John the Builder

It was a nice day in Canoga Park. The air was relatively clean, the sun was shining, and there was no school. It was cool and mid-morning, as the birds chirped and twittered in the shrubs surrounding the small stucco we lived in. I didn't know what to do with myself. My younger brother John was headed out the door of the house with purpose. He had a cardboard shoe box filled with "Matchbox" cars and trucks under his arm as he stepped through the front door threshold, the screen door slamming behind him.

"Where are you going Barry?" we called him by his middle name back then.

"Gonna play cars." he answered without pausing or turning to look at me. He was definitely on a mission as he turned left off the front porch toward the side yard. I decided to follow, it sounded interesting.

Not much grew in the side yard; it was pretty much just dirt. It was a narrow strip that ran down the side of our house, bounded by a wooden fence along the property line. It was maybe eight feet wide, and was shaded by the house on the one side, and by the fence on the other. There were some plants and shrubs up against the wall of the house, but the ground was essentially dry and fairly loose.

A lawn mower growled its way through the neighbor’s lawn across the street. It sounded like someone was playing "Hit the Bat" down the block a ways. I could hear faint shouting as I watched John kneel down, and smooth out a patch of dirt about four feet by four feet in size. He sat back on his knees, blue jeans grinding into the earth, and Jack Purcell sneakers under his butt, silently surveying the area. Then, he leaned forward, supporting himself with one hand, and with the flattened palm of his other, began to slowly push through the loosely smoothed dirt. This left a narrow trail, or path, the width of his hand. But really, it was a road for the little Matchbox cars.

I joined him there on the ground, imitating his road building method and beginning to create a network of roads.

"We'll put the fire station over here." he said pointing to a centrally located spot. He reached into the shoe box, and pulled out a red fire truck, parking it at the newly located "station". We continued our road building for several minutes, John carefully blending in the intersections.

The sound was soft, but definite. A low growl emanating from John's lips as he pushed in more road. Out came a small bulldozer to help finish the heavy excavation. I quickly tired of road building, and grabbed a little Matchbox car to try out the newly constructed streets. Revving the engine, and squealing the tires around curves. John took out more vehicles, and placed them around our developing little city. He seemed more interested in placing the roads, imaginary gas stations, fire departments, and grocery stores than doing the driving. This is not to say that he didn't run his cars and trucks around the town. This he did, with purpose, taking time to widen curves where necessary, and lay out a parking lot here or there as needed.

It wasn't long before I tired of squealing my little car around the city's streets. I heard  a shout and saw one of  the neighbor kids out in the street with a ball. "Hey Bear, wanna play ball?" I said.

John paused and looked up, still on his hands and knees. "Naw, go ahead." I got up, dusted off my knees and headed for the street at a run.

It was probably an hour later, when my friend and I tired of kicking the ball around. His Mom called him back home for lunch, and I headed back toward my house. As I waited for a car that was slowly cruising down the street, I glanced across at the side yard where I had left John with his burgeoning metropolis. All I could see was his rear end as he studiously continued to develop and manage his little city.

After the car had motored by, I raced across the street to where John was just finishing up what looked like the Topanga Plaza shopping mall in miniature. Well, really only the parking lot, with small squares and mounds for buildings. I was pretty sure I recognized the Ventura Freeway there, with the extra wide Topanga Canyon Blvd coming off it.

There in the dirt of my side yard was an incredibly intricate network of roads that had now become more of a diorama than a few scuff marks in the dirt. They stretched from the corner of the house all the way back to the chimney that was about half way to the back yard gate. It was an amazing feat of modern engineering in miniature. Cars and trucks were spread out on the various roadways. And there was John, pushing a little Matchbox semi along, slowly going through the gears as the truck gradually came up to speed.

He paused, sat back on his heels and surveyed his work. "Wow, Bear, this is really cool!" I exclaimed. He turned and looked at me, with a little half smile on his face.

"You can be the policeman." he said, pointing to a miniature black and white. I hunkered down to rejoin my brother. I remember being so impressed with his patience, imagination, and vision, although those thoughts were relatively indistinct in my head.

We played there for a long time. It is a day that I will never forget. Of course I had no idea then that John would one day become a city planner. Doing in real life what he had done so intently on that day in Canoga Park.

That's All!

El Fuego Soberanes

On July 22nd, near Soberanes Creek in the Garrapata State park just south of Monterey, someone decided to ignore the prohibition on campfires. After kindling their illegal fire, they then failed to put it out, and thus started the most expensive wildfire in US history.

The Operations Chief updates the camp on the
current situation at the morning briefing.

Cal Fire (our state wild land fire agency) was responsible for the initial attack, and worked for several weeks to put the fire out. during that time, 57 homes were lost, and a bull dozer operator was killed. Management of the fire transitioned to a federal incident management team after a month. That team eventually handed it off to another team (a federal team from Alaska). Then, on September 10th, I was notified that my team (California Team 4) would be taking over on the 12th.

The Incident Commander ponders the situation
as the Operations Chief (right) explains current
tactics.

The first 10 days have been interesting, and exhausting. My position, as Team Liaison Officer, is relatively new to me and therefore invigorating. The job is to be the contact between the team and local agencies and other cooperating entities that have a stake in effectively managing the fire, as in putting it out!

Leading our daily cooperators meeting is
a key part of my job.

Examples of "cooperators" are the county sheriff (evacuation and re-population), CHP (road closures and traffic control), power companies, Red Cross, local politicians, landowners, etc.

Preparing for a public meeting in the
threatened community of Arroyo Seco

So, I am their point of contact, and help them get connected with the right people on my team to achieve success. Every day I lead a working meeting of all the cooperators. The objective is to keep them informed on progress and suppression activities, and also to surface points of interaction and discuss how they can be dealt with together. Probably the biggest benefit of all is the relationships that develop as we work together to achieve mutual objectives. Ultimately, we will leave but they will be here dealing with the aftermath of the incident. Leaving having established, maintained, and improved the relationships between the local National Forest and the agencies and entities they deal with on a regular basis, indicates our ultimate success.

One of the good parts of the job is that I spend
much of my time with the Incident Commander

Sometimes, you can do a great job of fighting the fire, but ultimately it is how the locals THINK you fought the fire that counts. By being truthful, open, and engaging we are building the relationships that will continue to pay off long after we go home.

That's All!

Houston...We Have a Problem!

It was hot, very hot; and as muggy as a shower room. The sun was beginning to beat into the open garage door. Somewhere a radio was playing classic rock 'n roll. My brother Mike and I had been working on his inherited generator for a while. What started out as an easy hour and a half task, was becoming a grueling test of patience and endurance.

"That's It!' Mike shouted (after we had reassembled the generator's carburetor for the third or fourth time with no successful starts). "I've had enough of this F__KING thing.

"Easy dude! We can do this." I said

"Screw it, I'm gonna put it out on the curb with a sign that says 'FREE' on it!"

"Come on bro, take it easy, this is a pretty nice generator, we can make it work!"

It took a little more persuasion than that, but Mike finally agreed to give it one more shot. We got back at it.

The previous day he had mentioned that he had a generator that one of his neighbors had essentially abandoned after Hurricane Ike several years before. He said that it had never run great, and had been sitting (with fuel in it) for at least six years. Sounded like a fun and rewarding project...it wasn't turning out that way.

Mike smokes a good sausage, while I photo bomb him as
Teri looks on!

We started in the 80 degree relative cool of morning by draining the old gas out of the tank and carburetor, wiping things down, and cleaning it up a bit. With fresh gas, we attempted to start it. Several pulls on the starting rope indicated that that wasn't going to be enough. So we partially disassembled the carburetor and used a small brush and some carb cleaner to get the gummed up fuel off. After we got things clean, we put it all back together. It was getting warmer, and we both opened a chilled Coors Light Silver Bullet.

No luck after 15 or 20 pulls on the starter in the sauna heat, so we tried some starting fluid. Vrooom! The thing fired right up... then died after about 2 seconds. We did this several times, and then decided to check the fuel line. It was clogged with gummed up fuel, easy to clean though.

Once again we reassembled the machine, and once again.. no luck starting it. We did notice that it was getting easier and easier to take it apart and put it together. We tried the starting fluid again, same deal. Time for another "Bullet".

We tore it down again, and this time disassembled the carburetor as much as we thought prudent. We found a few more gummed up parts, cleaned them up and reassembled it (it was a snap this time).

By now it was probably in the mid 90's and about 70 percent humidity. Another beer, and several pulls on the starter didn't get us any closer to fixing the damn thing.

One of Mike's neighbors suggested spraying a product called "Sea Foam" into it after we got it started (with starting fluid). It is purported to be the miracle cure for all ailments automotive. Doing this made the engine run for as long as we continued to spray the stuff into it, while creating huge clouds of stinky white smoke, that billowed out into the alley. I'm sure it was doing some good inside the engine, but I was worried someone would call the fire department. It got so bad we stopped and beat a hasty retreat from the garage. This didn't help our mood as the the blazing Houston sun beat down on us..

That was when Mike lost it. After he calmed down, we decided to take a trip to the parts store for some carburetor dip. I had used it successfully in cleaning my old truck's carb years ago, and convinced my bro to give it one last try. At the store, we collected all the stuff we needed and were standing at the counter ringing it up when it occurred to me that perhaps a new carburetor could be found for a reasonable price online.

As the thought struck me, I realized I could check by Googling on my phone.  I typed in the make and model of the generator, and added the word "parts" at the end. Bingo! The first hit I got was "new carburetors". so I checked the price as mike signed the credit card slip for $32. A new carb delivered to Mike's front door was $24 with $10 shipping.

Mickey Moose!

This put a whole new light on the situation. Baby Bro and I talked it over on the way home and decided to do some more checking on the internet when we got home. Sure enough, it turned out a brand new carburetor cost only a couple of bucks more than the stuff we bought to "maybe" fix the old one. We had the receipt from our recent purchase and decided to return it. Mickey placed the order, and we celebrated with another silver bullet! Isn't it wonderful when life delivers up a real "no-brainer".

Kim and I took off for home before the carb arrived. However, the report from mi hermano was muy bueno: "Put it together and it purrs like a kitten!"

So it was a successful and rewarding project after all (a little short on the fun however). A final note" Mike did mention that taking the old carburetor off, and installing the new one was so easy he probably could have done it blindfolded. Hmmm...I guess practice does pay off!

That's All!

On the Road Again

Last May and Early June I started this post as we were traveling. Wireless was very spotty, so I never finished it. Hope you enjoy it, better late than never.

When we purchased our monster 5th wheel a few years ago, Kim and I promised ourselves that we would schedule a minimum of a three week trip annually. We have beaten that commitment every year. This year, we decided to use our time to make our way east to Texas and visit Mike and Teri. Being so far apart, we just don't get to see them enough.

It was a busy "Rotary Spring" this year, and we had scheduled to leave on May 16th. After a truck check up in the shop, we had hauled the trailer down to Lake Don Pedro for a shakedown on Mother's Day. While hauling, we heard what might only be described as an "expensive" engine noise. So, I wasn't going to leave until we had it diagnosed and repaired if necessary.

Celebrating relaxing with each other at Don Pedro.
John needs a hair cut, otherwise he looks great!

Bad news. The shop couldn't look at the truck until the 17th! It turned out to be a major problem (the turbocharger was going bad) and wasn't fixed until the 19th. It's a looooong way to Texas so we  left the Thursday evening we got the truck out of the shop. We only made a little over 200 miles before pulling over at a rest stop north of Tonopah.

Look at the sand and dust blowing across the road. It was
Very difficult driving.

Next morning, we awoke to a very strong and gusty crosswind (gusts predicted up to 30 miles an hour). We hung out in the rest stop (in Mina Nevada) for an hour or two, but finally decided to proceed with caution. My top speed was about 45 miles an hour that day. It took constant effort to keep the rig straight and on the road. We drove like that for 12 hours, and ended up in a BLM camp ground near Wickiup Arizona. It was a very nice spot that we found using an App that a fellow RVer recommended. We slept hard.

Burrow Creek Campground.
This Saguaro was in bloom.

Next day we took a short stroll around the campground, checking out the cacti, and looking out for rattlesnakes. Pretty quick we were back in the saddle, steaming for Texas. Rest breaks were no problem since we had to stop for fuel every 2 or three hours. Fortunately diesel is cheaper the further east you go, and we paid just a little above $2 a gallon on average.

At the end of another 12 hours or so, we had made it to New Mexico. and found a pretty little place called Rock Hound State Park. It was up a hill and had a  tremendous view of the surrounding desert country. We happened to catch the Park Ranger as he was leaving for home. It was dark, so he was VERY helpful in getting us into an appropriate site. We got level with minimal fuss, and settled in to a beautiful view of the lights of Deming below us in the inky darkness of the desert night.

In the morning we hit the road again with the Texas border nearly in sight. (at least in our minds). At El Paso we stopped for fuel, and drove parallel to the border (the Rio Grande) for a while. It was amazing to contrast the development on the Mexican side of the border. I can certainly see why the U.S. is the "promised  land" to so many Mexican people seeking a better life.

Big Red fueling up with the big boys!

We decided to make for a Texas State Park called Mt. Davis. It was about a 45 mile detour to the south of  Interstate 10. Piece of cake...right? We should have been tipped off when we saw the sign that we were heading for Mt. Davis State Park 47 miles (good), AND Univ of Texas Observatory (as in a telescope on top of a mountain) 30 miles (not good). We ended up going over the highest peak in Texas, on a road built in the '30s by the CCC. Those boys had no problem with 15+ percent grades. What the heck, Model T's were geared plenty low, and nobody was hauling 6 ton 5th wheels around! Needless to say we spent a lot of time in low gear, and were glad to finally see the observatory. It was an easy (not on the brakes) 17 miles to the  park from there.

After wandering in the park looking for a site for a bit, a friendly ranger helped us find a beauty.  We nestled into some trees, and got set up. We decided that we had caught up with the late start, and could  afford to spend an extra day camping there and visiting the nearby National Historic Monument: Fort Davis. It is a restored frontier fort that housed the famous "Buffalo Soldiers" cavalry. More on this in another post.

Kim next to an old freight wagon located at the old Fort.

After our second night at Mt. Davis, we decided to try another Texas State Park at Pedernales Falls. It would put us within an easy day of League City. It was another beautiful park. We wound down the hill and took the campground loop road to nestle our big rig into the trees of the river bottom. It was muggy and hot outside, but as night was already falling we just got hooked up and turned on the air in our little deluxe portable hotel suite. We decided that this might be a great place to spend a few days if we ever got the opportunity.

Wonderful to relax at our destination "on the water".

Next day it was on to League City and Mike and Teri's place "on the water". It was a simple and relatively short drive before we pulled into the Willow Lake RV Park only about 5 miles from their place at "The Wharf". It was Wednesday, and they had just gotten off work with four days off ahead of us. I'll do a separate post for some of our activities, but it was just nice that Wednesday evening to sit around and visit after a 2,000 plus mile journey.

Catching Up!

OK, It has been almost a year since I brought you up to speed with what's been going on in my world. I thought I would do a review of the last 11 months just to get back on track with my posting. It has been a busy time with lots of things going on, so I will sprinkle in just a few photos.

In May of last year, Kim and I decided to get a jump on the ranch projects because we suspected that come summer, we would both be unavailable and on fires. We were right! We started by taking on replacing the eastern fence in our southern pasture. It is nearly 900 feet long, and we wanted to remove the old rotted wooden posts and barbed wire, realign the fence, and add a gate. It took us a about a week, but we got it done (after repairing the tractor). The most difficult part was digging and setting the posts. Brutally hard ground about 18 to 24 inches down (we had to go down at least 34 inches!)

Kim was the operator and I was the 'swamper'
as we cleared out the old fence.

The weather was pretty nice, and I got a  start on
my summer tan while I was digging post holes

Our next big chore was painting the house. We wanted to get it done before Viola and her family arrived in June, so after about three weeks touring Nevada in our fifth wheel (and getting together with Justine and Christophe in Las Vegas, and our Elko cousins) we started back to work with a vengeance. The preparation was a lot more involved than I had guesstimated. Kim and I spent close to a full week scraping, sanding and priming. Finally, we were ready to mask off the windows and spray. Early morning was the only time when the wind wasn't too breezy, so we broke the actual spraying into a couple of days. Finally, I spent several more days painting the trim. It came out beautiful, but I noticed the other day that I forgot to paint the rain gutters along the north facing side of the house! Oh well, another project for this spring.

It only took two morning shifts to spray the house.
It took almost a  week after to  finish all the trim!
It really looks good!

We finished the house a day or so before Viola and family arrived. We had a fantastic visit which would have been worthy of several posts. We visited Virginia city, painted in Truckee, went camping in the wine country, and Viola got to go visit some of her college friends up in Portland. The highlight for me was taking my "Big Girl" up in my little airplane. We had a great tour of the area, and buzzed the house several times. Angelinas took a ride too, and she is a natural pilot. I let her take the controls and she flew the plane like a student with many hours under her belt.

It was great taking Viola up for a ride. 

While Viola was in Portland, Kim and I drove to Sand Point Idaho to attend the memorial of my Uncle John Guttry. Uncle John was my Mom's older brother, and he was well into his eighties. It was a sad occasion, but also very wonderful, seeing relatives I hadn't visited with in twenty or thirty years. Growing up, my family would often visit Uncle John, Aunt Nancy, and our cousins: Glen, Tim, and Karen. Uncle John ended up with a career at Farmer Brother's coffee, and was the head honcho of the Reno area branch. He was a former Marine, who served in Korea. He never talked much about it, I think he went through some pretty tough stuff serving his country. It was a wonderful re-engagement of that corner of our wonderful family. Travel wise, it worked out well, and we drove back home through Portland and picked up Viola and Baby Emily.

Uncle John was a Marine, and served
in the Korean war.

It wasn't long after Viola returned to Spain that the fire season started in earnest. On August 2nd, a huge dry lightning storm hit northern California starting literally thousands of forest fires. They managed to put most of them out the first day, but a few hundred escaped. My team was activated, and we went up to the Shasta Trinity National Forest, in the little town of Hayfork. It was called the Fork Complex. A complex is a grouping of fires, and our complex contained seven fires. Steep, ugly terrain, and the extremely dry conditions made the work dangerous and difficult. The thing that saved the forest was the stable and inverted air. This trapped all of the smoke near the ground and blocked the heating of the sun while minimizing air movement. So, the fires slowed down, and we were able to make good progress in spite of the fact that we didn't have enough firefighters and equipment for the size of the fires, and the terrain they were burning in. The bad news with the smoke is that you have to breathe it, even while your sleeping. Many firefighters got sick. We left after about 17 days straight of 16 hour shifts, and handed off what was left to another team that was freshly rested.

You can see how smoky it is. That's not fog or
mist. This was taken after it had already cleared
up a little.

I got home and got two days off. While I was home, Kim got called up to the Six Rivers National Forest to provide a supply truck (good old Rusty) to another complex called the Gasquet Complex. She ended up staying there for over 5 weeks. About that same time, my team was called up again. This next fire was called the River Complex, and was primarily on the Shasta Trinity NF, but some of it (including our camp) was on the Six Rivers NF in the town of Hoopa. Viola remembers that place! There was no smoke to speak of on this fire, and we jumped in after the previous team in an effort to prevent the fire from reaching Highway 299 (main state highway between Redding and Eureka on the coast). Our guys did a magnificent job, and held the fire up on the ridge. My scariest moment on this assignment was when we heard over the radio that someone had driven their pickup over the side of the road and into the canyon. This sounded like it would likely be a fatality (and should have been). It turned out that it was one of my Safety Officers. He seemed OK, was talking on the radio, but couldn't tell us where he was. We found him fairly quickly, and deployed a high angle rescue team that used climbing ropes and pulleys to get him back up to the road. It was amazing watching these guys (from LA  County) go to work. Luckily, his only injury was a bruise to his shoulder caused by the seat belt. However, the truck was totaled. It went nearly 500 feet down a nearly vertical slope barely missing trees, and miraculously staying on its wheels. It finally plowed into some soft soil, and thick brush that cushioned the shock when it hit a large tree square on. The airbag didn't even deploy! It was definitely this fellow's lucky day!

This is our safety officer as they are getting him
out of the stokes litter, and onto a gurney into
an ambulance. 

We stayed for another 16 days or so on the River Complex, then came home for two days off. Kim was still on the Gasquet, so I was by myself. My third day home I was assigned with my team to another fire east of Fresno in the Sequoia National Forest and Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park. It was called the Rough Fire. This fire had started in a place called Rough Creek, and it was named that for a reason. There was literally no safe way to gain access to fight the fire because of steep rocky terrain. When the fire came out, it went on a burning spree! We were the third team on it. The best news is that we were the last team on it. This was another example of incredibly skillful and heroic fire fighting. We held it at the last ridge possible before it would have swept into tinder dry brush and dead forest. Local communities were already evacuated, but since we managed to keep it on the back side of this ridge, they eventually all got to go back to their homes. We took the opportunity to see some of the Giant Sequoias in the Park (no tourists around!). Through all three of these fires we had only a few minor cuts, scrapes, and bruises. My Safety Brothers and I were very proud and relieved at this. Unfortunately, just before we got to the Rough Fire, a young man was pinned down by a rolling log in burning coals. He was severely burned before they could extract him. I know our great record was (and always is) a combination of hard work and awareness, and plain luck! After another 17 days or so, we turned what was left back over to the local forest personnel. I got to have dinner with Lucy down in Fresno on the way home which was the highlight of the assignment for me!.

Me and my Safety Brothers: Don Will, and John
Kraushaar. The smoke in the back ground was
a burnout to secure the last piece of line on the
Rough Fire

By the time I got to the ranch, summer was over and fall was upon us. October 1st found me making the final repairs and preparations to my hanger at the Beckwourth Airport. Having a hanger to protect my little magic carpet is crucial in this area. A severe wind storm had blown the door off this unoccupied hanger the year before. I managed to salvage most of the door, got a little lumber, lots of screws and some door trolley hardware to make  the repair. Luckily, there was a lift available at the airport that I borrowed to hang the door back up. I doubled up the latches and have come up with a secure system that I am sure will hold up to our fierce Sierra Valley winds, and keep my little plane dry and safe!

The finished repair job from the inside of the hangar.

About the end of October Kim and I flew to the big Island of Hawaii for a Rotary conference. After the  conference, we journeyed with two other couples up to Kaui, at Princeville. We had an absolute blast in our rented condo, seeing the sights, taking the tours, cooking great meals, and drinking (cheap) wine! We had never been to Kaui, and I have to say it is my new favorite island having been to Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii.

I think this was called Wailua Falls. Kim and I
found this place after a great lunch at a "locals"
joint. The food was really fun when you avoided
the touristy places. (cheaper too!)

We got home a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and were really blessed to host our family Thanksgiving celebration this year. Brother John and Little Jeannie, Uncle Frank and Aunt Lucille, Lucy, Maggie, and her two friends Hilda (from Romania) and Merhdad (from Iran) all joined us. The weather was cold but fine. I "weberized" a nice sized bird, and we all just had an extraordinary time visiting!

Everyone enjoyed the barbecued turkey

The day after the feast, we took off into the forest to find and cut Christmas trees. It was a very snowy trip, as we had had quite a bit of snow previously. We didn't have to walk too far though, before we found the perfect tree (although we had to keep looking for another hour just to make  sure)! John and Jeanne, Merhdad and Hilda, Maggie and Lucy, and a couple of other friends including Dave, Jane, and Christin Roberti came with us. We all had hot chocolate back at the trucks, then it was back down the hill for turkey soup and a few rounds of Taboo.

December 1st I had ankle surgery to remove a bone spur that had been causing me quite a bit of pain and preventing me from walking as much as I (and my dogs) wanted. The surgery was simple, and I was back on my feet for our trip to Spain on December 28th. Unfortunately, as I debarked from the plane in Stockholm, after 10 hours at 40,000 feet, my ankle gave out. The additional swelling caused by the flight made it almost impossible to walk. Kim got a wheelchair for me, and we made it to the hotel shuttle. From there I looked like a "wounded warrior" with my arm around Kim's shoulder hopping on one leg to get to our room. It calmed down by the next morning and I was able to limp along until we arrived in Spain where Viola had acquired a loaner set of crutches. In a couple of more days, I didn't even need them. My ankle feels nearly 100 percent now, but I think I still have a little healing left to do.

Just two small incisions where the went in to my
ankle. Amazing the wonders of modern medical technology.

We arrived in Spain and were very pleased to find that our wonderful little grand daughter Emily recognized us from our many interactions over Skype. It was great not having to go through a day or so of "re-acquainting". She is growing so fast, physically and mentally, it is astounding. I had forgotten, even though I watched four of my own grow up. We stayed in Espana for about three weeks. The best time by far was the short family vacation we took to the southwest coast of the country. We were just south of Cadiz, at a place called Los Canos de Meca. We rented a small "casa rurale" there and spent almost a week exploring and relaxing together.

Grandma couldn't get enough of her little nieta!

Possibly the high point was a short day trip to a town called Bolognia just south of us. There were some amazing Roman ruins there that have been extensively excavated, studied and preserved.  A small museum and visitors center was on site and we spent quite a bit of time learning about the Roman history of the area. Luego, tomamos almuerzo in a little cafe/bar right on the beach. It was a balmy, sunny day. After eating,we just relaxed. I sat and visited with Angelinas, while Kim and Viola took the baby down to the beach to look for shells. It was wonderful being able to connect on a little bit deeper level with 'A'. My Spanish is much improved, but I have a long way to go!

There was quite a city going way back in Roman times.
There was even a fish processing plant, right on the ocean
where they salted and preserved fish over a thousand
years ago.

Canos de Meca is very near to Trafalgar point where there is a light house. It is an ancient spot to post a warning to seafarers, and the remains of a Roman and Moorish tower sit next to the current lighthouse. A great sea battle took place in about 1805, just off the coast there. It was a brutal fight between the English navy, and the combined Spanish and French fleets. The greatly outnumbered and out gunned British fleet won a resounding victory. It makes for some interesting reading if you're into world shaping historical events. I really love going to the places that I have read so much history about. Very cool.

El Faro de Trafalgar.

We returned home near the end of January, and I immediately got swallowed up in chores around the place, and Rotary chores. In late February, we took a trip down to see Lucy (and Diesel) in Fresno. We spent one night at her apartment, then got a motel room in Oakhurst outside of Yosemite. The next day was spent touring the Yosemite Valley. What beautiful sights to see. We did a little hiking and met Brother Don at the end of  the day. We toured our way back to Oakhurst, and had a great Mexican dinner at a place called El Cid's. Kind of a strange name for a Mexican restaurant since El Cid is a Spanish folk hero from back in the 11th century. Kind of like naming an American restaurant "Cromwell's". Bottom line is that the food was absolutely delicious, and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was very nice to spend some time with my big brother Don.

Lucy and Diesel with Yosemite Valley
in the background. That's El Capitan on
the left, and Half Dome in the distance to
the right.

Well, that about brings us up to the present. It is difficult to cover almost a whole year in one post, but I felt I had to do it before I could get back in to a more normal blogging routine. So, until the next one,

That's All!

Tractor Troubles

About 15 years ago I bought myself a little red tractor. I definitely needed it to make life a little easier on the homestead. Most hours have been spent plowing snow, and maintaining the dirt road that leads to the house, with quite a few dedicated to clearing and smoothing France Road (Plumas County responsibility). I have dug many hundreds of feet of trenches with the back hoe to bury water and electrical lines, and keep the area drained of moisture (wish we had a little more of that right now).

It has been a very dependable little machine, and has required only basic scheduled maintenance (oil changes, grease jobs, battery replacement, etc.). So when I began my project to replace the fence that runs parallel to old A 23 from our corral to the Grieves place, I fired up my little Massey Ferguson and started pulling fence posts. I knew it was a little over due for an oil change since we left in such a hurry to Spain last fall, so I was thinking about doing that as I dragged my scrapper along the fence line to clear the brush for the new posts.

That's when the trouble started. The machine seemed to bog down so I lifted the the scrapper (or thought I did) with the hydraulic control lever. Didn't make any difference. I looked back over my shoulder, and saw that the implement was still digging into the ground even though the handle was in the full up position. Uh oh! Sure enough, my lifter wasn't lifting...not a good thing.

I detached the scrapper from the tractor, and finished the day using the front loader bucket (which fortunately still worked) to finish the clearing job. I now had my first breakdown of this sweet little machine to deal with.

Lots of things have changed in the 15 years since I bought the tractor. Not the least of these is that the place I bought it from is out of business. All of the other places I called said they could not  work on a Massey Ferguson (one of the oldest tractor companies in America). Finally, one guy told me of a "Traveling Tractor mechanic" that would come out and take a look. His name is Tom, and he goes by Tommy. Got a nice ring to it doesn't it? "Tommy the Travelling Tractor mechanic!" It sounds like the main character in a children's book. Hmm, maybe I ought to write it?

I called Tommy, and he came out to have a look. I had him do a full service (all the fluids and filters) before we tackled the non-functioning "lifter upper". It was enjoyable working with him. We visited as I tore apart the pieces we needed off to remove the "lifter upper" cylinder and see if it was seized up. Finally, we got down to the part we needed to look at. It was not moving, and the diagnosis was it needed a new piston.

Tommy took the parts home, and went in search of new parts. After a few weeks, he was ready to come back and finish the job. We worked together re-installing the piston. It didn't take long. Time for the test!

I was pretty bummed when the "lifter upper" didn't lift it up! So, we back tracked each possible problem (like we had done on the first day). Everything was working. Finally, Tommy noticed that one of the hydraulic hose fittings had a small gap in it. He disconnected it, wiped it off and reconnected it. That did the trick!

Apparently, I had caught the connection on some brush and it had pulled apart slightly. I couldn't tell by looking at it, but it was disconnected. That was probably the problem the entire time!

So, that's how Tommy the Travelling Tractor Mechanic finally fixed my little red tractor. I didn't mind paying a little more for the repair. I got the machine serviced professionally, and learned a lot about how the thing works inside. All in all well worth the money!

Now, I'm ready for El Nino to bring on the snow!