LIFE ON WILDFLOWER LANE

There are 11 families living on Wildflower Lane, which is a private road.   We are all different and unique.    What we have in common is that we all appreciate our isolation and privacy.     Weeks can go by without speaking to a neighbor, except for an occasional chat at the mailboxes along Highway 138 or meeting each other while driving along the road.   

With the recent snow storms neighbors become more dependent on each other since we are all responsible for maintenance of the road we share, especially when the snow prevents us from getting down to the highway.  Those living on top of the ridge, at an elevation of 2000 feet, can get over two feet of snow, while those of us downhill get less than two feet.   One neighbor on top has an excavator with a 3-way blade and will plow snow all the way down to Highway 138.    We will all chip in and reimburse him for the cost of the fuel.  When my big Eucalyptus tree came down across my driveway three nights ago, my neighbor downhill came up and helped me cut and clear it from the driveway.    After trying to call my 91 year old neighbor, living at the end of the road by himself, I became alarmed after I was unable to get a hold of him by phone.   I sent an email out to all neighbors asking if anyone had seen him lately and that I planned to walk out to his house the next day to check on him, since the snow would prevent me from driving out to his place.   Immediately I received 3 replies from neighbors saying they would go with me.   Another neighbor living on the ridge top replied that he had talked to the 91 year neighbor and said he was doing well.  

During the dry and long hot summers the fire threat can keep us in touch too, since Wildflower Lane is basically a dead end road, except for an old overgrown jeep road near the ridge top that connects to Dodge Canyon Lane to our west.   In many ways that would be a death trap trying to escape a fire coming up hill off Highway 138.    We all have our own escape plan.   Another neighbor with their house on the ridge overlooking Green Valley to the north, have a swimming pool and would just use it during a fire if they could not make it out.  They will welcome anybody else to join them in a pool party in the event there is no escape to the highway below.