Slide Rule

How many remember the slide rule?   There were no hand-held calculators when I was in college (1968-70).   We had to know how to use the slide rule for field work, such as mapping and surveying, so we had a night class for one hour a week for a semester in using a slide rule.  This was after most of us had dinner and a few beers and our attention span was limited.

Did end up getting a C grade in the class and actually remember some of the functions for multiplication, division, square root, etc.   Our teacher knew our limitations at this time of night and allowed us to compare notes, especially during a quiz.   He recognized it was the only way some us were going to make it through the class.

The slide rule is better known as a mechanical analog computer.    

A MYSTICAL MEMORY

Being isolated and trying to maintain some sense of sanity these days, my memory drifts back in time to places and people that I have known.   One such individual was an old hippie man living south of Orleans on a small farm along Red Cap Road.   I can not remember his name and never personally knew him.   He was probably in his 50's or 60's, had long gray hair, a long beard, wore an old dress coat and a hat that made him look like a wizard.   He would always wave at us when driving by his place on our way to work on the south end of the District.   What really caught our eye was the young hippie girls that would be helping him tend his crops.   There would be 3 or 4 of them hoeing between the rows and wearing only enough clothing to cover the bare essentials.  Sometimes the driver of the work truck we were in almost drove off the road with his eyes more focused on the young lovelies than the road.   After getting beyond the farm we would have tormented discussions on what was that old man's relationship with those young girls, was it fatherly or something else?   There were little cabins painted with all kinds of bright colors back along the forest on the edge of the fields.   This place was totally off the grid and nobody ever talked about being in compliance with building codes in and around Orleans.  From experience, I saw other dwellings in the community where you could see chickens grazing under a house with no foundations and water draining on the ground from some pipe coming from inside the house.   One unusual structure on the farm was an outhouse perched on stilts about 10 feet off  Red Cap Road.  It was 4 or 6 feet above the ground on the slope below the road.  There was a ramp leading to the door from the road with a sign over it that said, "Avoid Stress".  I'm not sure if it was really used as an outhouse or just put there to annoy all those that drove by.   In many ways this place was mystical and added to the culture of the community.  It sure enhanced many of our conversations on our way to work.  

A Productive Day, for an old man

Yesterday, after a few morning showers the sun appeared and being cooped up in the house for a few days because of the rain, I thought I would go cut some firewood and give the old body a work out.   Sometimes I think I'm still 30 years of age.  After an hour the saw broke down and my back started hurting, so went back home to recuperate in my old reclining chair.  The old chair broke down and will no longer recline, so used a couple of books to prop it up and took a nap.  

Turn Back Timber Sales (TB)

The attached is a short narrative of the TB sales caused by speculative bidding in the 1980's.    During my career with the Forest Service, this was very prevalent on both the Gold Beach and Cottage Grove Districts where I worked.   

How many of you know about this?

THE GOVERNMENT BAIL-OUT OF THE TIMBER INDUSTRY

 

In the 1980’s there had been much speculative bidding on National Forest timber sales.  Most of the large timber sales had a five-year contract period depending on how much volume (board feet of timber) on each sale.    Bidding on these sales was very competitive because of the number of mills dependent on government timber to stay in business.   Many purchasers acquired these sales by biding more than what they could get for the price of their finished products but were hoping that the market would go up during the contract period.   The first couple of years they would construct the roads on these high-priced sales, deck the right-of-way timber for later removal and utilize the earned road credits for payment of timber removed on other cheaper sales.  

Over the next three or four years the housing market went down and many purchasers were sitting on timber sales they could not afford to log with only a year left to complete their contracts.  Some purchasers requested contract term extensions, but did not qualify under terms of the contract. 

They lobbied their Congressional representatives for the government to buy back these sales.    The government agreed under certain conditions.   First, the right-of-way log decks would be put up for sale and any defect caused by delay in their removal would be paid for by the original purchaser.   The original sale volume was reappraised and put up for a second bid and called “turn back volume” (TBV).   This “turn back volume” would count toward that District’s annual allowable cut again, which the timber industry strongly disagreed with, but to no avail, keeping the Forest Service from putting up additional new sales to meet their allowable cuts.   Plus it cost the Forest Service money and time to reappraise, modify and prepare these “turn back” sales for auction again.  

Many of these “turn back” (TB) sales were purchased a second time at a lower bid rate by the original purchasers.  To prevent speculative bidding in the future the Forest Service allowed only a two year contract period for most sales.      

The upcoming anniversary we will never forget or PTSD

 Remember February 25, 2019?   For us it was the beginning of eight days of no power, down trees, 16 inches of wet snow, the threat of our roof collapsing and using a flashlight to shop in the local grocery store.  It was all the thrills we could stand with just trying to make it through those days using the wood stove for heat, cooking, hot water and drying laundry.  We used our camp stove on the back deck under a collapsed canopy for cooking.  It took 3 days to plow wet snow off our road to make it to the highway.   We had the generator running to keep a couple lights on in the evening and the freezer going during the day.  It was hard to get gas when there was no power at the stations to operate the pumps.  

Those were the days that we don't care to repeat.   We have much sympathy for those suffering from the cold and no power in the southern portion of the country.

How did our ancestors ever survive back in the good old days without all the modern conveniences of today?

Rain in the forecast into next week with no snow predicted at our elevation and hope it stays that way.  

Me and the Birds

 Bird feeding is a habit I started a few years back.    My thinking was that if I supplemental feed the birds maybe they will hang around and eat some of the insects damaging our trees.   During the spring I do notice more birds in the woods when the insects are active.  I go through 40 pounds of sunflower seeds a month.    The Tractor Supply Store just down the highway has a good supply, plus it gives me a good excuse to look at things I don't need.  During these winter months I fill the feeders every other day.   In the afternoons when the feeders are empty many of the birds, mostly Nuthatches gather on the grape arbor and stare into the nearby window of the house trying to tell me, " you better feed us or we are going elsewhere."  

Just wishful thinking or am I losing it?

A Valentine Story

 This event happened when we lived in Cottage Grove from 2000 to 2006.  Don't remember the exact year.  

While sitting in the pharmacy section of the Cottage Grove Bi-Mart, waiting for a prescription refill, I was in deep thought about the issues of the day.   I happened to look down the aisle and noticed a good looking woman browsing through items on the shelves.  Being a married man, guilt was my first reaction for looking, then I realized it was Celia, my wife.     

Happy Valentine's Day!

Deer Creek Meadows

 Another camping story from my childhood days.   My dad, younger brother and I, along with a friend of my dad's named Charlie, and his son drove up to Deer Creek Meadows to go fishing for a weekend.    The first stop was a grocery store in Red Bluff where my dad bought some bacon, eggs, a canned ham, beer and not sure what else or don't remember.    We arrived after dark on a Friday night at some buildings enclosed by a fence near the meadows.   It may have been a cattle camp for a summer grazing lease on the Lassen National Forest that was operated by a ranching friend of my dads'.    My dad and Charlie built a campfire, had a few beers and placed the can of ham on the fire.   Soon thereafter the can of ham exploded, since they had not partially opened it.    There were chunks of ham scattered on the ground and we all proceeded to pick up pieces and eat.   We spent the night sleeping in one of the buildings and the next morning everybody was up early to go fishing.   My brother, who may have been 5 or 6 years of age remembers waking up and everybody was gone.    He wandered around the meadow looking for us and ended up back in the camp after getting lost.    The rest of us returned to camp for a breakfast of bacon and eggs served in a more civilized manner.  

Wentworth Springs

 Have any of you folks from California ever been to Wentworth Springs on the El Dorado National Forest?  It was my first camping trip in the 1950's with my dad and another family from Willows.   We drove to Georgetown then followed a single lane dirt road to the end, where there was a building that may have been a store and maybe a hotel.  We camped along a stream, sleeping on old bed springs, no tents, some picnic tables and wooden boxes nailed on trees for storing dishes and food.    We spent a day hiking to Loon Lake where I remember a dam constructed out of blocks of granite with many leaks.   Somebody said it had been built by the Chinese.  The landscape was mostly granite with scattered trees.  I have tried to follow it on Google Earth and don't see what I remember.   Funny what we think about in our old age.  

Vehicle Maintenance and Repair

 Remember the days when you could change the oil, adjust the carburetor or replace the spark plugs in less than an hour on your vehicle back in the 1960's and 70's?   There was enough space around the engine that you could actually see the ground after opening the hood.   Changing the oil filter was easy without getting under the vehicle or standing on your head under the hood trying to get to it buried in some difficult place.  

Nowadays just looking under the hood is a nightmare with all the electrical systems, computers, sensors and other components that obstruct the view of the engine itself.   There is a warning light for everything, including the tires.   It becomes necessary to make an appointment at the dealership or a first class shop to do all the maintenance and repairs where labor costs are $80+ per hour.

I think back on the used 1963 Ford pickup I paid $800 for after getting out of the Army in 1968.  It had a six cylinder engine and was easy to maintain and I even rebuilt the engine without too much profanity.   The best thing about that vehicle was I could use a pocket knife or screwdriver as a key to start it.    Sure wish I had it now as some days I don't know where my keys are anymore.

Cheers!

BEARS

 This is about my close encounter with bears while working for the Forest Service.   It does include the encounter with  the unknown creature, which was probably a bear, that ran me out of the East Fork of Bluff Creek in my story titled--IN SEARCH OF BIG FOOT.   

The quickest way back to the truck was to go straight up through an old clear cut unit from the bottom of the East Fork of Blue Creek after a day of locating proposed clear-cut boundaries on the Orleans Ranger District.     It was the spring of 1972 as I made my way up to the old hand fire line running along the bottom of the unit.   Then I noticed the fresh carcass of a cub bear.    In the world of bears it is common for the big male bears to attack and eat young cub bears.   Not really sure why, but might have something to do with the cub not being their offspring or downright hungry after hibernation.   As I started the steep climb from the bottom of the unit I saw a large black figure walking on the road about thousand feet above.    It was a large black bear looking down into the unit and sniffing the air.   Bears have bad eye sight, but can smell and hear things from a far distance depending on the wind.   It must have heard me as it was straining to see what was making noise down slope.    I stayed put for a while sitting behind as large stump waiting for the bear to leave as they can be aggressive if disturbed.    Finally I made it to the road on top of the unit.    As I walked along the road back to the Forest Service truck at the end of the road I saw large bear droppings going in my direction.    Luckily I made it back to the truck with no problems.

My next encounter with bears was in Alaska when I volunteered for a work detail on the Tongass National Forest in September of 1993.    Four of us were assigned to the Forest Service work center at the Rowan Bay logging camp that was operated by the Alaskan Pulp Corporation on Kuiu Island.    The black bear population was greater than the human population on this island and they were everywhere as the Salmon were going up all the streams to spawn.    Working in the woods locating clear-cut unit boundaries and spur roads, we were required to carry canisters of pepper spray to deter any attack from the bears.    The bears were so intent on catching salmon they could care less on what we humans were doing.   Driving back to camp at the end of the day we had to stop at times to allow bears to cross the road as they were chasing salmon up the many streams.    There was even a sign that said ‘Bear Crossing’ just before getting to the camp.  The camp was comprised of single wide trailers for living quarters.   Garbage containers had to be kept within the enclosed front porches to keep the bears from getting in it.   Garbage was collected and incinerated here, no open dump for bears to feast in.   They roamed the small streets of the camp with a population of about 100 people as if they owned the place.    There were penalties for leaving garbage out in the open or goodies in the vehicles.    In many ways the bears ruled this place.