Greenwood/Elk columns

July 15 ~ September 30, 1993

July 15th.

For some reason I enjoyed seeing the heading in my column from last weeks Beacon; "Ron Bloomquist is on vacation, location unknown". The "location unknown" part especially. I had told my editor I would be on vacation and would fax in my column but, when fax time came I was sitting on my brothers boat, which was sitting on the mud of Elger Bay on the west side of Camano Island, Washington State. It was a minus two tide and it would be several hours before the returning tide would allow us to lower the out drives and motor on out of the bay, up through Hole in the Wall, around Anacortes, down through Deception Pass and back to the Everett marina. In other words, I was having too much fun. The sun was finally out, a cold beer was in hand, bald eagles were cruising past. I could have gotten out my laptop and tried to come up with something to write about but, why miss out on what was happening right in front of me?

Lolli and I had made a fast run to Seattle, spanning the fourth of July weekend, to see my mom, her mom and our various relatives. We left at eleven in the morning, July first and arrived at Lolli's sisters house at four in the morning July second. Mostly a nonstop drive to Seattle via, Crescent City, Grants Pass, and Portland. Seventeen hours. We stopped at Wolf Creek for dinner just north of Grants Pass.

If you ever happen to be zooming up I-5 and want to stop at an interesting place where there is good food and, if desired, overnight accommodations, check out the Wolf Creek Tavern, in Wolf Creek Oregon. It was a former stage coach stop for travelers between Portland and Sacramento. It first opened in the 1870's and has been operating almost non-stop every since.

After dinner, listening to late night talk radio through Oregon was rather scary. Folks enraged about timber issues and homosexuals. Either that or religion. We kept to ourselves when stopping for gas. I wanted to daub some mud on our California license plates for fear of being identified as part of the great unwashed hoard to the south.

Two in the morning found us in Washington with gentle rain coming down, just as it should be. We finally arrived at the turnoff ramp in Seattle, zipped past the "Happy Go Latte" expresso place and coasted into Lolli's sisters driveway, careful not to wake up the neighbor hood dogs. We unlocked the door and fell into the hide-a-bed in the living room.

We visited my mom at the therapy center where she is recovering from her second broken hip. She is not doing very well and was quite out of it due to pain pills. Next day was the gathering of the clans for a big hoo-ha at Lolli's mom's cabin at Elger Bay on Camano Island. My brother, sister in law and I drove up in my brothers boat, the rest of the crowd went via car over land. We spent the third and fourth of July at the cabin and ate fresh caught clams and crabs.

The first mooring buoy we tied up to proved quite interesting. We were all ashore, enjoying dinner when we noticed the boat was no longer where we had left it! My brother and I hopped in the dingy and caught up with the boat which was down the beach about a half block or so. We untied from that buoy and motored back up to try the second buoy. That one held. Next morning, when the tide was out and the boat sat on the mud, we walked down the beach to inspect the anchor on the first buoy. It turned out to be a five gallon plastic bucket half full of cement. Not enough to hold a twenty six foot cabin cruiser. The second buoy was attached to a large block of concrete and more than adequate for the job.

The next day we went back to Seattle to visit various friends, shop, see my mother again and then head back to Mendocino and Elk. We spent two days on our return trip and stayed the night at Wolf Creek Tavern. We had lunch at "The Tired Chicken" at the north end of Crescent City.

Drive through expresso places are a big thing in Washington and now, more and more in Oregon. We did see one in California at the north end of Arcata called "The Udder Place". The building is done up in Holstein black and white motif and instantly caught our eye.

So there you have it. When traveling north check out Wolf Creek Tavern, The Tired Chicken, The Udder Place, Happy Go Latte, and make sure you check what your buoy is attached to. It will make your trip much more pleasant.

Next week. What about Greenwood/Elk?

July 22nd.

Went to Mendocino last Thursday to see "The Bobs", under the music festival tent. In looking around it seemed like old home week, there were folks from Greenwood/Elk sitting all around us. A good turnout and a great show.

We now have the new filter unit for the Elk water district. As soon as the new pumps arrive, we will install it, which is easy to say but is quite a bit more complicated that. The filter unit is bigger in diameter than the door to the treatment room, plus it weighs around eleven hundred pounds. Also we want to put the new filter where the old filter is now standing and move the old filter to a different location. It will be something like moving a grand piano and an upright piano past each other in a small closet, but once everything is in place and hooked up we should be able to keep up better during high usage times, times like we are having now for instance.

Folks have really been roaring through the water recently. On the Fourth of July over 71,000 gallons was used. That is just the twenty four hour period of the Fourth, not the whole weekend. For comparison, during the past winter months, we average around 18,000 gallons during a twenty four period. Last week we used over 50,000 gallons two days in a row with over forty thousand per day being the average the rest of the week. Our main holding tank is 84,000 gallons so you can see we have really had to pump water. I know the inns are full, we have a lot of visitors, and the gardens need watering, but it would be helpful if folks would think a bit about their water use during this time and try to cut back. We want to have the holding tanks full when we install the new filter and pumps because we will only be able to use what is on hand during the filter and pump installation.

My friend Ed McKinley informed me that his wife, mother-in-law and daughter will all skydive together on Wednesday, July 28th, at SkyDance, in Davis, California. Ed thinks that this might be the first time that three generations of women have ever jumped together. There should be an upcoming article and photo in the Beacon after the jump. Lolli and I have gone over to SkyDance several times to watch Ed do his thing. We were there when he made his very first jump, which he claimed he did "just so he could say he had done it". Now he has jumped over two hundred times and teaches parachute packing and a course on static line jumping, during weekends.

For the rest of us I would like to point out that Dean Turner is leading a walking group every Wednesday morning at 7:00 A.M., here in Greenwood/Elk. They start out from the Harbor House after a cup of coffee.

It looks like the outside of our new Post Office is pretty well wrapped up except for the final coat of paint. I haven't looked inside recently but I know they have been putting up sheet rock.

The carpenters for the State Parks, the guys that redid the interior of the tourist center, recently replaced the front doors of the building with a beautiful set of new doors they made that exactly match the old original doors. Check 'em out.

Ted Galletti got his hay bailed this year in timely fashion. Last year it took months before the fog and drizzle lifted enough so he could bail it. This year; it rained when it should rain and was dry when it should be dry.

Reading about the floods back east brings this to mind.

My grandparents had a farm on the Des Moines river in Iowa. It was down a dirt road and set back from the river about a quarter mile, up a steep driveway into the surrounding wooded hills. My brother and I stayed with them one summer and I remember we were playing in the stream that ran behind the house and through a culvert, under the road. We were building a dam and very busy trying to close any breaches and build it higher. We suddenly noticed that the water was higher on the downstream side. The river was rising.

That night there was a fierce rain and lightening storm. Next morning we woke to see the alfalfa field, between the road and river was under water. By noon the road itself was under water and around three o'clock we watched the top of the mailbox disappear. I had a pop bottle full of sand that I would set at the edge of the water in the driveway. About every fifteen minutes it would be under water and I would move it up the driveway further and watch it slowley go under again. A neighbor came by in a row boat to see if everything was okay. My grandparents rolled up the rugs and set everything they could up on tables, the basement was filling with water. In the evening my uncle arrived. He had hiked in from the road up in the hills. He convinced us to leave and we followed him out, through the woods, with flashlights. We spent the rest of our vacation at his house in town.

Grandpa lost his dragline, which he used for his part time gravel business, and the basement was a mess, but that was about it. The main thing that impressed me was the relentlessness of the rising water and seeing the little ol' Des Moines river silently rolling along covering the width of the whole river valley. There wasn't a thing you could do.

July 29th.

The first county wide craft show will be happening over in Ukiah starting next month and running through to the end of the year. It is called "Show of Hands". It will be at the Grace Hudson Museum, 431 South Main street. Our own Vince Carleton, local rug weaver, will be one of the guest speakers during the opening. Catering will be by Anderson Creek Food Company and the wine provided by Fetzer. The opening will be from 5:00 until 8:00, August 4th. Kathy Mac Donald and Lolli Jacobsen among many others have items in the show. The opening will be very informative and the show definitely something to check out when in the Ukiah area.

Holy Smoke! I breeze into town to get my mail and discover the new post office, across the street, has been painted. The color is, well the color is, ah, clean, the color is um, fresh, the color is, well I guess I will get use to it. My uninformed sources tell me that Erna, the Mistress of the Post said, "Well it doesn't quite look like the color chip I picked out".

A couple of guys were working inside the visitors center and I poked my head in the door to see what was going on. I discovered they were putting up wall board the length and height of the north wall in preparation for the artist who will come and paint a mural. Big mural. It is estimated it will take six weeks to do the job. He/She will start on it this fall.

Steve Heckeroth now has three electric conversion vehicles up and running. One is a Pontiac sports car, one is a Volkswagon Vanagon, and the third one is a Carmen Ghia. I have driven them and it is quite a different experience. The most unusual part being that there is no motor running when you are sitting still. When you turn on the ignition switch you hear a relay close but that's all. Not a sound until you press on the accelerator and then the only noise is from the tires on the road and wind noise at higher speeds. Other than that, you're driving a car. The Pontiac has power brakes and therefore has an electric vacuum pump which comes on when you use the brakes but I can only hear it operate at speeds below ten miles per hour and soon got use to it. If the radio was on I wouldn't even hear that. Give Steve a call and make an appointment to check them out. He also has an electric rototiller.

Being around these conversions inspired me to do a conversion too. Actually, what started me off was my last "Spring Break Breakdown' over in Yuba City. After Ed McKinley and I replaced the main oil seal, we took the rented floor jack back to the rental place and I ended up talking to a guy who had a 71 bus with a Buick V6 in it. I got his phone number and about a month later drove over to take a look at it and go for a drive. I was impressed. He gave me the address of the folks who make adapter plates and flywheels for the conversion and after mulling it over for several months I took the plunge, but not quite as far. I settled on using a Toyota Four cylinder engine. (Kennedy Engineering makes adapter plates for all kinds of engines.) I decided I didn't want to go fast, I just want dependability. I'm getting tired of spending vacations under my VW bus. So, anyway, in a few more weeks I should have a new world order vehicle; German body, Japanese engine, and Swedish driver.

I was talking to a woman who recently moved out from Omaha, Nebraska. I grew up in a town thirty miles west of there. We were talking about the difference between Nebraska and California and what we miss, if anything. She reminded me about the definite seasonal changes and how much she enjoyed them. She liked the first real day of summer, I always enjoyed the first hint of fall, smoke from leaf piles, V's of geese over head. We lamented the slow seasonal changes here, no highs, no lows, just sort of flat. She also liked the immense view back there, the huge sky. That did cause me to realize that around here the view is mostly west. Still in all, it ain't bad.

August 5th.

No column.

August 19th.

A guy by the name of Mike Wasso, from the East Bay area was out with his crew to blacktop the parking lot of the new Greenwood/Elk Post office. They did such a nice job and since the price was right, by the time they left they had black topped Dick Mitchell's drive way, Ed McKenzie's driveway and inside his garage, the parking area behind the Elk garage, Donny Daniel's driveway, some of the parking at Kendrick's Greenwood Pier and maybe some at Ted Galletti's,(I haven't looked yet but I saw them head his way behind Ted' truck). Seems like the whole town got the treatment. I must say it all looks good. The town has been busy. The next event we can start looking forward to is Steve Acker, building his new home just north of the Elk Garage. Should start next month.

There was a unusual turnout for the Elk County Water Board meeting last week. I have been a member of the board for several years now and usually nobody shows up but the five members, the secretary, Rosie Acker and the water manager, Charlie Acker. This time it felt strange to be confronted by approximately fifteen local citizens. What tore the local folks away from their VCR's was the question of the evening concerning whether the Elk County Water District should also become the Elk County Sewer District.

A letter had been sent out the previous week, by Board President Del Wilcox, addressing the question and inviting folks to the meeting. Most of those that showed up were definitely against such an idea. There was about an hour and a half of people giving us their piece of mind and finally, a vote of the audience which showed eleven were against the idea and four in favor. The vote of the water board followed with two members, Del Wilcox, and Kendrick Petty, abstaining due to a perceived conflict of interest, leaving three remaining members to vote, Gerry Huckaby, Steve Acker and myself. We all voted no.

To back up a bit:

The idea was brought forward by four home owners in down town Elk that have a sewage problem and wanted the water board to be the lead agency so they could approach State Parks with a leach field proposal. (State Parks will not deal with private entities.) I felt that the water board, which services eighty hook-ups, should offer sewer to eighty hook ups. In other words, if we became a sewer district we should become a sewer district for the town, not just four residences. And, of course, at this point in time there is no way we can afford something like that but, who knows what the future will bring.

Right now, yes, there is a problem. Some folks need help but a lot of others don't. There are low flow toilets, composting toilets, various other ways to go and the problem has not reached critical mass for the town at large, yet.

Isabel Petty gave me a note for my column concerning the above mentioned situation and it is food for thought on a situation I am sure will be with us as the years go bye.

Isabel writes;

"I do not know to whom I should address my letter; my first instinct was to use "to the Elk Community". Then I thought about the word "community", and remembered 1983 when our house burned to the ground. I truly felt what the support of the "community" means. The "Breakfast First" event was "community" During the illness and death of Charlie Steinbuck, I felt" community". And the meeting this year at the Methodist Church was a splendid show of "community". Each and every "Great Day in Elk" defines "community" to me. The word implies common interest and support.

I was not the Wednesday night Water Board meeting but heard what came down. Several of our neighbors appealed to the board to help them in using the State Park land for waste water disposal; many objected because of fear and self-interest. If it isn't helping them directly, "why should we help others?" The "what if's (negative possibilities) ran amuck; fear of being sued, the liability problems, blah, blah, blah.

It's a good thing our forefathers didn't think in these lines or we wouldn't have a water system. Frankel's Health Center, a low-cost health service that operated successfully for about twelve years could not have been executed without the help of the community. It is a great loss to our community that fear and self-interest prevents us from taking a risk to help many of our neighbors.

Sincerely yours, Isabel

The Elk Store should have new owners by the time you read this but the existing staff will stay on through the end of the month to help out with the transition.

Former Elk Resident Ruth Dobberpuhl is with the Peace Corps in Africa. She is learning Arabic, and getting ready for her main teaching position which will be "job skills development" She left the 21st of June and will be gone around twenty eight months. According to her husband, Robert Van Peer, she would greatly appreciate a letter from her old friends. You can write Ruth C/O Corps de la Paix. B.P. 96 1002 Tunis-Belvedere, Tunisia, North Africa.

ROADCOW is up and running. A test run to Ukiah for the "Show of Hands" opening at the Grace Hudson Musuem, (great show, check it out) and a return the following day via Willits to Fort Bragg over the Sherwood Road proved successful. I am happy, Lolli is happy and the dog is happy. Life has now resumed. If you read last weeks column, you know what I mean.

August 26th.

Great Day in Elk is rapidly approaching. Hard to believe that summer is coming to a close already. Although the weather will continue to be great, the start of school always signifies, to me, the end of summer.

This year the Cal Davis Maverick Marching Band will be back again to lead off the Great Day parade at high noon. There will be the usual children's games, Arts and Crafts exhibits and sales, lunch menu and a new addition. The Crouching Beaver bread baking oven will be in operation all afternoon. The ever popular apple cider press will be going. The evening will feature chicken or fish for dinner and Gene Parson and Meridian Green and band providing music for the dance. Lorraine Toth will be making her famous ice cream Sundays.

The Great Day always happens the Saturday after Labor Day. It is a wonderful local family event. See you there.

I am told there has been some petty theft happening up on Greenwood/Philo road. It is always a shame when we have to start locking things up.

The signage is up on the highway side of the new post office. Overall the place looks good. Due to a lot of discussion before construction the end result fits into our town quite nicely. It could have been worse. I just hope they don't go crazy with night lighting. With Norm DeVall next door, fat chance.

Becky Matson has left for collage down in Santa Cruze. Kristy Matson has headed back to college in Chico. Liza Matson is left washing dished at the Roadhouse Cafe.

Tony Galletti is heading for Saint Marys and I am probably heading back to the gas pumps. My summer sabbatical, fast drawing to a close as the younger set leave for higher education.

A lot of work has been happening in the house behind the Elk Store in preparation for the new owners. I don't know if they are planning to live in town or not but I will interview them in a week or so and find out. I understand they are planing to ask the locals about what we want in the store. Stop by and see them, I hear they are nice folks.

Bill and Lydia Edison are now in Africa in case you wondered. They won't be back until after Great Day. Ed Bird is handling the bar during Great Day and will probably do a better job than usual, since Bill isn't around to confuse the issue.

Don't forget there is live music the last Sunday of every month from 3 til 5 at Bridget Dolans Irish Pub.

The Nighttime Cafe at the Roadhouse has a new cook, Joss Hale, and he is offering some new items on the menu. Check it out.

September 2nd.

A few folks in town have been grumping that I haven't been writing about Greenwood/Elk enough. They are sick and tired of reading about me and my ROADCOW, Lolli and the dog. Well, they are probably right, so here goes:

Lolli, the dog and I left in ROADCOW the evening of August 20th; Lolli had a conference she wanted to attend in Silverthorne Colorado, and I wanted to see if my new Toyota powered Volkswagen bus conversion was going to work out okay.

We stopped at our favorite pull off, over in Williams, a short way up the road towards Leesburg. The reason we left Friday night instead of Saturday morning is because, well, because I just can't wait to get started. I always sleep better knowing that we are finally on the road, plus I enjoy that warm central valley evening air.

The next evening found us at Spencer Hot Springs in the middle of Nevada. I had run across these springs several years ago. This time, after a wrong turn, we finally found them. A wrong turn in Elk doesn't mean much but in the middle of Nevada it can sometimes take hours to discover the mistake. The springs are in Basin and Range country and the ranges are about twenty five miles apart. No trees, just sagebrush in the basins and miles of washboard road where a vehicle can be spotted miles off by the plume of dust trailing behind.

When we finally arrived at the springs, and after taking a soak, we went for a hike and discovered two more hot springs. In the evening, while soaking again, we watched Martins (Nightingales?) fly by and, while still on the wing, take a sip of water, right in front of us. Off in the distance, burros and coyotes made evening music.

The next major event, late the following day, was driving the Hells Backbone road between Escalante and Boulder, Utah. It was the type of road that you feel glad you did it because now won't have to do it again. The town of Boulder was one of the last places in the USA to get a road because the terrain is so difficult, and spectacular. From Boulder we took the Burr trail down to Bullfrog in the Colorado River canyon. Beautiful red rock canyons and cotton wood streams. We swam in Lake Powell, then headed for Muley Point.

Muley Point looks down on the Goosenecks of the San Juan River and out over Monument Valley and Valley of the Gods. While camped on the very edge, we noticed a dirt road far below that followed along the base of Muley Point. The next morning we drove down to the valley floor and found that dirt road and went on an adventure. After twenty miles of winding along the base of Muley Point and the edge of the San Juan River; Muley Ridge, one thousand feet above us and the San Juan river, a thousand feet below, the road headed up a side canyon. After miles of winding around, up and over slick rock and sand we came to a stream with waterfall, deep pool and cottonwood trees. An oasis in a remote canyon, absolutely beautiful and one of the highlights of the whole trip.

Too soon, it was time to head for Colorado and Lolli's conference. North through Bluff, Blanding and Moab, then East for the high country. Berthoud Pass in Colorado was 11,307 feet high! In Grandby, Colorado the bearings in the alternator gave up the ghost, but the local wrecking yard had a used one for forty five dollars.

While Lolli was at the conference I drove up to a distant ridge and watched hang gliders assemble their craft and launch out for flights over the valley below.

The next day it was time to head for home. Two days and 1370 miles later we pulled up to Lolli's cabin with a repeat stop at Spencer Hot Springs.

ROADCOW did excellent. With the exception of the alternator we finally had, "trouble free motoring". As a bonus, we averaged 22 miles to the gallon and on one occasion traveled 714 miles between fill-ups (I have dual tanks).

If you ever happen to be traveling Highway 50, the loneliest highway in America, check out Mom's Cafe in Salina, Utah. One of the best.

So. What about Greenwood/Elk?

Well, come to the Great Day in Elk and find out.

September 9th.

Allison Marina Ross was born to John and Toby Ross recently. Allison is the first Ross to be born in Greenwood/Elk in the last thirty years.

From Anne Daniels, Docent of the Greenwood Visitors Center;

"Michael Cole is painting the mural, inside the State Parks new visitor's center, here in Greenwood/Elk, of the wharf where ships used to load lumber, ties, and other products of the Village of Greenwood in the days of yore.

Potatoes, the Cuffey's Cove Red, as well as butter made in the local creamery were shipped to San Francisco. The schooners brought in supplies for the stores and businesses as well as taking passengers.

Michael says he is on schedule and will probably be finished about the first week in October."

I stopped by and met Michael and took a look at his mural. It is very impressive and a wonderful addition to the building. If the door is open, take the opportunity to meet the artist and check it out.

Things are coming together nicely for the 19th version of GREAT DAY IN ELK, September 11th.

The Greenwood Gourmet Grill menu for Great Day in Elk is out featuring CHICKEN MADONNA - grilled chicken breast with cilantro, lime and more. TUERCOS DE PUERCO - pork steak seasoned in spicy salsa containing "most everything in Mexico" and then grilled. $8.00 Children's plate featuring grilled chicken drumsticks. $4.00 All served with black beans, Spanish rice, cornbread and poppyseed cake.

Big Al, the head chef, reminds us that dinner will sell out early so buy your tickets in advance at the Elk Store or early on during the GREAT DAY.

Dinner starts at 5:30. The whole shebang starts at high noon as usual with a parade through town and onto the Community Center grounds. The Maverick Marching Band, Elk Navy, Philo Yacht Club, Volunteer Fire Department, kids on bikes, floats and always a surprise or two. Afternoon festival, games, arts and crafts, Focaccia bread from the adobe oven, apple juice from the cider press, hot dogs, ice cream Sundays, greased pole.

After dinner the dance begins at 9:00 with Gene Parsons and Meridian Green. "American World Music; country, rock and roll, bluegrass, flavored with African and Zydeco influence.

If you can't have a good time September 11 in Greenwood/Elk well...

Kay Curtis and Steve Acker will be getting married November 13th at the Greenwood Community Church with reception after at the Community Center. Big event.

There is an open position on the Elk Water Board. Appointment will be October 6th. Anyone interested please attend that meeting or apply before to P.O. Box 54. You must be a registered voter and residing within the water district.

Our old friends L.P. are back with an emergency exemption to remove wind blown, downed, damaged, and diseased trees in the Greenwood Creek watershed. The initial paperwork and talks with a local citizen group addressed an area consisting of around one hundred acres. The day before L.P. went in through Greenwood Commons gate, site of "Breakfast First" three years ago, the paperwork had changed to cover thirteen hundred and eighty acres! The "emergency exemptions" did not require a THP or any review. The local water board, Watershed Association, and the town folks aware of the situation, were alarmed. The day L.P. went in, through Greenwood Commons, it was soon discovered that there had been a hydraulic hose failure and hydraulic fluid was spilled above the creek. Also a bulldozer had been driven through the creek at the site of the former temporary bridge.

Phone calls were made and a local citizen took it upon herself to lock the gate and demand that the cleanup of the hydraulic fluid be "according to hazardous material removal procedures". L.P. called the Sheriff and soon two officers arrived on the scene to remove the "protestor". When informed she was waiting for the hazardous materials expert from Ukiah to arrive, the sheriff decided the situation was peaceful and left. Soon after that the "haz-mat" man arrived and the cleanup was accomplished by L.P. according to approved procedure.

The same afternoon, a meeting was held in town with representatives of L.P., CDF, Greenwood Watershed Association, members of the Elk Water Board, and local concerned citizens to iron out just what was going to be going on in our watershed. Four hours later a tentative agreement was reached. During Labor Day weekend the agreement was fine tuned.

As it now stands, a helicopter will be removing downed trees from one area just up the Greenwood/Philo road on the south side of the creek.. This will start on or about the 17th of September. Operations should last about ten days, Monday through Friday, only. Another area, about one mile up the creek, will also have helicopter operations. The rest of the timber recovery will be accomplished by one caterpillar with a crew of two. Operations will cease in November. A review team from town, accompanied by a timber expert of the Watershed Association and L.P. choosing will be escorted to the timber site by the L.P. forester once a week, every week, during the operations.

The negotiations between L.P., the local watershed group, Elk water district, local citizens, and the resulting interest and concern for our town's water source could be a breakthrough in attitudes towards our "good neighbor" L.P. Time will tell.

September 16th.

Great Day in Elk is over and a pleasant time was had by all. The day started out with threatening clouds, looked like it might rain, but as the day proceeded, the weather finally gave way to sunshine for most of the afternoon. ROADCOW, my dog and I was busy with traffic control during the parade and only got glimpses of the parade as we performed the job of "PILOT COW'' always going the opposite direction, with a group of tourists following who were in a hurry to get on to Mendocino or Sea Ranch. Little did they know what a great time was to be had right at hand. As I lead my 'herd" I would pass the Maverick Marching band and get to hear a bit of their marvelous music. Various groups on fire trucks would throw candy in my window and when I passed the Greenwood Civic Club float with the ladies dressed up in their bawdy clothing, representing one aspect of the good old days in Greenwood/Elk, well, I happened to get a glimpse of Isabel and almost fell out of my vehicle. The view of her was "uplifting" to say the least!

Soon the parade was over and it was time to visit the Community Center grounds and see what was happening. The short people were wearing the Crisco off the bottom of the greased pole. The Crouching beaver was in full production of bread and soup and doing a land office business. The bar had a line up and the harried bartenders were finally realizing what an asset having Bill Edison around actually had been in the past. (But don't tell Bill.)

Most of the arts and crafts people seemed content. The cake auction was the usual success but not without a major effort by Roff Barnett. The dinner, though as good as ever didn't sell out. The late afternoon clouded up, the wind picked up, an folks started drifting off. The dance band, for the evening, brought them back and an enjoyable night was had by all.

At various times throughout the day the Maverick Marching Band would show up and put on a rousing performance. Each the group seems to get bigger and enjoy themselves more. Most of them have graduated from UC Davis and each year they come back to Greenwood/Elk, from all over the US. to have a reunion and enjoy our little village. This year the Tuba section even had tuba covers over the bells of their instruments that were a hand painted image of the view out over Greenwood beach. I think they love us and I know we love them.

One incident that illustrated to me what kind of party this town puts on was when a local woman came up to me in the midst of the afternoon and said that some one had taken her purse from her car. She was distraught to think that such a thing could happen in our town. She described the purse to me and asked that I keep a look out for it. Even if the contents were taken, she hoped to get the purse back.

The next morning she called to tell me that someone had seen it, evidently, lying on the seat of her car, wrapped it in a cloth and put it behind her seat, out of view. Everything was intact. To me, this is a perfect example of what kind of town this is. A Great Day, A Great Town and A Great bunch of people.

The next morning, as usual, folks showed up and helped clean up and put everything away. By one in the afternoon the Community Center looked spotless.

Many folks helped to put this event on and make it a success but this year many would say that extra huzzahs go out to Rosie Acker and Al Weaver. They were tireless and on top of the situation at all times. Well done to them and well done to the citizens of Greenwood/Elk, the Maverick Marching Band and the surrounding environs. Next year, our Twentieth!

The new owners of the Elk Market are doing a remarkable job of restocking and repairing the store. Check it out.

Well, autumn is in the air and it is time to get to work on the woodpile.

September 24th.

It is going to be harder to tell when winter starts around here because we recently lost one of the indicators. Cruiser, Prue and Del Wilcox's poodle, had to be finally put to rest. Fifteen years of faithful devotion, walks to the Elk Market and, when Cruiser started wearing his red sweater, well, we knew cold weather was on the way. Sort or the local version of autumn color. We miss him.

L.P gave it up, pulled out the temporary bridge and water-barred the road. The 1,380 acre exemption above our town well has been put to bed. Talks about this project, which started last July and went from 108 acres to 1380, from yarding in the "emergency zone" to helicopter, from no review to weekly review by local citizens still didn't work out. A final memorandum of understanding between L.P and the Greenwood Watershed Association and Elk Water District would not be signed by L.P.

"They don't sign agreements with citizens."

The final sticking points was the cutting of standing trees in Water Protection Zones, L.P.'s resistance to our hiring our own professional forester to help us with the weekly review, and the lack of any "teeth" for the review team if we didn't like what was going on. The feeling was it was basically going to be talk talk talk while the operation went forward.

Tuesday September 14th an emergency meeting of the Elk County Water board was called. After reviewing the situation the water board voted unanimously to have the Greenwood Watershed Association lawyer, Susan Brandt-Hawley go ahead and file for a temporary restraining order. This was done on Friday, September 16th, and Judge Luther, in Ukiah, granted it.

Before the water board meeting, one person in town expressed to me their concern about the town water board being involved in a lawsuit against L.P. and wondered if the town is liable? Like a Slap suit or something. I brought this up at the meeting (I am on the board), and after discussion, the consensus was that the water board is more liable for not trying to protect the water which our town relies on. It was pointed out that even more strict water quality laws are on the horizon and whatever we can do to help keep the water clean will help us meet those new requirements.

As an aside, I wonder how it is that any inn owner or business person, not to mention the various coastal home owners, have to go through years of paperwork to make an addition or modification to their property, even to paint it yellow, but a large timber corporation with thousands of acres can go into our water shed, call it an exemption, and take ten percent of the timber and do it even before the California Department of Forestry has been informed; do it with out the oversight of CDF, Fish and Game, Water Quality and even reject our trying to hire our own professional forester!

"It's our property, we do what we want."

Why do they get cart blanch but everyone else must toe the line? It's not that we are asking for so much. Actually, we are asking for so little.

Well, anyway. The timber removal is over in Greenwood Creek for this year. The trees will have one more year to grow a little bigger and be worth a bit more. Hopefully someday a balance can be reached between the harvesting of redwoods and the needs of water systems. The trees would be worth their true cost, water systems would again be award winning, even the fishermen would benefit.

September, 30th.

As I write this, I'm camped beside some stream, over in Nevada County, about eleven miles off of highway 20. It's late Saturday afternoon. Hunters are prowling all around me. It seems like recently I manage to hit the opening day of deer season wherever I go.

Last month, in Southern Utah, it was the opening day of bow season. Scads of hunters all cameoed up, some even with black and green strips on their face, riding around in the back of Toyota pick-ups, compound bows with the arrows bristling, looking for Bambi, or, I hope, Bambi's dad.

Here in Nevada County the dress code seems to be more casual, T-shirts, Levi's, baseball cap, beer cooler and some big rifle/telescope arrangement. One guy I saw had a 45 on his hip. I guess it was either to put the deer out of it's misery or himself if he missed.

The ride of choice in Nevada county seems to be diesel pick ups. Big ones, Ford or Dodge. A couple of guys in the back hang onto the roll bar and eat dust while the diesel hammers away. Fortunately you can hear them coming a mile away.

Back home it Greenwood/Elk, it isn't such a big deal. I have a friend who, while making breakfast, just slips open the kitchen window and drops a two point on the other side of his strawberry patch, but, that's the difference between sport and food, I guess.

I'm not really cynical about the whole thing actually. I use to shoot all kinds of stuff. I had a Mossburg 22 and would buy shells, 500 to the box. There was this Lilac bush back in Nebraska, out by the barn, where I would shoot sparrows by the bucket full. After a while the idea was to see if I could hit them in the head, rather than just hit them. Musk rats was another favorite. They were hard to hit. For one thing, they wouldn't come out onto the pond until after you were quiet for a while. Then, when they did start swimming across the pond, all there was to hit was the top of their back or the top of their head. A real difficult shot. I usually got tired of waiting and ended up trying to hit dragonflies on the opposite bank. Tin cans and bottles at long range were fairly easy and street lights a snap.

I finally gave it up one winter afternoon when I hit a cotton tailed rabbit and must have severed it's spine. It tried to crawl off to it's burrow with just it's front paws. I went up close to finish it off and it turned and looked at me. That was when I first realized it was more than just a difficult target. It also had a life. Kind of soured me on the whole thing.

I still like target shooting but my dog hates the noise. My Mossburg is getting rusty. When I get back to Greenwood/Elk, Vince Carleton informs me there will be a father/son get together on Saturday for "Meat and Skeet". BYOS. (Bring Your Own Shotgun) I think I'll pass and have the Tofu Scramble at the Roadhouse Cafe instead.

A note from Al Fisher;

"The Elk Altar Society of the Blessed Sacrament Church of Elk announces its intention to restore the historical Cuffey's Cove /Catholic Cemetery which was established in the mid 1800's. The first phase will be to trim the overgrown Cypress trees and replace the ruined fence that borders Highway One. The second phase will be to replace the deteriorating arch and pillars and restoration of the individual grave sites.

Anyone who wishes to assist may send their donation payable to the Elk Altar Society, P.O. Box 35, Elk Ca 95432 and mark it for the cemetery restoration fund. Any questions can be directed to Mary Berry in Elk, 877-3433, Lee Friberg in Fort Bragg, 964-2253, or Al Fisher in Manchester, 882-1839. All donations are tax deductible."

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