Greenwood/Elk columns

November 10 ~ December 29, 1994

November 10.

Another missive from you know who:

Dear Ron,

I know you can hardly wait to hear about last Friday's teenage night. It was a LOUD success with some thirty participants from Elk and Mendocino playing ping-pong, Basketball, chess and "Thrash" dancing to thunderous music. Hot dogs, spaghetti and root beer floats were provided by Lydia Edison, Kay Curtis and Carol Powers as sustenance for this hungry crowd. They were ushered out of the Community Center at midnight and left in the pouring rain to frolic on the beach.

I wimped out early as usual with a splitting headache, but I was impressed with their politeness and respect for one another. In the words of Max Karish, "It worked out fairly well. Let's have more of the same." and Ben Corey-Moran, "It was fun. I'll bring my friends next time."

If there is to be a "next time" we need more adults to volunteer to chaperone these teenage soirees. If you love ear-splitting music and super-vibrant kids you may apply for the job by contacting Kay Curtis.

Bill Edison.

Thanks, Bill, for your continuing support of a full service Community Center.

Rain. How 'bout that folks! By November 5th here on the coast we had accumulated a bit over half an inch. That means that up in the hills behind Greenwood/Elk we probably got over an inch. It isn't much but it is at least a start.

At our last Elk County Water Board meeting five "irate"citizens showed up to grump a bit about our proposed increase in water rates. They wanted to know how we arrived at our numbers and what-not. By 10:30, two and a half hours later we had worn them down and they hurried off into the night sleepy but a bit wiser about that #$%^&* water board. Hey folks, we been working the numbers for months and didn't arrive at the results lightly.

The basic residential rate will go up ten percent for the first 5,000 gallons per month. Anything over that will cost $4.00 per thousand gallons, but not until all the residential meters are installed. The commercial business have a flat rate that will go up ten percent and their overage will be at $4.50 per thousand. All the commercial businesses now have meters.

The intent is to get the financial situation a wee bit towards the black and also help folks become more aware of their water usage. As it has been, in the words of one inn owner, when it was pointed out that their toilet was running all the time, "So what, I'm on a flat rate."

Do you know that a garden hose left running at 5 gallons per minute equals 7,200 gallons in a twentyfour hour period?

The last time Elk had a change in the water rates was 1987, but during the time between then and now a new filter system was installed, a new 84,000 gallon holding tank was built, water mains were replaced here and there, new pumps installed, the installation of meters continues and what not, it never ends. Also the Elk County Water District has come under State control instead of County oversight. State rules are more strict and require more testing and paperwork. On and on it goes.

The costs have climbed higher, the fees have remained the same and so the time has come to bite the bullet and adjust the rates.

So, people holler. That's fine. Come to the next water board meeting, voice your opinion, hear our response, look at the numbers and see what you think. If you think the board is getting rich off this somehow, well, I'm trying to get off the board and you are more than welcome to take my place and enjoy the riches.

A few more thoughts.

Elk water is costing us about $4.00 per thousand gallons The folks that are getting water delivered because their well went dry are paying around $65.00 per thousand gallons. Those little nine ounce bottles of water that folks carry around and suck on cost $9,900.00 per thousand gallons. It's amazing what folks get upset about.

November 17,

A man claiming to be God arrived in Elk Sunday, November 6th, driving a pearl white 1971 four-door Cadillac. I wasn't around at the time, unfortunately, but I heard all about it Monday. It seems that God ran out of gas just north of town and talked a passing motorist into give him a push off Highway One into the drive-way of a local resident. The resident wasn't home at the time so God helped himself to an empty gas can from beside the garage, walked into town to the Elk Garage, helped himself to five gallons of gas without paying, went back to his Caddy, put in the gas and drove back to the Elk Garage. Since the garage was busy at the time he decided to head on down south. At Elk Creek the tranny gave out going up "Dramamine Drive" and He coasted backwards into the guard rail. There, the cops finally caught up with Him and tussled with Him while he pleaded for more drugs. The cops hauled him off to the poky heaven in Ukiah and the Elk Garage towed the Caddy to the impound lot at the Elk Garage.

Well, I found all this sort of hard to believe so I took a look out back and sure enough, there sat the Caddy. On the dash board I noticed there was a note with the name "Adam" on it. Evidently God had recently heard from his Son but I guess Eve hasn't been in touch with him recently. I noticed God had left a pack of Marlboros on the seat. That did it. I believe. I believe the whole thing.

Cloud Mary wants to thank the Greenwood/Elk community for the love and support shown her during her illness, hospitalization and recovery.

At the Greenwood Community Center

The Mighty T-bones.

Sky fish.

Richard Fienbob and the C-Sharps.

9:00 p.m., 26th of November $6.00 at the door. Under 12 free.

Bring ID for bar.

November 24

The Elk Garage passed another milestone on Friday, November 18th. The American Automobile Association hosted a dinner, up in Fort Bragg, for the various AAA providers up and down the coast. Highlighting the dinner and speeches was the award given to the Elk Garage for its 70 years of providing AAA towing and repair.

Did you know the Elk garage is one of only a few AAA providers in California that has been a "continuous" member of that organization for seventy years or more and the "ONLY ONE", in Northern California, that has been operated by the same business owned by the same family; the Matson family. Started by Walt Matson, carried on by Mel through out his career, and continued by Bob on into the foreseeable future.

A very nice trophy hangs on the wall now, just inside the garage door It features a model of Bob's newest tow truck, carved out of wood. The hood opens and the suspension works, the boom extends, and so on. The details are incredible. Having been a model maker, once upon a time, I can really appreciate the work that has gone into it.

The footing has been poured for the Greenwood Community Church but it is still cribbed up waiting for the concrete blocks to be built up. It is a rather precarious position to be in at this point what with the various storms and possible high winds that have been sweeping through this area. Hopefully, it will soon be sitting down on a secure footing.

While the Community Church is up in the air services are being held at the Catholic Church every Sunday at 10:00.

There will be a Thanksgiving pot-luck at the Greenwood Community Church Thanksgiving Day at 4:00. Everyone is welcome; bring your favorite dish. Call Kay at 877-3564 if you are coming.

That was an interesting column in last week's Beacon "The Ronald Gump election of 1994." I don't know who Leslie Korshak is and I never saw Forest Gump but it still rang my bell.

This last round of elections were quite surprising and scary in some ways. These next two years should be very interesting.

Myself, I've never liked crowds and I hate to go with the flow. I always hope to be running the other way when the herd goes over the cliff.

Democracy was a wonderful idea, originally, and I guess it still sort of works. Every now and then there is a cycle when it goes out of whack; the machine politics of Daley's Chicago and Lyndon Johnson's Texas, come to mind. Things like that have been sort of squashed over time but what I see looming more and more is the lack of community. Folks don't get together for card games and barn dances, and sit on the porch and chat (I'm thinking 1950's). We now hole up in the evenings and on weekends and watch the evening news, which is provided to us by NBC, CBS, ABC which are sponsored by corporations. I think the constant dose of bad news every night has caused us to become fearful as a nation, and being scared, we vote for more conservative candidates (even though violent crimes have gone down in number over the last few years). The whole mood of the nation has been goaded into revenge and I don't think by accident. When the nation is fearful we want someone to 'fix it' and the politics of fear win big time.

I think the reason the scare tactics didn't work so well in the coastal region of the 5th district is because we have fewer TV's and are more social. Many folks around here don't know what is going on out there nationally and couldn't care less, they are not being bombarded all the time with the manufactured endless disaster of evening news. But they do know what is going on locally in the woods around them and they don't like it.

Scare politics didn't work here on the coast but, it did work nationally and we are all going to end up paying for it, coastal dweller or not.

It is going to be an interesting ride.

Happy Thanksgiving.

December 1st.

The plan was to take off for four days over the Thanksgiving Holiday. The usual group of suspects; Ed and Suzanne in their Vanagon "Sage Fox", Lolli, Sarah the dog and myself in ROADCOW.

Wednesday, the 23 of November, I finish work at the Elk Garage, do the turbidity checks, zoom home, finish packing up the bus, and head up to Lolli's to load up her stuff and have dinner. Next stop; Ed and Suzanne's in Fort Bragg.

We camp out overnight in Ed and Suzanne's back yard and in the morning, put the finishing touches to the "load up" and headed out of Fort Bragg and up over the hills to Willits. We have decided to go camping in the Mendocino National Forest. I want to show Ed and Suzanne some hot springs I like.

The weatherman hasn't been too promising and it sounds like a storm might hit the Mendocino area Thanksgiving day but, well...

Down Highway 101 and out Highway 20 to Clearlake and then off onto the dirt of the Bartlett Springs road. The drive up the steep grade is very beautiful with an overview of all of Clearlake in somber shades of gray; the bare orchards in neat rows below us.

The road is a bit muddy towards the top and we are surprised to find remnants of snow, here and there.

At Bartlett Springs we turn off and head north on the Bear Creek road. The road is rather sloppy and there are broken limbs and freshly fallen rocks to avoid as we rise and descend into valley after valley on our long march north. We finally get to the hot springs and walk over to take a look. The springs are warm but the day is so chilly that they aren't inviting. We walk back to the busses and decide to head back towards Bartlett Springs and see if we can find an interesting place to camp for the night.

A few miles south of the hot springs we find a little valley with a former camp-site off to the side. It is level and there is some fire wood left behind by previous campers. We pull in and jockey the busses into position, getting each bus level and about ten feet apart with the sliding doors facing each other. Between the busses we set up our tables, chairs and general all around social area. It starts to rain.

Fortunately, Ed has brought a twenty five foot square roll of clear plastic. He also brought a variety of plastic pipe and fittings. We commence erecting "the shelter". Ed has some idea of erecting an architecturally pleasing dome of some sort but with the increase of rain and the gusts of wind we finally just rush to prop the damn thing up and tie it off to door handles, front and rear bumpers, rocks and what have you. We now have shelter although Lolli won't come out of the down sleeping bag she is wrapped in, inside my bus.

Ed and I commenced fine tuning the "shelter" by propping up the plastic with PVC pipe, tying on more rope and stretching here and there. Rain is collecting in pools on the plastic and threatening to bring the whole thing down. Meanwhile, time to fire up the Barbee for the turkey breast and thigh.

The damp air, the damp briquettes, the damp apple wood chips and damp newspapers make it an interesting project. I have everyone stand back as I applied the secret technique I learned in Boy Scouts. White Gas! Pretty exciting but it works, besides, my hair always seems to grow back.

By seven o'clock we are ready to eat a most enjoyable dinner accompanied with flapping plastic, pounding rain and smoky fire. We then retire to warm sleeping bags and books.

Sometime during the night I can hear Ed out there wrestling with the plastic but it seems like a dream. In the morning he tells me about bent plastic pipes and huge reservoirs of water sagging in the plastic.

Ah, morning. Not good. Snow flakes are coming down and ice is forming. Ed and I huddle around the smoky fire and assess the situation. Suzanne wants to go home. Lolli doesn't care what we do as long as she can stay in bed and read her book. Even the dog seems uninspired. Ed and I walk over to the road and look at the small stream we forded yesterday. It looks like we might be able to get across if we hurry up. The water is rising.

We return to the busses and pack up. A surprising amount of snow has collected on the plastic shelter, the knots are freezing, my car battery is dead. We jumper my bus, cut loose the knots and pack up. Finally we are on the road again. As we drive up out of the valley we are soon driving in snow. Then deeper snow. Then Ed radios on the CB that he is stuck. I put on my snow chains and then back down to him. We hook up the tow strap and I pull him over the top. We unhook and slog on down to the Bartlett Springs road. The road is bare and wet. We head for Clearlake and soon start rising towards the pass and into the snow again. A half mile from the summit the snow is over four inches deep on the road. Ed is stuck again. I hook on with the tow strap but soon I can no longer pull him. We un-hook and Lolli and I drive on to the summit. I take off my chains and carry them back down to Ed. We put them on his bus; they don't fit very well but will have to do. With Suzanne and I pushing the bus, we slip and slide towards the summit. One tire chain breaks just as we arrive. The snow is a half a foot deep, more coming down. We decide we better not try to go down to Clearlake; it is a steep narrow road with sheer drop off to the sides. If we get to sliding we probably wouldn't be able to stop.

We turn around and retrace our route back to Bartlett Springs and a lower elevation. We then go east to Indian Valley and then on out the Wilbur Springs road, all below the snow level. We stop at Wilbur Springs and take a much needed soak to warm the body and relieve the tense muscles. Then out onto Highway 20 and home with a great dinner stop at Brentwood's Restaurant.

We decide we have packed four days worth of experience into two and have had enough.

The Thanksgiving Dinner at the Community Center was a success. About thirty folks showed up; the power went out so the evening was greatly enhanced by candle light.

Don't miss the Elk Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair. Saturday and Sunday, December 10th and 11th, 10:00 until 5:00. It benefits the Greenwood Community Church. Food, LOCALLY made Arts and Crafts, music, fun for the whole family.

December 8th,

Well done to the chaparones of last Friday's Teen Night at the Community Center. About a dozen kids showed up to have a good time while Jamie Roberts, Amanda Outten, Vince Carleton, Peter Talbert and Kevin Joe cooked pizzas (from scratch) in the Crouching Beaver and reminisced about the good old days.

Friday December 9th, at 7 PM (tomorrow evening). The Greenwood Civic Club will sponsor a "Winter Holiday Song Night" for the community to participate in. Songs sung by the children of the Greenwood School and participating adults. Treats from Santa for the kids (I know who Santa is. I know who Santa is!). Refreshments for all.

This will happen at the Greenwood Community Center.

Ah yes, the joyous holiday season is creeping up upon us. This past weekend I pumped gas into various local rusty station wagons, loaded down with boisterous kids, bald tires, shouting adults and steamed up windows who were slogging off over the hill to the shopping malls of Santa Rosa, and beyond, for endless frustrating hours of traffic jams, parking grid lock and the crush of humanity; trying to purchase those highly desirable items that have been touted on tee-vee since the end of July.

Closer to home, Leslie Lawson informs me that Santa will soon arrive on the porch of Bridget Dolan's to wave at the empty rain soaked streets of Greenwood/Elk as tourists rush by, ever onward towards the charming Village of Mendocino. By the way, the Gloriana Opera Carolers will be at Dolan's Saturday evening December 17th, from 7:30 until 8:00.

I see that the new owners of the Elk Cove Inn have already outlined their establishment with white Christmas lights.

And what about the town Christmas tree that was planted in front of the new post office a year ago? It died, you know. What are the plans? Will the Civic Club spray it green and proceed to drape it with finery? Inquiring minds want to know.

Ah yes. Silly season is here again.

But wait, I just remembered. I, who have finally matured into a fine old "alcoholic, sexist, curmudgeon" (I'm told), will soon be calmly packing up my VW bus and, with Lolli and the dog, sauntering on down south to the calming hot springs of Baja to await the return of sanity, which I expect should arrive, in Greenwood/Elk, sometime around the morning of January 2nd. Ho Ho Ho.

Saturday, December 3rd, about 1:30 in the afternoon, while I was working at the Elk Garage on my day off, waiting for the next gas customer, all of a sudden the lights flickered and went out, then they came back on, sort of. Again they flickered and then glowed dimly. Oh boy, a New York style brown out! I rushed around and unplugged the calculators and cash register, shut off the air compressor, turned off the light switches and the tire balancing machine and pondered the meaning of electricity in the slowly gathering gloom and chill.

The all day drizzle continued to fall as gas customers arrived, and left, on empty. The few hardware customers that showed up had to pay cash on the barrel head; the cash register machine would not release its booty. I also had to recall how to mathematically take .0725 times the purchase price to figure out the governor's cut; all with a ball point pen.

"Yes, I have gas but I can't pump it."

"Yes, I have change but I can't make it."

Folks were rushing into the Elk Store for batteries, flashlights, containers of kerosene. It's times like these we learn just how civilized we have become.

Bob Matson finally returns from the Boonville Basketball tourney and, decides to close early, cuts me loose and I head for home.

The PG&E guys are working at the sub-station just up the Greenwood/Philo road. I stop and ask them how much longer.

"Oh 'bout another hour or so."

I ask what happened. They think the power outage, caused last week by a falling tree, set this one up.

"Switching things back and forth makes the "weak links" turn up." they said.

I head on up the road and arrive at my dingy hovel under the dripping redwoods. I fire up the propane furnace. I light my kerosene lamps and, by their golden glow, ponder the dark, silent screen of my new "mega computer", the one plugged into the "Information Highway", the one with the awesome, half finished, game of "Myst" on the CD ROM Drive, the one that contains my sacred repository of Greenwood/Elk columns somewhere in its 540 Megs of memory. There it sits, an expensive cold lump of plastic and silicon chips. Powerless, it is only suitable for a door stop or a boat anchor.

I am reduced to writing down and crossing out words on a piece of paper by lamp light. Good old Mother nature has brought me face to face with reality We're talking Actual Reality, not Virtual Reality.

December 15,

A Frankel Scholarship Fund has been established in memory of John Frankel. The Frankel Scholarship seeks to recognize the outstanding work of individuals who are committed to advancing the goals and missions of health centers in serving medically underserved populations and communities and who are enhancing their skills and leadership potential through continuing education. Three scholarships in the amount of $1,150.00 will be awarded to individuals who have demonstrated commitment and leadership in the health center movement and who are pursuing undergraduate or graduate studies in related fields. The scholarships will be used to defray the cost of tuition and other educational expenses.

Many will remember the establishment of the Health Center here in Greenwood/Elk back in 1974 by Dr. John Frankel with the labor of many volunteers. During the ten years it was open it contained a dental department using rotating students from the University of the Pacific under the direction of Rick Benoit. Dr. Gallo and two nurse practitioners were provided by the County Health Department. There was a "well baby" clinic. Lydia Edison had a library upstairs. The Health Center closed in 1984 and currently is the Huckaby residence.

Hopefully, this is the final missive from Bill Edison for this year:

"Tis the season to be jolly! The new "Kay Curtis Computer Counter" in the John Frankel alcove at the Greenwood/Elk Community Center will make you smile. Designed by Joan Gates and built by Henry Outten, these cabinets will eventually hold computers connected up to the Internet. However, Bill Edison (with a sly grin on his face), says, 'They will make a splendid storage space for booze during the Great Day in Elk'. Ho! Ho! Ho!"

I stopped by the Community Center last Sunday to check out the progress of the Holiday Arts and Crafts Faire and to see, in person, the new "Internet Cabinets". First rattle out of the box I get holy hell from Isbel for not mentioning the Holiday Arts and Crafts Faire in my last column.

"I mentioned it the week before, Isbel".

"Not good enough Ron."

Damn. You're right again!

Pressing on I discovered the new computer center behind the Michael Nissenburg/Kathy McDonald display rack. Wonderful scarves they make but I can't see the computer center.

Further into the building and past the "cow" chimes I find Kay Curtis behind her display of cards. She drew a diagram on paper of what the new computer center looks like and where the stuff will go; three or four work stations and a place for the printer and where the "soft wear" and documentation will reside. The current hot question being, what color to paint the new cabinets.

Wandering on around the building I discovered Jerry Grimes with her display of rugs.

"What you doing here? You live in Mendocino!"

Well yes, I know that artisans come from outlying areas but still I was surprised and pleased to see Jerry.

A quick stop by the kitchen counter to buy a cinnamon roll, then a wee question to Mary Berry about the upcoming 102nd Saint Patrick's Day.

"We've been planning it since last summer!"

and I'm out of there, back out into the cold falling rain and the slog up the hill to my computer and the column.

The Gloriana Opera Carolers will be at Dolan's this Saturday from 7:30 until 8:00.

Erna's Enchanted Cottage is chock full of Christmas ideas and books.

The Country Store and Garden Shoppe has many, many gift items.

The Elk Store will make up "festive deli platters" to order, during the Holiday Season. Stop by and check it out. They even have gift wrap for sale this year!

Check our local merchants out before you beat feet for Fort Bragg. You might save yourself a trip.

We in town have been keeping close tabs on Del Wilcox who has been in serious trouble with cancer for some time now. He has had several operations and last Friday had a major one. I'm told he came through it okay, even better than the doctors expected, but is quite groggy at this point. Evidently he will be in the Hospital for several more weeks. Prue is staying at the closest motel to the Stanford Hospital she could find.

Some holiday cheer in the form of cards and letters would be greatly appreciated, I'm sure. Send them to :

Del and Prue Wilcox

c/o Riveria Motor Lodge

15 El Camino Real

Menlo Park, Ca. 94025.

Or give them to Erna or Denice at the post office and they will see that they are properly forwarded.

December 22,

Well, this should about do it for this year. We're heading for Baja but before I go here is a wrap up of what has been going on in our wee village during this past year.

January-February. The new Elk Post Office, in Greenwood, opened its doors January 18. The new Kay Curtis/Steve Acker house got its okay and go ahead concerning exterior colors. The new Post office will have open house February 25th. Jamie Roberts received an Honorable Mention Award from the National Federation of Community Broadcasting for a program of his on KZYX. The Christmas tree came down from the top of the Huckaby House February 12th at 11:00 AM. "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony" for the NEW ELK POST OFFICE, Friday, February 25th. Margaret Feliz passed away, Saturday February 26th.

March. The plowed field across from the Harbor House is being planted in peas. The School Board meet at the Greenwood School. Bruce Wolf and his wife Linda purchased the Tascano Hotel. Somebody ripped off the "Pink Dog Butt" on Cameron Road. The remodeling of the Greenwood Pier Cafe has commenced. An all-female softball team formed to take on the guys during the Pepper Martin Softball game. The crouching beaver cow s--t and clay oven, behind our Community Center, now has a roof over it. Twenty-five teenagers broke into the Community Center last Friday night for some basketball and horsing around. A grass fire broke out around 9:30 AM, March 14th, one and a half miles up Greenwood/Philo road. Evidently a power transmission line broke and set fire in three areas. Dorothy Neilsen informed me that the Greenwood Community Church escrow is now complete. The Church belongs to this community. The 101st Annual Saint Patrick's Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner and Dance was another successful event this past weekend.

April. The Big Poppy Seed Fiasco. The narcotics folks don't show up in court and the case is dropped.

May Greenwood Community Center hosts Candidates Night. Jacob Perrill, a junior in high school, has held a 4.0 grade point average for three years. May first is Pepper Martin Day. The new fire station, up Greenwood/Philo road has its foundation in place and the slab almost ready to pour. The State Park Visitor Center is now open in Greenwood/Elk on weekends. Ten cars are rifled through in one night, here in down town Elk. Isabel Petty's car is stolen and wrecked up by Westport. The Keene residence just north of Bridget Dolan's is having some work done, the obvious part being a garage added to the north side. Bob Matson has ordered a new tow truck which will bring his fleet up to three. Charlie Acker has started on a garage at his place. Reo Russell, Joseph Huckaby and Annie Gallo have all been accepted into U.C Santa Cruz. Sabin Willingham has been accepted into U.C. Berkeley Architectural School. Erna, and her sister are going to have a trial run at opening their book and gift shop. The new Greenwood Ridge Fire House is complete except for the roll up doors and final paint. Mary "Cloud" Anthony had a close call with a medical problem. The Elk Market now has organic produce.

June - July 14, 9025 miles later we roll into Greenwood/Elk after thirty two days on the road to Alaska and back.

July 28th. Big brew ha ha over the Tuscano Hotel that Bruce Wolfe purchased. The old Greenwood Pier was completely razed and new construction started from the ground up. The Elk Cove Inn was recently sold. Erna's Enchanted Cottage is open for business on weekends.

July "Giggle Fest" at the Community Center. Bill Edison is at his enclave on Martha's Vineyard.

August The Richard Keehn family move into their house here in Elk. Kevin Joe is thinking about a two car garage. Joel Waldman is back from the sea. Cal Trans has spent some time tearing up the pot-holes and filling in the same through town. Great Day in Elk is on September 10th. Ramon's 50th Birthday party, pot-luck and dance is held at the Greenwood Community Center. This fall there will be monthly dances at the Greenwood Community Center. Miles Clark's urchin boat flipped over north of town.

September The Twentieth Annual Great Day is history; money generated by Great Day comes in at over ten thousand dollars, after expenses! The Community Center will be hooked up to the Internet. Another idea being kicked around is a laundry mat. The Community Center has one hundred and sixty, "new to us", comfortable chairs. Softball World Series in Elk? Such a game has been scheduled on our Field of Dreams this Sunday, October 9th at 2:00 p.m.

October Tawny and Peggy take the jump. Elk Volunteer Fire Chief, Bob Matson steps down. Charlie Acker is our new fire chief. The Greenwood Pier Cafe opens. A survey outfit has been measuring our town for undergrounding of power lines. Al Fisher, Dick Mitchell, Ed McKenzie and crew are redoing the fence at the Catholic Cemetery north of town. The School Board meeting is held in Elk. The Community Center will be open for teen-agers at least once a month on Friday nights with some adult supervision. The State Park Visitor Center will close for the months of November, December, January and February. Greenwood Civic Club was busy, getting ready for a Halloween party at the Roadhouse Cafe. The Greenwood Community Church is up, standing on cribbing in preparation for its new foundation. November 5th, here on the coast, we had accumulated a bit over half an inch of rain. Elk County Water Board meeting has five "irate" citizens show up to grump a bit about our proposed increase in water rates.

December A Frankel Scholarship Fund has been established There's a New "Kay Curtis Computer Counter" in the John Frankel alcove at the Greenwood/Elk Community Center. The Annual Holiday Arts and Crafts Faire is held.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, one and all.

December 29th.

This is just a fill-in piece in case I am unable to find a Fax machine down in Baja. It really has nothing to do with Greenwood/Elk and there is no point in reading further unless you are interested in computers.

As you may know I bought a new computer a couple of months ago.

I have a 386 SX 25, 4 RAM, 60 meg hard drive laptop that had started giving me problems. The screen went out and I discovered it was cheaper to buy a ten inch color monitor to plug into it than replace the original screen. The monitor weighs about fifteen pounds, making the convenience of the laptop rather silly, but still, I haul the whole shooting match around when I go on trips.

Well, besides wanting a more dependable computer, I had become interested in "Multi-media". I needed a faster machine. I looked at Computer Shopper Magazines and Windows magazines and tried to figure out what would do what I wanted to do. It really got confusing. I talked to various folks and got a variety of answers. I was on the verge of heading for Santa Rosa to some computer store and buying a "package" when I decided to stop by Computer Solution in Fort Bragg and see what Jeff had in stock. Well, he had basically what I wanted and would build a machine to make it exactly what I wanted. It would cost a bit more than ordering something out of a catalogue back east or buying one from "the city" but Jeff is here, they are not. I went for it.

What I got was a 486 DX2 66 with 16 RAM and a 540 Meg hard drive. It has CD ROM, Soundblaster AWE 32 sound card, three and a quarter floppy drive, and a five and a quarter floppy drive. I also bought a Epson Stylus Color Printer. I have Window Works, Word for Windows, Microsoft Publisher, Quicken, Winfax, Wincim (Compuserve), COMit for Windows, Paint Shop Pro, Cakewalk and Text Reader. I also bought the CD game MYST.

Well, my life has changed.

I get up in the morning now and dial up a weather satellite photo from Compuserve. I save it and convert it with Paint Shop Pro and then print it out in color on the printer.

I can write my column in Word For Windows and have Text Reader read it back to me. Then fax it to the Beacon or Modem it in; either way.

I can collect all my columns for the year together and put them into booklet form in Microsoft Publisher. Speaking of Microsoft Publisher, I have been making Christmas cards, telephone directories, flyers, brochures and so on. It is an amazing program.

In Paintbrush I have been able to draw pictures and incorporate them into my brochures. Eventually I plan to check out Corel Draw or some such graphics program.

The MYST Game is something else. You start out on an island and "point and click" where you want to go. There is no instruction booklet. You just have to explore around and figure it out. There is a library with books to read and secret passageways, there is the power house, a time travel machine, a rocket ship and a sunken galleon. You have to figure out how to make it all work and when you do it allows you to go to other islands and try to unravel their secrets. It is a non violent game, no shoot em up stuff, just beautiful and interesting places that contain mysteries on top of mysteries. The graphics and sounds are exceptional.

So, what does it all mean? I don't know. I find it to be very interesting and I look forward to rainy days so I don't feel guilty sitting inside and staring at the computer. It is hard to believe that in only a few years, or even less, all this will be obsolete. Everything is changing so fast on the "information highway" but meanwhile, I'm having fun.

Click here to continue

Return to the Blabberon Homepage