Greenwood/Elk columns

May 5 ~ July 28, 1988

May 5th.

Greenwood Creek Revisited.

Paying closer attention to the directions of Powder and LeAnn, I discover that they haven't hiked down the creek in over a year. They are heartbroken by the logging that is going on and can't stand to look at it anymore. They also told me I had ended my hike several miles short of the trestle bridge and that the logging camp, where the cabin is, was even further. They told me of a starting point on the Greenwood/Philo road where I could hike down to Greenwood Creek, then follow the old railroad right-of-way (footnote #1) down stream to the trestle bridge or up stream to the logging camp.

"There is a dogwood tree where the trail meets the railroad right of way."

The next morning I drive up Greenwood/Philo road, park my car, get permission from the land owner to climb the gate and cross their property in order to hike down to Greenwood Creek.

After almost a solid hour of down hill hiking I see the dogwood tree, just as Powder said. I decide to look for the trestle bridge first and head down stream. This time the going is very easy, I just stay on the old railroad right of way. Walking along I can glance down on the creek from time to time. After a half hour of walking I decide to go down to the stream where I see a nice sunny pool. While my dog splashes around I look up stream and down, wondering where the trestle is, then I see it. If I had continued walking the right of way just a bit further, I would have walked right out upon it. The surprising thing is, it doesn't cross over the creek like I had thought it would. Instead it spans a steep rocky area on the Greenwood Ridge side of the creek.

I hike up and walk over the bridge. It is quite rotten and falling apart. My dog follows me over the bridge very reluctantly. We then retrace our steps and then head for the logging camp.

A half hour back to the dogwood tree and then another twenty five minutes of walking brings us to a big bend in the creek and a cluster of buildings. I am again surprised. This time because the buildings are quite modern looking. I had expected a "frontier days" look. Instead there are several A-frame cabins, a building that looks like a garage, a big barbecue area, a fair sized wood water tank, a screened in meat storage area and several outdoor sleeping platforms. There had been electricity and indoor toilet.

All of this in rather good condition, the floors are rotting through in places but the walls and roofs look like recent construction. It all has more the feel of a summer recreation area than a work camp. (footnote 2).

Continuing on up stream I come upon a recently logged area that was cut right down to the creek. It is the most torn up area I have seen in all the miles I have walked. Just how close to the stream can they log? (footnote 3).

Well, we have had enough. My dog and I return to the dogwood tree and head back up the hill.

Footnote 1: "They're pulling out the rails and selling the scrap iron to Japan. I hope we don't get it back in bullets." John Matson. 1937.

Footnote 2: "It was a private summer place owned by a family named Crowfoot. It was not a logging camp. Francis Fashaur.

Footnote 3: "They can log fifty percent of the trees along the edge of the creek". Gail Lucas.

This weekend: Beware! Dada Dada in Hopland and Ukiah. Michael Johnson is loose!

This month: Steve Garner has eleven painting hanging in the Hopland Brewery and, "Emerging Mendocino", at the Mendocino Art Center contains the work of Elk Artists, Joan Gates, Judith Hale, Michael Johnson, Peter Allegaert and Steve Garner. Check it out!

May 12th.

The evening news:

"Rocket fuel plant blows up in Nevada.

"Towering inferno in L.A.

"Shell refinery explodes back East. \par \tab "Nostradamas predicts huge earthquake on West Coast.

"Northrop will build 126, B2, Stealth Bombers for only 36 billion dollars."

Meanwhile on the local scene:

I saw a bobcat in the field across from the Harbor house last Sunday around ten in the morning. It was just sitting there looking for gophers like any other cat would do, I guess. Finally he/she got tired of me watching it and hopped off into the brush. Cute short tail and extra large ears. It was the first bobcat I had ever seen that wasn't stuffed and I was perfectly happy to go on about my business and let it do the same.

I have noticed a lot of activity in and around the Road House recently and the latest quess-timate is that the line will start forming the morning of May 12th.

That about sums up the news around here for this week. Pretty hot stuff for a town with only one stop sign.

Oh yes, a couple of items found in the drop box at the Elk Store and thanks for the information.

"The Greenwood School staff and students want to invite everyone to their Open House on Thursday, May 12th from 7 until 8:30 PM. We want to share what we've been doing and use this opportunity to thank all the generous donors to the Greenwood School Enrichment Fund. The children are preparing displays and a special dessert, which everyone should see and help us eat!

Kindergarten Registration will take place at the Greenwood School Monday through Thursday May 16th - 19th, from 2:00 until 3:30 PM. Children who will be five years old by December 2nd, 1988, may enter Kindergarten in September. If you can not come this week, please call Jane Cory, 877-3330 at home or, 877-3361 at school, and she will arrange an alternative time slot. Please bring proof of birth and immunization record. It is essential that we have an accurate enrollment projection. "Please help us by getting this paperwork finished by May 19th."

Highway One Jazz is back at the Community Center, May 20th at 8:00 PM. They will perform again at Crown Hall in Mendocino May 22nd at 8:00 PM. $4.00 adults. Children under 12 free. Another example of what can be done with time and talent.

Elk's very own Baseball Commissioner, Bill Edison, informed me that the Annual Pepper Martin Baseball Game will be played May 22nd, starting with a game for kids at 2:00 PM and the adult game at 3:00 PM. The whole premise of this annual event is to emulate the late great Pepper Martin in his manner of "Guts and Guile". The perpetual Pepper Martin Brass Spittoon and the Famous Greenwood/Elk Statue awards will be passed on to the players showing the most class and hustle.

Bill said this year we will dispense with the traditional singing of the National Anthem and replace it with a rousing rendition of the Wabash Cannonball.

Controversy is already raising its ugly head.

Meantime, the search is on for someone to toss out the ball at the start of the game. Bill is entertaining suggestions.

How 'bout Bruce Anderson?

May 21st. ???

May 28th.

Baseball mania descended on our little town of Elk last weekend. The Annual Pepper Martin brew ha ha arrived at three o'clock with the traditional cold breeze off the ocean and threatening fog bank. Talk of building a dome kept us occupied until the first ball was tossed out by honored guest Leah Almenrode. She then promptly hurried home to the security of her fire while the rest of us spectators hunkered down in the wind and weeds.

Bob Matson's team faced Johnny Gallo's consortium and that was the last they saw of them. Johnny's team took home the coveted Greenwood/Elk Trophy, winning 26 to 5. The score sure didn't reflect the outstanding playing by all hands. During warm-up I told a spectator, "this is going to be a close one". Little did I know.

Immediately upon the end of the game Baseball Commissioner/Umpire/Judge/Tycoon "Baby Doc" Edison awarded the coveted Pepper Martin Brass Spittoon to Elias Steinbuck.

The player with most "guts and guile"?

Elias was the most outstanding player, hitting, running, decision making. Absolutely top notch but as for guts and guile?

What about Connie Sinclair, catching those high pop up balls, banging the ball between players and streaking for first base, then nursing her baby when her side retired?

What about Gerry Huckaby? First home run on three errors! His spectacular slides into base... on his back!

How about Robbi Robison and Gary Moran and their long ball hits out past the weeds, the fence, the mole hills, requiring 14 players to find the ball each time!

How about Merlin Hemble and his great pitching against all those players about two feet taller than him and that solidly hit ball he caught in the gut! Now we're talking guts and guile!

What about Kristi Matson and Carolyn Carleton? Absolutely fearless.

How about that attempted catch by Robin Bird as he roared out through the mole hills and disappeared into the thistle and poison oak!

Well, it is a tough call. Elias is a great ball player, I can't deny that but, how about some more spittoons.

As long as we are on baseball, this just in from coach Ed Bird:

"Elk/Manchester little league minors won first place at the Boonville Jamboree Saturday May 14th. They won two games and lost one by only one point."

Coach Ed Bird said his team looked really great with all players showing great effort. Elk's Max Karish caught a line drive and quickly threw to first base to put out a returning runner for a double play. Toby Bolton laid down a bunt to move all runners forward to score a crucial run. Connor Bird hit three home runs and was never put out at base in all three games, he also showed great fielding at second base and won an all tourney cap for his performance. The second all tourney team cap went to first baseman Levi Roach of Manchester.

On another important note.

The Fire District Formation town meeting will be held June 16th at 8:00 PM at the Community Center. This affects everyone. We are expecting a large turnout. Please mark your calendar.

June 2nd.

Memorial Day Weekend. Lolli and I, Ed and Suzanne went North for the Fifteenth Annual World Championship Great Arcata to Ferndale Kinetic Sculpture Race. We left Friday evening and camped out under the Ferndale bridge. Saturday morning we were temporarily dressed in hefty bags, standing in the rain at the Arcata Plaza, waiting for the Lemans start at noon. The National Anthem was sung and as the last note trailed off into the mist, the race was on.

The most bizarre collection of sixty human powered objects on wheels rattled and shimmied their way out of town and headed for the beach and the "Fearsome Deadman's Drop". We loaded up in our VW busses and drove on ahead of the racers to be in position for their arrival. Joining hundreds of other spectators, we slapped mosquitoes and cheered on the contestants as they struggled with their creations through deep sand, up the incline to the drop. By now the sculptures were strung out along the course, some even in welding shops, receiving last minute corrections.

At the top of the drop the pilot, or pilots and the pit crew would gather at the edge and plot their attack. A hush would descend over the assembled throng and finally, over the edge they would plunge amongst wild applause and the frantic scattering of children and dogs. At the bottom, mired deep in sand, they would start the grind on out, over and around the dunes and head for the Samoa Bridge and the eventual finish of the first day run at the Eureka Plaza.

At 6:00 PM, the official closing of the course, a few vehicles were still struggling along. We retired to a restaurant. Later in the evening we drove around through Loleta and Table Bluff to the South Spit in order to be in position for the arrival of the contestants the next morning, as they completed their one mile crossing of the bay from Fields Landing.

Pounding rain woke us up at 7:00 Sunday morning and we knew the race had commenced. Soon the sun came out and by 10:00 we could see the front runners strung out across the bay. As they arrived, timers and referees closely observed their egress from the bay. To maintain "Ace" status they must get all wheels out of the water without disembarking. Wild Cheering and many suggestions kept the hundreds of spectators busy. After reviving themselves with hot soup and Calastoga water (the sponsor of the race), the contestants would make the necessary adjustments to convert from water back to sand travel, then huff and puff and wobble on up the beach and head for the finish of the second day at Table Bluff and the Great Overnight Camp Out.

We watched the last of the contestants emerge from the water around 3:00 PM., then we packed up, but to head back to Elk. Unfortunately we could not stay for the third and final day. Driving our way out past Table Bluff I would estimate the crowd at now well over a thousand and the party was just beginning! Survivors of the evening activities would face, in the morning, the final day consisting of another water crossing and the terrible struggle up Slimy Slope before the victorious finish in down town Ferndale and the famous "Ace" awards.

I am at a loss to try and describe the wondrous machines, pilots and pit crews that took part in this great struggle, but there was a woman from Mendocino video taping the event and her work will be shown on Channel Three Tuesday evening, maybe around 7:00 PM. Check it out.

Remember the Fire District Formation meeting. 8:00 PM June 16th at the Community Center. We're talking money.

June 9th.

Time to crank out another column. I have no news so it is tough to know where to begin. I took a look into the Greenwood/Elk News drop box at the Elk Store and found eight bubble gum wrappers. That does seem to about wrap it up.

This past week I saw an item on CNN about the Kinetic Sculpture Race and later, when talking on the phone to my kids, up in Seattle, they said they got to see some of it on the evening news and wondered if I was there.

Last year's first place finisher received "Ace Status" and seven dollars! Not to mention "The Glory", which is what it is really all about.

Billy Matson is back in town and said that he will spend the summer helping out at the Roadhouse, "serving dinner". Yes, the rumor is that the Roadhouse will be serving breakfast, lunch AND dinner. I may actually gain weight this summer!

The Fire District Formation meeting, the 16th at 7:00 PM in the Community Center, is a on again off again situation. Various snags keep showing up and folks are tearing their hair. The meeting is still going to happen, last I heard, so it will be a good opportunity to find out where things stand and to voice your feelings about where to go from here.

We have been having some Hawaiian like weather lately. Some rain during the night and early morning hours and sunny days. It sure has caused things to grow and the talk of drought has receded. I have noticed a second crop of mushrooms and about everything that can bloom is doing so. Saturday evening I watched the sunset while rain squalls marched across the ocean causing spectacular rainbows south of town. Again I was caught without film in my camera.

The latest information I have concerning cable TV reaching Elk is November 1st.

I thought Charlie Acker wrote an interesting point of view about Prop. B in the latest Mendocino Commentary. By the time this column is out the results of our voting will be in and the desires of the majority will be known. I feel Prop. B will pass, not that it is the answer but, that it is a step in the right direction. We'll soon find out.

I had breakfast with Mike Koepf and Bruce Anderson in the Roadhouse the other day. Anderson's table manners were up to standard and he even left a tip. While talking to him I found it hard to believe that he is the man everybody loves to hate. Mild mannered, plain speaking, interesting, cordial. He must have not been feeling well.

School is almost out and boredom is about to set in. Ah summertime.

Is that it? Yep. Bottom of the page. Squeaked out another column.

June 16th

A small group of us were invited out to John and Rose Sargents the other night. We had expressed interest in the vast array of equipment they provided for the Zulu Spear Band, during Great Day in Elk last year, and John had invited us up to see their studio.

They are very busy people and in the midst of it all, Rose suffered a back injury that finally, after months of pain, required surgery. Their life was finally getting back to normal, whatever that is, and we were now gathered in their beautiful home, surrounded by acres of redwoods and six huge silent speakers plugged into 1200 watts of power.

Before us stood six synthesizers, two digital drum machines, a huge mixing board, two studio quality reel to reel recorders, digital reverbs, Midi blenders and switch box and something I recognized right away, a piano.

Hundreds of lights were glowing in readiness, the power was ON. John told us to go ahead and play around. I retreated to the kitchen to freshen my glass and grab another handful of chips. I felt like I had been invited to sit in the Captain's seat of a Lear Jet and told to "go ahead and take off"! Fortunately Michael Connelly and Gary Moran had pilot licenses, so to speak and the music got off the ground. Soon Al Weaver and Ron Karish arrived and the place started hopping.

Once in a while I would tentatively push a key or a knob and receive in return anything from the melodic tinkle of a temple bell to a startling clap of thunder that would reverberate back from the hills beyond Philo.

What's the word I'm looking for?...Awesome?

Finally, John Sargent, the master, regained control and took us through a short course of electronic music making.

"Keyboards are just switches. Voltage is the medium. Middle C becomes anything you want it to be and the same is true for all the other keys above and below. Anything you can conceive of that happens in the range of hearing is there to invent, shape, blend, reverberate, distort, mute or enhance. A complete musical palate lies before the artist and the six huge speakers are the waiting blank canvas."

As a finale, John played for us two of the three parts to his latest effort, "Wine Suite". First we were treated to "Sauvignon Blanc", which was followed by a "Resling". The third part, a "Cabernet", is still in the barrel, fermenting, so to speak.

How interesting it was to have happen in my ears what is normally experienced by taste buds. I came away intoxicated! I can't wait to get my hands on the end result. John and Rose own Plumrose Music Unlimited.

Local distributors for the Fort Bragg Food Bank (Mendocino Food and Nutrition Program) Mary Pjerrou and Gerry Huckaby are very concerned about cutbacks and the possible elimination of the USDA Commodities Program.

Pjerrou and Huckaby pick up basic food stuffs such as cheese, rice, honey and powdered milk, provided by the federal government surplus program, through the Fort Bragg Food Bank and have been distributing them for four years now to needy families in the Elk area at the Greenwood Community Center on the last Saturday of every month. This saves needy families the long trip to Fort Bragg.

Now the federal government, which spends umpteen billions of dollars on nuclear missiles and government salaries, wants to cut off food to the hungry.

Write US Senator Pete W ilson 2040 Ferry Building, San Francisco, 94111 and tell him you support Senate Bill 2123, "The Emergency Hunger Relief Act of 1988" if you would like the USDA Commodities Program to continue. Wilson's support is key to the passage of this bill. He is in favor of it and needs to hear from local folks.

June 23rd.

In writing this column I seem to operate better working with rumor, innuendo and hearsay. Actually "being there" confuses me. This leads me to the latest meeting about the attempt to form a Elk Fire District.

I was unable to attend and so now, several days later, I find myself wandering around trying to pick up the scent. The basic flavor is good. Seems we are finally on the right track and it could actually happen. Attendance was fair, not the hundred or so hoped for but not bad in these days of VCR's. I'm told Bob Matson did a wonderful job of moderating the meeting and explaining the latest plan and how it would work.

The plan would fund the fire district only and the assessment would be based on a fixed formula worked up from existing tax assessments. Helicopters and dogs will not be used. The district can be formed by petition if eighty percent of us want it. Petition sheets are located at the Elk Garage and the Elk Store.

After several years of wrestling with this one it looks like a plan has finally been worked out that doesn't singe too many feathers. Like my Grandfather, who used to operate a movie house, back in Nebraska once said; "People are the hardest animal to herd".

My daughter Sarah is down visiting me for five weeks. Already she is helping Reeby at the Elk Store and baby sitting for Carolyn Carleton and Connie Sinclair. I'm proud to live in a town where she can freely roam and I don't have to worry about her. Behind every door is a friend. Not many towns you can say that about. The other day we went swimming at Iron Bridge on the Navarro and found the beach to be very nice and the water great, refreshing and clear.

I have added another item to my coastal experience. As many of us know, you have to be a jack of all trades to be able to live around here. I now list, store clerk, "minimal" auto mechanic, Pen and ink artist, picture frame maker, caretaker, car painter and now truck driver. Reminds me of a sign I saw in Seattle one time. "Light Aircraft and Screen door Company"!

Anyway, I have been filling in for a guy on vacation, driving sea urchins from Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg to the Airport in San Francisco during the middle of the night. It's a whole different world out there. Basically just me, a few tail lights, some all night gas stations, a couple of deer and late night talk shows and music on the radio. I learned a few things. One is that there is a Chinese philosophy that figures out how often you should have sex by multiplying .2 times your age. They claim this final number is the optimum for a persons health. My number turned out to be every 9.4 days. I could be happy with that!

The other item I discovered is a great new music station called KKSF, 103.7 on the FM dial. I get it from about Healdsburg on, at night. Some night, when your headed for the city, check it out.

Sure was a weird thunder storm, out over the ocean, in the fog, we had the other day. Most of the afternoon it sounded like God was bowling. I think she was having a pretty good game but I couldn't see for sure.

June 30th.

The Elk Beach received its share of dead fish last week. I heard that this phenomenon occurred from north of Fort Bragg all the way down to San Francisco. Thousands and thousands of fish. Hake and some kind of night fish, herring? Nobody seems to know why they beached themselves in mass. I hope it wasn't something caused by man. The tides and the gulls have it pretty well cleaned up by now.

I received this note from Sally Gorham of Sea Ranch:

"I am currently teaching ballet and drama to children, four years old through teens, in Gualala, Point Arena and Fort Ross. If there is sufficient interest from the Elk community I will add you to my schedule.

I am holding a meeting at the Greenwood Community Center, in Elk, on Thursday, July 5th at 2 PM to see who is interested. Since I am driving to Elk from Sea Ranch and since this meeting will determine whether or not the classes can start, I'm hoping for a good turn out from children and parents. If you are interested, but can't attend on that day, please call me at 785-2994. Sally Gorman PO. Box 303, The Sea Ranch, California, 95497.

Casting about the town for items of interest I found Billy Matson putting the finishing touches on a brass expresso maker at the Roadhouse Cafe. By the time this column hits the streets, exotic coffees will be available, right here in Elk! Also at the Greenwood Pier, I might add.

Progress continues on the town's new water tank. The sides are going up and who knows, someday maybe, even the top!

Charlie Acker has bundles of shingles piled up beside his new/old house. He is going to cover the old siding with new shingles. Also, this week, the septic system and drain field will be going in.

My dog and I inspected the new double yellow stripe and accompanying yellow reflectors that wind through town and off over the horizon to the north and south. You don't have to come to Elk to see them. Just about anywhere along the coast will do. As long as the Feds are spending money maybe they will put in a few more turn outs with signs suggesting that folks pull over when five of more cars are following.

Last week, while I was making the late night urchin run to the city, my daughter came down with food poisoning. Bad mayonnaise, we think. Anyway, Sarah called up one of the folks in town. The Huckaby's came to her rescue and wound up taking her to the Fort Bragg Hospital at one in the morning. Once her stomach settled down they took her home and tucker her into their guest bedroom where, after listening to the message on my answering machine, I found her the next morning. The next afternoon, Vince and Carolyn Carleton brought her flowers and everyone has been asking her how she is doing. I must report she is back up to speed. Looks like her next problem will be sunburn.

Thank you Mary and Gerry, Vince and Carolyn and this wonderful town of Elk.

If you haven't signed the Fire Department formation petition yet, it is waiting for you at the Elk Garage and Elk Store.

July 7th

Fourth of July and much rusha-rusha. I'm trying to stay out of the fray. The weather has been beautiful but windy. You'd think Seattle, or where ever the wind comes from would have run out of it by now. Still, if you know where to go, a meadow in the hills of that spot up the river, it is wonderful.

A lot of controversy over whether or not there will be fireworks on the beach again this year. Each year the possibilities become more and more remote. For one thing, the State now owns the beach. Then, the fire hazard must be considered, also the safety of the participants and the question of liability insurance. More and more, we are being encouraged to stay home and let Rambo do the fireworks on the VCR.

When I was a kid, back in Nebraska, there was a feed store we could go into. Way in the back was a display of FIREWORKS! Silver torpedoes, Cherry Bombs, M-80's, multi-shot aerial bombs, belts of one and a half inchers, REAL sky rockets. Basically just short of full on dynamite and napalm. We would race home on our bikes and show mom our sack of goodies and she would say, as we ran out the back door, "Have fun, but be careful"!

How could parents do that. How could they turn their kids loose with a pound, pound and a half of black powder and undependable fuses and say, "Have fun, but be careful"? How do you learn to be careful?

I have been watching a nest of barn swallows in a friend's barn. There are six in the nest and the parents have been flying their feathers off trying to feed all those big mouths. The chicks were almost grown when I started watching and one morning I noticed that four had left the nest. They were flying around the barn and among the rafters. Their landings were rather awkward, sometimes they would over shoot the intended mark, then continue on and land someplace else. The cat sat in the sun, down below. What did the parents say when the first one leapt out of the nest? "Have fun, but be careful"?

How do they learn to be careful?

My daughter is learning to drive.

"Let me drive dad, Please o please."

"Okay, but be careful."

Now I have a big dent to fix in my car and a bill from the other driver. Nobody was hurt, the other guy was a local, fortunately, and my daughter has learned to be more careful, but...

What else can parents do? Can we wrap our kids and baby birds in cotton and wait until they know everything and the world is safely wrapped in liability insurance and complete instructions or, do we say, "Have fun, but be careful".

Zulu Spear whipped through town last Friday and played at the Community Center. Almost nobody knew about it but the few that did had a real treat.

I checked out Work of Mouth, as they played at the Buckhorn Saloon in Boonville, last Saturday night and nobody was there either. There must have been a lot of private parties going on. Michael Connelly has a new electronic piano. He claims it is much easier to haul around than his old four hundred pound upright. Mark Hughes is now playing bass guitar with them.

I heard something on late night radio, during a urchin run. Last year there were over 300,000 deaths related to cigarettes and 87 related to cocaine. Guess which one our government. subsidizes.

"We hold these truths to be self evident"!

Oh well, I hope you had a chance to learn to be more careful this fourth of July.

July 14th.

"Hi, I'm Sarah, Ron's daughter, not to be confused with four legged Sarah, Ron's dog. I'm writing the column because the Elk natives haven't been too active. There's no news!

This is my third time in Elk and there's no end to the things to do. Sandy Robinson lets me ride her horses, dad lets me play demolition derby with his spiffed up Ford Falcon and I walk Reeby's two dogs, Bullet and Missy, Cherry's two dogs, Spock and Shelia and Sarah the dog down to the beach to terrorize the tourists and, that's not all. I even work at the Elk Store and baby-sit beautiful babies at the Greenwood Lodge, Carleton's and Sinclair's, the whole herd! I even got to visit the Fort Bragg Hospital Emergency room at two o'clock in the morning! Talk about excitement.

Elk's a wonderful place and if you get bored in Elk you can always go into Mendocino and go shopping.

Carleton's are going to Indonesia and their nine month old baby, Tama, has her own passport.

Her visa is for business!

I spent a different Fourth of July this year. I rode down to San Francisco with my dad on his sea urchin run. It was pretty boring until the Golden Gate Bridge. It took us fifteen minutes to cross it, then, going through the tunnel on 19th Street, people were letting off firecrackers in the tunnel, having honking wars and hanging sparklers out their windows. Fun!

Driving down into the city, from the hills, you could see all the smoke from the fireworks hanging over the city. After we delivered the roe we went to McDonalds and it was closed! Boo Hiss."

Give me back that pen!

I read the special edition tribute to Herb Caen, in last Sunday's Chronicle, and discovered the fact that he has been doing his column for fifty years without a daughter's help. One item said that if all his columns were laid out end to end they would stretch 4.9 miles. I did some quick measuring and math and found that all my columns would add up to fifty three feet. It seems I have a ways to go. Fifty years of "three dot" journalism. Wow!

There are hints of Great Day in Elk gearing up. Rusty Gates, 877-3425, is looking for help with the afternoon food department, especially servers. Linda Barnett, 877-3436, is community center contact for various other aspects of this event, such as children's games during the afternoon and she is seeking suggestions for new events and people willing to help. Kay Curtis, 877-3564, will be taking care of the Arts and Crafts department. She is the one to contact if you want to set up a booth.

Linda told me that the parade will be an hour earlier this year, starting at 11:00 AM. Great Day in Elk is a wonderful community event and it is even more fun if you become involved in some aspect of it with your friends and neighbors and a particularly great ice breaker if you are rather new to the area.

The Roadhouse Cafe is serving dinner Thursday, Friday and Saturday now. They also have their beer and wine permit. Golly, where will it all end?

I got a strange letter from Congressman Bosco the other day. You probably did too. He was thanking me for helping protect "Our" coast. Makes me wonder what he is up to now. I hadn't realized we were in this "Together".

July 21st.

My Daughter and I went kayaking up the Albion River. It still bothers me to have to pay $6.00 in order to park and launch my kayaks, but once I got past that hurtle, it was very pleasant. We saw lots of heron and fish hawks and crab and even a sea otter. As some of you may know there aren't any sandy beaches for several miles so to stop and enjoy the shoreline you most wade through thick black mud. Actually the mud was fairly enjoyable and quite warm. It looks almost like coal tar and smells like sulfur. I thought about taking a mud bath but there wasn't any place close to wash it off that looked inviting. We finally returned to the car and went to the Navarro to take a swim and get cleaned up.

My last, late night urchin run to the city, turned into a rather sad affair. It seemed the critters of the night were bent on self destruction. I have not hit a single animal in the four years I have lived here, until last night. Then, for some reason I couldn't avoid them. One rabbit by Boonville on my way to the city and a deer and a raccoon on the Greenwood/Philo road during the return trip.

I'm sorry. I tried to avoid them but at the last minute they jumped the very direction I last swerved to. The deer had been a nice little four point . I have tried flashing my lights, honking the horn but sometimes there isn't even time to react. I wonder if those little whistles people buy and put on their bumpers work.

My daughter and I dined out at the Roadhouse the other evening. The selection was interesting and good. Kate Dougherty waited tables and Sue Matson was cooking but the Roadhouse seemed different. Something about serving dinners brings a hush over the place and the candles give it a different feel. Very nice, but sure different than the way it is during breakfast and lunch. Folks have their best foot forward in the evening, I guess.

My next door neighbor to the North, Mrs. Hembe, was found dead in the home she was renting from Walt and Sheryl Matson. Mary Anthony stops in to help Mrs. Hembe out with various chores from time to time and Mary was the one who found her. She was elderly and very quiet and kept to herself. Most of us in town didn't even know she lived there. She was a good friend of Walter and Polly Green. No foul play was involved to my knowledge.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Herb Bolton, another Elk Resident. You may have read about his untimely death in last weeks Beacon. I have been told Herb had a practice of picking up hitch hikers, the stranger, the better, it seemed. This time it caught up with him.

Getting this column edited before I turn it in to the Beacon has become a rather convoluted affair. Gerry Huckaby is the one who converts my scribbles into something resembling the English language. When I finally have my column ready to edit and go on the search for Gerry, I usually find him at the Elk Sunday Softball game. Then I wind up patiently waiting along the side lines for the game to end and the next thing I know, I am standing at third base with a glove on my hand.

Little did I know what writing a column involved.

July 28th

I found this in the drop box at the Elk Store:

"Dear Ron. You keep saying nothing is going on in Elk so I thought I would give you a small domestic item. Call it the Case of the Smoking Console.

It began in a small way. Prue noticed the warning light on the electric stove, over the burners, would not go off. After a lot of clicking the burners on and off, it finally extinguished itself. The next day was ominous. Turning on a burner led to a warning light, smoke and a terrible smell. Prue turned off the breaker switch outside the house.

This was Thursday at 5 PM. The weekend was practically upon us. Frantic calls gave us no reassurance. The repair men were either acting in the movies in the film being shot up in Mendocino or busy until next Tuesday. People were going to visit us Saturday for two days.

Enter our neighbor, Norman deVall with some nylon cord to repay me for what he had used in my weed eater. Norman claims to be a lot of things but electrician isn't one of them. He did volunteer that he had a voltmeter and offered to help. One thing lead to another. The owner's manual had an 800 number for emergency help. A calm man in Louisville heard our story and suggested we disconnect the stove and take off the back of the console panel.

Success! There amongst the wires was an electrocuted mouse. I gave Norman a Martini and Prue and I promised we would vote for him forever. Would that more of life's problems could be so easily solved.

Del Wilcox

Thanks Del. I knew there was something going on around here.

Say, where are the pelicans? Seems to me they ought to be around by now. I called Peg Frankel and according to her bird book the last week in July should be the high point of their stay, here on the coast. Peg did say a friend of hers saw a few up around Fort Bragg.

What got me to thinking about them was the kayak trip my daughter and I made last week. We put the boats in at Greenwood Beach and paddled up the coast a ways. We spent five hours poking around and didn't see a single pelican.

After clearing the breakers along the shore line we turned and paddled through the arch of Casket Rock, the one straight out from the Greenwood Pier, then north and through the arch under Saint Anthony's Point. Going through the arches is quite magical. Cormorants drop from their niches along the rock walls, flapping their wings furiously until they hit the water and then run along and flap until they gain flying speed. Star fish and anemone are exposed along the walls of the arch at of below the water line.

From Saint Anthony's Point we threaded our way between the sea stacks and shore line on up to Cuffy's Cove. We tucked into a small beach and took a break to do some beach combing. Sarah found two nice abalone shells and various crab claws.

Back on the boats we turned and went through Cuffy's Cut, a long tunnel through the point. Once out in the open we saw about twenty seals basking on several wash rocks and silently paddled towards them. Although most of them were sleeping there always seems to be a couple on watch and soon they scrambled into the surf, waking the others up who then followed suit. Then they would poke up at random a round us and check us out. Some as close as twenty feet. Sarah really got a kick out of that.

Next we went on out to Seal Rock to see if there were any Sea Lions round. Nobody home!

Then we turned south and did a leisurely paddle towards Mile Rock and then towards Gunderson Rock and the Greenwood Beach. Sarah had her only mishap, landing on the beach, where she got dumped by a breaking wave. The boat washed ashore and she decided to stay in the surf and play around and try body surfing.

It was a very nice way to spend our last day together. The next morning I drove her to the airport for her flight back to Seattle, abalone shells packed away in her bag.

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