THE FATAL HOT DOG

Being raised Catholic in the 1950's we were not allowed to eat meat on Fridays and to do so was a terrible sin.    Fish sticks were served for lunch in the public school and my parents would cook some kind of fish for dinner.   One summer day that happened to be a Friday, the Boy Scout troop I belonged to was out fishing in a pond on a farm where one of the Boy Scouts lived.   None of us brought a lunch and hunger was becoming an overwhelming feeling.    Then there was a shout from the nearby farm house that the hot dogs were ready.   Everybody dropped their fishing poles and ran toward the house.   Some of the other boys were Catholic too but did not hesitate to get a hot dog in a bun and put some mustard, relish and other fixings on it.   Following the other Catholic boys and feeling guilty I indulged in a hot dog thinking how will I ever repent from this sin and be saved from the fires of hell?   Years later the Catholic Church no longer required meatless Fridays and hopefully I was forgiven for eating that hot dog.  

CHILDHOOD MOUNTAIN MEMORIES

Thoughts of my childhood take me back to fishing on Battle Creek with my dad while staying at a cabin in Mineral in the 1950's.   It was an exciting drive up California highway 36 after leaving the Sacramento Valley at Red Bluff, passing up through the foothills of oaks and the rocks that were blasted out of Mt. Lassen in 1914, then the first sighting of pine trees and finally entering the mixed forest of firs, cedars and pines near the mountain community of Mineral.   Just outside Mineral was the headquarters for the Lassen Volcanic National Park where there were administrative buildings, personnel housing and equipment shops.   The center of Mineral was the lodge with a restaurant, lounge with some motel rooms and a store.  The Lassen National Forest had a summer ranger station here.   Most of the nearby houses were summer homes.   The Edwards family from Willows owned a house in Mineral, since Charlie Edwards had worked for the Forest Service or the Park Service here before taking a job with the Forest Service in Willows on the Mendocino National Forest.   They would let us stay in this house at times during the summers.   They eventually sold it.   At the age of 7 or 8, I remember walking through the forest behind this house to a split rail fence where a large mountain meadow was with some ranch buildings off in the distance.   After climbing over the fence and walking out into the meadow a bull laying down on the edge of the forest was startled and got up and began coming after me.   I ran back to the fence just in time before the bull caught up with me.   I never crossed that fence again.  

AN UNFORGETABLE THANKSGIVING

One of my most memorable Thanksgivings was when I lived in Eugene from 1991 to 2000.    My two children were with me on Thanksgiving of 1992 or 93.  To save myself from trying to cook a big turkey dinner, I decided to take them to one of those all you could eat places in the shopping center at 29th and Willamette in south Eugene.   We had been there before, but now it was under new ownership.    There was a line of people going out the front door when we arrived.  Once we got inside I paid for the three of us as we got a plate and utensils.   The first dish was a big salad that looked descent, next was mashed potatoes in one of those big tubs that you would see ice cream served from, definitely instant potatoes.  Then there was a man serving ham or turkey as he told us we could have one or the other and it was cut in thin slices from round cylinders of meat, no fresh turkey or ham here.    After that there was no more food, I don't even remember a vegetable or a roll.  We found a table and started eating.   With the small servings it did not take long to consume our Thanksgiving dinner.   Off to the side was a table of pieces of pumpkin pie on plates with a sign saying help yourself.   Sitting next to us was a large woman wearing a blouse that did not completely cover her bulging belly as she got up for seconds.   When she returned to the table with her family I overheard say, "isn't this great food?"  By then my two kids were eating their second plates of pie.   That did it for me and In desperation I told them eat up we got to get out here. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

YOU JUST NEVER KNOW

After getting a hearing test today that revealed much hearing loss, and above all how my brain no longer understand certain sounds, I stopped by Sherm's Thunder Bird market thinking how my old body is falling apart, maybe a case of feeling sorry for myself.   It was mid day and the store was crowded with shoppers, mostly old folks like myself making their way through the different aisles.   As I came into the main aisle I noticed a crowd of people assembled at the far end near the meat section.   Then I saw a man on the floor as store employee or another customer was giving him CPR.   Other shoppers looked shocked as they were frozen in place.   I moved on down another aisle as EMT's arrived with a stretcher.   Soon they yelled for people to get out of the way as they carried the man out of the store.   A man standing near me asked what was going on since many in the store had no idea what had happened.   I told him about what I saw and made the comment, "you just never know".   He replied, "that's the truth".   I left the store praying that the man would survive and feeling better that I'm still moving and thankful for what I can hear. 

PS:  yes, I will be wearing hearing aids in a few weeks that will help me and my old brain understand  what I have not heard or understood for a good part of my adult life.  

THE WAR WITHIN US

 We all have battles that we are fighting be it physical or mental ailments, addictions, injustice, financial problems, abuse, depression, loneliness, etc.    Did I leave something out?  

Sometimes we take out our despair in anger on our family, friends, politicians and government.    All anger and hate breeds is more anger and hate, unless we can forgive and find common ground.   I believe there is more common ground between us than we know.   Don't we all want security, health care, financial well being, and the freedom to chose our own destiny.   We may not agree on how to achieve all these things, but can't we discuss our differences in a civilized manner?  

How can there ever be peace on Earth if we can not find peace within ourselves and with others?

THE OLD FARMER'S ALMANAC

This is one of the oldest yearly publications in the country dating back to 1792.   It contains many interesting articles on adventures, astronomy, farming, folklore, gardening, home remedies, preserving food, weather predictions and much more.   It provides valuable tables on gestation, mating seasons, planting tables, growing seasons, dates of first and last frost, phenology and measurement tables.   Even the advertisements are interesting to read.   It is a welcome publication with simple advice, words of wisdom and a great resource in a complex world.  

COMPUTER FRUSTRATION

Recently I set up an online account with my health insurance provider in order to access my records and billings, since some of my medical providers have not been paid in a year and I want to know why.  It required, for both the user name and password a certain number of characters, with so many capital letters, numbers and different symbols to be accepted by the system.   I tried to keep it simple and after a few rejections finally came up with a user name and password the system accepted.  I recorded all this in my little black book of  all my different accounts with all their different user names and passwords.    Today I received an email from the health insurance provider telling me that my health records have been updated, so I tried to long into this account with no success.   It did not recognize my password.   After pushing a button to request a temporary password that never worked either, then followed by some codes and other requests for ID and I finally gave up in frustration.   Trying to call a real live person is out of the question these days.  I did see a comment section where customers could make comments which I filled out  to the max with my questions and frustrations without inserting any four letter words.   Once I pushed the submit button it replied that it may take 3 or 4 business days for a reply.  In short, I just don't have the patience for this crap anymore.  

WILDFIRES OF 2024

Here it is the middle of August with fires all over the Cascade Range, mostly caused by lightning storms in July.  Remember, it wasn't until Labor Day when all the fires four to five years ago burned up communities and homes along the McKenzie River, the Santiam River and the nearby Archie Creek Fire up the North Umpqua River.   The cause of those fires was power lines breaking from wind storms.  

Now with a record number of fires throughout the west, fire crews and resources are spread thin and many fire teams have arrived from the east coast where there is much rain.   Most of the fire teams and camps with up to or more than 500 people assigned to them are fighting multiple fires known as complex fires.

Some fires are burning in old fire scares where the underbrush and fallen dead trees have caused a fuel build up over the last 10 to 20 years ready to burn again.   To get crews and equipment into some of these fires it requires opening up secondary forest roads and logging spurs that have not been maintained for years requiring contractors with heavy equipment to open them up.   It is also necessary to use some of  these old road systems for fire breaks.

In the last few days fires are breaking out at the lower elevations in Douglas County, mostly caused by stupidity--burning of debris, operating power equipment and believe it or not, somebody siphoning gas while smoking a cigarette.  Now there is a fast moving fire near Tiller threating homes and ranches.  Many local fire agencies have responded  leaving  very few resources to respond to any new starts.   All that will save us now is rain and that usually does not arrive until mid October.   

SKIN BIOPSY REPORT

Another visit to the Advanced Skin Center in Roseburg today for the latest results from biopsies taken on July 11th when I had my six month full body exam..   Over the years I have had many biopsies, some benign, some basal cell cancer or squamous cell cancer and most followed up with Mohs surgery.  Somewhere in this blog there is a story on Mohs surgery.  Today's report was different for the two biopsies, one on my right hand and the other on my waist.  The pathology report for the one on my waist was a seborrheic keratosis with superimposed actinic atypia, in short a barnacle growing on a barnacle.  This required freezing with liquid nitrogen.  The one on my right hand is atypical well-differentiated cystic squamous proliferation.  Note:  picker's nodule.  Not sure what all this means, but in short there may be squamous cell cancer deeper down than what the biopsy showed.   Options--dig deeper or apply extra dose of liquid nitrogen and come back in six months for my next exam in January and go from there.  I choose the extra dose of liquid nitrogen.

I make more visits to this place than all my other medical providers combined in a year, including primary care doctor, eye doctor and dentist.   I wonder if I can get the out of pocket expenses waived if the medical world would want my old body when I depart this world and have it pickled for show and tell at some medical university?   I'm paying the price now for all those days of working and playing in the great outdoors.  

TREE FALLING

Tree falling is an art, it is also dangerous and can be deadly.   Believe me, as a student from the University of Life with an undergraduate degree in Trial and Error Methods, I have seen some bad mistakes and made a few myself.    Consider yourself lucky if you get a second chance.

When I went to work for the Forest Service in 1971 at Orleans on the Six Rivers National Forest, I became certified on chain saw safety, saw maintenance and falling techniques, but the real lessons are by experience.   I learned it is not the big trees that might do you harm, but the smaller ones that lean one way, twisted in another direction and are hard to read as to where and how they will land.   First, always think safety and know your escape route to get away from the falling tree.  Sometimes this requires clearing out some brush to make your escape faster.   The last thing you want is to move quickly away from the falling tree, trip on some debris and face the consequences.  I will not get into the different undercuts, back cuts, holding wood and other tricks or tools of the trade.  You can find all this online.  It is reading the tree and where you want to place it that requires some know how.   I have guessed what a tree will do and like a bad movie in slow motion could see it had a mind of its own brushing an adjacent tree kicking the butt end in my direction giving me just enough time to move out of the way.   It only took a few of these mishaps to make a believer out of me, so now I put a line about 20 feet up these kinds of trees after making the necessary cuts leaving adequate holding wood and pull them down with my tractor from a safe distance and angle.

It you have any doubts, hire a bonded and insured tree surgeon or professional tree faller.   Remember you want to avoid pain and loss of life at any cost.   

THE NITTY GRITTY OF BEING A FIRE FIGHTER

In my early days with the Forest Service we were called upon to fight fires with little choice in the matter, especially on our days off or after work hours from our regular job of doing timber sale preparation work, including marking trees, marking cutting boundaries, surveying and mapping harvest units and timber cruising.   On big fires or what was called project fires we were assigned a crew boss, who supervised up to 20 people doing a variety of jobs starting with people clearing brush with chain saws, next were people grubbing out a fire trail with Pulaski's, followed by people scrapping the fire line with hoes or Macleod's.  Sometimes people carried drip torches to burnout inside the fire line.   A squad boss was usually assigned to oversee each of these tasks, who also performed work with others in the squad.    We had to carry drinking water, food rations, first aid kits, fire shelters and a few personal items in our fire packs.  Some of us carried one gallon canteens of water as we could not have enough drinking water.    We were either assigned the day shift or night shift.  If we were part of the initial attack sometimes we worked both shifts until more people arrived.   Fire camps were set up in nearby communities, schools, fairgrounds or open fields.  These camps became like small cities with kitchen facilities serving food 24 hours a day, dinning areas, portable potties, shower units, tools supplies/repair area, sleeping areas, vehicle parking areas, fuel trucks, potable water trucks, sewage pump truck, repair/maintenance trucks and sometimes an ambulance with EMTs was made available.   The biggest challenge was trying to sleep with all the noise of activity that went on 24 hours a day.   These camps had their own security to make sure only authorized  people were coming and going in and out of the camp.   With more training and experience I became a squad boss.   After I became a timber sale contract administrator I was a falling and tractor boss supervising contractors and loggers assigned to fires.   

Some high points that I remember was eating those canned biscuits from the rations that reminded me of a tennis ball and even bounced like one.   Sleeping on the fireline was always a thrill at night when it got cold and we made a warming fire.   Then there was the constant danger of getting stung by hornets, but the most fearful memory was running out of toilet paper.   One thing for sure there was never a dull moment.  

TRAFFIC MADNESS

Yesterday I made the one hour trip from Oakland to Eugene to take care of some business at my credit union.   Usually the traffic on this portion of I-5 is not that bad depending on weather and time of season, but not the case yesterday.   For the most part I drive in the slow lane between 65 to 70 mph and pass trucks when necessary that are driving 60 to 65 mph.    Yesterday many trucks were passing me in excess of 75 mph and many passenger vehicles were going in excess of 80 mph.   The farther north I got the worst the traffic got.  North of Creswell both lanes going north were bumper to bumper with tail lights coming on that signal the start of rear end collisions.   Luckily exit 186, south of Goshen  was within sight and for my own sanity I took it over to old highway 99 and got on Dillard Road into the hills of south Eugene with not a car in sight until the city limits.   The drive back home was not much better and I pulled into Cottage Grove for a break then took old highway 99 south of Cottage Grove to the Douglas County line where it merges onto I-5.   Finally made it home feeling like a survivor.   Never saw any State police and wonder if there is any enforcement of the speed limits anymore or is it just a free for all these days?   

THE SEA KAYAKING EXPERIENCE

In the spring of 1988, while working for the Forest Service in Gold Beach I asked for two weeks off  in August to go on a sea kayaking trip in Barkley Sound on the westside of Vancouver Island in British Columbia.    In May I ended up transferring to Cottage Grove and they honored my request for those two weeks off in August.  

The trip cost me $600 for a week of sea kayaking with all equipment and food furnished, including a guide and her helper.  They did everything from getting the equipment and food organized, providing transportation from Port Alberni to Barkley Sound, plus they did all the cooking.   I had to drive myself to Port Alberni by crossing from Vancouver to Nanaimo on the BC Ferry.   There may have been 15 of us in the group, including myself and a married couple from the U.S. and all the others were Canadians, mostly from Vancouver.   The oldest man was 60 and a retired forester from the BC Forest Service.  There was some teachers, health care workers and a few retired people.  

The kayaks were made for two people and the person in the rear had control of the foot peddles that operated the rudder.   We were asked to pick partners for these two person kayaks.  Before I had a chance to look around for a partner, a woman asked me to share a kayak with her.   Being polite, I committed my self and she agreed to let me take control of the steering rudders.   I don't remember her name, but remember she was a social worker from Vancouver and a recovering alcoholic.   On our first night out everybody set up their tents and my partner told me we could share the same tent.   I got the feeling she wanted to share more than the tent and kayak together.   At the time I was still legally married to my fist wife, but we were separated and I was hoping to get back together.  It never happened and probably for the best, plus I was not attracted to this woman for any intimate exchanges.  I was happy to have my own tent.   After a few days I noticed the retired 60 year old forester was sharing a tent with an older woman, who was a retired teacher.    Who else was sharing tents I don't remember.   

Some of the highlights of the trip were camping out on some islands, bottom fishing and having the guides clean our fish and cook them.   After dinner every night we sat around the campfire getting to know each other better.   Being an early riser it was a treat to have coffee made as the lady guide was up early with her helper preparing breakfast.    

At the end of the week we returned to Port Alberni where I took the ferry back to the main land along with my kayaking partner.  She invited me to spend the night at her apartment in Vancouver which I did without any mishaps.  The next day I drove back home to Cottage Grove.    

IT'S HOT!!!

The last few days have been record breaking heat with temperatures as high as 110 at my place.   By afternoons all I can do to survive is retreat in doors in hopes the air conditioner does not breakdown or the power goes out.    The power did go out Sunday night from 9  to 11pm.  Not knowing how long it would be out, I got my generator going to keep the refrigerator on.    Trying to catch any sleep with a generator running on the front porch is a challenge.   Just about the time I felt sleep taking hold to the hum of the generator the bed side lamp came on.  I got up to shut the generator off and returned to bed until the rising sun got me up with the overwhelming need for coffee to jump start the old body into action.   The first chore of the early morning when the outside temperature is in the sixties is to water plants.   One of the benefits of living in the hills with no nearby neighbors is no need to completely dress, so out the door with just my underwear on.    No fear of anybody turning me in for being indecent.   The only food that appeals to me is cold pasta salad, cold beams or just a bowel of cereal.   Just think on the positive side of life, I'm 18 degrees cooler than Death Valley, where they had a recent high of 128.