13 July …

Based on the flow of high and low centers over the part of the Pacific which affects our weather, we have been in a cycle of low pressure giving us lower temps because of the direction of flow which brings Alaska area temps to the coast and western Cascades, and high pressure bringing warmer/hot temperatures up from the central valley. 

As a consequence, daily temps vary from the low 70s to as high as the low 90s. Morning walkabouts now begin closer to 0730 than 0800 and the windows left open to create crossflows during the night are closed at walkabout time.

~~~

The mullein is getting ready to send up its tall, yellow blossom sometimes called the Witches’ Candle … Queen Anne’s Lace … Butterfly Bush … Red Clover and Plantain …  Small yellow flowers of unknown genus, my guess based on blossom shape = melon of some kind …

With any luck, photos will follow, probably next week.

~~~

Wednesday was an unexpected but not unwelcome visit.  Lessons often come in unexpected forms. 

Also received a not unwelcome request for help with “alternative” housing while the repairs are underway.  I said “sure”, but outlined the haphazard situation here concerning beds (two regular twin beds and a blow-up).  

They might find more comfortable and nearer help.  But it would be nice to have visit time while repairs are made.

~~~

Plans are in the works for a railing around the porch and for a couple of flash heaters to replace the too small and slowness of the current hot water flow to some areas of the house.

This will be good for the new tub and the needs in the kitchen and laundry area. 

Interesting that the licensed electrician, Mike Cheula, with whom Mark consulted about the heaters, went to school with Michael and/or Mark back in the 1980s. 

South Siskiyou county is a small place.

~~~

To end the week …

An oil tanker doesn’t need to capsize to pollute our oceans. Just a small amount of the viscous liquid can cast an invisible film over a vast area. It’s a timely reminder of the impact something minuscule can have on something far larger than itself.  You may be feeling unsure of the amount of power you have, and your ability to affect a decision. You’re neither small nor irrelevant.     

          —   Jonathan Cainer

Be the reason someone believes in good people.

So, ‘til next week …   

13 July …

Based on the flow of high and low centers over the part of the Pacific which affects our weather, we have been in a cycle of low pressure giving us lower temps because of the direction of flow which brings Alaska area temps to the coast and western Cascades, and high pressure bringing warmer/hot temperatures up from the central valley. 

As a consequence, daily temps vary from the low 70s to as high as the low 90s. Morning walkabouts now begin closer to 0730 than 0800 and the windows left open to create crossflows during the night are closed at walkabout time.

~~~

The mullein is getting ready to send up its tall, yellow blossom sometimes called the Witches’ Candle as are Queen Anne’s Lace … Butterfly Bush … Red Clover and Plantain …  Small yellow flowers , unknown genus, my guess = melon of some kind …

With any luck, photos will follow, probably next week.

~~~

Wednesday was an unexpected but not unwelcome visit.  Lessons often come in unexpected forms. 

~~~

Plans are in the works for a railing around the porch and for a couple of flash heaters to replace the too small and slowness of the current heater flow to some areas of the house.

This will be good for the new tub and the needs in the kitchen and laundry area. 

Interesting that the licensed electrician, Mike Cheula, with whom Mark consulted about the heaters, went to school with Mark and/or Michael back in the 1980s. 

South Siskiyou county is a small place.

~~~

To end the week …

An oil tanker doesn’t need to capsize to pollute our oceans. Just a small amount of the viscous liquid can cast an invisible film over a vast area. It’s a timely reminder of the impact something minuscule can have on something far larger than itself.  You may be feeling unsure of the amount of power you have, and your ability to affect a decision. You’re neither small nor irrelevant.     

          —   Jonathan Cainer

Be the reason someone believes in good people.

So, ‘til next week …  

6 July …

It has been a difficult week.  I apologize (in spite of the admonition to never apologize, never explain) for subjecting you to what should have been a journal entry.  Not a blog post.

~~~

The holiday weekend started with thunder and lightning beginning a few minutes after midnight friday followed by rather intense rain.  Rain continued intermittently, mostly after dark, and temperatures were well below what it had been just the week before.

Now it has turned cool with rain nearly every night.

Nice.

~~~

I recently learned something about bananas which I had never known.

If you pull off the skin from the blossom end rather than the stem end all those pesky strings go with the peel and you don’t have to either eat them or pick them off one string at a time.

It works.

Did you know that?  Well it was new to me.

~~

Have any of you readers noticed that authors have their own way of seting-up chapters in their books?

In one series of books I’m reading the author uses very short chapters. Chapters are often just two or at the very most five or six pages with the top of the first page of the chapter devoted to “Chapter xx”

Another has very long chapters but with a space or *** or other sigal at various places in a chapter signifying a change in time or place or story flow. Those breaks seem to be random in number and placing.

That choice of style doesn’t stop my reading other than momentarily (misplaced modifiers stop me more surely and make me more prone to take time to mentally correct the grammar).  My go-to example is “We only sell Fords” which instead of indicating that they sell only Fords … no other makes such as GMC, Honda, Subaru Dodge, etc..  Instead what it says is they only sell Fords … they don’t finance or provide any other service..

But back to chapters … I just thought chapter style was interesting.

~~~

I saw a very interesting phenomenon this morning.  One of the small black birds which seem to have been defending nests stopped while passing over the massed daisies and unidentified small yellow flowers just across the street from my front porch and seemed to be hovering similar to a hummingbird.  

It startled me.  Now I will be watching more closely to see if it really happened or if it was an optical illusion.

~~~

I got a few more pictures of the local blooms.  Queen Anne’s Lace … little white daisies … Yarrow … unknown little yellow daisy-like flowers … red clover and some others.  But my computer is being switched from an old computer which is dying to a new one and so the pictures will wait until the transfer is complete.  

There should be photos next week.

~~~

To end the week …

As hard as it may feel, it is better to stand empowered and alone, than diminished and surrounded by people who don’t care.

— Grandmothers’s Wisdom

So, ‘til next week …  

29 June …

The big excitement in this little Village began last wednesday afternoon.  A young neighbor (he’s in his early 60s I think, but to me that’s young) left  about 1000 for a mountain bike ride out in back of the old McCloud Mill to do some maintenance on a bike trail telling his wife he’d be back about 1300, but had not returned home by 1600.  Friends told her if he was not home by then to call and report him missing.   An adhoc search lasted into dusk/dark without finding any trace.

The next morning a meeting was held, 0800 at the high school including any official or volunteer search personnel. I don’t know which groups were there, but I know it included Sheriffs and the local Fire Company, which has a medical unit, and locals.  Among the locals were friends and other McCloud citizens, who know the bike trails in the area where he was thought to have been riding.  The locals were assigned to ride out to search all the possible trails.  A close friend requested permission to take the missing man’s dog with him hoping the dog would track any scent but the “group” thought that wasn’t a good idea. 

The adhoc search lasted into dusk/dark without finding any trace.

He is known to have heart and back problems AND to be sensitive to heat (it was in the 90s the day he went missing, which is HOT for McCloud) and he had not been carrying a lot of water since he planned to be home by 1300.

On friday about 100+ locals and Sheriffs spent all day walking a wide area east of the old mill site with aid from a Sheriff’s helicopter.

Saturday a group of close to a hundred trail bike riders were assigned to specific trails, either alone or in pairs.  After a day long search in which a military helicopter with a Red Cross on its side joined the search.  His trail bike was located, but no sign of him.  A Sheriff came to his home to look for any clues which might help establish his mindset when he left home.  The only thing which seemed to be missing was a back pack which had probably carried tools and work clothes for the planned trail repair.  He often went fishing to one of the local fishing areas alone or with a friend but always told his wife where he was going and when to expect him home. The Sheriff had been unable to get permission to fly a night search using infrared optics. 

Sunday, day five, and further information came to light that he told friends he was headed for the Mud Creek Dam area but still no “permission” for night infrared flights. What appeared to be a pink tape Hansel and Gretal type sign, turned out to be a track made previously for those volunteering to clean up the biking/hiking path.

A family friend was finally able to take the family dog to sniff out her master, but without success.  Of course, there had been hundreds in the area so any track of Terry had probably been obliterated.

By monday optimism was waning. It was another quite warm, but not high, temperature day.  Forensic personnel were in the area , but no more choppers, and I had learned that when searching for a missing person the first forty eight hours were search and from then on it became retrieval.

Today is blog day, another wednesday, the eighth day since Terry went missing. The sheriff deputy was at Terry’s home twice yesterday.  Law enforcement presence has been called off with only periodic routine lookarounds although a Sheriff’s helicopter was overhead just a few minutes ago.

When I asked this morning during our walkabout what she thought, Jenny said the Sheriff asked if she thought Terry disappeared on purpose, but they decided that was unlikely since none of the items usually missing with a runaway were still where she expected them to be and the bank accounts had not been accessed.  She thinks a purposeful disappearance is a very distant possibility because of those findings.  

But because of heat, his heart and spine problems, as well as the lack of visible preparations for anything other than his stated purpose of clearing one of the trails of winter and recent heavy rain debris, his hiding his trail bike to protect from theft as well as indicating he planned to come get it and return home, his lack of more than one bottle of water and no food, and no phone or other communication device, she thinks he had an “accident” due to his heart or back problems.

Positive affirmations have turned prayers from his physical well being to that for his soul.

It was on the front page of the local paper this morning.

In the Village, chaos has been replaced with quiet sadness.

~~~

On a more pleasant note … there are flowers in bloom all over the place, some of which I have  no photos.

Not just the dogwood but scissor plants 

and plantain and poppies

and comfrey 

and mullein 

and Queen Anne’s lace and small daisies and several others … 

Oh my ( to paraphrase Dorothy’s lions and tigers and bears on the way to the Emerald City – and if I credited that quote incorrectly, I’m sure someone will correct me).

~~~

If you’ve been following my ramblings for any amount of time, you know about AC.  We had our own corps de mouse catchers which lived in the barn.  AC, as I eventually named him, was the tiny black kitten I found abandoned. There actually were two kittens not much past first opening their eyes.  I heard their mews and found them hidden under a porch deck about noon.  When they were still alone at dusk, I collected them, tucked them in my shirt, took them in the house, and fed them from a teeny bottle I had used for teeny animals in the past.  The black one survived but the partly grey one didn’t.

We often lost a barn cat to the local wild bobcat population, so since no obviously adult cat came looking for kittens, I kept feeding the little black cat.  He grew into a very attractive teenager and would hug my ankles and talk to me, especially whenever we went outdoors. 

His name AC was the result of his personality … A for adventurous, amiable, attention seeking, attractive, affectionate, etc. and C (naturally) for cat).

Finally he was ready to go out on his own and join the cadre of cats which waited for George outside the front door every morning when he went to the barn to feed the animals. 

AC had begun showing an interest in girls.  He continued to come to say hello each time I went out the door, rubbing my ankles and talking.  Then one day he failed to show up.

I assumed he either eloped with one of the ladies which caught his eye, or he had failed to learn the lesson about bobcats.

So … the reason for this trip through the back forty (back story as part of storytelling) is by way of prefacing why I was attracted to the black cat which began coming into the open area across the road from me.  It never offered to cross the road but I came to watch for it as it came every evening. 

I can’t keep a cat as I did AC since I had developed a sensitivity to cat dander.  If I were to get a cat it would have to be a house cat because pet animals are not allowed in the Village unless kept on a leash when outdoors, because of the local feral animals, and a rule about not allowing pet animals to annoy neighbors.  Besides, can you imagine a cat allowing itself to be leashed? 

However, I can watch the current black cat and remember AC.

Last saturday evening, as the black cat arrived, SHE was accompanied by two black kittens.  As they returned “home”, she had a small animal (probably one of the local field mice or a small ground squirrel) in her mouth and the kittens fell in line behind her.

I hope they continue to come here to hunt so I can continue as a peeping watcher. 

~~~

To end the week … apologies for any grammar or spelling mistakes.

Remember the little things.  Some day you’ll appreciate that they were actually the big things.

So, ‘til next week …   

22 June …

Saturday was full to overflowing.

Daughter Kamille participated in a 5K+ run around Lake Siskiyou.

Son Mark and grandson Francis were here to do laundry and help me put together the new tomato porch planter (mostly Francis helping with the planter).  In addition, Francis helped with transplanting the tomatoes and putting the Climate cover (like a greenhouse) over the frame. 

Weather that day was quite varied …

It began as we were finishing the construction with a light shower.  Francis and I decided it wasn’t enough to get us unduly damp and continued with the construction.  

Then just after we finished the construction and transplanting, we went indoors for dinner (a very good meal prepared by Mark – chicken thigh meat seasoned with Mark’s special touch, crisp cauliflower, and lightly grilled potatoes followed by dessert of choice) the weather marathon began.  Francis was worried the tomatoes needed protection so he went out and closed the weather cover which had been left open.

The weather event started with a modest rain followed by a cloudburst followed by another more modest rain followed by an interesting shower of corn snow followed by more modest rain.  The entire weather event lasted about an hour.  All the porch plants got a good drink. 

Sunday started chilly but with sun.

Today the temperature is expected to be over 90º.

~~~

I missed the second January 6th committee report which was televised last week but I learned content from news commentary.

Sunday on Face the Nation, one of the guests, a political reporter, said she had heard from one of her news sources that there was a good chance Pence plans to run for President in 2024.  

That primary will be interesting.

~~~

There is a single dogwood in my Village, near the main entrance, which is in glorious bloom.

I used to really enjoy the drive down I5 to Redding when the dogwoods and accompanying Red Buds were in bloom.  The side by side glistening white and crimson were eye candy.  

I am now working on convincing my walkabout buddy we need to plant a Red Bud near the Village dogwood.

~~~

My older son suggested we play dress-up and took a shot of me seated in my new tub in my role of Bathing Queen emulating Elizabeth II … I was in black and white, holding an umbrella (stand-in for a parasol rather than bouquets of flowers), wearing a ball cap rather than her lovely hats, but trying to emulate her smile and closed fingers salute/wave).

The resultant photo reminded of a scene of Hepburn as Eleanor in “The Lion in Winter” where she holds an open necklace across her chest in the vicinity of her nipples and notes she won’t be wearing it at the Yule fest (draped like that) because “…it might frighten the children”.  That’s not a word for word account of the scene or dialogue, but it conveys the thought.

~~~

The sunday morning walkabout started with the discovery of the location of two of the black bird nest sites.  We have been subjected to agitated birds for several days, near the greeting area where I meet the Aussie mini ladies and my front porch.  I knew there had to be a nest near, or maybe two. 

It turns out there are two.  

One is in the top of a rather big bush under a front window of the house where I share doggie treats with the Aussies and am rewarded with a doggie fix by Amy and Jenny, who I am told sit on the couch where they can see out their front window watching for me.  Amy, the puppy, has learned how to open the front door  when it is left very slightly ajar, and comes bounding out.  Jenny, the other, the elder and follows more sedately.

The other nest is in a tall tree near my near neighbor’s front door.

Sources of both of the dive bomber squadrons has been solved.

~~~

I was able to spend an entire day last monday with my friend Atara/Tsel.  We went on a treasure hunt for things (including information) which she plans to take back to friends in Israel.  In the process I found tshirts which were longer than the ones which end in the vicinity of one’s belly button so I bought four.

Then we went for lunch at Ming’s in Yreka which has provided excellent Chinese food ever since George and I first went there many years ago.  Then later Mark and I went there for lunch after he moved out here and he thoroughly enjoyed the buffet which was part of the food selection in that pre-Covid time.  Chinese buffets were common in the Rochester, NY area when I used to go back there to meet a new grandchild (as well as their parents) so he has a taste reference and rated Ming’s 5 stars.

Covid ended buffet style service here.  I miss the buffet, but am glad Ming’s is still in business.  It is a family affair.  The servers (who were as efficient and courteous as I remember the service being in the past) were a couple of young men who have to be at the very least the third generation since I first went there.

I had Kung Fu chicken which was served with red peppers on the side so you could choose your own heat preference.  There were eight peppers so I used three and brought the rest home for chili or soup.

~~~

And to end the week …

Do for others not because of who they are, or what they can do for you, but because of who you are.

So ‘til next week …

15 June …

Spent time weeding last week … tiring but stamina improvement welcome.

~~~

 My walk in tub installation was done by yesterday afternoon but I decided to wait for my first bath until my bedroom is back to normal, probably tomorrow.

Report and pictures (but not of me in the tub) next week.

~~~

The first transfer of porch plants will soon be done.  The first will be the tomatoes … the two Black Krim and one  which a local farmer called “White” and which I was assured was actually a slicing yellow.  I decided to take a chance and wait and see.  I have a source for heirloom tomato seeds so I’ll plant some of them from seeds next year.

I really want to find a tasty yellow like my Daddy used to grow.  I never knew its name or even if it had one.  I’ll let you know next year how it goes.

I think I may have already told you this.  If so, accept my apology. Od so, chalk it up to the chaos of last week while my tub was being installed.

Next will be a planter designed for climbing beans and peas.

Mark will be doing the assembly of the planters for me. 

Pictures will follow. 

~~~

I admit I watched the initial public hearings of the Congressional Investigation of January 6th via TV.  I determined, that for me, it would be best if I tried to ask myself if I would be able to answer the question asked by attorneys in re whether or not I felt I could listen honoring the requirement to not discuss the “trial” with anyone until the trial was “completed” and to base my decision on “Law” and “Truth” as foremost deciders.

I decided to do my best to listen and watch as if I were chosen as one of the jurors or alternates.  In the past, I have been on juries in both Los Angeles and Siskiyou counties. I have lost count, but there were three which I remember.  

None of them required a unanimous vote, only a plurality.  Had there been the requirement for a consensus, I would have been in the dissenting group all three times. 

In two, my final vote was not guilty.  

In one the plaintiff was a “hippy” type who owned an extensive collection of original vinyl recordings from early R&B and FOLK artists which were in the garage of the house being rented by the young man who brought the suit.  The defense claimed they were completely destroyed in an unexplained fire.  I believed the landlord had set the fire after removing the records and subsequently sold them, reaping a hefty profit.

In another, the defendant was a convicted minor offender being housed in a rural, semi open work facility where inmates are hired out to work on fire crews and other government projects such as road clean up, who met a friend just outside the facility gate after curfew to be given some cigarettes.  The DA’s attorney supported the defendant’s claim that only cigarettes were found in the defendant’s possession as he was stopped on his way back to his quarters.  But there were three parents on the jury who said ANY and ALL people convicted of any kind of crime needed to be under lock and key. 

When I spoke with the Asst. DA after the trial about the case she said she felt the defendant, being represented by a Public Defender, was only doing what was common practice and was being used as an example and she regretted that under the “Law” he had to be transferred back to lock-up.

The other one was a malpractice charge against a doctor with whom I worked.  I was on that jury due to a fluke.  I was the last prospective juror available without calling an entire new panel and was accepted by both attorneys without challenge, maybe because they knew the time limit for filing a suit had been exceeded and the case would be dismissed, (information to which the jury was not privy) but the process required  jumping through the hoops.  

That time I thought the doctor probably made a mistake resulting in damage to the patient and was actually guilty of malpractice.   But because the trial never went to the jury and the doctor didn’t ask me any questions after the trial, he never knew how I was prepared to vote.  He later thanked me for being on the jury and our professional interactions weren’t impaired.

I have to admit that after watching the first two tv presentations in re the coup attempt (and entering the “jury” situation with a bias), my bias was reinforced and I know how I would and will vote in the upcoming election.

~~~

Weather had gotten pretty warm.  Morning walkabouts began a half hour early and I opened windows for cross ventilation.  I’ve been sleeping with no cover or only a sheet.

Then came sunday … cloud bursts began at about 0130and continued off and on until I was on my way to church when I ran into light showers. 

Things improved for the planned picnic and I got back around the mountain and down for a nap to be greeted by another downburst a bit before 1430. 

Temps have again have again turned chilly (just barely above freezing this morning at 0600) and I am back to sleeping under the light quilt.

~~~

… and to close out this week’s effort …

Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.o be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.

To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.

To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.

To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.

To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.

          — Octavia E. Butler

So,‘til next week … 

8 June …

The installation of my walkin tub began today. That’s why this is posted near sundown rather than near noon

Weather has turned … again.  Warmer and a bit wetter with showers but no real rain.

And again … Chilly and raining.

Rained during the night.  Now warming up.

~~~

 I recently heard a report on NPR’s Morning Edition concerning a lady in Uvalde, Texas following the mass shooting in an elementary school there, who dressed in a clown suit positioned herself where children could see her.  Her mission was to bring smiles back onto faces.

Rather than being foolish, I thought how perceptive she was.  She saw or sensed a need and chose to be open while responding to that need by choosing a publicly anonymous persona rather than participating in impersonal public shows of support through public display and the resultant attention.

It reminded me rather forcibly of the end of the blog post from last week …It’s Nice to be Important, but it’s more Important to be Nice. 

It also reminded me of one of my sisters-in-law who spent many hours as an anonymous clown visiting hospital patients (mainly children) and making them smile, and even laugh, with her antics.  

She also spent time in neonatal ICU wards just sitting in a rocker while holding and talking to dying babies whose parent(s) were unable to be there for whatever reasons.  

In a conversation we once had she said “Even when you can’t see it or hear it, love can be sensed.”

She died in 2013.  

It would be a fool’s bet to lay odds against there being no one who remembers her, even if they never knew her name.

So Thank You and Blessings to the Clown Lady of Uvalde.

~~~

Thinking and writing about overt displays … 

Last monday (Memorial Day) my neighbor to the west of me came by delivering small US flags to the residents of the Village.

My politics are at variance with a lot of, if not most, of the other residents here.  But I have made it a habit to, whenever possible, avoid random discussion of politics, religion, and some moral opinions.  I’m not comfortable with confrontation on those subjects with just anyone.  Only with those whom I know to be, if not in agreement with me, at least open to agreeing to disagree.

I accepted the flag and stuck it in the rose container on the porch.  It is now rolled up and set aside for display later.

~~~

Over the past Memorial weekend, PBS shared many films from (too many) past wars which involved US service members, mostly news and military films, but one in particular which caught me.  It was an 8mm film taken by a sailor serving aboard the cruiser US Los Angeles CA135, during the Korean affair.  He was a member of a gun crew so it contained a lot of surface scenes of gun action and of his personal friends.

There were one or two group crew pictures, but they were too broad to recognize any single sailor unless the owner had made an identity list. Maybe I’ll contact PBS and see if there is a chance of getting copies.

George was a radioman during that time (which was why he wasn’t home for my 21st birthday) and the radiomen’s duty stations were on lower decks.

But some of the scenes were taken in Japanese cities during shore leave times and I recognised some of the names … among those were Kobe and Sasebo which George had mentioned in letters and from which he had brought home gifts.

There were some interesting asides as the owner talked about the pictures among which was orders that shore leaves began at some designated time after dawn and morning duties were complete and ALL personnel had to be back on board before dark.

So even there were no identifiable pictures of George, the film triggered memories and some tears.  After all, it was Memorial day.

~~~

I am building a Porch garden using containers of various kinds and sizes.

Flowers first … a Peace rose and Double Delights.  I plan to track down a source for an Heirloom green rose.

Next will be vegetables … tomatoes (Black Krims which Mark shared and to which I will add a yellow (if I am able to find one) and salad greens (although there are those who say tomatoes are really fruit).

I also plan to relocate information in re companion planting about flowers and vegetables.

Growing reports to follow. 

~~~

Now a blast from the past … 

June 1947  

~~~

… and to close out this week’s effort …

Nothing is too difficult to overcome. Instead of giving up, you survived and came out stronger. You can do that again and more. Keep believing in yourself. Keep going.

          — Author Unknown 

So,‘til next week … 

1 June …

So far, no new TBall games scheduled before 7 June, last day of school.  

~~~

Signs of Spring are showing.  The dogwoods are in bloom.  I-5 between Siskiyou County and Redding is always a show of white dogwood and redbud.

And yellow is all over the place what with the wild mustard, forsythia, and Scotch broom which someone started about 25 years ago with a plug or two in a small place somewhere in the middle of the county and which has now spread so froliflically that newcomers think it has always been here much like the gorse in the middle stretches of Oregon beach areas.  

I first met gorse in Cornwall during a visit to a Holy well and chapel at St Clether’s.  Water from the well runs through the Chapel across under the altar.  There is also a more modern church at St Clether’s complete with graveyard where I found a headstone which had fallen over and when I set it upright again it was the stone of a woman who had died the exact day I was born … the correct day, month, and year.

There are a couple of herbs left from past gardens in this small “Village” where I now live which are now “wild” perennials … comfrey and mullein.  I have some comfrey hanging to dry and will harvest mullein in a day or so.

~~~

California’s primary is a week from yesterday.  George and I had begun voting by mail several years ago so I kept that registration active just changing the address now that I live in a different part of the County.  

I marked my ballot as soon as I made my choices and got it in the mail a week ago.    

~~~

Night weather has been interesting lately … rain showers and various levels of winds.  

The aspen are nearly fully leafed out.  They glimmer and shimmer in the wind.  They are lovely.  Only unhappy side effect is that I can no longer see the Mountain clearly, but I know where She is and continue to tell her Good Morning  Beautiful.  

When the aspen drop their leaves next autumn I’ll be able to see Her once more.  

Another change in seasons to which I will look forward.

~~~

I recently went to Yreka for an oil change.  There is a place there where the waiting lines (there are only two) are minimal and I’ve never been more than second in line.

Another enhancement is that you remain in your car and the young men responsible for your car are real old time “service” men (yes, I am soooooo old that I remember when places to pump your own gas were actually “service stations”).  While the young men, at the oil change facility  which I frequent, change the oil they also check tire pressure,  air filter condition and anything else which needs checking, all the time communicating with each other and the “boss” relaying reports of what they have done and what is planned next in a singsong chant which reminds me of the way the Blue Angel pilot leader sings maneuver directions over their (supposedly) restricted radio frequency.  

Mark and I once went to a Blue Angel air show at the airport in Redding.  While I captured the routine on my 8mm camera, Mark was recording the radio communications using amateur radio access to federal frequencies.  I can still hear the leader call directions as they seemed to be heading right at each other, the leader called “A little moooooore pull” with a rise in pitch when he called “pull” and all six blossomed like a flower bud opening.

That homemade film was lost somewhere during George’s slowdown and my relocation.  Too bad.  But I can still see it and hear those communication calls in my mind’s eyes and ears.  The calls at the oil change facility always take me back to that air show.

~~~

With son John’s help running interference with Lowe’s purchase department, my step-in tub arrived yesterday.  The installer has been notified and will begin work next tuesday.  He estimates installation will take approximately a week.  In the meantime I’ll be sleeping in the extra bedroom and trying to stay out of the way.  Thankfully I will have a supply of reading material and Matilda will get a spinning workout.  

John reminded me of when we added two rooms to our Pomona house.  He advised me to remember and expect a similar disruption.  I will start preparations later today.

~~~

I learned something new about the rules for the Victorian Village in which I live.  I can water on mondays, wednesdays, and saturdays beginning at 0700 and off by than 2200.  I haven’t quite figured that out, but there are at least two households which start watering on one day and let the water runoveright until 0700 the next day.  I’m not sure he I’ll get it figured out and start watering the empty space next door to keep down the dust by encouraging the spread of ground covers … a small, low plant with small pink flowers we used to call “scissor plants”, I will add some creeping thyme, and this morning I spotted a small show of red clover.  With selective waiting, the dust may be better controlled.

I’ll let you know what that works out and how.

~~~

I’ll be able to return to a bit of hands-on gardening.  On the farm I had a kneeler which could be used as a seat or a place to kneel.  That helped as I got older.  I left it for the new owners when I left the farm thinking I would be moving south to a retirement place.  But that didn’t work out and I now need to start over with new tools for planting and weeding.  I just have to get an early start because I run out of steam a bit before nap time.

My morning walkabouts with my young neighbor and now light gardening will help rebuild my stamina.  

I am also building a small garden with pots and planters for the porch.  I currently have tomatoes (Black Krim) started and will be adding a yellow heirloom tomato, climber beans, and a salad collection very soon.

I also have  a Peace rose given me by John.  He remembers when my Daddy was involved in the hybridization of that rose.  It is on the porch where it get sun all day as the sun moves across the sky and it is now showing small buds.

I will also be plant-sitting a pair of Double Delight tea roses for John while he re-thinks his front yard now that he and his partner will not be leaving Dunsmuir.

And I need to find a place to get a heritage Green rose like the one my Daddy loved.  I wish I had taken a cutting from the one in my farm gazebollis (gazebo/trellis), but a new planting will be in place by the end of this season.  I’m researching how to provide for wintering the roses.  Maybe in the carport next to the house wall under covers.

And I will have to refresh what I used to know about companion planting.  I seem to remember something about tomatoes and roses.

~~~

John spent some time with my computer yesterday and I think I am learning how to add pictures to this publication.

Here is my first effort.

May 2022 

Still learning …

~~~

Sorry for the double pic post.

And now to close out this week’s effort …

It’s Nice to be Important, but it’s more Important to be Nice.

—  Pearlie Mae Bailey  1960

So,‘til next week …

18 May …

TBall throws me all off schedule.  

You will notice the date on this blog is last week.

TBall was snowed out on the 10th  and rescheduled for friday the 13th.  Then there was a catch-up game tuesday the 17th and another make-up game monday the 23rd.  Seems I’ve lost track of another game somewhere.  Oh well …

I’m usually slow the day following a game.

It’s fun to watch TBall but I need back support so I will be taking a folding chair with me now that school is nearly out and TBall is probably over.  I will be prepared for next season.  Better late than never, right?

We shall see.  

Now, with the end of school, it’s time for swim team to start.

Maybe I will get back to a schedule for the blog … sometime.

I ask readers to be patient as I play catch-up.

~~~

I received my second Covid booster on monday the 23rd followed by my elder luncheon with friends, and a trip to the library.  I decided to skip the planned shopping stop at Grocery Outlet. The day ended with a 4th TBall game this season  in McCloud.   

Further report sometime in the next week.

~~~~

I know of only four of us left from my high school graduating class.  I am in email connection with only one of them.  As you can imagine, he is very precious to me.

He recently sent me copies of pictures from our graduating year Tahquitz, the school year book.  We were all soooooo young. 

Those pictures reminded me of things I hadn’t thought about in years.  I was class Vice President (and was supposed to go to the Senior Prom with the Class President but he came down with mumps so a cousin of mine came up from the city to take me to the Prom). 

I was a member of the editorial staff of the Tahquitz in both my Junior and Senior years.  I was a member of CSF (the California Scholastic Federation).  I graduated with a 3.9.  The valedictorian and Salutatorian both had 4.0s.  I was on the girls’ hockey team (we wore shorts which looked like pleated short skirts).  I was a member of the Spanish Club (not too much of that class stuck). And acted in school plays (the one one I really remember was the one in which I was the house maid and in the second act the elastic in my halfslip  broke and it slipped down around my ankles so I stepped out it, pushed it aside under a table, and continued without a break in my dialogue (yes we wore dresses and skirts with blouses) to school with appropriate underthings in those days).

~~~

This is turning into a bit of a personal opinion rant, so skip the next part of the blog if you aren’t interested.  You have been warned …

In addition to the high school memories, some memories were dredged up triggered by news reports, dealing with the shortage of baby formulas.

It would seem the shortage would have been a lot less tragic had women (and men) not been brainwashed over the past several decades to think of breast feeding babies during the first months of their lives, thereby gaining more nutrition and receiving immunities transferred from mother to infant through breast milk, as not normal and in some cases disgusting.

I acknowledge there are cases where breastfeeding is dangerous or not possible, but they are not widespread.   There are other options available such as banks of mothers’ milk maintained for replacement (I donated while nursing), arrangements to pump at home and leave it refrigerated or with caregivers for use when the mother is at work, arrangements with employers for a “nursing” area, the acceptance of nursing time as part of the time allowed for work breaks, and others of which I am unaware.  What would  help immeasurably is education about the medical advantages to both mother and baby of at least even a few months of breastfeeding following birth.

I spoke with some new mothers who are breastfeeding and asked how it was going …

Granted it was a small sample (I live in an area with a small population).  However, each woman with whom I talked mentioned the labeling, at work as well as sometimes even within social circles and family, of breastfeeding as abnormal and the lack of information and support in the first the first few days of “latching on”.

If prenatal as well as postnatal caregivers (doctors, nurses, midwives (when available) would advocate for breastfeeding and be available to help with support for problems … but you know where I’m going with this rant.

Thanks for reading.

~~~

“The megarich are getting richer. A new billionaire was minted nearly every day during the pandemic. At the same time, data shows growing levels of inequality and rising food prices could push as many as 263 million people into extreme poverty this year.

   … Copied from CNN the 23rd of May 2022.”

Just thought you might be interested in knowing where you are in which group.

~~~

And as an end to this posting …

The biggest waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn’t care about truth or reality, but only the victory of their beliefs and illusions. Never waste time on discussions that make no sense. There are people who, for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand. Others who are blinded by ego, hatred and/or resentment, and the only thing that they want is to be right even if they aren’t.

When IGNORANCE SCREAMS, intelligence moves on.

…  Author Unknown 

So,‘til next week … 

12 May …

Weather has been a rollercoaster …  one day clear skies and temperatures in the 70s and the very next day overcast skies and temps in the 50s.

And for days most needed rain with snow was welcomed.

~~~

Last saturday the weekly opera on NPR was Turandot.  It is rather an understatement to say it is not my favorite opera although some of the music is lovely.  

Somehow I have trouble getting past the shallowness of the “hero”  when he chooses the money and prestige of marriage with the vain and shallow Princess over the devotion and loyalty of the servant/slave who has been devotedly caring for his father.

Much like the cultural callousness of Lt. Pinkerton.

Maybe Puccini had a thing for hapless, mistreated females and callous, stupid males?

~~~

All the news concerning Putin’s aggressive destruction in Ukraine reminds me of an event organized in my school by a teacher named Chase Dane who once told us he planned on naming his firstborn Mun.

But I’ve wandered a bit away from the point I started to make … that the wanton destruction Putin is inflicting on Mariupol and other cities in Ukraine is a tearful reminder of the complete destruction of Lidice in Bohemia in the then county of Czechoslovakia.  

I guess I remember it so clearly because my essay titled “Lidice – Never Again” won the writing assignment  and got me an A.  

So much for trusting in the essential goodness of people, even in people who support dictators.

Never heard of Lidice?  Probably because it happened 80 years ago and hasn’t been taught as part of the history of Hitler’s atrocities.  Look it up.  

~~~

 I remember hearing once that in a room containing more than about 15 or 20 people, at least two will have the same birthday.  I was born on my mother’s cousin’s 22nd birthday anniversary, the woman I knew as Aunt Roberta.

I also share it with the wonderful teacher who cared for my youngest in the third and fourth grades, Ginger Mattos.  She recognized his troublemaking was the result of  boredom since he nearly always completed any class assignment before the rest of the class.and was left with nothing further to do.  She  moved him to a desk near her and when he got restless, she would hand him another challenge.

I had a similar teacher/Vice Principal, named Faris Edgar, who when I was in high school once called me into the office.  I anticipated at least a talking to if not a reprimand for something.  Instead he gave me an assignment.

Every day, during study hall time I was to report to his office and he would give me a problem to solve and report the solution back to him.  

It was often a quote from a book/author, a line from a book, poem or song, and one which I remember to this day over 70 years later was a weird drawing which I had to identify and report what it was and what its use was.

I still remember many of the problems/solutions.  Among them are …

“Divinely tall and most divinely fair”

A spring poem about rain written by a French king (which Mr. Edgar said “You will enjoy this once you translate it.”)
“She walks in beauty like the night”

He didn’t actually teach me names, dates. etc.  What he taught me was how to learn.  

I later used his techniques with my sons.  When they would come to me with a question my first response would be “Where do you think you will find the answer.?”

They wouldn’t always be happy with my question, but they all learned to be thinkers.

My high school class held several class reunions.  I think  our 25th was the final reunion I attended.  I found I didn’t need to spend time with all those old people and later wrote a poem about it.

But back to my story …

However at one of those reunions a booklet was created with pictures, names (including married names), and addresses.  Among those addresses was one for my teacher.  Needless to say, I felt a need to make contact and wrote to him to thank him for the attention and lessons.  As a result, we corresponded until his death.  

Now back to Mrs. Mattos.  She is mostly lost to Alzheimer’s but it will be her 89th birthday, which will be my 92nd, and her daughter is giving her a meet-and-greet.  Those of us who remember her will be there and chat memories.  Maybe one or two memories will trigger a memory for her too.

The one which I will remember, which I hope will trigger a memory, is of the year my youngest didn’t have the money to buy a birthday gift for each of us, so he bought a pair of ear studs (flying birds) and gave one to me and the other to his teacher.  

I know where mine is and plan to wear it to the party.

~~~

But enough about the past. On to reminders …

Not all wounds are visible … Walk softly.

… Ray Bradbury

There is a final song.  A song of endings.  It is a song of giving thanks.  It’s not sad.  It simply is.  It is simply seeing beyond … bidding farewell to the past and welcoming the path ahead. 

… B.B.Griffith

So,‘til next week …