Liz Writes Life 4-29-2020

April 29, 2020

Liz Writes Life

Ammo

Good news for those who need to purchase ammunition. In a recent court victory, background checks are not needed to purchase ammunition.

The California Gun Owners, California & Pistol Assoc., won a lawsuit challenging California’s Prop 63 ammunition sales restrictions, which resulted in an injunction issued against the state that prevents California from enforcing the law while the case continues to be litigated. Prop 63 became law, along with a handful of other gun laws, in 2016.

According to a press release by the California Rifle & Pistol Assoc., the mass of those new laws took effect in two phases. On July 1, 2018, direct purchase and shipments of ammunition became prohibited without going through a licensed vendor. Then on July 1, 2019, background checks for all ammo transactions were required. Interestingly enough, the technology failed miserably and denied many Californians their Constitutional rights.

The injunction was issued April 23, 2020. Chuck Michel, President and General Counsel of the CRPA, said: “In truth, red tape and the state’s disastrous database errors made it impossible for hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Californians to purchase ammunition for sport or self-defense. The Court found that the flimsy reasons offered by the government to justify these Constitutional infringements were woefully inadequate.”

CRPA expects the state to appeal the ruling, but for right now some Second Amendment restrictions have been restored. I am not sure if this also affects the ability to purchase ammo on-line or out-of-state.

Old song new again

There is a heart-warming story coming out of the United Kingdom. Captain Tom Moore will celebrate his 100^th birthday, tomorrow, April 30, 2020 and he has just achieved several other amazing milestones. The first feat was to raise 28 million pounds for those serving during the Covid-19 pandemic by walking laps around his garden lot. In a video, where he is honored by Britain’s own military soldiers standing at attention, he walks at a pretty good clip although he does use a walker. And, his stature (wearing his uniform) is also quite erect.

On April 6, 2020, Capt. Moore’s original goal was to raise 1,000 pounds before his 100^th birthday by walking 100 laps around his garden with the donated funds going to the National Health Service staff’s needs. He also joined social media “Twitter” on the same day, where he announced and detailed his daily 10 laps. The word got out about the Captain’s project and he quickly raised more funds than expected. So, he kept on walking.

His other feat came after he recently recorded the 1945 hit song, “You’ll never walk alone” with famous singer, Michael Ball, and the NHS Voices of Care Choir. The song went viral on-line, to the top -- and now Capt. Tom Moore is the oldest person to top the UK’s music chart. Because he is turning 100 tomorrow, he may hold this achievement for a long time. The video can be found on youtube.com and well worth watching.

Capt. Moore served in the 8^th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, starting in the Second World War and is still serving his country during this Covid-19 pandemic. Way to go Capt. Tom!

Garden

It is rare for me to even think of planting tomato plants in April, but I plan on it this week. Yes, I know, I know, I am always cautioning gardeners to not get excited and plant too early. So, I may have to eat my words – this year!

Because of this drought and consistent warm temps, I have been checking several weather stations that forecast into the future. Will May be as warm and frost-free as these forecasts claim? Yep, that is the question. AccuWeather is the one I rely on the most, because it uses a Mt. Shasta station. The City of Mount Shasta is at 3,586 feet elevation and I am at about 3,100 here by Callahan. I have found the predicted Mt. Shasta’s freezes or frosts, in spring and fall, to be about the same as at my place. Sometimes, I am actually a few degrees cooler.

Well, in checking AccuWeather, it looks like there will be a few times, when it might get down to the mid-30s next month. No predicted freezes! It claims the first few nights of May (this weekend) and then again around May 13 and 14 will have cooler days and mid-30 degree early-mornings. This is definitely a very different year than what I consider “normal,” if there is such a thing as normal!

Typically, I expect to cover the tomatoes, on some nights, during May and into June. But, I really think it will stay mild, although I will be prepared with boxes and other coverings. Last year, I did plant the garden the first week of May, which was a change of nearly 20 years of planting at the end of May; and it survived several light frosts.

For years, in the 1970s to 1990s, my dad, and others, planted on rodeo weekend, so this is not something new.

I am still getting the soil in the rows ready (need to add manure), so it will be the first week of May when I hope to plant cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, cantaloupe, green beans, pumpkins, pepper plants and corn.

Darn tiny mallow weeds were already growing in the lettuces and spinach. Took a good look at them on Friday evening and went to work doing the intricate weeding. Almost needed tweezers!

Then, I decided to transplant the volunteer onions. Several were over a foot-tall, but were growing where I want to plant corn. Five were growing double. I was able to split them, not breaking-off the roots. The biggest job was soaking the soil, before I planted them. The soil was so dry, I felt like a little kid making mud. Ended-up with 15 onions transplanted successfully.

The rhubarb had grown so huge that I harvested about 20 pounds from the biggest one. I was pleased that I didn’t over-pick and it is already filling-in. Gave most away, but did make a batch of Jello strawberry jam using rhubarb. Yum!

It does feel good to be out in the garden digging and planning where and when to plant – hoping to make the right decisions. Happy gardening everyone!

Rodeo postponed

Because of the Covid-19 virus pandemic, the Etna Pleasure Park Rodeo has been postponed (or canceled) according to its website. This would have been the 73^rd annual rodeo held the first Sunday of May, starting back in 1947.

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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Liz Writes Life 4-22-2020

April 22, 2020

Liz Writes Life

JH Ranch

The JH Ranch has decided to close its camping and guest activities for the entire year. Through a post on facebook.com, the business had said it hoped to open in May. Then, protection from the covid-19 virus pandemic began putting states and communities into lockdown. Needless to say, there were concerns about an influx of people into Scott Valley. Ray Haupt, our Dist. 5 Siskiyou Co. Supervisor, told me he received many emails and phone calls about fears of the guest ranch opening.

Ray told me that he and county department officials made phone calls to JH’s headquarters in Alabama and talked with JH Ranch Director, Jonathan LeDuc, regarding the situation. To the relief of many residents, JH recently announced on its website that it will close for the summer season. A big thank you should go out to Ray and county officials for the positive outcome on this JH issue.

As of Monday, Scott Valley has not had any confirmed cases of covid-19 virus. There has been gossip of someone claiming to have it. This is not true, or at least, this person has not been confirmed by Siskiyou Co. Public Health and medical staff.

According to the Siskiyou Co. Public Health Dept. website, there have only been five confirmed covid-19 cases in our county. Four have recovered and one is still active. Of the 215 individuals tested, 202 were negative. Eight are awaiting results and there have been no deaths. This is good news for sure.

Scams

Please, please, please do not be hoodwinked by scams, especially regarding the possibility of receiving your CARES Relief Act stimulus funds quickly. There are numerous reports of too-good-to-be-true scams and people asking for your social security number and bank account numbers. Never give these out to anyone through email, text or phone calls; or anyone knocking at your door. This is not how the IRS works and the money will be sent by the IRS.

Also, be very careful when you are selling something online on any website. A friend recently told me a possible buyer asked for a bank account number to transfer the funds. Do not do this! Instead, call our sheriff’s department and let them investigate, especially if you have been able to get a name or address of the alleged buyer.

Ace Cozzalio

One of Siskiyou County’s own Vietnam-era helicopter pilots was set to be inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame this week, on April 23, 2020. Because of the covid-19 virus pandemic, the big Army Aviation Summit meeting has been postponed, but you can bet it will happen, and Lt. Col. Ace Cozzalio, who died April 30, 1993 of a failed heart transplant, will be given yet another honor for his distinguished military service and heroic missions.

Currently, there are 172 members in the Army Aviation Hall of Fame and only three new members are inducted each year. While flying in Vietnam, Ace received a significant number of medals including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Crosses, Soldier’s Medal, many commendations of valor and two Purple Hearts -- from a bullet to his neck and a broken jaw during a crash on an early mission.

Ace was a natural-born leader and motivated his fellow Cavalry soldiers by encouraging the wearing of yellow Army Civil War-era scarves and authentic silver-belly cowboy hats. Ace, quite often, donned an 1873 Cavalry uniform and almost always carried an 1860 saber. After all, they were originally a cavalry unit that just switched from horses to helicopters. He was good at keeping up morale.

I have been reading a book, blogs and news articles about Ace, who was born in Ashland, OR in 1946. He was quite the character and cowboy having grown-up on the family ranch outside of Hornbrook on the Klamath River. When given the chance by the Army, Ace eagerly embraced flying. He quickly gained the skills needed to fly the small, two-manned, Loach Hughes OH-6A helicopters nicknamed “War Wagons” and the bigger helicopters. But, he found his forte with the Lighthorse Air Cavalry, (D Troop, 3^rd of the 5^th Cavalry) hugging the ground and skimming tree tops flying lead missions scouting for the enemy. His courage, determination and downright “guts” made him an undeniable force. When being shot at by the enemy, he was known to nose-down and attack straight into battle. Other pilots and gunners retell amazing exploits. Yes, he was shot down and crashed six times and had aerial mechanical problems, but lived to go at it again and again.

I called Rex Cozzalio, who was planning (along with family) to accept Ace’s newest award at the Army Aviation Hall of Fame meeting. Rex continues to miss his best friend and older brother. He said it is “wonderful” for Ace to receive this newest recognition. Rex and Ace grew up fishing and playing in the Klamath River, riding horses and working cattle on the ranch. Ace was driving tractor at age 9. They were Team Roping partners and played in a country band together. Rex said that as a teen, Ace wanted to be a rock star and was a very good musician.

In the mid-1960s, the Draft called Ace’s number, so he decided to enlist and ended-up in the Cavalry. He did several tours in Vietnam and stayed in the Army providing training for new soldiers. It was while doing field training in Kansas, when the Epstein-Barr virus attacked his heart. The Army medically retired Ace around 1986 and he returned to the ranch on the Klamath River.

But, a lessening of energy didn’t slow Ace. He ran for county supervisor riding his horse to visit with his potential constituents, taught college classes and also created curriculum. Then, he had the idea there should be a memorial for Siskiyou veterans. So, Ace and friends went to work to create the Hot LZ Memorial Wall and the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden up on Hwy 97. In 1994, a special bronze plaque with Ace wearing his Cavalry silver belly was unveiled with special honors.

Many people do interesting and amazing things. Ace was truly unusual, adventurous, dynamic and quite spiritual. The book I am reading is by Rex Gooch, who was also a Vietnam pilot. It is titled “Ace: The Story of Lt. Col. Ace Cozzalio” and can be found online in hardcopy or ebook and is well worth reading about his Vietnam missions and exploits. Ace Cozzalio certainly merits this newest recognition by the U.S. Army Aviation Hall of Fame.

Garden

Can’t believe how big the rhubarb has grown. Guess I can do a bit of harvesting. Snapped-off several asparagus and ate them, while irrigating last week. They, too, are growing fast. Some of the peas are popping-up. From talking with friends, it looks like gardening is going to be a big activity this summer. Seeds are selling like crazy.

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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Liz Writes Life 4-15-2020

April 15, 2020

Liz Writes Life

It is Tax Day – April 15th and I wonder how many people have done their taxes?

Because of the social-distancing lockdown from the national level, the IRS extended the annual deadline to July 15th. California followed suit, so our state taxes are not due until July 15th as well. Yay! This is good news for taxpayers, especially during these uncertain times with job losses due to the covid-19 virus pandemic. Just remember (procrastinators) that we must still get our income taxes filed – sooner than later!

There is more good news from IRS. This month, it will begin distributing the CARES Act Relief funds into taxpayers’ bank accounts. It took some doing, but Congress (both Houses) passed and President Trump signed this stimulus package into law to help those enduring financial problems from the shut-down of many businesses.

The full credit amount of $1,200 for individuals, $2,400 for couples and $500 for each child is available for individuals with Adjusted Growth Income at or below $75,000; and couples with AGI at or below $150,000. This income is based on your 2018 tax return. Taxpayers that provided direct bank deposit information will likely receive this one-time rebate into that account.

Printed paper checks will be sent for those individuals that did not include direct deposit information. The agency responsible for printing paper checks can only send out about 5 million per week. According to a CARES Act press release, estimates show that 150-170 million taxpayers may be eligible for these payments. Wow, that is a lot!

According to the CARES Act, people with the lowest incomes will receive their payment first.

Fortunately, for Americans who don’t usually file tax returns, (typically because of low or Social Security Benefits income) the IRS has launched a new online tool to help them register, so they can receive this CARES Act Economic Impact Payment. Believe it or not, the IRS worked with a non-profit organization, called Free File Alliance, to develop this new online tool.

Unfortunately, this will need to be done online as IRS.gov has a (non-filers) form on its website. TurboTax and H&R Block type of preparers should also have information on how to find the application form.

Those receiving Social Security benefits should receive their payment into their direct deposit account.

More good news

Last week, I chatted with our Dist. 5 Siskiyou Co. Supervisor, Ray Haupt, (by phone). He was hopeful about a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, which should release a significant amount of forested areas that are off-limits to management. This decision is about “critical habitat” that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated for an Endangered Species Act-listed species.

In a nutshell, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government over-estimated where an ESA-listed animal lives and must now re-evaluate its critical habitat. This was a lawsuit brought by a natural resource company against the USFWS.

Ray expects this decision will affect all ESA-listed species, including the Northern Spotted Owl. It is estimated that millions of forested acres were designated for the owl in areas it does not live. This is proven by over 30 years of extensive “hooting” for owls by biologists on both public and private lands. Government agencies and land owners know where the owls are and where they are not. This is not fake science.

Gotta say that I have been writing about this abuse by the USFWS for decades – claiming habitat for a specie that does not live in that area. Critical habitat has also been designated for listed-species that are not native to the area. I wonder if this decision will affect those species?

Under the ESA, a listed-specie must be native to the area in order to receive protection. There are species that have been ESA-listed, but are not native. Yep, underhanded stuff has been going on for a long time.

Thanks

Ray also said that in the latest county supervisors’ board tele-video meeting, he thanked the medical workers that have been so diligent during this pandemic. He also thanked businesses and his constituents for their personal sacrifices and social-distancing to keep us all safe.

“You are the unsung heroes,” he said.

Lockdown

It was about a month ago, when the covid-19 virus pandemic changed our lives. We have been lucky, here in Siskiyou County, as we have only had 5 individuals test positive as of April 13, 2020. According to the county Public Health website, three of those five are now well and only the two newest cases are active. Over 157 individuals have been tested with 143 testing negative. Nine cases are waiting for results.

Most of us are missing our normal social interaction. No hugs! No handshakes! No job to go to! Here in Scott Valley, we are being pretty good and keeping our distance when we go to the store, take-out food or visit for a few minutes outside. It was hard to not attend church on Easter, but we did it!

A few more people are turning to gardening and doing extra cleaning of things from inside the house to our yards. So, because fire season will soon be upon us, this is a good time to clean-up brush and weeds from around our homes. I still need to prune the suckers around my lilac bush and clear-out dried rye grass that is taking over my wild flower garden.

Garden

Plants are amazing. In just two weeks, since I started irrigating the rhubarb plants, they have grown a foot-and-a-half! Of course, the warm temps were helpful as well. I see the spinach is poking up about a half-an-inch and some asparagus are up to two-inches tall. Took some looking (and thinking), but I finally found where I stored my granulated fertilizer and used it to fertilize the garlic and volunteer onions.

Looks like irrigation season has officially started and I will need to irrigate every few days. Darn it, I miss April showers!

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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Liz Writes Life 4-8-2020

April 8, 2020

Liz Writes Life

It was so, so, so wonderful, to look out Sunday morning and see a steady rain! I said a prayer thanking God and was grateful when it rained again in the evening and woke to rain on Monday morning.

All of this stay-in-place stuff has made me very lazy, so I was impressed with myself when I went out on Thursday and hooked hoses together and started irrigating. Oh, things were extremely dry. I started on the rhubarb. It was only about six-inches out of the ground, but with decent-sized leaves. Made a huge ring-type of soil-trench around it and ran the water for 10 minutes, then did the smaller rhubarb plant.

While I was waiting for the water to soak-in, I used my favorite grubbing hoe and dug up some weeds and what I call a ground-hugging cress. I really don’t know what it is. The filaree is fairly good sized and I dug a bunch out. Oh, and then there was a dreaded Marlahan mustard about 10-inches wide! In the garden! One good whack and it was dug-up.

Some of the volunteer garlics are taller than the five-inch tall fall-planted garlic. Both needed a slight bit of weeding and little trench-building for the water to soak-in. Then, I watered the eight volunteer onions, lettuce and spinach bed, drenched the non-existent asparagus and the phlox that is two-inches tall. Decided the one-inch-tall bee balm should also get irrigated, along with hollyhocks, tulips and really wimpy short narcissus.  

Since I was zoned-in, I added another 50-foot hose and watered the boy-girl pink and blue blossomed lungwort, feverfew, snapdragons, more tulips and some Oriental poppies. Even gave volunteer California poppies some water, because they looked worse than wimpy. Can’t believe how the small lavender violet plants have scattered. Watered to the end-reach of 150-feet of hose and ran out of umph, so I stopped.

The weather man said it should rain during the weekend. But I really didn’t trust him, so I irrigated the rhubarb, garlic, lettuce, spinach, onions and asparagus, again, on Friday, with high hopes. No, I am not taking credit. Ha, ha. Just so happy we did receive some nice rains.

This extreme dryness was verified, when the USFS Klamath National Forest sent out the local April 1^st 2020 snowpack report. Yep, it was not good as the snow levels were about 47 percent of average. Then, I checked the Sierra Nevada snowpack reported by the CA. Dept of Water Resources. It reported 53 percent of average. That is not good for farmers or residents in cities south of us. Darn it!

Family story

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my Uncle Charley Dillman and my brother, Steve Dillman, and their exploits using a helicopter to fix the American flag on the tall Etna flagpole around 1978. I opened my family history book and found another story about Charley, but this is during his teen years. Not as exciting as hanging from a helicopter, but might give us some perspective to life in the 1930s.

Charley told me that sports kept him in school. Scholastics were not his forte, but he liked the sports offered at Etna High School in the mid-1930s. He ran the quarter-mile in track and played football, but basketball was his favorite. EHS played against Happy Camp, Butte Valley, Tulelake, Fort Jones and a few other teams.

On one basketball trip, the team took three cars to Tulelake. This was on the old roads and I don’t have the faintest idea if they were paved or not. I also don’t know the makes or models of the vehicles. (Darn, things I didn’t think to ask about.) At the time, there were three teams from most of the schools. The teams were called A, B, or C. Height, weight and age were use to place the boys in compatible groups.

Well, this is a winter story, during a typical basketball season. Charley played on the A Team and the B Team was dropped off to play at Doris. Charley’s team won, but while beginning the drive back home, the car he was in became stuck in a mud hole – on Tulelake’s Main Street. The boys were told to get out and push. Sure enough, they got it out of the mud hole. The B Team beat the Butte Valley Team, so the guys were in high spirits as they headed toward Mt. Hebron.

It had been snowing and at some point, one of the other cars slid-off the road. In the snowy dark night, the teens got out and pushed the car back on. Going was slow and the three cars stayed together. The trip home took all night. It was just breaking daylight as the group drove through the City of Weed. There was no Interstate 5 back then, so they would have driven Hwy 99 on the West side of Shasta Valley through Gazelle. It likely took several more hours as they were still driving in snow.

When he was finally dropped-off at Holzhauser Lane, near his home by Etna, the morning chores, including milking the cows, were finished. His highlight was that, at least, he had gotten out of doing morning chores!

Charley graduated in June 1938. EHS was housed in the big red brick building on Howell Avenue at the time. Apparently, my interview with Charley (back in the early 1990s) didn’t include much information about the graduation. I did get a few wild and wooly teenaged stories. But, those exploits will have to wait for another day.

When the George Dillman family lived on Holzhauser Lane, they had to hand-pull-up buckets of water from the well. There wasn’t any running water in the two-story house and only a bare electric light bulb hung from the middle of a few rooms. Yep, they used an outhouse.

With this covid-19 virus pandemic, our lives have been drastically changed. In our reflections on our life, it is nice to realize that at least we do have running water with indoor plumbing, electric heat and lights. Sadly, sports have been shut-down in schools, along with classes and graduations. But, when school is in session, the students now ride in nice vans or busses and don’t have to get out and push their vehicle out of mud holes or snow banks!

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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