In my early days with the Forest Service on the Orleans Ranger District of the Six Rivers National Forest from 1971-77, we would spend two weeks every fall broadcast burning slash on all the steep clear cut units logged that year. This involved all District personnel, except the clerical staff.
One unit that stands out in my memory was on the Catsup Timber Sale. It was an 80 acre clear cut unit with all the hardwood trees cut and left on the ground. This sale was sold prior to the requirement for the timber purchaser to yard unutilized material (YUM) greater than 8 inches in diameter and 10 feet in length. This would reduce the heat to prevent the soils from being damaged. Strip burning was the prescribed method on most clear cut units where machine piling of slash was not possible due to the steep slopes. This involved a person walking across the top of the unit 20 feet or so below the upper fire line, which usually was a road. The next person would follow another 20 or 30 feet below the first person and try to stay 40 to 50 feet behind the upper person as not have fire threaten that person above. It was very important to keep an eye on where that upper person was. Because of the width of this unit we were required to carry two drip torches, each with two gallons of fuel to get us across the unit and weighing about 20 pounds each when full. Some where in the line up I was number 5 or 6 downhill going side hill on 40% to 50% slope with slash and hardwood trees 10 feet to 15 feet above the ground making it tough to climb through, especially juggling the two drip torches It was difficult at times to see the person above me since he was battling the slash and hardwoods also, and at times not visible. When I was finally able to see where that person above me was at, to my shock he was behind me 30 or 40 feet. I stopped to let him get ahead of me as the fires from my torch were racing toward him. Luckily he made it without being scorch. When the upper portion of the unit was burning a person at the bottom of the unit, about 1200 feet below the road set fires along the bottom as he walked the three foot wide hand fire line that had been constructed during that summer by the Brush Disposal (BD) crew. About 10 people were scattered around the unit on the fire lines with hand tools patrolling for any spot fires that may have started beyond the fire lines. When the burning operation was completed two people along with a pumper truck with a two-way radio remained on the unit throughout the night in case of any escaped fire. These were long days working into the nights and included weekends as long as the fall rains did not arrive. For tree planting obligations so many acres had to be burned since the District had ordered thousands of seedlings from the nursery to be planted by contractors that winter. All this hard work paid off with much over time. Except for a few close calls nobody was injured.
This afternoon I got my first load of truck water delivered from Oakland for this year costing $90 for 2300 gallons. The last load of water was last October for $75. The high cost of fuel is what caused the price increase and the further the delivery from Oakland the higher the cost. He has one customer in Scottsburg that requires two loads a month at $200 per load or $400 for the month.
This morning I read in the news that many communities in Arizona are running low on water and many wells in rural areas are going dry. Bulk water deliveries are common there and some communities are thinking of cutting off these water trucks because of the water supply issue. How much longer before this happens here?
Baker Brothers Land & Stock Company was a large family farming and ranching enterprise in Glenn County, California. They raised rice, alfalfa, barley, sheep and cattle. The three brothers that owned and operated the business were John, who was the general manager, Deak, the rice dryer and storage manager and Willis, who supervised the labor force of about 12 full-time and 10 seasonal employees. John had two sons that managed the livestock, Deak had a son, who was the lead mechanic and Willis had a son, who was a pilot.
In the summer of 1962 John Baker and his son Jack were returning from their sheep ranch in the western foothills of the Sacramento Valley. John was in his Cadillac car and Jack was following in his pickup truck on their way back to the company headquarters east of the small community of Artois, north of Willows along Highway 99w. They were traveling on County Road 35 going east and John stopped before crossing Highway 99w with Jack right behind him. Just beyond the highway going north and south is the Southern Pacific rail road going parallel with the highway with no warning lights or cross arm to stop traffic. There was only the railroad crossing X sign. According to Jack, who saw it all, said his dad crossed the highway and looked away from the direction he was driving to wave at somebody he knew in a passing car and ran directly into a passing freight train killing him instantly. His car was carried down the track a few hundred feet and was a total wreck. I believe John Baker was 60 years old at the time of his death. His son Jack eventually took over as general manger at the age of 33 or 34.
In the summer of 1964 I worked seasonally for Baker Brothers under the direction of Willis Baker doing tractor work, harvesting barley and rice in the fall of 1965 before being drafted into the Army in February of 1966 at the age of 20.
Today I mowed my fire escape trail up through my upper neighbor's property if a fire prevents me from getting out below on our road to Highway 138. It just boils down to how fast I can run up this trial to a big clearing on my neighbor's property. After the fire and depending on what remains, I would be at the mercy of friends or living in a shed in my daughter's back yard in Portland until there is an insurance settlement. Then what? Rebuild if not a total scorched earth situation or live in a motor home in a park, or on some friends property or move to eastern Oregon on some cheap land? Definitely would be a fast way to downsize and no longer would have to worry about upkeep and organizing. Always something to think about this time of year.
My thoughts drift back in time to kids I knew in grade school and wonder where they are now. Linda was a class mate in grade school and it seemed most girls physically and emotionally matured faster than us boys by the 7th and 8th grades. Some of these girls were developing relationships with older boys already in high school. This was common in small town USA. Linda had a boy friend by the name of Dave, who was two or three years older and at some time while she was in high school became pregnant in the early1960's. It wasn't until 1968, when I was living in Susanville going to Lassen College that I ran across Dave and Linda at the laundromat one night. They had 4 little boys ranging in age from 2 to 6, hardly a year apart was my best guess. They had a dirty white Studebaker Lark car with laundry piled in the back seat and every washer and dryer going in the place. We got to talking and catching up about each others lives as the little boys ran around the place playing games. Dave was working on a remote cattle ranch somewhere east of Susanville where they lived. They seemed happy with what they had and I got the impression with not much money. Linda said they only came to town once a month to do laundry and shop. After all their laundry was washed and dried they stuffed it all in the back seat along with the boys and drove off in the night back to the ranch. I never saw them again. Wonder where they are today?
After spending a long wet weekend with family in Portland my drive home yesterday was without any rain and more sunshine as I made my way south. As I drove the back roads home through Green Valley farmers were out in their fields cutting hay in hopes that no more rain is in the forecast for awhile. Everything is still green, the birds are singing under clear skies as the afternoons begin to warm up. Most of the grass that has been cut will need to be cut again before it dries out and we are under the restrictions of fire season which starts June 24th. Wonder if we will make through this summer without the threat of fires? Summer has arrived, be prepared!
Thinking back on some of the worst food I ever had the opportunity to eat my thoughts drift back to the hamburgers at the Post Exchange (PX) at Fort Stewart, Georgia. These were premade, packaged in foil and piled under a heat lamp at the deli section of the PX. They came with a slice of pickle on the meat and the buns were good and soggy. How long they had been under that heat lamp nobody knows and at the time nobody seem to care, plus they were cheap, maybe fifty cents and went down good with the cheap PX beer. There was a condiment bar where we could apply mustard, catsup, mayonnaise and relish to go along with that slice of pickle. No fresh slices of onions, tomatoes or lettuce in sight. How many of those burgers I consumed I can't recall, but every day after returning from the field with our ambulance from helicopter pilot training exercises we headed to the PX for burgers and beer. I don't even care to count those days and amazed that I survived this long.
One of the most worthless insects in this world are ticks along with mosquitos and they are both bad this year. It must have something to do with the wet spring. Over the last few weeks I have noticed a few very small ticks crawling over my decrepit old body. Yesterday morning I discovered one burrowed into my upper left arm. I tried the alcohol treatment to get it to back out with no success and in the process must have killed it buried under the skin. This morning I went up to the Peacehealth walk-in clinic at Cottage Grove, where my doctor is located. After an hour's wait I actually got in to see my doctor who proceeded to dig out some of the tick's body and prescribed some antibiotics.
Be careful out there, these little b***ards are everywhere.
At my CoCoRaHS station (OR-DG-22) I recorded 4.58 inches of rain for May, normal is 2.58 inches. Last May was 1.31 inches. For this water year from 10/1/21 to 5/31/22 there is 35.33 inches recorded, normal for entire water year ending 9/30/22 is 42 inches. Can we get 6.67 inches in the next four months?
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