February 12, 2019
Liz Writes Life
They were late! It was after 9 a.m., on Saturday, before tiny
flakes began fluttering past my windows. Flurries of wind made them dance
before disappearing on the ground. By another hour, the snowflakes had grown
and soon white began to appear. On-and-off the storm darkened and lightened the
day. I talked with friends and family in Fort Jones and then Etna. Snowmen were
being made along with forts and snowball fights ensuing. Finally, a real snow
storm was hitting Scott Valley! Yay!
In late afternoon, I went out to use the broom and brush-off
the snow from my car and was surprised to find at least five-inches. I drove up
and down the long driveway to make sure passage would be easier, if we received
more snow. We did, but it was only a skiff.
It was a cold 19 degrees Sunday morning and I drove extra
slow on my way to church. The snowplow had been by several times, on Highway 3,
and sanded the road. Whew! Thanks Cal-Trans and county employees for working
over-time!
I had prepared for the snowstorm by bringing-in extra wood to
the porch, cleaning the ashes out of the stove, cutting a big batch of
kindling, buying milk at the store and making a batch of sour dough bread. When
the power clicked-off for 10 seconds and came back on, I found some buckets and
filled them with water for flushing the toilet. I already had quite a few
gallons for drinking and cooking. So far, I believe, the extra water (sitting
in buckets in the bathtub) is keeping the power on. Yep, I do!
I don’t claim the power always goes off, but over the years I
have experienced a fair share of power outages, pipes freezing, well-pumps all-of-a-sudden
not working (in winter and summer) and I have learned to be somewhat prepared. My
husband tended to be grouchy, when he didn’t have water to make coffee in the
morning. So I have kept drinking water, in gallon jugs, in the kitchen for
years. Which reminds me, I haven’t written about preparedness for a while. Hum
…
Sounds like Kellems Lane may have had the most snow with a
friend reporting about a foot. An unexpected phone call from Somes Bar reported
eight-inches of snow on Sunday morning! Wow and the elevation down there is
only about 500 feet. Near Callahan, I am at 3,100 feet above sea level.
I was pleasantly surprised that there was more snow in the
high-elevations than I ever expected. A whole lot more! The local Klamath
National Forest USFS employees measured five snowcourses and found the snowpack
at 95 percent of historic average and 100 percent of the historic average of
water content. The measurements were taken on Feb. 1, 2019 – before this
weekend’s storm, so things should be looking really good. It just needs to
freeze and stay cold above 5,000 feet for a while.
Scott Mt., at 5,900 ft., actually had 120 percent of average
with 48 inches. Middle Boulder 1, at 6,600 ft., showed 115 percent with 57
inches, but Swampy John behind Etna, at 5,500 ft., was the lowest with only 43
percent of average with 24 inches of snow. Bet that increased with the weekend
storm.
So about preparedness: No, I don’t have everything I need for
a very long stint of power outage or other crisis. But, I could get by for
several days to a week. Biggest problem, if the power goes out, is the refrig
and freezer. This time of year, you can figure out how to make do by putting
things outside in a tub or ice chest.
But for a reminder, let’s talk about a few things. Because I
can be absentminded, I keep several flashlights in specific spots -- in my
bedside drawer and by the outside door. They are always there and can be found
in the dark. I have lots of candles and several oil lanterns that work and I
know where the extra oil is at. I do have a propane cook stove, so I have
several extra boxes of matches for it and for the wood stove. I do like to eat
and have a variety of canned, dried and freeze-dried foods.
Looking around, I am low on a few things like toilet paper,
flour, powdered milk, butter, oatmeal and some over-the-counter medicines.
Remember, you can always use your outside barbecue to heat things, especially
if it runs on propane. A friend recently told me she finished baking banana
bread in her barbecue, when the power went out – and was out for three days!
She used it quite a bit.
All I suggest is to try to think of things that would make
life easier during a crisis like the power going out.
Robo calls
Seems like I have received a lot of robo calls on both my
home phone and my cell the past six months and I wanted to remind everyone to –
just hang up! Do not listen. Don’t waste your time! Credit card companies do
not call to say you are late, at least, not without stating the company name
and giving other info. Still, I wouldn’t trust a credit card company to call
you. If it is a live person calling, be sure to get their name and number and
make a return call to that number and phone provider to complain.
Lately, I have received calls claiming I am late with my
student loan. I never got a student loan, so I know this is a scam. I also
don’t have credit cards.
Yes, there is a Do Not Call Registry, but apparently the
volume of robo and scam calls has increased to such a level that it really
doesn’t work. Scammers are invading user privacy regulations to extremes. I
read an article in the Deseret News on Jan. 30, 2019 that robocallers made over
26.3 billion phone calls to Americans last year. That is outrageous.
Some calls that I have received had our area code and even a
local pre-fix. One was Montague with a 459. This is called “Neighborhood
Spoofing” where the scammers disguise their number using something local.
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received about
500,000 scammer complaints each month, according to the article I read.
It looks like this problem will continue, which is sad.
Please, be careful with these unknown phone calls. It would be so frustrating
to get ripped-off. That’s why I don’t listen to what the scammer has to say, I
just hang up.
POW
Scott Valley Protect Our Water will hold its first meeting of
the year on Feb. 28, 2019 at the Fort Jones Community Center at 7 p.m.
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.
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