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Greenwood/Elk columns November 9 ~ December 14, 1989 November 9th. The Greenwood Pier had a close one, October 27th. At two in the morning a chimney fire broke out in the Sea Castle, the North one. The folks staying there for the night woke up Kendrick. He called 911. 911 called Bob Matson and the Elk Volunteer Fire department arrived in short order. I took a walk through a week later with Kendrick, while a carpentry crew was repairing the damage. Some of the wall had been chain sawed through to put out embers, one of the sky lights was broken and the rugs and couches soaked. A big mess but not near as bad as it could have been. Five minutes later and it could have been out of hand. Halloween is behind us again and it looks like the 'good old days' are really over. A party at the Community Center for the short people, a few trick or treaters roaming around and that's about it. Mel Matson was telling me about the time some young bucks took a buggy apart and reassembled it on top of the Union Hotel. I told him about when I was a kid back in Nebraska, waking up the day after Halloween to find tomb stones, taken from the cemetery, arranged in the streets of town and old cars piled up in front of the door to the school to such an extent that classes were canceled for a day. Back then, it all seemed pretty funny. Now days we seem to have lost our sense of humor concerning pranks. Maybe there never was any. It's just our perspective that has changed. I haven't had my Tee Vee on for several weeks now. Been listening to KZYX instead. I have completed three pen and ink drawings. It sure is wonderful to be free from the box. The other night Lolli and I sat around in her cabin and listened to the radio. She was repairing a quilt and I was listening and remembering how we used to sit and listen to the radio when I was a kid. The Firestone Hour, the Inner Sanctum, George Burns and Gracie Allen. In the morning there was a program, Don McNeal and the Breakfast Club, and I remember how we used to get up and march around the table at one point in the program. Oh yeah, also there was news commentary with Gabreil Heater. I remember lying on the package shelf, I just fit, above and behind the back seat of my dad's 1951 Hudson Hornet, looking up through the frost rimmed window at the night time stars, listening to the Amos and Andy program on WOW, Omaha, as we returned home from a visit to my Grandparents. The red glow of the heater switch. The stars didn't move while we rushed through the night along Highway 30. The road straight as a string except for the 'S' curve half way between towns. The 'S' curve where my dad's boss would be killed in a car accident, precipitating our move to Washington State and my eventual rise to success as a column writer in Greenwood/Elk, California. Just think, if it wasn't for that 'S' curve I could still be a farmer. So, what does all this mean. Well, I'm just recollecting things which listening to the radio has brought back to mind. I would never have thought of it, watching Tee Vee. November 16th. Well, I've spent the last three weeks or so yaking about KZYX. I better get back to some news from the home front. Peg Frankel has returned from Chicago after attending the 117th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, where the Distinguished Service Award was presented to their son Jeff on behalf of Dr. John Frankel. Unfortunately, Dr. John died in August of this year. He was ecstatic to have been selected for the award and was looking forward to attending this session. Congratulations John and welcome home Peg. Surprise! A note found in the drop box at the Elk Store: "Youth Soccer Wrap Up by Coach Dean (AKA the Tony LaRussa of girls soccer). The Coast Germs under 12 team completed a successful championship season, undefeated, with the best record in all of youth soccer this year. Able to apply an intuitive understanding of human dynamism and synchronicity they played and acted like true Champions. Great! Of special interest to we Elkians were the outstanding contributions of our four girls; Liza Matson, Athena Bolton, Rebecca Willingham and Megan Pederson. Well done." I read Ray Reed's novel, "Mendocino Sinsemilla", last week. I enjoyed it, especially, reading between the lines. We who live around here and know the places named can get an extra kick out of it. Folks farther afield will probably buy it, even if it was a blank book, just because of the title and cover photo. I think Ray has a winner here. Alvarado Bakery has responded to our concern about losing Bruce Bread. They have posted a letter in the Elk Store saying they would never force a business to drop some other product in favor of theirs. They believe in free enterprise. Further down the letter, they say that they are operating at a loss at the Elk Store because it is such a small account but they are still willing to supply us, BUT, if they have to compete against another bakery they will have to drop us all together. When they presented that prospect to the manager of the Elk Store, it was the manager of the Elk Store, not them, who decided to drop Bruce Bread. Thanks for the clarification. I feel a lot better now. Bruce Bread wasn't making a profit over here either but at least they were willing to come until told not to. Lolli and I went up to Seattle last week for my folks 50th wedding anniversary and a surprise birthday party for Lolli's mother and brother. All concerned had a great time. Seattle was beautiful but the traffic!!! It is totally out of hand and yet they are building like mad. There seems to be no restraints at all and here, I always thought the Northwest was fairly enlightened. And their logging practices. Shame. Shame. There was a poetry reading at the Book Loft last Saturday night and the next morning the excerpts were played on the air during the Wild Sage Poetry program. Were else. KZYX, 90.7 FM. November 23rd. Good news. We have received the news that the petition for the formation of a Greenwood/Elk Community Services District was validated by 82% of the registered voters in our district. That is 2% over the number required. One more hurtle in this long drawn out process has been cleared. There will be a Greenwood/Elk, Food Bank, Christmas Food and Toy Drive here in town. Approximately 10 gift baskets will be prepared for our local needy families and individuals. They will be distributed December 16th. You will find a drop box at the Elk Store and other locations soon to be announced. Gallery Bookstore of Mendocino has already donated items. Desired are canned goods, festive items, toys and, close to the date of distribution, turkeys. For more information contact Krystal Spitler, weekday mornings at the Elk Store. The Bay Area Backroad's segment about Greenwood/Elk was aired last weekend. Just as I feared, there was Mr. Huckaby, standing in the field across from the Elk Store, waving his arms and 'waxing eloquent'. During this segment, while Huckaby blabbed on, they showed Reeby and Prue on the steps of the Elk Store (Reeby's parrot on her shoulder), some guy playing a harmonica, a bicyclist weaving his way down the road and a couple of guys drinking beer on the porch of the closed Oasis. Toward the end they cut back to Huckaby who, tongue in cheek, did say that, well yes, there are huge termites undermining the place, houses are falling down, the salt air is rusting away the cars, blah, blah, blah. Overall, I hope not too much damage was done. If, in fact, you run across anyone out there who did happen to see the program and you find them out snooping around looking for Greenwood/Elk, be sure to tell them that we are located just three miles south of Bolinas. On a brighter note, Mel Matson has now caught a total of twenty mice in his basement. He says that things are finally tapering off and all has been quiet for the past three days. Mouse traps and cheese are his weapons of choice. It seems that this time of year the various critters start thinking about moving in for the winter. Upon my return from Seattle I found that a skunk had moved into the space between the floor of my trailer and the outer, lower aluminum skin. For several nights he/she would wake me up at four in the morning with its tapping around on that aluminum sounding board. I would reach over to the floor and tap back. All would be quiet for a few minutes, then it would start in again. During the day I found where it had gotten in but what if I sealed it up and it was still inside? They are nocturnal, aren't they? Finally someone told me to put some mothballs in there and it would leave. I gave it a try and sure enough, it did. Y'all have a great Thanksgiving. November 30th. The abandoned car, up the Greenwood/Philo Road has finally been removed. Ramone took it upon himself to get rid of the eyesore by loading it on his trailer and hauling it off to a wrecking yard where he had to pay for them to accept it. I guess that is the only way things get done around here; do it yourself. The county won't touch them, neither will Cal Trans. Thanks Ramone. The recent storm power outages seem to coincide with local Craft Fairs and the folks showing their wares are getting good at maintaining the party mode. Great Day in Elk gave them their first opportunity to scramble for candles and flashlights, so, last Saturday, when the power went out, up and down the coast, the crafts persons at the Mendocino Art Center carried on like nothing had happened. It was old hat. Closer to home, Peg Frankel said her wind gauge gusted up to 100 MPH several times. KZYX was off the air. I called them and they said they were sitting around, ready to continue the programming as soon as the power came back on. They said that Boonville was dark and that the power was out all the way down to parts of Santa Rosa. Other than lack of power and some branches down here and there, there didn't seem to be much damage. Sunday morning the sun came back though the seas remained high. I predict the next storm will occur December 9th and 10th. That is when we will have our local Arts and Crafts Fair at the Greenwood/Elk Community Center. Hours 10 until 5. There will be Art, Crafts, music plus food cooked by Harbor house's Terry Garner. This is always a good time and a great opportunity to buy local items for Christmas gifts. There may still be a few booth spaces available and those interested in showing their wares should contact Kay Curtis at 877-3564. In the meantime, don't forget to stop by the Country Store and check out the new items Isabel has in stock. Think Globally. Shop locally. I've been surprised to see so little mention of our new radio station in the local newspapers. KZYX is off to a terrific start. Local radio is a great way to spread the word about what your group is up to. Call them up and tell them what's happening and tune in to hear about other local events. The office number is 895-2324. On the air, 895-2448. Also they are more than happy to add your old records to their expanding collection. Get those records out of your closet and give them the type of life they were meant to have. KZYX has their new program guide out and you can get one by becoming a member or if you already are, just call and they will send one out to you. Norm deVall will soon have a petition in the Elk Store proposing under grounding the power and phone lines through the town of Greenwood/Elk. The proposed area would be from the Elk Cove Inn to just past the 'S' curve, North of town. Norman said the money is already available, its just a matter of whether we want it or not. December 7th. I've had my nose pretty close to the grindstone lately and really haven't had much of a chance to catch up on what is going on around here and yet, out of the corner of my eye I have noticed Christmas lights appearing in various windows, lots of notices hung up about up coming Christmas musicals, concerts and plays, yet the sun shines on. I noticed Ed Bird's sheep are giving birth to lambs. One the other day, two the next, then five and now I count eight. At first they kind of just lay around with mom standing close by, but within a day they start gamboling around. Last year I remember how they soon turned into little punk lambs from hell. Hanging out together, butting their moms and even chasing my car. All too soon though they settle down into sheep, shy and evasive. One short fling and that's it. I have noticed the Greenwood Creek lagoon opened up after our various storms and then close again, three different times so far this fall. It seems to me in past years, when it finally opened it stayed open through the rest of the winter. No so this year. One of the locals called me and posed the question; "Do folks realize how much it will cost to rehook to PG&E if we underground the lines?" Two days later I noticed his name on the petition in the Elk Store. I guess, whatever it costs, he finds the idea worth it. It seems, in general, most everyone is for the idea. Me, I think the lines and poles add to the quaintness of our little town but, oh well. Keep in mind the deposit box at the Elk Store for donations of food and toys. The gift baskets will be distributed to needy families December 16th. it is hoped that some folks will spring for some turkeys just before the delivery date. Also, remember the upcoming arts and Crafts hooha at the Greenwood/Elk Community Center this weekend, 9 until 5 both days. Food, music and an opportunity to buy local hand-crafted gifts for those special presents to dear friends. Is that it? Oh Yeah. After weeks of harping at Wayne, the cook at the Roadhouse Cafe, he finally added Eggs Mornay to the menu. They went like hotcakes, just like I knew they would. Also I stopped in for dinner the other night. Karen Mathis was doing the Mexican dinners. Very tasty and hardly anybody there. You all are missing a treat. Now. Is that it? No wait. Put this away in your memory bank. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. I heard that on our local radio, or, how 'bout me sharing a poem with you I wrote while I was living in L.A. I think that I shall never see a tree. Okay. now you can wad this up and start your fire. December 14th. There will be a Christmas and Chanukah Party at the Greenwood/Elk Community Center on solstice, December 21st, 6:00 PM. This is a pot luck event so fry up some goodies and bring them on down and share them with your neighbors. Who knows, Santa may appear. Also, remember to bring a flashlight because the plan is to head on out, after dinner, and go caroling through the town. Should be fun. I stopped by our Post Office the other evening to pick up my mail, just as the local ladies of the Greenwood Civic Club were putting the finishing touches on a Christmas Tree in the alcove entrance to the former lumber mill office. Nice job. Of course, I was soon joined by Dave Brotherton, and we had to do some nit picking; "That ornament on the bottom looks out of balance." "Aren't there too many over there in the middle?" We had the ladies shifting stuff around until they got wise to our ways. Overall, it looks wonderful. They told me to be sure and mention Dave and Audry Skilton, who donated the tree. Prue had her shotgun oiled for round the clock guard duty. A bit of local news drifted my way last week and I repeat it here, probably only slightly embellished. Seems a Silicon Valley 'Yup' was hustling up Highway One, on his way to $pendocino the other evening. A deer jumped out and he hit it head on, destroying the plastic front of his designer car. Unable to drive on, he stood alongside the road, in the dark, wondering what to do. Soon a local rattled up in his battered old pickup, stopped, jumped out, came running over, grabbed the deer, threw it in the back of his pickup and prepared to drive on. The Yup hailed him and finally talked him into giving him a ride into town. Our local hero cleared the empties, chainsaw oil container and ax from the seat beside him to make room. Ah. Another coastal experience for a visitor, up close and personal. Last week there were some protest posters up around town about a proposed development up the North end of Cameron Road. It seems the question is; if several existing parcels of land are bought by a developer, can they be combined and resplit into new parcels that give a net effect of more buildable lots then the original configuration allowed, thereby increasing the density. A group of locals went to the planning commission and presented their concern. Not only about the density but also about the increased traffic on a particularly hazardous portion of Cameron Road, and also the ongoing question about availability of water. The developers endeared themselves to their neighbors right off by sinking a deeper well right between two existing wells. The building plan is now delayed for further consideration. Stay tuned. As long as we are keeping an eye on things, the next event will be development on the headlands behind the Albion Shell Station. Oh boy. Finally, some affordable housing for the locals. Ha! Ha! Any of you out there remember Steve Roberts and his computer covered recumbent bicycle that passed through along the coast a couple of years ago? I discovered that he is still at it. He is now putting out a news letter called Nomadness, which contains information about him, the road, his equipment and the new road machine he is building. For a free brochure, you can reach him at Nomadic Research Labs. Box 2390, Santa Cruz, Ca. 95063 Outahere. |