Police Blotter

Nevada County has its share of crime. There are people here, after all. About 100,000 of 'em, county wide. In fact, the Nevada County Union, our local newspaper, today is reporting on one of the two recent murders that have occurred locally: the guy who allegedly killed his estranged wife with a nail gun--the other was committed by crossbow (not to reflect badly on construction workers and hunters). The murder article merited slightly less front page real estate than the bear-in-someone's-front yard story, which is typical. National news makes page six or beyond. That's the way it's meant to work. It's a local paper, as I said. If you want beyond the Bear or Yuba Rivers, get the Sac Bee. In the Union, there's a section on page two that lots of local-type papers carry: the Police Blotter. It's just a log of the calls that come into the law-enforcement agencies' dispatch lines. I read it every day. It's one good way to really get the lay of the land in an area. Sometimes, it's also a good way to get a chuckle.

Not that people's misfortune is so funny. It's not, of course. One sees the expected, and often sad, entries involving the (mostly) petty theft, trespassing, domestic violence, homelessness, and so on. But some folks also call 9-1-1 for other, say, less catastrophic complaints. I didn't save it, but a couple of months ago, for example, a woman called the Grass Valley police to report that someone had broken into her home over night and stolen her wallet. She actually dialed 9-1-1. The next item simply stated the time--about an hour later--that she called back to say that she'd found her wallet; in essence, "never mind". Here's a sample from the Blotter from the last two days [my comments]:

Tuesday
"At 5:22 p.m., a caller from the 1000 block of Wintergreen Lane reported two people in a silver pick-up truck with a flag on the hood were trying to sell meat. Deputies were unable to locate the truck." [Yikes! Call Homeland Security!]

"At 5:27 p.m., a doctor reported a woman on the 11000 block of Old Tunnel Rd. was bitten by her own cat while she was playing with it. Animal Control was advised." [Better to advise People Control!]

"At 6:33 p.m., a caller from the 13000 of Golden Star Road reported a person was trying to sell her a magazine, then left." [Wow! What kind of magazine?]

Wednesday
"At 11:09 a.m., a man called from a gas station on the 2000 block of Nevada City Highway to report a woman in a green Subaru [about half the population, including me] tried to drive off with the pump nozzle in the vehicle. When the caller tried to get insurance information from her, she said, "Not today, dude," and drove off. Police determined who owned the car and would follow up." [It wasn't me, dude!]

"At 10:23 a.m., a dog on the 18000 block of Lazy Dog Road sat on the phone and dialed 911, then hung up. A dispatcher called the home to make sure everything was OK." [What? No Animal Control, this time?]

I'll throw a few more in as time goes by... --Sandy

A New Leaf!

From time to time, I come across or am sent, from one source or another, funny, interesting, or even life-changing information--and I'm just the worst in the world about passing it along. Even to Tom, sometimes, who's just upstairs. If I've seen the most hilarious video, or learned of a sure-fire cure for, uh, toe nail fungus (Vick's Vap-O-Rub--but you have to use it every day), I don't seem to have developed those automatic forwarding lists that so many other folks use (and of which I am often a grateful part), so the cool stuff I get usually just sits there, benefiting no one. I cringe to think of it!

Well, no more! There's something I saw today that has shaken me from my selfish, irresponsible inaction. Some information is just too important to sit on (or not to sit on, as the case may be--see the link) and I plan to use this forum to pass such items along to the three or four people who might drift by this site.

I would place this item firmly in the (quality of) life-preserving department. I believe, in fact, that there should be at least one in each automobile. Perhaps they'll be standard equipment, someday. We can only hope. The link came to me by way of an e-newsletter called "Daily Candy", which I've read off and on for years (thanks to Rachel). Check it out: http://www.gasbgon.com/
Peace and harmony, even on short trips! --Sandy

Dylan's Chair

By now, Dylan is in Prague for a week, or so, having left Copenhagen for the time being. We don't have any of his own photos from woodworking class in Sweden, yet, but he forwarded some from a classmate, who had sent them to Dylan from his home in Italy. As usual, not a lot of commentary. In fact, at this point, I'm not sure he's even seen the pictures, saying the computers to which he's had access are slow-ish. They show him in the workshop, out at a table at tea time (or so it seems) with his class, and discussing his chair with the instructor(s). He's shipped the chair here, in pieces, and it should be arriving in 6 weeks, or so. Have a look:

The Becchettis in Gold's Country

Noel and Kyle came to visit us, this weekend! So fun! They arrived mid-afternoon, yesterday, and had to abandon us, lonely and forlorn, this morning. But in that time, we enjoyed some great discussions, big laughs and nice meals together. Noel had already been here, of course, for the backpacking trip and found his way back without any help, at all! All part of our subliminal "homing" program. Our house was one stop in a series, for them, comprising a California driving loop which included visits to friends, family and ministry locations. Although we are trying hard to keep up with people and events by means of computer and phone, nothing compares with face-to-face interaction, and we treasure the opportunities to talk and laugh and eat and everything else in person! We laughed over Ant Farm and commiserated over politics. We talked about education and missions and healthcare. Between them, it would be hard to find a topic that they haven't just read a book about. What a treat! We love our shared history and relationships and look forward to keeping them flowing along. Whatever it takes to keep luring them up here for visits, is what we'll do. Perhaps if our property looked a little more inner-city-ish...

Rachel's Long Good-bye to Boston...pt.2

So, Monday evening, Rachel took the GMAT. Out in Waltham (rhymes with "tall-sham"). And totally overcame! I'm not sayin' exactly what she scored (hint: it rhymes with "heaven-plenty") but she's a happy girl! A mighty weight off her shoulders! It was almost hard to process such a big relief, plus the satisfaction of having done well, all at once. There wasn't too much time to wallow in it, however, because the pods would be delivered the following morning. A (very) late dinner and a few phone calls, were all the celebrating we had time for. The pod guy came, but, yikes!, some other pod person had forgotten to get the necessary permits to leave them in the street. All he left was a referral to a moving company. Over the course of the next hour, or so, Rachel got busy to work out a deal over the phone with the (naughty) pod company and a moving company. So, now, there would be movers coming Thursday morning to pack up a truck in the usual way. They, then, would transfer her stuff to the pods (the pods are accessible storage units, kept at a warehouse, to be delivered, someday, to wherever she'll decide to settle next). We liked the idea of not having to haul everything down the stairs, ourselves, so the deal was lookin' better for us. The sofa disassembly/reassembly was rescheduled. All we had to do was pack.

And pack, we did. We'd picked up packing materials at Home Depot on Monday (random guess as to how many boxes, etc.), so over the next two days, she packed the two suitcases for her wide-ranging travels and we got almost everything else put into boxes for storage, except the furniture, of course. Turns out, we had the exact number of boxes we needed. Amazing! And, to my great joy, my luggage finally caught up with me at about midnight Tuesday. The movers came, as promised, Thursday morning and loaded up the truck. The sofa came back, as promised, all put back together, ready to be loaded, courtesy of Mike and George. Mike and George, brothers, are the furniture world's version of "Click and Clack--the Car Guys". Very Boston! Very entertaining! By the time the movers left, all we had was about 1 1/2 hours left before I needed to return the car and shuttle to the airport. In that amount of time we were able to: take care of the trash, drop off the cable box, deliver a large load to the Salvation Army, get gas (where I discovered I had left my credit card at the restaurant Monday eve.) and get Rachel back to her neighborhood, where we said a quick goodbye. After that, I also had time to miss the correct turns to the airport three times before finally getting it right. Boston is charming, but they should start all over with the roads.

It felt good to have gotten everything accomplished! The trip home was uneventful, except, perhaps, for the 5/8 Native American physics professor in the seat next to me, who talked to me for 4 of the 5 hours to Salt Lake City about his theory of eyesight improvement, the Vikings, naturopathic medicine, nutrinos, visible blue light beams, and so on. Fascinating. Rachel's now on her way to Hawaii and a vagabond existence, for awhile. Tom and I will meet up with both kids in Germany in a month to see how it's all going. We're looking forward to that, of course! --Sandy

Rachel's Long Good-bye to Boston...pt.1

I've just returned from Boston, where I was helping Rachel pack up her apartment and put it into storage as she prepares to go on the road for several months. It was so much fun to see her after so many months (since Christmas)! Too bad it was 4am when we finally connected, in the dark on the steps of the brownstone, totally exhausted. My flights had been delayed by--you guessed it--poor weather in Minnesota. Plus, my bags were having so much fun in the USAirways system, hanging out with all the other indistinguishable black rectangular bags, that they didn't show up for another two whole days. Fortunately, I had carried a tote bag with essentials like magazines and camera, so at least I had something to load into the minivan I rented. Who knew I would have to stand in line at the Thrifty Rental Car agency at 3:30 in the morning? I must say I expected to walk right in and sign the paper, and get about the business of getting lost on the way to Rachel's, but, no; there were people ahead of me! "Why aren't you people in bed?!", I wanted to scream. Minnesota weather, no doubt.

No worries! After a good 3 hours sleep, or so, Monday morning, we began to survey all the puzzle pieces. Rachel had ordered first one, then, two storage unit pods to be parked in front of her place, and the plan was to pack up and load them ourselves (carrying everything down a very narrow flight of stairs with a tight turn, then down the outside stairs) over the period of a couple of days. Check. The pods were to be delivered Tues.morn. Furthermore, since her sofa had had to be disassembled, moved in, and reassembled in the living room when she'd bought it, that entire process was going to need to be repeated in the reverse, in a timely way, on the sidewalk outside. Check. Mike and George were scheduled to take care of it. Yet, another part of this increasingly complex picture was that Rachel was scheduled to take a monumental (4+hours) business school qualifying exam (GMAT), about which she was very nervous, on Monday evening. Out in Waltham (about 20 minutes drive). She had been planning/studying for this test for years, on and off. Recently, she had gotten some extra intensive help to prepare for it. Tough math section. One wants to do well on this exam. She'd been carrying the burden of this test-in-the-future for a very long time. Factor 3 concerns the fact that, since Rachel's belongings will be in storage in Boston, she had to pack her suitcases, right then, to be a part of two weddings: one in Hawaii, the other in Vermont; followed closely by a nearly 3-month long trip to Europe--from Finland to Italy. Quite the interesting puzzle, by itself. How to choose what to take for when? And, then, there was a promised art project for which we left out materials so she could finish it before she left Boston. We also had to consider what to do with all the stuff she didn't want anymore: the give-aways. And there was terminating the cable (where to turn in the box?), changing mail delivery, subscriptions, banking stuff. Lots of moving parts. All in about 3 1/2 days.

Did we succeed? Check in tomorrow to find out! (pics are taken Tues morning just as we're starting to power pack)

Dear Deer!

We love wildlife. I really love wildlife. Tom, too, for the most part. One could define the word "wildlife" to include even the ants and spiders and snakes, etc.: those creatures we call "pests". But I don't care. I like them all. Of course, there are creatures I'd rather not have living inside with us. No one wants roaches in their cupboards or ants in the honey. But, I'm always careful not to harm spiders, if possible. I might take them outside, but why should I kill them? They have their part to play in the Grand Scheme. I used to live-trap mice in our (Rancho Rd.) house and drive them out to the fields and release them. On the whole, I believe that where ever humans choose to live, I think it's the responsibility of the humans to find a way to coexist with whatever creatures are in the vicinity with the least possible harm to those creatures.

We have lots of wild creatures around here. Interesting birds, like the dark-eyed junco and black-headed grossbeak. And flickers! They are a kind of woodpecker, but with unusual markings (some orange) and a distinctive call. I've seen (3 times!) California Red-bellied Newts. Such curious little varmints! Prehistoric-looking. I had to walk around a small Western Diamondback Rattlesnake on the way back to the house from the shop, one day. There are huge jackrabbits (so named because the long ears reminded settlers of jackasses). I have now found 9 tiny scorpions in the house, mostly already dead. I believe I was even bitten by a larger one (the mom?) outside when I was lifting a bunch of flattened boxes that had been sitting on the patio. Youch! But, in 5 minutes, it was over. As if it had never happened--no mark, no anything. Just a phobia of cardboard, now. We were allowed to pet some huge scorpions (4-5 inches) at the fair, this year, for some reason (and hold a small boa--thought I'd throw that in). I've seen the carcasses of several enormous millipedes, here and there. 3-4 inches long and 1/4 inch in diameter. Who knows where the live ones are hanging out? So interesting!

But it's most fun to see the deer, of course! They're so large and beautiful! The ones around here are the black-tailed Mule Deer. They are mostly nocturnal, so one sees them, mostly in the early part of the day, or at dusk. And, many times, especially when we're walking to get the paper or the mail (35-minute round trip), we can hear them, even if we can't see them. Quite often, while driving, we've seen them along the roads, either crossing in front of the car or wanting to. It's a good idea not to be going too fast. My worst nightmare would be to hit one (I'm gonna get those deer whistles for our cars).

A big topic of conversation in deer-country, we've discovered, is about deer-proofing the gardens and orchards. I've picked up flyers and read books with lists and lists of deer-proof and deer-resistant plants. Special fences. All kinds of deer-blocking strategies, like mylar streamers. I'm wondering why. Who wouldn't want to see them as much as possible? Really. I dream of myself as a real-life Snow White: humming along as I'm doing my chores, being nuzzled by the local deer and rabbits and birds. Every creature happy and harmonious. But Snow White wasn't growing peaches, probably. We have this little peach tree. It's more than half dead since it would appear that the previous residents (renters, as it happens) weren't interested in maintaining it. No worries. But, then, the 1/3 of the tree that was alive began to grow huge quantities of peaches. More than 100, or even 150! So we watered it. I'm seeing cobbler into December! The little tree was bent almost to the ground with them (the pictures are difficult to see). One day, I saw a doe (a deer, a female deer) munching delicately on one or two of the peaches on the tree. When she'd had her fill, I took a picture of her moving on, in no big hurry. Cute! We can share. The next morning, I went out into the yard and saw...one peach! Almost no tree! Yikes! That little, innocent-looking big-eyed creature apparently went and told about 25 of her closest, hungriest friends that there was a peach party at the Golds'. Hm. Now, I get it. So, while I still love deer, and want to see them in our yard, munching, um, manzanita, or something, I'm looking for those flyers...

Meanwhile, I'm off to Boston tomorrow morning. More later... --Sandy

Office literally humming...

One of the fun features of this house is the 4-level tower in the center. You can see an outside shot from the front on the entry August 8th, and a photo of the "library" level from the inside. Well, just below the the books, on the 3rd level loft is where Tom's office is located. There are still a few little improvements that we're planning to make, especially aesthetically, but it's almost done and quite a nice work space for him. We did a much better job, this time, taming all the wires and cables. Check out the photos...one of them is the view he has from the slider near his desk.

It's a very light and bright space, but, being on the third level, it can get a bit warm, which is why there's a little fan in the one of the pictures. Usually, though, all he has to do is open the sliding glass door to the deck and let the breezes in (he has two other windows to open, also, if he wants). The interesting thing is that, whenever there is a bit of air movement (and there usually is) there's also a very audible humming sound that plays through the tower area. It can be heard from all over the house. Actually, it's a sound a bit like blowing across the top of an open bottle. Or a ghost moaning. And there are three or four tones, like a wind chime. They play in random order, like a chime would, because the tonal variation is related to air speed (or direction, maybe?). We're not sure what is causing it, really, but it's kind of a pleasant sound. It could be the moving air playing over the metal railings on the deck, but that wouldn't explain why we only hear it when those particular doors are open. We have those railings on the other (bigger) deck, as well. I've wondered if it's caused by the air moving through some channels in the metal siding of the house. But, again, the siding is over the whole house and Tom's office sliding door seems to be the catalyst. There's something about that door when it's open...

We may never quite figure it out. But when you think about Tom working away in his office up there, especially on a warm day, you'll have to mentally add a sound track humming along with
him.

Studio doors!

We've been here in our new house for four months, now. Wow! Today, at last, we've taken the first, and biggest, step toward a functional studio space. Yippee! It's been a small garage/storage-kind of area, with a roll-up door. Now, there's a wonderful set of French doors where the roll-up was! Here are some photos! So, now, nearly that entire wall is windows (there's also a standard side-door with a window next to the new ones). Lots more light; much nicer-looking! We have some trim-work to do on the inside, and we'll put a little deck on the outside.

The next phase will involve putting in a new floor (not sure what kind, yet--cork, maybe?), a sink (it's already plumbed), better lighting and some patch-up/paint work. Easy stuff. I can almost smell the ink, already!

Nearly all the furniture/tools/supplies which will go into the studio are sitting on the patio in the back yard. Looking forlorn. It's protected by the deck above (which doesn't let rain/water go through), but I'd still like to get it inside before the weather starts to change. Good incentive (as if I need any!) to move as quickly as possible! --Sandy

New visitors!

Big highlights for us, this week! Tic and Terrie Long came by for a few hours yesterday on their way home from a vacation at Lake Almanor (north of here, near Mt. Lassen) and today, Mark Sidell drove to our house from Oakland for the afternoon, where he, Beth and Jessye are visiting Beth's sister (they live in Chapel Hill, NC).

Tic & Terrie are our good friends from Community Covenant Church in El Cajon, where we attended for 25 years before moving here. It was great to catch up with them and hear what's up with their kids, mutual friends, etc. We so enjoyed their fun, energetic, warm, thoughtful presence for a little while (too corny? So sue me!). The deep, shared experiences over so long a time make it easy to pick up the conversation, again, though an afternoon seems to vaporize in an instant--gone before we're ready! Tom and I (especially, I) are learning to take careful advantage of these, now more rare, opportunities! Tom is a quicker processor (who isn't?). For me, of course, the minute they leave, as they're driving away, there are ten more questions (yeah, so, I've always had a bit of a delayed process in face-to-face interaction. It's why I'm more confident with email or snailmail than actual conversation, I guess--more time for my tortoise brain to process!). So, Tic, how's your mom?

Mark has been a colleague, friend, and, in recent years, business partner of Tom's for, uh, a long time. I, myself, had great fun getting to know him several years ago when Tom and I were 2/3 of his crew on two different, week-long sailing trips, two years running, in the San Juan and Gulf Islands near Seattle and Vancouver Island. So, cool (both Mark and the trips!). While Beth, Mark's amazing wife, and Jessye, their accomplished 13-year-old daughter, were helping Beth's sister out in Oakland (the reason for their trip west), Mark drove out for the afternoon to see our new house (and us). I had last seen him and his family in the fall of 04 (spent the weekend with them at the wonderful new home they designed), after a calligraphy seminar I attended in NC. It had been four years or more since Tom and Mark had seen each other (!!), though they talk almost every day. Mark is a bit (uh, actually, more than a bit) of a brainiac in a number of areas (again,...). So, like, 10 minutes after he walked in the door, he was explaining our heating/cooling options to us after taking a bit of a look-see at our systems (they're unusual). It's always fun to see/hear about his latest (mostly high-tech-ish) interests and how much deeper he usually pursues them than, well, anyone else we know. All that, and "the nicest guy in the world", as Rachel dubbed him when she called during his visit. Just three days earlier, Mark, Beth and Jessye had picked Rachel up at the airport near their house, meeting her for the first time, where she enjoyed their hospitality in Chapel Hill for a few hours before she headed off for a wedding nearby. So, once again, the time went all too quickly, but we had a terrific visit and are grateful that he took the time to come all the way out here (more driving time than visiting time!). So good to see him, even for a blink! Next time, we have to catch Beth and Jessye, too! Now, I need to get busy on those little icons he asked me to make two weeks, ago... --Sandy

Rachel

Rachel, our daughter, has also set off on a new path recently. She left her job as a VP in the institutional securities dept. at Wachovia at the end of June to move in the direction of business school. Therefore, these days, amid the flurry of friends' weddings, which are scattered all over creation, she's cramming math skills for the GMAT (it's a big exam), after which she'll be starting the application process. There are quite a few schools on the list, but there's no indication, yet, as to which she'll choose or when she'll start. In any case, around September 15, she'll be meeting up with her brother, Dylan, in Helsinki to check out some of their geographic heritage. Then, it's on to Copenhagen followed by Germany, where Tom and I will join them for a couple of weeks (see previous post). That two-week period, when the four of us will be together, will include Octoberfest, visits with good friends who live in Weinheim and lots of other cool stuff. When the folks head home, and Dylan takes off for Tanzania, Rachel will wend her way down to Tuscany for a two-week ceramics course. Really. She'll get intensive instruction in pottery making. Here's the url: http://www.lameridiana.fi.it/uk/index.asp It promises to be quite the cool experience. Perhaps business school will just fade into the background...

So, Rachel's life has some adventure ahead. Upon her return from Italy, she may settle into a place and find work for awhile, depending on when she'll need to start school.

She's already worked in several fields during her post-collegiate life, so far. Right out of school, there was the LA Philharmonic in the development (fundraising) department. We like to think she had a significant roll :0) in developing the funding sources for Disney Hall (which she has yet to see, I think). Turned out that they let her slip through their fingers by boring her to death. Their loss. She did get to rub shoulders with the likes of Esa-Pekka and plan some cool parties, for awhile, though. Then, in San Francisco, with no coursework or experience in the computer science field, she landed a job as a commercial website development person, even writing some code, from time to time. Got to do some traveling, too. In fact, it was while she was working on the Martha Stewart account in New York, that she happened to be in midtown Manhattan about twenty blocks north of Ground Zero on 9/11. Quite the timing, there, I'd say. She has some interesting stories you'd like to hear. A good friend of hers had a very very close call (actually, three), having been at the World Trade Center that morning when it all started to come down. Then, after three years, leaving San Francisco for Boston, she tried waitressing for a few days. Very few. Four. After which she landed an opportunity to learn the financial industry--again, with no previous college coursework or experience. And, in which she has worked successfully for five years (I think). So, finding a temporary job for awhile, if necessary, isn't a big concern, whereever she might be.

So, I'll put other developments up as they become available. I'm going to Boston next Sunday for a few days to help her pack up her apartment. What with our moving issues, we haven't been able to see Rachel since Christmas, so I'm very happy to get the chance to spend the time together. We're excited to see what might be next for her. It'll be cool, no doubt! (Pictures: Rachel at Bonnaroo Music Festival; with good friend, Dan, in Australia; with friends at 31st birthday party) --Sandy

Dylan

Our son, Dylan, is on a cool adventure! He left his job after 3+ years to take himself on quite the interesting 5-month journey. He found places to stash all of his belongings (some with us, some elsewhere) and took off for London less than two weeks ago. He had been carefully planning for his travels for many months, including receiving about $1600 (!) worth of immunizations he would need for the trip. From London, where he visited a college friend for a few days, he traveled to Copenhagen, then to Oland--an island just off the southeastern coast of Sweden. There, for two weeks, he's taking an intensive furniture-making class. Here's the website for the school, where he's living/working right now. http://www.capellagarden.se/english.asp The class has 12 students from all over the world and the instruction is in Swedish, though the social interaction is all in English, he says. It's the common denominator. This is what he wrote a few days ago:

I am on Oland now, off the coast of sweden, at Capellagarden...I got here easily and have been having a GREAT time...this place is very, very cool...its clean and quiet and beautiful, nothing exotic, just nice and quaint...think 'the Shire' form Hobbit, LOTR, etc...the people and the setup here and the vibe is what Its all about...I can already tell I will be sad to go...I have made friends here, its quite a social affair, with common meals, 'parties' every other night, good simple food and very interesting conversation...Sweden is a great country, not in a wow sort of way, just in a relaxing, familiar, yet new way that makes you realize that the world is full of great places to live.

As you may or may not know, Dylan's passion is for furniture design. Here are a couple of photos of a table he made last year. It was a custom job for a client and was walnut veneer with slate and aluminum insets. The center part comes out and can be used in different ways. He has lots of cool ideas like that. By the way, here's a picture Tom took of Dylan and me when we went to help him pack up just before he left.

He plans to travel more in the area after the class, perhaps Norway, or the Baltics. Rachel will meet him in Helsinki in mid-September to touch base a bit with some of their heritage. They'll travel together for awhile, then they'll meet up with us for two weeks in Germany/Austria/Switzerland. Dylan did set up a travel blog (http://dylangold.blogspot.com/), but he didn't take a computer with him and access has been very sporadic. Rachel will have one with her, so we might not get too much information out of him until they get together.

When Tom, Rachel and I leave Germany, Dylan will go to Africa--Tanzania, actually. He'll work there with an organization called Greenforce. Here's that site: http://www.greenforce.org/destinations/tanzania/10_week_project/
He'll be living in a Maasai village and doing wildlife surveys. He plans to return Christmas Eve, if all goes as scheduled. There are opportunities for some exploration of surrounding areas--Kilimanjaro, for example. He'll play it by ear.

We're, of course, very excited with and for him about these experiences! He's such a great communicator (if unorthodox in style, sometimes), and we'll be anxious to hear how his journey goes and how he is changed by it. It's also wonderful that we'll be able to meet up with him in the middle to debrief some before he moves on. I'll keep updates going as we get them...stay tuned. Next time...Rachel: where to after Germany? --Sandy

The Nevada County Fair

Tom and I are Fair Junkies. They bring to one place at one time, so many interesting products and endeavors which, are, for the most part, invisible to us the rest of the year. Tom missed attending the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar only 2 or 3 times since about 1978, and I can remember missing only one, because of being out of town. We've bought and/or eaten nearly everything sold there, at one time or another. We've loved watching the hucksters in the vendor pavilions, and have even been recognized by a few of them year to year during some stretches. We enjoy many other attractions, s well--the wood crafts, gardens, hobby collections. Sometimes I would go without Tom, an extra trip, either to take the kids, when they were small, or to indulge my own interests, not shared so much by him--art, gems and minerals, home crafts, animal barns (not that he's never walked through those exhibits--in fact, that's how he knows he'd rather pass on them). We're goofy about the fair.

We moved north before the Del Mar Fair took place, this year, so we were very happy to find that the Nevada County edition was scheduled for early August. This week, in fact. It lasts for 5 days. Only 5 days?!! How is that possible? Del Mar runs 2 1/2 weeks! So, yesterday was the day. Appropriately, it's held at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. Let me say, that a more beautiful location for any similar event would be difficult to find. Pine trees everywhere. The parking lots are even full of trees. It's quite interesting to see how they are able to cram even all the taller and wilder carnival rides in amongst the forest without breaking tree limbs or losing passengers in the canopy. It's interesting to see, not so easy to photograph.

I arrived soon after the gates opened around 10am, full of anticipation. Tom would come later in the day. Immediately, I saw that I needed to make some adjustments. In an hour, I could have walked it all--animal barns to quilts to carnival to farm produce. Also, until late afternoon, it seemed I had the whole place almost to myself! No standing in line for anything. So little sound. So, I slowed way down and spent time talking to the bee ladies, the alpaca-raisers (alpacas are the cutest!), the loom-weavers, the silkworm woman, the recycling expert (dressed like a pirate-wench, of course--"Pirates of the Barnyard" is the theme, this year, whatever sense that makes. There were goats with puffy shirts and eye patches). I talked to the Tahoe National Forest rangers about our recent backpacking trip. Where were the fish?, I queried. No one knew. I chatted with the woman who manages the shelter for victims of domestic violence, and the guy who owned the huge Shire horses I was petting. I sat for demos on how to pack up mules for a backcountry trip and how to get goats to clean up your property (turns out they love to eat everything you want to get rid of). I ate a veggie Cornish pasty (pasties are traditional, here, because of the Cornish miners who came in the 19th century--though no self-respecting miner would have condoned the veggie version, I'm pretty sure). Tom came over in the late afternoon. I had already spent time (lots of it) everywhere, but particularly in the animal areas, home arts and such, so he didn't have to even go near them. So we just walked around, looked at the commercial pavilion (8 minutes--it's limited--but VitaMix was still there!), got some food (he got a proper meat pasty and I got nachos with extra cheese) , looked at the vintage farm equipment engine exhibit (all chugging away), checked out the woodcrafts, plant exhibits (some very nice bonsai!), baby animals (camels and bison!), and watched the square dancing (required up here in the boonies). And, whoa, square dancing has come a long way, since I last checked!

We ended the day by sitting and listening to a very good rockabilly group--Sticky Vikki and the Pinecones--on the Pine Tree Stage. Fun! And it was so easy to exit the parking lots, that we were back home 15 minutes after walking out the gates.

So. A smaller scale, for sure, than what we've grown used to. Probably not quite the high-caliber of entries to some exhibits such as the woodcrafts and arts. But way fun and accessible! And I've never talked my way though a fair in this way, before. It's certainly possible to do at the larger fairs, but I've never taken the time. It was beautiful and interesting and amusing and I'll look forward to next year's--maybe even enter something. Now, if only they would add "gems and minerals". And, hey, I just found out that the California State Fair is coming up in Sacramento, soon! --Sandy

Our house

We like our house. It's a little different, but that's one of the reasons we like it. As you know, already, we live in a Gold Rush theme park. It's all about the 49ers up here. Actually, it's the reason highway 49 is named as such. You can't throw a rock without hitting an abandoned mine, or monument, or historical something-or-other having to do with gold. Including us. See the picture of our house? It was designed to look like an old stamp mill from the 1850's. When I read that piece of information (it was on the real estate brochure), it didn't make sense to me. I hadn't realized the post office had needed so much postage out west in those days! Were those rabid gold-panners big letter-writers, as well? Who knew? Well, of course not. They were too busy cutting down all the trees and thinking of silly names for their mining camps to write letters. Nearby we have Rough and Ready and You Bet, and Gouge Eye (yecch). Rough and Ready is extra famous because it seceded from the US for a few months until they realized they wouldn't be able to celebrate the 4th of July. No one claims all the 49ers were geniuses.

Anyway, a stamp mill is just a building that houses the big stamps (for really BIG packages!--no, not really). A stamp is an iron rod with a very heavy weight on the end of it. A bunch of them are lined up vertically on cams that were powered by water and under which the gold ore would be passing by on a conveyor belt. The ore would be crushed to dust, so they could get the gold out easier. As you can imagine, it wasn't a such a quiet operation. The biggest, richest and last mine to operate in this area, the Empire Mine (its a whole big interesting historical state park here, now), was operational until 1956 (after 106 years). I happened to talk to a another visitor to the Empire Mine SHPark recently who had been around 10 years old when the mine closed. He said that the stamp mills ran 24/7 and were constant white noise through the whole area. They don't use stamps so much in gold mining, more, though there's plenty of other nasty stuff they do use. One company wants to reopen the Idaho-Maryland Mine (just a few miles away from us on, uh, Idaho-Maryland Rd.), since gold prices have risen so much and technology is better. They say 80% of the gold is still in the ground. It's a hard sell, around here, as you might imagine. Besides, we're here, now. How much more gold do they need? (sorry)

So, our house is built with steel siding and corrugated metal roofing. Helps to give it that industrial look. But we like it, as I said. Keeps it cool and it would be safer in case of fire, constantly on people's minds up here, as you might imagine. The "tower" in the middle is four stories, the lowest level of which is on the bedroom level. Then there's the entry level, where the front door is. Above that is a loft where Tom has his office. Above that is the library super-loft. It's very small and is accessible by a rolling library ladder. I hauled many of our books up there. It's very cute, if not that practical. So, it's interesting to us that we ended up in a theme house of the theme park. Perhaps it's because of our name.

Cool summer evenings

Grass Valley and Nevada City (which are equidistant to us and whose downtowns are similar and very near each other--say, 5 miles) host separate summer street fairs once a week in the evenings. In Grass Valley, it's every Thursday evening all summer and includes a Certified Growers Market and one main musical act that plays all evening. In Nevada City, they close down the streets to vehicle traffic only during Wednesday nights in July, and have 5 or more musical groups performing in different areas. Otherwise, they're quite similar, including the vendors and organizations' booths and the random jugglers, musicians, yo yo virtuosos, and classic car displays. Who knew everybody and their uncles were making fancy soaps and/or jewelry?! They're well-attended by all age groups and it gives us, the Newbies, another chance to get the gist of things, here (home of fancy soaps!). The food is interesting, the music is high quality and there's a festive atmosphere. Tom took this opportunity in Grass Valley to unveil his new look: "another buzzed guy". First time since high school. Of course, if he was really going to fit in, here, he'd have left a little bit to put into a tiny pony tail. We like it. Our next purchase will be some clippers so that we can coif at home. Otherwise, it seems one has to run to the barber every few days, or one runs the risk to looking too much like "electrocuted guy".

We've been going into town on Wednesday nights, anyway, because we dubbed it "burrito night" almost as soon as we moved up here. In San Diego, on the way to choir every Wed.eve., we'd each grab a burrito from a Mexican food place on the way. Every week. There are a few places to get them, here, too, of course, but they're not the same, somehow. How hard can it be? Must be the secret sauce, or something. I do like some of the "healthier" ones they sell here, alright (whole wheat tortilla, cheese, veggies), but there's no good grab 'n' go drippy fish burrito, like, say, Rubio's or Sombrero's. Tom hasn't found a satisfying carnitas burrito, either. So, we're working on making them at home. Not bad, so far. Mexican food, here, generally, isn't quite up to standards, We haven't tried them all, yet, but it's looking dim. Thai, sushi, Chinese, Indian, Swiss, Chilean, even Nepalese ("Anapurna"), are well-represented. Our favorite bagel sandwich place, called "Bubba's", is run by a Vietnamese family, and is wonderful, every time. The English fish 'n' chips place, also good, is run by a Chinese family. Decor is right out of Picadilly Circus.

The Nevada County Fair starts tomorrow. We're fair junkies. It only runs five days, but I'm really looking forward to checking it out. The fairgrounds are beautiful! Will it be just a small San Diego County Fair? More animals? More jam? (more soap?) Who knows? We'll find out. One thing's for sure, we won't have to ponder again over whether or not to buy the VitaMix for the 25th time this year. We finally bought one last year. Kind of our parting shot to the Del Mar event.

Well, that's it, for now. I'll try to post shorter entries.--Sandy

Backpacking! Sandy

Last week was spent almost entirely in some of the loveliest places on the planet in the company of some of the loveliest human beings on the (mostly the same) planet. Some of my regular backpacking companions along with some newer to the group drove all the way up from San Diego to do some trekking in the Grouse Lakes Wilderness area (no vehicles!), the trailheads for which are only just a little over an hour away from our house. Clay Phillips, trail boss, planned the adventure, as usual, and he was familiar with the area having lived in (near?) Sacramento in the 80's. He, John Houston, Aaron Lawson, Noel Becchetti and Dave Kaiser all cruised up here in Dave's cool Big Red Truck, arriving in time for dinner--about 600 miles, an all-day journey! Next morning, Monday, Tom, who held down the fort here at home during the week, helped transport us all to the trailhead at Lindsay Lake, where we had a picnic lunch and set out. Between Lindsay Lake trailhead and Carr Lake trailhead, our final destination on Friday, we found amazing campsites (for 6 tents!) at two gorgeous lakes (two nights at Penner Lake and two nights at Glacier Lake). On the days we didn't spend hauling all our gear from point to point, we took long day hikes, exploring the lakes and higher elevations, mostly off trail by topo map and compass, even finding the site of an old mining camp, the only trace of which was a collapsing stone fireplace. The whole region is crammed with lakes--we lost count of the ones we encountered--and prettier ones you won't find! But our fisher folk, John and Dave, declared them to be almost completely fish-free! After much time, patience and power bait, they were able to coax only one fish each out of one lake--Glacier! The fish deficit notwithstanding, Clay kept us well-fed, if a little heavy on the M&M's and Caribou Coffee Bars toward the end. How many other camps were feasting on Pad Thai and miso soup after a long day's trekking?! It works! We swam, played high-stakes Frisbee golf, watched stars and satellites and chatted each night around the (illegal--shh) campfire John ("The Outlaw") Houston kept stoked. What's better than that? Aaron entertained us with amazing rock art! On Friday,Tom picked us up, filthy and ravenous for the chips, fresh fruit and cold drinks he brought with him and we made a bee line for Jack-in-the-Box (though, we have since located a Carl's Jr. in Grass Valley, which was the group's first choice). After cleaning up (complicated by some drainage issues), we enjoyed Bourne Ultimatum on it's first night followed by Round Table Pizza! Alas, everybody piled back into BRT next morning for the ride south. I learn a lot each year from the guys. Each is amazingly gifted! Noel carries more interesting information around in his head than anyone else I know. Clay is the best-humored, most well-balanced, organizationally and geographically savvy person in the world. John is the strongest, most incredibly can-do and resourceful. The best straight man, for sure. Aaron is curious, inventive, creative, adventurous. Dave is calm, wise, quiet, so observant, easy-going. He never wasted a motion. Throws a killer frisbee. If there is one lesson I seem to need to learn over and over, it's "simplify". Of course, I carried too much weight--again! My pack weighted 50#, or thereabouts. I'm losing 15 to 20 by next time--really! I mean it, this time!

I'm greatly enriched by these excursions. Getting out into the wild places with wonderful people is a refreshing and perspective-producing experience. I need it. And I cherish the time spent with friends I don't see so often any more. Thank you, thank you and thank you. Sandy

Midsummer's update

Hey, Everybody! Well, after having activated this blog a month ago, this is my first post, and, I hope, the beginning of a consistently-maintained journal of our lives here in Grass Valley for the benefit of the two or three folks who might check in every so often...but don't count on it. The best we can hope for are sporadic updates, probably, but why get bogged down with too much realism at the beginning? Still, if we even just half try, we should be able to make this work as one of the ways we can keep real-time connections alive with the people we care about who are scattered all over the place. Gradually I'll try to learn to use all the bells and whistles on this thing so that it will appear as though I eat new technology for breakfast, though most of you will know different. So, here goes...

A brief synopsis: We arrived here from the San Diego area, where we lived for 31 years, on April 11--nearly four months ago, now. All our stuff followed the next day. Since then, we've been trying to fit our Mars Way-shaped belongings into this new Echo Glen Rd. space with varying success. It went pretty quickly at first (dishes, bathroom, TV), then slowed down as areas needed to be customized a little or a lot. A big breakthrough was when all our books had homes. You can see some of the chaos on the website under ''moving in". We got Tom's office about 80% fixed up pretty early, so that he could work every day, comfortably. The timing for good Internet access (essential to his business, of course), was just about perfect, since a radio transmitter providing it was installed on a nearby hill about two weeks after we moved in. We were at the head of the line to get linked up. My job has been, and continues to be, getting us settled. My work spaces are still in process. We've had the privilege of hosting quite a few visitors, already, and have made a couple of trips away to visit others, ourselves. We've also been busy exploring our new habitat and learning about the culture and rhythm of this area. We'll expand on all of this a bit more in the next several postings. But this is a start. Feel free to chime in whenever you like about whatever! More soon!
Sandy