CRICKETS AND THE WIND

August can be a real bummer of a month with hot dry weather, yellow jackets buzzing throughout the day and the threat of wildfires.   My biggest outdoor chore is watering plants and some have given up and died not so much for a lack of water, but just too hot.   Eating a hot dinner does not even appeal at the end of a hot day.  Sometimes a bowl of cereal is all that taste good.   After the sun has gone down and the cool evening air brings life back to my old body, I go outside and sit watching the wind blow through the trees with the sound of crickets bringing me comfort before retiring for the night.  

THE ICO"S OF AGING

The Issues, Concerns and Opportunities (ICO'S) of aging can be many, some good and some not so good.  Much depends on how well we took care of ourselves in our younger years, family history, the relationships we maintained over the years and the new relationships we develop.  

With old age and living alone comes a sense of freedom limited by health issues and financial means .  One big side effect of living alone is loneliness.  Over time one becomes stuck in their ways and the thought of finding another partner seems unfair, not practical and slowly fades away.   What Celia and I had together can not be replaced.   Over 20 plus years we grew together, respecting each others routine and accepting the lifestyle we both developed.   That does not disappear abruptly after her departing this world over two years ago, but over time somethings change and I get into my own rut.   Hard to imagine another woman putting up with me now at this stage of life.

Like Katherine Hepburn said, " men and women are not meant to live together, just occasionally visit."

THE PERPETUAL QUESTION WE WERE ASKED AS KIDS

What do you want to be when you grow up?   I remember being asked this question in my early years in grade school.   It seemed to be the first question an adult would ask when you first met them.   If you answered, " I don't know" they kind of frowned at you like something was wrong with you?   In my later years in grade school and high school my answer was, 'I want to be a farmer or do forestry work and that seem to satisfy them.   In my working years farming and forestry was actually what I did.  

If I had it to do over again I would say, "I don't want to grow up, just let me be a kid for now.  

GOING PAPERLESS

Today I opened up the envelope containing my insurance premium that arrived in the mail last week and is due in a few days.   I was going to write a check and mail it in the envelope provided along with the payment stub.   Well, there was no return envelope or payment stub, just a statement with instructions on how to pay online or by phone.   I tried both with no success.   Online it would not accept my credit card and by phone the automated voice wanted me to repeat everything until I got frustrated and hung up.   In the end I wrote a check and mailed to my insurance agent with a note expressing my frustrations and asking them to figure it out.   

FIRE SEASON 2023

The grass is starting to turn brown and my rainfall for May was only 0.84 of an inch when the average for May is 2.58 inches.   The NWS reports a little over an inch of rain in Roseburg for May.  That has to be a record low, while last May of 2022, I received 4.58 inches which must have been a record high.   This all leads up to the beginning of fire season starting June 9th.   Already there has been the smell of smoke at times either from the Canadian fires or a fire west of Eugene.   There is even a small fire in the Layng Creek drainage on the Cottage Grove Ranger District, which was considered the asbestos forest when I worked there from 1988 to 1995.   The last measurable rainfall I recorded was for May 11th and there is nothing in the seven day forecast.    What will this fire season be like and can we survive until the Fall rains? 

SECOND ANNIVERSARY

Today is the second anniversary of Celia leaving this world.   It still seems like yesterday.   In many ways she is still here in this house with all her decorations, furnishings, paintings and other things she cherished.    It still feels like home to me.    Family and friends are still my greatest support, especially friends who have also experienced the loss of a loved one.   They have given me much emotional support that I will always cherish.   One thing for sure, love never dies.  

HOT DAYS IN MAY

Had a high of 95 at my place yesterday and I'm sure I will beat that on this Mothers Day.   Falling behind on rainfall for May with only 0.84 of an inch so far.   Average for May is 2.58 inches and last year for May I received 4.58 inches.   Even April of last year with 5.92 inches was more than this April with 5.12 inches.   The average for April is 3.11 inches.   I did beat last years rainfall for March with 5.88 inches compared to 4.02 inches last year.   Average for March is 4.24 inches.   Another indicator of low rainfall this month is shorter grass as I'm in the process of cutting it as the heat and my old body permits.

With a strong El Nino forming in the Pacific this could be the Mother of all summers.  

Note:  Rainfall measurements are taken at my CoCoRaHS station OR-DG-22

Happy Mothers Day!

COUNTRY DOCTORS

 When I lived in Orleans in northwestern California from 1971 to 1977 the nearest doctor was 40 miles away in a medical clinic in Hoopa Valley on the Hoopa Indian Reservation.     

This doctor did it all from setting broken bones, stitching up cuts and digging bullets out of people.   If major surgery was required or the birthing of a child we had to drive 85 miles to the hospital in Eureka.  I do not remember any ambulance service.  If there was a medical emergency you were at the mercy of neighbors to provide first aid and get you to Hoopa.  Some vehicle accidents, usually caused by excessive drinking were fatal and it could be days before somebody noticed a vehicle down off the road near the Klamath River below the highway.   Those that survived had to crawl up to the highway in hopes somebody would stop and take them into Hoopa.  

When we lived in Gold Beach on the south coast of Oregon, there was one doctor for the town of about 1500 people.   He worked out of the hospital doing everything from emergencies to clinical work.   To see the doctor you just went to the hospital emergency room and waited your turn.   When I developed an  infection on the side of my waist that prevented me from keeping my pants up it was time to wait my turn in the emergency room.    Once I was called into the exam room the doctor had me lay down on a table where he proceeded to cut open the infection in order to drain it.   Afterwards he told the nurse to pour peroxide on it and bandage it up.   I was sent home with a prescription for antibiotics and instructions to soak in the bathtub daily with Epson salts.  During the cutting procedure I was not given any local anesthesia.  There was a water pipe on the wall adjacent to the table that I hung onto thinking I might break it while dealing with any pain.   It all reminded me of the wild west.  

THE OLD MAN AND HIS DOG

Recently I went to the Oregon coast to visit my daughter and her family near Waldport where they had rented a beach house.    One morning we went to Seal Rock beach at low tide to explore all the tide pools and the creatures that live there.   There is a moderately steep trail from the parking lot going down hill to the beach.   Once we made it down to the beach I looked back up the trail to see an older man with his small dog on a leash coming down behind us.   I would guess he was around 80 years of age and very attached to his dog as he waved at me.   I waved back as we went down to the exposed rocks covered with muscles and all types of barnacles.   I noticed the old man walking on the upper beach playing with his dog now off the leash running around freely.    About an half hour later he made his way slowly back up the trial with his dog and disappeared into the forest leading to the parking lot.   I wondered if he was traveling in a motorhome, or lived nearby and if he had any family?     Sadly I suspect that dog was his family.   

THE END OF A LONG WINTER

Yesterday I made the drive to Eugene to close Celia's credit union account and distribute the remaining funds to her two daughters.   On my return trip I left the freeway at Creswell and drove east on Cloverdale Road, then turned south onto to Sears Road which goes along the eastside of the Coast Fork of the Willamette River all the way to the Row River Road east of Cottage Grove.    There was only one other car on the road during my drive.   It was the first real spring-like day this year with green fields, cattle grazing in lush pastures, old logging equipment in a field now overgrown with blackberries, the old Hemmenway Dairy now with vacant barns and the other scattered farms along this 12 mile route.  Driving this route was like going back 30 years when I worked for the Forest Service on the Cottage Grove Ranger District with all the log truck traffic delivering their loads to all the mills in the vicinity that are gone now, the smell of the manure from the dairy, and the many Sunday drives that Celia and I made on this road when we lived in Cottage Grove, especially to the Cloverdale Chapel on October 7, 2000 to get married.  Yesterday was a good day and I do believe this long winter is over. 

NEIGHBORLY ADVICE

While living on the Gold Beach Ranger Station in 1980, the neighbor's wife living in the house below us asked me to take a look at the engine in their car to see if she had put water in the radiator correctly.   She showed me where she had filled what she thought was the radiator to the top.  In shock I saw she had put water where the oil went.   She had completely filled the engine crankcase with water.   I advised her not to start the engine and  have it drained and flushed out with oil and replace the oil filter a couple of times.   Later her husband returned home and was not pleased.   He apologized to me and was thankful I advised his wife not to start the engine.  

RAINFALL DATA FOR CURRENT WATER YEAR

 At my CoCoRaHS station (OR-DG-22) I have received 22.76 inches of rain from the start of this water year on 10/1/2022 to 2/28/2023.     The average for this time period is 28.57 inches giving me a deficit of 5.81 inches.   

CABIN FEVER

It is now the first of March of 2023 and we all have had our fair share of winter weather and confinement to the house due to snow and icy roads, better known as cabin fever.   This got me thinking back on my younger days when I worked for the Forest Service in Orleans, California living in a small house that was half trailer comprising of the bedroom and kitchen all attached to a wooden structure that made up the bathroom and a small living room.  I guess you could call it a shack, all for $70 a month.   I was a full-time employee and I think the only single employee working on the Orleans Ranger District, except for most the seasonal employees that had 180 day appointments or about six months of work before being laid off.   The winter months of 1971 to 1974 could be lonely with no seasonal employees to hang out with after work, no woman in my life while most the other permanent employees were married and had families.   The days of winter were short, the weather could be dismal and Orleans did not offer much entertainment or social events, except sitting in one of the three taverns drinking beer with the local Indian population that were not too friendly when they had a belly full of beer.   This led me to drinking at home in the evenings and usually consuming poor quality cheap wine, the kind that had no cork in the bottle.  Having consumed a good portion of this stuff sleep was not a problem.  My reading material consisted of monthly subscriptions to Mother Earth News, The Alaska magazine and a few others.   On weekends outdoor activities such as fishing or hiking were limited due to the rain and snow at the higher elevations.  I did have a dog for company by the name of Herman, a black mutt male that I found as a puppy wandering lost along the highway one weekend.   Sometimes after heavy rain storms the highway out of town would be closed due to landslides up to a week or more.  This would prevent the delivery of the basic essentials to the local market, including beer and wine.  Sometimes panic would set in after going to the market and seeing very little available on the shelves, especially beer and that cheap wine.  

By spring time it was a relief to see some of the seasonal employees return, people to go to the tavern with or into Eureka or Arcata on the weekends.  In  January of 1975 a new receptionist was hired by the name of Christine, we were married in August of 1975 bringing an end to those lonely winters.

 

CELIA AT THE CABIN

 This picture was taken on 2/5/2011 at the cabin where Celia did many of her paintings.   She was taking a break and enjoying her favorite can of beans.  My kind of woman!