Aug. 21, 2018
Liz Writes Life
Sure would like to thank all those who stopped by, called or
sent up prayers. A week ago, my husband, Jack, died in his sleep after having a
near perfect day -- for him -- that consisted of raking, baling and hauling
hay. He has recently had pneumonia, twice, stomach problems and heart problems
that seemed to come on just this year. His passing was not expected and I am
finding out that we have a lot of friends and family who care about us.
Life is interesting, especially when you live in one place
for many years. I call it growing-up together even though we were adults. Many
of us raised our families at the same time. We worked hard at our careers and
for our community. Our kids have been raised and now we are grandparents. So,
we are getting old and get to deal with this part of life -- together. Sorta
sad, but very nice and comforting at the same time.
Jack’s celebration of life will be at the Etna City Park on
Fri. Sept. 7 at noon. I will have more info later will write an obit this week.
Garlic
So, I finally learned why a third of my garlic went soft –
after I harvested it. I hadn’t gotten around to mentioning it to you cuz I was
kinda embarrassed. Jeffy and Bill Marx stopped by to give condolences and I
learned Bill is a garlic connoisseur. (I had to
look up how to spell that French word!) So, I told Bill about my problem cuz it
goes bad after it goes soft. He said garlic is very fragile. (Never would have thought
that.) Anyway, this year after pulling it, I left it in the sun to dry for
several days and the heat cooked it. I always dry it under the pine tree in the
shade, but decided to just leave it in the sun in late June. Bad decision! So,
I guess there is a reason for not changing your process for doing something –
even if you don’t remember why you are doing it!
My tomatoes are starting to
ripen – slowly. Zucchini is quite slow, which is about right. Both varieties of
cucs are really producing, but unfortunately one lemon cuc plant is getting
aphids. Ugh! Don’t know if I can stop them. And, the head on the sunflower is getting
big.
Fundraiser
Last Saturday, the Siskiyou Co. Republican Women Federated,
Walt Moody and Siskiyou Co. Veterans Leadership Council held a fundraiser for
the victims of the Klamathon Fire up in Hornbrook area. I called Co-President
Kathy Tyler on Sunday and learned they brought in over $24,000! Wow! Grill
Master Dave Tyler barbecued pulled pork and the women made the food and fancy
desserts. One dessert (accompanied with a bottle of impressive wine) went for
$1,800! We certainly have a fantastic empathetic community.
All the funds are going into Sheriff Jon Lopey’s Foundation
account located at the Mechanics Bank (used to be Scott Valley Bank), who will
disperse the funds.
Water
The Siskiyou Co. Supervisors had quite a busy board meeting
last week. I chatted with Ray Haupt about it. Officials and an attorney with
the California Water Quality Control Board -- this is the agency that is
mandated through the Environmental Policy Act – were there to talk about
hydrology and groundwater.
Ray said he questioned
them why they were planning to do a hydrology study on the Shasta River, when
the Board of Supervisors recently approved a contract for the same type of
study with Dr. Thomas Harter, who is the lead of the decade-long Scott River
hydrology study. Ray said he and Supervisor Michael Kobseff really pressed them
for an answer as to why they would spend the money to do a duplicate study. They
did not give an answer.
Apparently, the Water Quality Control Board is also trying to
up-date CEQA for Klamath dam removal. Ray and other county supervisors brought
up the fact that California water standards are very high. Their concern is
that if J.C. Boyle dam is removed, in Oregon, the water quality entering
California will not meet California’s standards. Oh, good question that
certainly must be answered and was not.
POW
There is much more on this subject and Ray will be at the
Scott Valley Protect Our Water meeting on Thurs., Aug. 30th to tell
us about it. That meeting is at the Fort Jones Community Center at 7 p.m. Erin
Ryan, from Congressman LaMalfa’s office, will also be in attendance.
Secretary Zinke
It was great to hear Secretary of Interior, Ryan Zinke, and
Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, toured the Carr Fire damage down in
Redding with our Congressman Doug LaMalfa. KRCR television interviewed him. I
watched the video and was impressed that Sec. Zinke believes the health of our
forests is in a terrible situation. He said he was a Seal Commander in Iraq and
that the devastation from the Carr Fire reminded him of the destruction in
Iraq.
He said the density of the trees and undergrowth is a huge
problem and that we should be thinning and cleaning our forests instead of
importing lumber from foreign countries. Zinke did not want to assign blame except
to say that multiple lawsuits erected barriers for access to the forests and
that some radical groups don’t want to see a single tree come out of the
forest.
Then Ray told me he watched a video, later in the week, of
Zinke and Perdue in a Cabinet meeting with President Trump and it looked like
Trump gets it. It is the first time, in years, Ray has heard a president talk
about the terrible mismanagement of the forests. “It’s encouraging,” said Ray.
Wow, sounds like something good regarding governing policy of
our forests could start to happen.
Liz Bowen began writing ranch and
farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County
and lives near Callahan. Call her at 530-467-3515. Check out her blog at:
LizWritesLife.blogspot.com
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