Sequoia National Park appears to be seriously understaffed, particularly when it comes to Mineral King.
These are a few things in Mineral King that I noticed.
Falling apart signAbandoned pack stationFalling apart signTrail Guy picked it off the ground and used a rock to get it back in placeSomeone did a makeshift repair at the ranger stationPropping up a sign rather than actually setting it in place is sort of a repair.Campground closed??Cold Springs bridgeIf the campground ever reopens, I bet it won’t be $12 per site.
But wait—there’s more! A trail crew has done a bit of work on the Nature Trail.
The signs on the nature trail have never been replaced.Looks brushy but it has actually been cleared a bit.A trail crew placed a warning on this bridge. Are we suppsed to wade alongside rather than walk across?
Along the road, oh my goodness. I shot these photos through the windshield one morning while heading down.
This poor little cabin belongs to the Park.
HOWEVER, someone has worked on the water troughs and Redwood is now flowing.
When my friend who loves to bake uses crushed graham crackers in a recipe, instead of smashing them with a rolling pin, she double-bags the crackers and then runs over them with her car!
2. What in the world? I’ve never heard of this brand of vehicle. (The name sounds like a made up woman’s moniker.) I got closer to look, and the Farmer said, “Better not touch that—it is about $100,000”. FOR A CAR?? WHAT’S IT MADE OUT OF?? And why in the world would someone bring something that fancy up the exceedingly rough Mineral King Road??
3. Somewhere I heard about the novelist Michelle Huneven and her book called Off Course. I checked it out of the library because the description said it was based in the Sierra. Sure enough it was, and I loved figuring out where the places were (because most of the names were changed except for a few mentions of Visalia, Fresno, or Bakersfield, and one mention of Mineral King.) It was a disheartening story of adultery, and the main theme is that it never turns out well. In spite of being a subject that I usually don’t choose to read about, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, probably because of the familiarity of the location. She does write very well, with completely believable characters. (HOWEVER, she made a mistake when she confused Jeffrey and Ponderosa pine cones.)
4. Did you know that if you use scotch tape on tomatoes, they will last longer out of the fridge? Cover the place where the stem was, and supposedly the tomatoes won’t go bad as quickly. I’ve read that wrapping the stem ends of bananas in saran wrap slows deterioration, so maybe plastic wrap, bags, and tape are magical for produce.
5. Did you know that when someone gets commissioned as an officer in the United States Marines, they can choose the location for the ceremony? I had the privilege of attending such a ceremony for a friend in Exeter, right in front of the B17 mural on the side of the ambulance building, in the parking lot of Monarch Ford. CONGRATULATIONS, AMM!! (and thank you for the invitation)
6. 50% of people who have peripheral neuropathy never learn the cause; the state of “pre-diabetes” can cause it; if you aren’t low in B vitamins, there is no point in taking them to “cure” it; electronic pads, compression socks, red light therapy, herbal cures, acupuncture—don’t waste your money; nerve damage does not heal. (I traveled a long distance to learn all this.)
7. Your Car Says a Lot About Who You Are made me laugh on YouTube. It’s on a channel called Dry Bar Comedy, and it was clean! (Heard about it from Dave Ramsey)
In case you were tired of watching paint land on canvas, here is another post on things I think about.
Now that I am firmly in the Ss, along with most of my friends, I am observing changes. We are beginning to do Old People Things. Much of what we have found normal most of our lives is now in the category of Old People Things. As I am wont to do, I have made a list.
Birdwatching—no one cares about birds until they hit their late 50s. Then, birdwatching becomes almost normal. Some people make lists, take photos, compare notes, and read books. Others just watch the birds. (Some of us try to keep our cats from catching and eating the birds.)
Dinner at 4:30—not us, but lots of people eat at 4:30 or 5:00. It’s probably better for digestion and sleep, but only if you don’t dive into snacking all evening.
Jeopardy—a few years ago I spent several nights with some friends. They “played” Jeopardy each evening, using a fancy gizmo on their teevee that allowed them to stop the action and take time to guess the answers. While in Texas, we “played” without that gizmo. It surprises me how many people my age love Jeopardy.
Reading a real newspaper—most people get their news from somewhere else now. Reading an actual newspaper made out of paper with ink on it is something you will only see old people doing, and sometimes you will find them. . .
. . .clipping an article—I clipped an article for a friend and found myself. . .
. . . putting it in an envelope with a stamp to the friend, which is unheard of because now people who are weird enough to read actual newspapers probably just photograph the article they want to share and text the photo to a friend. (Or they send a link. . .) but then I found myself
. . .handwriting a letter to go with it. Yeppers, I wrote a letter by hand, with a pencil on paper. This is very VERY old fashioned, and several of my friends and I do this anyway. We are in our 60s and can do almost what we want except when our bodies betray us which leads to. . .
. . .talking about medical problems is normal around old people. “When I had my gall bladder out. . .” “. . .sleep apnea, and the dadgummed machine. . .” “this stupid neuropathy. . .”
Wondering what in the world is wrong with people because they won’t look up from their phones.
Lamenting the loss of skills such as map reading, dialing a phone, driving a stickshift, reading a clock, speaking on a phone with manners, enunciating clearly, not using foul language as if it isn’t offensive, understanding basic punctuation, using a dictionary.
Is it an Old People Thing to think fruit is beautiful? Why is it here? Easy—because it is summer fruit!
Mineral King is a place for backpackers, campers, day hikers, day trippers, and cabin folks. Today’s post is about the cabin community. (Last summer I posted regularly about cabin life.)
Today’s post is what happens on a busy weekend in our cabin community of Mineral King. There are several parts to the community: our immediate neighbors, those across the creek, the settlement one mile down the road (formerly known as “Faculty Flat”, now “West Mineral King” is the preferred name, and no, I didn’t ask for pronouns); Silver City (private property 4 miles down the road); and Cabin Cove (7 cabins about 5 miles down the road from us).
This is what happens on any given weekend—the closer to the end of summer, the more activities. We:
gather at someone’s cabin for “happy hour”, eat fun things, catch up with one another, and then are too full for dinner
eat dinner together
(Trail Guy and The Farmer, not me unless The Farmer isn’t around) help with various repairs. (The cabins are OLD.)
hike together (hike: carrying pack with lunch and water)
walk together (no pack, no lunch)
give one another rides up and down the hill
bring supplies for one another when coming up the hill
share books
lend knitting needles
let people use our telephone (when we had one) and borrow the neighbor’s phone now
clean up the platform for the annual “Music in the Mountains” event
prune in one another’s yards (okay, that’s just me. . .)
use a hav-a-hart trap to catch bushy-tailed woodrats (definitely Trail Guy, NOT me)
explore historic sites
lend tools
repair water line breaks
go through the junk we discover in our respective cabins, sometimes trading items of interest
share missing recipe ingredients
We stay in touch throughout the year, because our friendships are solid, not simply seasonal.
My life isn’t only focused on Mineral King and making a living with art. While I am puttering at the cabin or at home, painting, yardening, knitting, splitting wood, listening to something, I think.
Sometimes I think about things that I don’t understand. None of it is very important or life-altering. As a Questioner, I wonder about stuff. Here is a current list:
Sun tea: Who cares if it brews in the sun or in the refrigerator?
Sun-dried tomatoes: Who cares if they are dried in the sun, in a dehydrator, or on a shelf in the back window of your car?
Sea-salt: What difference does it make if the salt comes from the “sea” (don’t they mean “ocean”?), from Death Valley, or from those dreaded salt-mines?
Artisanal or hand-crafted: Does this actually improve the flavor?
Anti-science: since when is asking questions “anti-science”? I thought questions were how you figure out what is true.
Tailgating: it causes accidents, creates tension, and never causes the one in front to drive faster. What is wrong with people??
Horror movies: who wants to be scared? Why?? Isn’t life scary enough?
Have you noticed that there is a tremendous amount of advertising for beds, mattresses, and linens? Do you think there is some sort of correlation with the explosion of high-energy drinks available? Here, get amped up, and now you can’t sleep? Just buy a new bed!
If you leave comments and don’t hear back from me or see them appear, please be patient. It means I am in the Land of No Electricity, Phones, or Internet, probably thinking of more things that I don’t understand.
And now maybe you don’t understand why I used all these photos of sunflower paintings. Easy—because it is summer!
I didn’t learn much in June; is this the result of 2 weeks spent blowing my nose? Here is my monthly list, minus many AHA! moments.
1. The lotion I’ve used on my face for more than 20 years is no longer available. Why do companies stop manufacturing items? Yeah, yeah, because they aren’t profitable enough. Sigh. I looked on eBay and the least expensive is $75. No thanks. I used to balk at paying $13.
Expect more wrinkles yearly.
2. My normal preferred route to Hume Lake was closed due to construction. There is an alternate route, one that involved roads I never knew existed, paved but one-lane. In the past I would have taken the new route without question, excited to learn a new way. However, in his old age. Fernando is only cautiously adventuresome. Sigh. Maybe I learned acceptance of limitations of our advancing ages.
3. A friend needed a room in Newport Beach for a pickleball tournament. Did you know that $120 is considered a bargain??
4. Colds can slam you at any time of year, regardless of how carefully you avoid sick people. Something changed with Covid; I used to go as long as 5 years without catching anything. Or did something change with age, as I moved into the S’s? Never mind. Was it Covid? I don’t care. What have I learned? Never mind. Just complaining a little. (Do colds last two weeks for you too?? They used to last 7 days.)
5. I am skeptical about the claims of many medicines, particularly those for colds. A cold will last as long as it lasts and will do whatever it does, regardless of our attempts to stifle or shorten it. Here is an article that backs up my skepticism: Doctors question value of other cold medicines. . . I realize this is the internet, where opinions and experts abound, and there is much contradiction, but this article backs up my own experiences.
6. Even if I am grounded in Mineral King by the sorry nature of my numb feet, it is still a great place to hang out in the summer.
7. I hired someone to feed the cats and water the yard but she never showed up*. Four different friends have stepped into the void. I learned to accept a (HUGE) gift of help, and unfortunately, to not trust someone.
*It wasn’t a hot weekend and the cats had access to their regular abode, water, and dry food that they usually ignore.
If you look in the shadows between (and beyond) the 2 chairs, you might be able to discern a doe with 2 fawns, probably born that very day.
While getting gas at the Four-way (local vernacular for an important intersection), I snapped this photo. Barns this classic and oak trees this majestic, quercus lobata, are standard but disappearingTulare County items, and when seen together, they should be painted or drawn or just photographed. (If I paint this, I will edit it severely.)
This is called a vitex tree. Doesn’t that sound like some sort of diet supplement? We tend to refer to these as “lupine trees”.
I finished 2 more Mineral King paintings, both 8×8″, drying quickly in the heat.
My friend with the Hume Lake cabin sent me this photo, which might possibly be the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen. Maybe I shall paint it. . . yes, I KNOW it is in Fresno/Fres-yes County but it is a well-loved place, even among us ignorant, fat, uneducated, poor, diabetic Tulare County hon-yocks.
What does an artist do all day? For this artist, every day is different. Yeah, it seems as if all I did all winter was paint, paint, paint. That’s different right now.
First, I walked with my neighbor (numb toes, but manageable for 2 miles), then I worked in my herb garden for about an hour.
The deer aren’t messing with these hollyhocks. Haha, deer.
I put together a bank deposit, and then had to make a phone call that ended up taking a full hour. It was a successful attempt to untangle a Word problem. Nope, not a crossword type word problem, the Microsoft type of problem.
This led to about 2.5 hours of proofreading.
Suddenly, the morning was over, and I had to paint a sign. Sometimes I do odd jobs like that.
Suddenly the afternoon was almost over and I hadn’t oil-painted and it was killer hot and the swamp cooler hadn’t been turned on. Yikes! I went into the studio for a bit to scan 2 new paintings in hopes that the swamp would have a chance to get rolling.
Classic Mineral King, 8×10″, $145
Classic Mineral King 2, 10×10″, $200
I had some iced tea (herbal, because caffeine is a bad choice in the afternoon), and then went to the easels. It was too hot to putter or just dink around*, so I dove in fully focused with a game plan. Mike Rowe kept me company interviewing Riley Gaines—no relation to Chip and Joanna as far as I know—about her new book**, Swimming Against the Current. (The link is for ThriftBooks rather than the big A.)
A few hours later, this was almost finished, and I was too.
All it needs is the edges painted. And a few houseboats—I forgot about that part. It also needs a title beyond the working title of “Rachel’s View”. Full Lake? Full Lake at Sunset? Lake Kaweah is Full? Still Waters? (corny. . . nope) Drowned Wildflower Seeds? (My great-uncle used to mourn the drowned wildflowers after the dam was built. . . I guess I have come by my love of wildflowers honestly, eh?)
*Sometimes I am not very focused, just moving from painting to painting, dabbing a bit here, perfecting a bit there.
**Imma wait for the liberry copy. It is because that’s what frugal people do.
This month I will publish two Learned posts, this one and a Learned in Texas. I shared several things in my little series on being in Texas but there is still more.
1. If you want to search for a term on a website, on a Mac you can use the command key (clover leaf) with F and you get a search box at the upper right corner of the page.
2. Locks of Love takes hair donations to make wigs for kids and charges the kids. Wigs for Kids takes hair donations and doesn’t charge the kids. Wigs for Kids (I don’t know how they handle gray hair.)
3. Northern Lights! In Washington, Three Rivers, and even in Texas! I didn’t see them anywhere, but CK graciously shared her photo with me.
4. I should have known better than to succumb to the temptation of a Texas souvenir in the form of a fragile item. I wanted to replace a broken favorite mug with one of a similar size (15-16 oz.) and found this on Etsy. I mistakenly thought that this fragile item would be packaged in a manner that it wouldn’t arrive in pieces. Alas, I was disappointed. At least I didn’t have to fight for a refund.
5. I finally learned to recognize the difference between Eastern redbud and Western redbud.
Eastern redbud on the left; Western redbud on the right
6. ALWAYS save your postal receipt with a tracking number if you have to return something for a refund. Companies are so eager to sell to you, offering “full money-back guarantees”, but if you can’t prove that you returned it, they will balk. Never mind the fact that it arrived at their warehouse—PROVE IT, YOU SUCKER CUSTOMER. And if you order something with that guarantee, call the customer service number to see if it actually works while you still have time to cancel the order. Some places don’t answer the phone if they even have a number to call; many don’t reply to emails or to the contact form on their websites.
7. I had never seen a fossil, somehow missing all the elementary and secondary lessons on the topic. My good friend Jee-um (that’s how “Jim” is pronounced in Texas), a retired geology teacher, sent me one after he learned of my educational deficit! This is an echinoid, but it looks like a miniature starfish to me.
8. “Functional medicine” is a new term to me—it is a way of practicing medicine that gets to the root of the problem rather than just prescribing something to mitigate the symptoms. A friend told me about this, so I looked it up, as one does. The friend told me that there are practitioners in the area, so I looked that up too. Alas, it took me to the chiropractor I already saw, the very one who tried to sell me a $3500 package of all sorts of things that might or might not treat my neuropathy. Sigh. The saga continues. . .
Did these shoes wreck my feet back in the ’70s and ’80s?
9. No matter how certain I am that a painting is finished, there is ALWAYS room for improvement.
Tomorrow: Eighteen Things I Learned in Texas (Yes, EIGHTEEN, and that doesn’t include all of the things I told you about in my six Texas travelogue posts.
Texas is the Lone Star State, and boy howdy are they proud of that star and that nickname, which actually only became official a few years ago. Texas was a sovereign nation for about 10 years, and they are the only state with the audacity to fly their flag at a height equal to the American flag. This isn’t always done, but I did see it several times.
This was taken through the car window as we were passing on the freeway, so it appears as if the American flag is higher simply because of the perspective.
I started a quest to find all the stars that I could. After awhile, I decided that enough was enough.
Flags were also prevelant.
N said that this town has flags lining the streets on all patriotic holidays.
“Don’t mess with Texas” is a frequently seen motto. This means don’t mess with their flag, their star, or their traditions. The phrase was coined in the mid-’90s to instill pride and get a grip on the excessive litter.
