luncheon friends recently had the same problem and bought a small shredder which she loaned to me a week ago.
I got all that stuff ready and had it ready for the next trash pick-up.
I suppose a compulsive or really determined identity thief could do a puzzle thing and learn all that information, but somehow I really doubt that will happen.
~~~
There is a fresh food vendor named Juan who comes to Yreka on mondays and fridays. He always has whatever is in season in the far northern part of the central valley. Last week it was figs, persimmons, valencia oranges, cucumbers (both green and lemon), late zucchini, blueberries, jalapeños, jicama, almonds (plain, salted, and hot spiced), and the regular local honey such as star thistle.
Some times in the past (before covid), near Christmas, he would bring some of his mother’s tamales (but you had to be there when he opened because they went fast).
Also in the past when I was making jam and jelly and my family’s favorite Ruby Hoop’s Tomato soup (a recipe I found in a homesteading magazine many years ago), I could call ahead and he would bring flats of fresh fruits and vegetables for me.
There was/is an older man who often helped with the food stand who would tease me about being picky when I was jamming and jellying and we’d laugh. I never did find out his name. I’ll ask next time he and I are there at the same time.
But he knew and remembered my name and this last visit he was singing and dancing and, as usual, we were laughing and he said “Wilma, when we gonna dance?” so I promised “ Next time.”
Now I have to get my getalong going by practicing on my walkabouts so I can at least move a bit better.
~~~
I thought the roses on the porch were done. By the way, none had hips for collection so no source for winter vitamin C.
Then I discovered the Double Delight has set three late season flowers and the Peace has one bud. It will be interesting if there will be enough warmth left before winter to support blooms.
And the mini rose I got at the Grocery Outlet and transplanted to a porch container is doing well. The blooms are thumb sized red and white striped.
Another thing to watch.
~~~
By the way, I picked the first three string beans and added them to a cobb salad and also had three of the Krim tomatoes drop. They are still not all black, but tasty none the less. Quite a crop this year.
Also by the way, for a while as I am transitioning between computers, I have no way to access the pictures in my camera. Look for pictures of rose buds, tomatoes and green beans in my next blog … I hope.
~~~
I didn’t see any butterflies in the butterfly bush this year. What I am seeing are small birds of some kind. Not juncos. I’d recognize juncos. I gave away my bird identification book when I was aimed for southern California because the book was about northern California birds.
Now I’ll have to get another book.
~~~
There had been fewer monday lunch attendees post-covid, down from close to a hundred at its peak. After the lunches started up again, the attendance was WAY down.
It had been slowly rebuilding, then the McKenny fire and several of our regulars are now homeless due to the McKenny fire and so are not with us for a while as things settle.
For a few weeks we have not been able to use the Community Center because the road access was through the Heights. We’ve been using the Berean Church out 97 (but I think I’ve already told you that .. sorry).
Last week we were told we might be able to go back to using the Center again and we should listen for phone information.
~~~
There has been only one hummer at the feeder for two weeks and that one not regularly.
I remember that out on the farm, I always took in the feeders at the end of September so the birds would go south to warmth and not come to depend on feeders for winter food and be subject to freezing.
I took my feeder in last sunday.
~~~
On my trip to Walmart I looked for a couple of new pillows, new shoes to replace the wornout Birks I’ve had for maybe 20 years and can’t have resoled since the only shoe repairman in the county has retired. I found a wannabe copy in Walmart for $5 as opposed to $140 for Berks ( but I most likely won’t live long enough to need any more new ones), winter shirts (the men’s ones with long tails) and discovered Walmart’s men’s department isn’t very large and winter clothes aren’t yet available, and found a copy of the latest “Dr Strange…” (which I hadn’t been able to go see locally) in the sale bin.
That shopping added at least half a mile to my daily walkabout.
Lunch at the MT Shasta Casa Ramos topped the day off and was delicious.
~~~
I have good neighbors.
I had been able to do a lot of the yard weeding job a square foot at a time. At that rate I maybe wasn’t going to be done before winter. Then a neighbor from down the street said he could do it in less than a single morning.
I was left with a mostly cleared yard with only a few plants he didn’t recognize as weeds.
He even carted away the ones he pulled along with some of the rotten weed-detering ground cover and the brittle, rotted drip watering lines as well.
I took him a couple of Aunt Virginia’s muffins.
Diane, my nextdoor neighbor, and I may have found a new housecleaner to replace the one we had who just quit coming without any notice. This new one is a bit more expensive but works faster and provides all her own supplies.
~~~
I am expecting a visit from Mary, George’s niece, for three days after she attends a wedding in San Francisco.
She plans to arrive a couple of days after Hallowe’en and be here for three days.
Boyohboy, visits from two relatives in a bit more than six weeks.
I guess I’m just lucky.
~~~
That’s all I can remember from the lost blog.
~~~
Now from this past week …
I’ve switched to a different medical care provider from the one I’d used since my longtime MD died of ALS.
I was with a PA in Weed for about four years until he got peeved with me. And before I could tell him I didn’t like or expect that from a medical professional, he announced he was leaving and going back to being a professional airline pilot.
My new primary care provider is an FNP named Claudia who is based out of the clinic just across 89 from where I live. About the equivalent of my mile walkabout.
Francis spent last saturday with me while his parents went to Red Bluff for something having to do with Mark’s work for the church. They didn’t get back to pick him up until 10.
Francis and I had a good time together. He played a computer game while I took a short nap then we had a tamale dinner with salad. He brought a couple of homemade cookies for our dessert.
During the afternoon he and I reminisced about the times when we were all still living on the farm and I would pick him up from school on friday afternoons. We would go to the library followed by dinner at the HiLo for chicken strips and fries and he remembered the time they gave us fish and chips (Brit for fries) and how they were unexpected but good.
We ended the day playing Scrabble and to my surprise we had used all but three of the tiles and I won.
They were pleasant memories for me and a joy that he remembered.
~~~
I started doing some genealogical research on my brickwall and found the record of when his request for his Revolutionary War pension was presented to the US House of Represatives. It was in the archived minutes dated 1804.
It included an interesting bit of information. Seems he was injured in service. Now I need to track down the where and when of any injuries.
~~~
Reading leads to a string of thoughts.
I just found the Husband and Wife team who write under the AKA of Robin Paige. They write a series of Victorian era mysteries.
In the first in the series one character says more than once “in point of fact”.
It made me remember an old movie (Beat the Devil) in which one of the main characters, played by Jennifer Jones, uses the line repeatedly. I thought it was an invention of the screenwriter only to find in the book (Death at Bishop’s Keep) it was part of lower (servant) class English speech.
And that reminded of what a good movie that was with a cast including Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Gina Lollobrigida (a pre-Sophia Loren hot item), a British actor named Edward Underdown who’s unforgettable nasal delivery of wanna-be-upper-class speech was wonderful, and in addition an Italian street brass band.
If you can ever find it on TCM or some such it is well worth the time to enjoy a bag of laughs.
~~~
Fire is still with us but has moved north. Oregon is now having more and bigger fires than we had earlier.
Climate Change???
~~~
And that’s not the only change …
~~~
As of now I will no longer be driving. I am no longer able to back up safely due to limited head rotation.
The challenge will be finding friends and neighbors who will be able to provide me with transportation. I’ll start making phone calls this afternoon.
I knew it was coming but not in the manner suggested by someone who (I think it was Dylan Thomas but don’t depend on it ) to “do not go gentle into that good night, but rage, rage against the fading of the light.”
I will not rage and I will go gently since I am cognizant of physical changes, but not mental acuity, and it will make less pressure on my sons who love me and take care of me.
I had been given a sign or two and an additional reminder was given me last evening in the epilogue to an episode of a TV series I watch …
“Needing is not a weakness. We are at our strongest when we recognize our needs and embrace them.”
It is a hard change but I will adjust.
~~~
Read enough? In the spirit of Yom Kippur … I apologize for any errors, both grammar and spelling and acknowledge I won’t be getting the Pulitzer Prise. Oh well …
So … just remember…
The sun when it shines on your face is free.
‘til next week …