March 11, 2020

Liz Writes Life

Garden

Nope, I did not get lettuce planted. Also, did not drag the hoses out of the garage and get them hooked-up to irrigate the garlic, rhubarb, asparagus and perennials. Ended-up doing other things, although I can’t remember what those other things were? Oops.

Ran into Dan Deppen in Etna and he was planning on planting potatoes and onions last week. My potatoes that I dug last fall are sprouting and would love to be planted. Yep, one more thing to put on the “to-do” list. I also need to cut lots of suckers from the lilac bush that is too close to the house; and there is good new growth on the two rose bushes, so I need to cut-off the old canes and prune them up.

I’ve been doing family history stuff (in the house) and even on warm days have not been enticed to get outside and start the spring clean-up. Hum, the calendar says that the first day of spring isn’t until March 19^th. Gosh, that means it really is still winter!

Sure was praying for extra rain and snow from the squalls that came through last weekend. The warm February temperatures really hurt our snowpack. The March U.S. Forest Service survey shows our Siskiyou snowpacks are at about 43 percent of historic averages. Darn!

Helicopter story

A few weeks ago, I had another good chat with my brother, Steve Dillman. He recalled a fun story that is worth sharing. At least, I think it’s worth sharing.

In the late 1970s, Steve was flying a Hughes 500 helicopter working for Lucas Logging based in Yreka. For some background, Steve flew helicopter in Vietnam, then for a timber, mining and exploration company based in Ketchikan, Alaska and for a company in Grants Pass before being hired by Lucas. So, Steve had lots of experience using the helicopter for many purposes. For Lucas, he was supporting the logging business, flying employees to various jobs, working on fires and doing other for-hire commercial enterprises like pouring cement from an under-the-aircraft bucket on bridges for local contractor Leo Davis. Quite often he flew search and rescue missions in our mountains -- saving injured climbers and sometimes taking bodies off Mt. Shasta. So, his 15 years of expertise was broad.

Our Uncle Charley Dillman was working for the City of Etna as its “maintenance” man. There is probably a much more politically correct and important-sounding title for this position nowadays. Anyway, each morning Charley hand-cranked the large United States flag up the 200 ft. tall flagpole, which had been made from a very big fir tree. One time, it got stuck when he was cranking it up or back down. He couldn’t get it to budge. So, he started wondering how to (cheaply) get it fixed. Should the city hire someone to climb the flagpole? There was serious concern and mystery on the sturdiness of the pole. No one seemed to know how long it had been in place. (Today, the newer flagpole is only 100 feet tall.)

That was when Charley thought of his nephew, Steve, who was pretty handy with a helicopter. The two discussed the problem. Yep, Steve could lift Charley up to the flagpole, so he could investigate and fix the problem. Steve put his thinking cap on (after obtaining permission from his boss to do the deed) and borrowed a parachute harness with several nylon-sling lines. He thought of all the safety issues to make sure he wouldn’t accidently release the sling-line from the cargo hook; then remove his pilot door, so he could look straight down and watch Charley dangling under the copter.

The day arrived for the project. Steve landed the helicopter in the parking lot of what was then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is now the Methodist Church. Charley bravely let Steve snap the harness in place and Steve took to the controls flying him over and above the flagpole. He lowered Charley down until he was literally standing on the gold ball on top, then allowed Charley to slide down the pole. Charley checked the upper snap. No entanglement there. He signaled to go down further and found a splice in the cable had become lodged with the snap. He was able to get it unbound and loose. He signaled again to Steve who flew back to the parking lot setting Charley down and then the helicopter.

Hurriedly, Charley walked over to the flagpole and cranked the flag down. Whew! The project worked!

Then, casually, the two decided to walk down Main St. and refresh themselves at the local café. They ran into Molly MacGowan, who was one of the few people that had watched the entire scene, which really didn’t spark much interest in the town’s people. Even now, Molly told me that she doesn’t recall much of the event.

No money changed hands. It was a voluntary support-the-Siskiyou-community project for Steve and Lucas. And the unsung hero, Charley, may have enjoyed the “thrill” of hanging in the sky at the age of 58 or 59. He was born in 1919. Or maybe it wasn’t such a thrill, just a job that needed fixing.

Klamath dams

Last week, the non-profit Klamath River Renewal Corp. announced it is on track for taking the four hydro-electric dams out and that it submitted documentation to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that is has sufficient funds to complete the destruction of the dams.

Gotta say that I question that KRRC has the sufficient funds of $446 million. I also question KRRC’s math on the actual cost of removal of the dams and if KRRC has correctly addressed potential liability issues of known and unknown additional environmental destruction to private property owners from the loss of the Irongate and Copco reservoirs and potential river flooding.

Even though KRRC claims it is “on track” it must be remembered that no decision has been made by the federal agency now in control of the process. And as KRRC continues its track towards dam removal, there are also property owners, grass roots groups and the County of Siskiyou watch-dogging and questioning KRRC’s documents, tactics and claims. Dam removal is still a long way from being a done deal!

POW

Scott Valley Protect Our Water will meet on Thursday, March 26, 2020 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. Columns from the past year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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