Dad

My Dad came to visit the other day. He lives in Discovery Bay, Ca on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. He was only here for a day and a half, but it was a nice visit. We went to Sturtevant Falls (water flowing nicely) then back down First Water and up The Switchbacks. Ben's cabin (#16) looks good with its front porch restored.

Jack Is Back

Well, not for real. But Canyon Dave has been bringing him around a lot. For those of you who don't know Jack, he lived at the Pack Station when Kim owned the place. He knows Big Santa Anita Canyon inside and out. He would often go hiking with a group of strangers and return when he felt like it. He belonged more to The Canyon than to Kim. It's a shame he has to live elsewhere, but I was glad to see him here, chasing donkeys like old times.

Fireside Chat and/or Nero Fiddling

Yesterday, Michael Kinney, head of the Sierra Madre Fire Safe Council, came to Chantry with what he admitted was a "dog and pony show". He called last week with the cryptic announcement that he had something that would "save the Pack Station". It turns out that someone (namely the manufacturer) convinced him that we need trucks with air-powered fire hoses. The idea was that we could knock down a fire immediately after it starts. I suppose as soon as someone drops a cigarette in the brush we would smell the smoke, hop in the fire truck and just drive it four miles along the two-foot-wide Stock Trail to Spruce Grove; and of course, the fire would wait for us to come squirt water on it.

I try to ignore all the yap and circumstance of our own Fire Safe Council, but it seems to me nothing can replace some good old-fashioned fire clearance. A fire will come through here some day and all we can do is hope for the best.

Broken Toy Under the Christmas Tree

I think my blog has been suffering from New Toy Syndrome. In the beginning I made a lot more entries than I expected. I played with the colors and the "frames page" set up. I thought a lot about what to write. Then I forgot about it.

Actually, winter happened as well. The internet access was at the porch computer. When the days got short and the nights got cold, I didn't want to sit outside and edit HTML. But 60 dollars later and with a lot of help form Sue, my computer in the Bunkhouse is now connected to the wireless network. Now I can "blog" at night. Besides, the website proper has a long way to go - photos, stories, more "news" items...

This Job Blows

I finally got something that everyone will hate but will save me lots of time and will really make the Pack Station look sharp: a leaf blower. Now I can get all those little Bay Tree flowers that turn black and can't be raked up. I can get the Bay leaves out of the gutter, the spider webs out of the eaves, and the dust back up in the air where it belongs.