9 New Things I Learned in July

  1. Thieves’ Oil is a blend of 5 essential oils that is said to have protected grave robbers from contracting plagues. People today use it to build immunities and prevent infections. Look it up if this rings your bell. I’ve been using it, and so far, no China virus (not that I think Thieves’ Oil is the reason).
  2. I had a day that required mask wearing for more than an hour because I was indoors with lots of other people and learned that it is very uncomfortable and unnatural.
  3. To paint well, a printed photograph is better than (or in addition to) the screen.
  4. Good wildflowers in the foothills isn’t a guarantee of good wildflowers in the high country.
  5. Teaching to draw via Zoom is workable to a point; when it is time to shade, hands-on is the only way I can be effective.
  6. I met a veterinarian with a mobile practice; I hope I never have to wrestle my cats into a carrier and then drive them somewhere, ever ever ever again. She is a delight! Emily Farmer, Woodlake Vet Housecall (or something like that), Phone Number: 559-769-3666
  7. Fraudsters prey on grandparents by gleaning info from young folks’ social media and then hire actors to sound as if the grandkid is in trouble and needs cash, pronto. They know how to tug on heartstrings and scare grandfolks. You might have known this, but warn the grandparents in your life. I keep hearing more and more accounts of this that will make your skin crawl from the utter depravity of preying on the vulnerable in society.
  8. Heavenly Blue or Blue Mantle – finally learned the name of these flowers that bloom each summer at Wolverton Point on the Mineral King Road (and on the 3 mile road leading out of Hume Lake).
  9. Sometimes high-end cheese comes in a can. I am not making this up. It looks like a giant tuna can. No, really, look at this (and it is really good, very mild):What did you learn in July?

Random Report on Mineral King

Here are some photos from a recent stay in Mineral King. I didn’t hike, so this is not a trail report. It was a social weekend, with lots of knitting, some wood splitting, a short walk, and lots of visiting with friends.

A friend stopped by the cabin. She is going through chemo, and her head gets cold. I remembered that I knit this cowl earlier this year and was just waiting for the right recipient. It was very satisfying to both of us!
I finished this sweater for a neighbor girl.
We had an afternoon thundershower, and it cleaned the pollen and dust off of everything.
Just your basic Dudes On The Porch photo.
Sierra Gentian are out.
Goldenrod are early this year.

Can you read or understand this sign? Apparently very few other people can because there is a ton of dogs on the trails.
Wild iris only appear in one place in Mineral King, and I missed them this year.
This is a new-to-me flower.
Some cars wear masks and some do not.

The Park will not be opening the Mineral King campgrounds this summer. In spite of camping being a healthy and low-risk activity, the main ranger is concerned about his employees who would be interacting with the public in the campgrounds, cleaning outhouses and emptying garbage.

When will the chaos and confusion and conflict end???

Never mind. No one knows the answer to that.

Hanging Around in Mineral King

July is a busy month in Mineral King, when cabins are used, trails are full, and normally, campgrounds are full. This year the trails are getting more use than normal, since campgrounds are closed. This makes no sense to me, since camping is a very low risk activity – outdoors, spaced apart. (But no one who makes decisions has consulted me.)

I stopped to photograph the Oak Grove Bridge on the way up the hill. The view is getting more obstructed as the years pass.
I walked to Franklin Falls with some cabin neighbor-friends. 2 of us in front sort of lost track of 2 of them behind for awhile.
I love sitting by this creek where it cross the trail (or does the trail cross the creek??)
We stayed closer together on the way back down.

The weekend was a little sad. Some friends have been coming to the neighboring cabin for 38 years, but had to miss the last 3 because one of their number got cancer. This year his friends brought him back to Mineral King in a box. 

I didn’t participate in the ceremonies, but did catch up a bit with the Sawtooth Six Minus One. We observed our usual tradition of the photo on the porch before they all headed back down the hill.

There were more visits with other friends, a drawing lesson happened at our kitchen table, some serious knitting took place, but none of these events were photographed. Often it is better to be fully in the moment rather than behind a lens while documenting events.

The bridge is well lit in the late afternoon sun, but it would need some artistic license to become a good painting. (I felt compelled to mention that in case you think all I do is hang around in Mineral King and ignore my art business.)

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Anyone know where that little phrase originated?

Today’s post isn’t about a ranch, just about life around my home outside of my work. Sometimes I have things to show and tell you, things that are mildly interesting (or maybe boring) to you, but it is part of the complete picture of this Central California artist’s life.

I told you about letting our one lawn go wild to see if it would spread or thicken. Look – fescue DOES make seed heads.
Green eyes in the green grass. . . Tucker likes our new approach to the “lawn”.
In order to be able to protect anything from the deer, fencing is required. My fences are DBO, and nothing can stop Pippin.
This is my herb garden on the opposite end of the property. I used to mulch it, but that only encouraged sow bugs, which are little bodies with giant jaws, for the purpose of consuming anything I wanted to grow.
I have actually grown some food!! (but oh so thankful for farmers and grocery stores).

More Mineral King

As promised on Friday, here is a little more about Mineral King. Tomorrow we will return to watching paint dry.

Great Whorled Penstemon in my cabin neighbors’ yard. (“Great” meaning lots of them, not that “great” is part of their name.)
Our young neighbor believes that Mr. Botkin knows everything.
One of this year’s batch of baby marmots beneath our cabin.

We walked down the road and back up the Nature Trail, which also did not have near the number of  wildflowers that we have become accustomed to.

At the upper end of the Nature Trail, this is what people used to see. If it was their first time on the trail, they were confused.
Now, first-time Nature Trail walkers can see that they are in the right place, in spite of it appearing to be a private road (which it is).

I love the morning light coming into the cabin.

Mineral King over the Fourth

We didn’t need fireworks because we had friends with flags.

We took a walk to the Franklin/Farewell Gap junction, a place that usually has the best wildflowers, almost always at the beginning of July. Not so this year. We’ve been spoiled by several great wildflower years, lulled into thinking that was normal.

It was fun anyway, because there is always good scenery and interesting things to see, even if you walk with your head toward the ground so you don’t fall.

The circle is around a bear track.
I’ve never seen such short Mariposa Lilies, and saw quite a few like this, just popping up right on the trail.
Striped rock
COOKIE?? Nope. It’s a rock.

I did look up, don’t worry.

This last picture is my favorite one of the day. We were off trail (of course), following a little loop-ette, devised by Off Trail Guy. After recrossing the stream, The Farmer offered to pull me up on a bank of snow which was the next step. Before accepting his kind offer, I said, “Thank you – first I need to take a picture!”

More about Mineral King on Monday. 

 

 

Random and Personal

A popular radio show talker once advised his callers: “Before you pick up the phone and dial this show, ask yourself the important question: Does anyone care?”

Eh, well, it’s my blog, and I know most of my readers as friends in real life, and know you all would be polite if I rambled about these things in person.

  1. I won a book for the first time in the GoodReads give-away. This is after about 4 years of trying. The book is Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly by Evy Poumpouras, a former Secret Service agent to 3 presidents. If you are on Goodreads and want to follow me or (or be followed by me), I am simply under my name, both first and last. 
  2. If I had to eat only the food I was able to grow, I’d starve to death. But I will never stop trying!
  3. I wouldn’t be very successful if growing to supply florists, but I won’t stop trying to grow flowers either.
  4. Pippin is so appealing. The cats found a way to sneak out at night, but I think I have stopped that rebelliousness.

9 Things Learned in June

Tucker, before the grass got really tall. (You should see it now!)
  1. Dang, a card game – when a certain friend comes to our cabin, she forces us to play games. She taught it well, but without practice, I’ve already forgotten how. It might have been fun. Being with her is the fun part.
  2. Yahtzee research – while she was there, I got curious. How many times does one need to roll to get a Yahtzee? We did it with 3 rolls per attempt, like in the game. Several times it happened in just the first three attempts; one time it took 63 turns. The average was about 17-20 tries, and the game of Yahtzee only provides 13 turns (maybe it is 15). We also tried it with rolling as many times as necessary. This was entirely random, and I have forgotten the results, although the number 94 seems relevant.
  3. Borgi – a neighbor had a weird little dog. I said, “What is that? A cross between a Border Collie and Corgi?” She said, “Yes, it is a Borgi.” WHAT? In spite of my cat preference, I guessed this. (Gold Star for me.)
  4. Transplanting grass – Our one remaining lawn is sparse and spotty. I have been transplanting clumps of grass from the back side of the house where the lawn was wrecked 21 years ago in the remodel of this place. I have requested that Trail Guy not mow in case these clumps will produce seeds, or perhaps spread by root growth. The cats are loving the tall grass. Will Miracle-Gro help? More will be revealed.
  5. I need a reason to paint – When work ceased to come in, I lost interest in producing. This is mostly due to an aversion to excess stuff, whether paintings, drawings, or one-function kitchen items. I like painting, but not when it just builds up my inventory without hope of showing or selling.
  6. “My choices are not a commentary on yours.” I read this somewhere, and it seemed appropriate after I talked about all the things I like to make from scratch. It might have made some of my readers feel inadequate. No reason for this, because my choices are NOT a commentary on your choices. Really. Just be you, and I’ll be me. It will work out just fine.
  7. “Prone” means face down; “supine” means flat on one’s back. I didn’t know this until a lengthy conversation with a doctor friend who went into way more detail than I could comprehend – hence, I came away with 2 new vocabulary words instead of whatever else he was saying.
  8. 1996 Honda Accords are no longer the most stolen year and model of car – Fernando is safe! (Safer. Besides, can the bad guys drive a stick shift??)
  9. Stand up paddle boarding is FUN! There is nothing athletic about me, and I have zero interest in sports of any kind. Stand up paddle boarding is a way to motate on a lake in a quiet manner. I probably won’t pursue this in any large way (as in buy the equipment), but it was quite thrilling to realize that this is a sport that I can do.
    Upper-middle-aged non-athletic chubby chick, zig-zagging her way across Hume Lake and NOT FALLING IN THE WATER!

Not Mineral King Mountains

Last week I had the privilege of spending several days at Hume Lake with my friend and a new friend at my friend’s cabin. (Friend friend friend – just wrecked that word for myself.)

This is the 4th summer that she has invited me to join her, and through the times spent together, I have come to know and love her cousins, gotten reacquainted with Hume (worked there the summer of ’78), and become quite close with my old friend from childhood. 

Rather than go into a bunch of personal blah blah blah, let’s do our usual thing with photos.

Look on the lamp table. There is my oil painting, cleverly titled “Hume Lake I”.
“Hume Lake II” was very well received, as was “Hume Lake III”. (Most of the birthday party attendees began shouting their birth dates at me.)
So calm in the evening.
Wild Azaleas were in bloom.
Because there were no campers around, we got to go places that are usually not open to cabin folks.
One of the places that we explored was the children’s camp called “Wagon Train”.
Instead of cabins, the kids sleep in these covered Conestoga wagon replicas.
The lake was so serene without the hundreds of camping kids present. This is sad, unless you view it as a temporary condition.
This wildflower is new to me. I don’t have to know the name because it isn’t in Mineral King.
We ate way too much, so I force-marched my companions around the lake one evening after dinner. One of them had a Fit-Bit that recorded 26,400 steps that day. (Those steps didn’t counteract all the ice cream,)
I went to Inspiration Point in search of a red Mariposa Lily. Guess I was too early this year, because all I found were Farewell-to-Spring and profusely blooming Bear Clover.
I drove home a different route and saw Hume from an overlook. 

There are so many options for coming and going, unlike Mineral King with one road in and out. Hume Lake also has electricity, wifi in some cabins, many many cabins, and provided the best summer of my life (1978) until I worked in the Mineral King area (Silver City Store) in 1985. (And I thought that BEFORE I met Trail Guy at the end of that summer, so there.)

We had the pleasure of witnessing the baptism in the lake of 3 terrific kids.

Another distinct pleasure was renting stand-up paddle boards. We almost opted out, but I remembered our decision last year that we would do this, combined with the fact that the day was hot, there wasn’t much traffic on the lake, and that “everyone” knows that people regret what they don’t do more than what they do. (My sister and I often remind one another to “Do It Anyway”, in spite of our reservations, fears and doubts.) It was great fun, and I didn’t fall, but I would like to learn how to paddle without the zig-zag effect, which greatly impedes forward progress.

Oh – ice cream. Did I mention ice cream?

Someone needs to cut off my end of the table.

P.S. I have FOURTEEN books on hold at the library. WHEN WILL THEY OPEN AGAIN??