Big Water in Three Rivers (with random questions)

The recent storms in Three Rivers have been very exciting. Water can do damage, but it isn’t scary like fires. Fire is capricious and random, but water flows downhill and in obvious channels, so one can simply use caution and enjoy the power. Many friends have called or emailed to ask if we are doing okay, because Three Rivers was in the local news and even made the weather channel (causing my aunt in Arkansas to call to check up on us)! But we couldn’t afford riverfront property 24 years ago, and thus, we are doing just fine in the “rain events”. (When did rain stop being just rain or perhaps a storm and become an “event”?) 

Today I will simply show you a smattering of water photos. I walked to the Dinely Bridge in the rain several times, and we took lots of walks around the neighborhood. Trail Guy, formerly known as Road Guy, usually carried either a shovel or an iron rake, his waterology work a gift to the neighborhood. (When did people stop giving one another things and start “gifting” them?)

The photos are not identified by date, water flow, or location. There will be some redundancy, because after awhile, it became hard to tell when each photo was taken. Yes, I know there are dates on photos, but sometimes I just want to coast a little bit. (Have you ever tried writing a blog 5 days a week for almost 15 years?? If so, you know that sometimes a  blogger just wants to slide a bit.) They are just here for your gawking pleasure, minus the wet feet and shoulders. (When did raincoats and jackets stop being waterproof?)

Maybe next week I will do some work. Maybe next week I’ll learn when I get to start the murals at the big Catholic church in Visalia.  

 

 

Chasing the Water on the Mineral King Road

Yesterday we turned around at Lookout Point after walking up the steepest section of the Mineral King Road, and headed back downhill. 

Trail Guy, formerly known as Road Guy, explained that the old road above sloughed off and caused the disturbance that stopped our forward progress. This spot is ABOVE the gate and BELOW Lookout Point.

While he was puttering in the water and mud, I photographed these bay leaves. Too bad we can’t do scratch-and-sniff here.

This weird boulder with its odd indentations is just below where we stopped driving. AGAIN: Above the gate and below Lookout.

I walked down to White Rock, formerly known as Bird Poop Rock, which I explained at the beginning of this post.

Still ABOVE the gate and BELOW Lookout.

We encountered some folks along the way back, and while the dudes were shooting the breeze, I photographed this tree with peculiar bark clusters. (I have no idea. . .)

Ahead is a typical slump of a saturated bank, and beyond that are “the potholes”. This is BELOW the gate.

This is Squirrel Creek, AKA “The Potholes” in this location; it has big holes in the slippery rock face, normally visible and very enticing to folks driving down the hill. Fantastic water flow!

This section of road could be a bit of a problem for a HumVee or other wide vehicle. The county road department certainly has its work cut out for next few weeks (months?). This is BELOW the potholes.Here is another mess. Also below the potholes.

Look at what is happening along the gutter side of the road. I wanted to get out and play in the water, but we’d been gone long enough. 

All the rest of these photos are below the potholes above the Oak Grove Bridge

These folks will have some difficulty accessing their driveway for awhile. It isn’t a primary residence, the owners live far away, and I doubt if they will be too troubled or even know about it. “Whose drive this is, I think I know; his house is in the city though. He will not see us stopping here to watch his drive slide down the road.” (With apologies to Robert Frost)

What is going on here? That plant is shooting up out of the pavement. And so much for last summer’s pothole patching efforts.

Messy, messy, messy.

Let’s conclude this weird little road trip with a look at my favorite bridge. It has been quite a few years since I have been able to see the water because of all the growth obstructing the view. 

Thank you for joining us on this tour. Maybe next week I’ll get some work done and show it to you.

FOR CLARIFICATION: WE DID THIS LITTLE ROAD TRIP THE DAY BEFORE THE PARK ISSUED THEIR ROAD CLOSED DECREE.

One of the Mineral King webcams is working again: mkwebcam.

Chasing the Water in Three Rivers

We knew that the Mineral King road was closed, because it is always closed in the winter. However, we were curious as to how it fared in last week’s fierce storms. 

There were many places where mud had slumped down off the bank, but nothing photo worthy or a problem to a slow driver on an almost empty road.

Looks as if the flume needs a bit of work, just below the Oak Grove Bridge.

We crossed the bridge, went through the first gate (about 9 miles up the road), and then a mile or two later, decided we didn’t need to go any farther.

I waded across while Trail Guy put on his boots.

We then walked up the road to Lookout Point. Trail Guy was Road Guy before retirement, and he couldn’t resist doing a bit of work along the way. I asked lots of questions, trying to understand how he determined what needed to be done, and what was too much trouble for a shovel and an iron rake.

The view of Sawtooth from Lookout was very reassuring to those of us who prefer winters with a good snowpack.

This little section below Lookout is the steepest stretch of the road. Being somewhat unmotivated and definitely out of shape, walking to Lookout Point felt like enough of a walk, so that’s where we turned back.

Things are so open, so barren after the 2021 fire. It is a treat to be there when it isn’t hot and the air is clear.

A visitor, but he didn’t hang around for an introduction.

That’s enough for today. I will continue our little road trip along the Mineral King road in search of water (damage) tomorrow.

UPDATE FOR CLARIFICATION: These photos are posted in a strange order. The first ones of road collapse are BELOW Lookout Point, but ABOVE the gate. We walked up to Lookout Point, photographed Sawtooth, walked back down. I took a few photos on the way back to the Botmobile, then more photos of Trail/Road Guy doing a bit of shoveling. 

ONE MORE THING: We went the day before the Park issued their ROAD CLOSED decree.

Chasing the Sun in Three Rivers

So far, we are having a most welcome wet winter in Three Rivers. This results in Trail Guy and I chasing the sun. In the past handful of winters, we could walk around on the lake bottom (Kaweah Lake, formed by Terminus Dam on the Kaweah River when I was about 4 or 5 years old).

This year, it is flooded. The dam was built for flood control, irrigation storage, and recreation. Right now the focus is on flood control. Before it was built, Visalia, about 30 miles west, flooded. The last big flood was 1955. (I wasn’t born, so I don’t remember.)

This is looking west, walking along the road that used to be the main way in and out of Three Rivers, until the dam was built.

Looks like our short walk ends here.

Looks nice and green, but most of the ground around the lakebed is thick with cockleburs. They love socks and frayed hems and gortex shoes.

Turning back, this is the view. That’s Alta Peak, also visible from home. Yeppers, that’s the peak with an elephant in profile, visible when there is snow.

Is this lake or river? How about both. It is where the river meets and becomes lake.

Here’s one last big view of Alta. Can you see the elephant? I showed you in this post back in January last year..

Tomorrow, we will chase the water (damage) in Three Rivers and up the Mineral King Road.

Getting Outside in the Sunshine of Three Rivers

Trail Guy and I took a walk with some friends. It really was just a walk, but two of us carried lunch and water for the other two. It involved some trespassing, so the location will be kept quiet, other than Three Rivers. Of course, if you live here, you will probably recognize where we were. Shhhh. . . .

It started clear, and there were a few trees in bright fall colors. This is looking downstream from the Dinely bridge over the middle fork of the Kaweah River.

From our perch, spots of bright colored trees appeared. These are primarily Chinese pistache, a hardy tree that plants itself in random places, secret spots that no one notices until early November. 

But ick, what happened to the clear day??

The elephant was visible with the new snow on Alta Peak.

Baby rattler or gopher snake? Only its tongue was moving. Trail Guy relocated it a bit using a stick, and it was really stiff. One of our friends may have screamed a little bit. Trail Guy said it most likely was a gopher snake, because they are a bit shinier than rattlers.

One last look through the smog. Haze. Smoke. something.

Three Rivers is one of the best places to live in Tulare County. I’ve lived in the country outside of Ivanhoe, in Visalia, and in Lemon Cove (which is a close second to Three Rivers if you don’t mind being in a town of 190 people). It is the closest place to Mineral King where one can live year around, and it’s where my home is, complete with 3 cats.

That is Tucker, Jackson, and Little Bucky, who is not a cat. Pippin was probably sleeping in the house, where he is NOT allowed, but Trail Guy has a real soft spot for Mr. Orange Bob Square Pants.

Calendars Available, Mineral King HIKES

2023, Mineral King HIKES, still available here: Calendars

I’d show you the back of the calendar, but out of respect for my Most Faithful Blog Commenter you will need to click on the link to see it. Sharon buys a calendar every year, and never allows herself to see what it is in it until the appropriate month arrives.

 

Three Rivers Holiday Bazaar

THREE RIVERS HOLIDAY BAZAAR

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022

9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Veterans Memorial Building

43490 Sierra Drive

I will be bringing these items to sell:

  1. Paintings of Mineral King, Three Rivers, and Sequoia
  2. 2023 calendars Mineral King HIKES (available on website)
  3. Notecards (including designs that don’t appear on my website)
  4. coloring books: Heart of the County (also available here)
  5. Mineral King Wildflowers books (only a few remaining)
  6. Original pencil drawings of Wilsonia cabins
  7. The Cabins of Wilsonia (also available on my website)

 

Lazy Listicle of Distracted Thoughts

  1. The acorns have been raining down from the live oaks in our yard and attracting herds of deer. One morning Trail Guy counted 16 in the driveway. (Deer, not acorns)
  2. This painting needs a title! Any suggestions?
  3. These 2 5×7″ oil paint on panel paintings are drying. There are 3 more, but these are days of distractions,  falling acorns, broken things, a rush pencil commission, RAIN, and yet another odd job.
  4. This big guy was focused on acorns and water. There is a tub on the other side of that rock that the deer come to (and the turkeys and the cats. . . probably some others we don’t know about). Such is life in Three Rivers in rural Tulare County.
  5. My wonderful webdesigner gave up two hours on her day off to begin figuring out what keeps going wrong with my website. This was her only day off in the busiest week she has had since pre-Plague. There are still some mysteries, but it is mostly functional at this time.
  6. Many years ago a former neighbor gave me this juicer. This year it wouldn’t work, AFTER we picked a 5 gallon bucket of pomegranates. Someone told me about a repair shop in Goshen, so I navigated my way to Breck’s in a ferocious rainstorm, and they gave me hope. Now my hope is that it can be repaired quickly, because in spite of not paying for it initially, at $90/hour, I will be paying for it now.
  7. In spite of November being my busiest month, I spent a day on my tookus, watching a live workshop of many demonstrations of art realism. During the boring ones (I KNOW how to draw!), I packaged notecards. During the other sessions, I took notes.
  8. I also took photos. This is how the light looks on one of my studio windows in the afternoon.

P.S. I might have knitted a little bit too. . . it wasn’t Zoom and no one could see.

P.P.S. (that means PS #2) I hit a skunk on my way home the other night. Didn’t know it until I got home. Felt something, but didn’t smell it until the car was in the garage. Well, yippee skippee. A skunk is easier on a car than a deer. 

 

Painting Three Rivers

Did you think I forgot these paintings? Not a chance; I have a little bazaar coming on November 19 in Three Rivers and need some appropriate merchandise (besides just 2023 calendars and cards and coloring books.)

Did I think you forgot them? Not gonna let you forget—don’t worry your pretty little head about that.

One:

(Please, do not sing about this.)

It is now finished, drying, and awaiting a scan so you can see the colors more accurately. The title is Alta Peak/Moro Rock View. (Yes, I know it is brilliant and clever and original.)

Two:

Just a bunch of yellow grass couldn’t possibly take that long, could it?

Yes, it could and it is. It isn’t titled yet. Perhaps “Yellow Grass and Live Oaks” would be appropriately creative and original. . .

Three:

Mixing colors for this one has been fun. My paintings tend to be all greens, grays, and browns, or nothing but orange (poppies and oranges, over and over).

How about calling it “Three Indian Grindholes on the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River in Three Rivers at Sunset”?

Nope. It is only an 8×10″ oil painting, so there isn’t enough room on the back of the canvas to write all that.

Part of the business of art is coming up with good titles. I’ve got some thinking to do.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Laurie!

 

A Short Painting Session, 3 Photos of 2 Paintings

I was able to slip another hour or two of painting into my other responsibilities.

Using the leftover blue and gray sky colors, I mixed a bit more Distant Mountain Blues and Grays in order to detail the mountains on two paintings. Both of these paintings feature Moro Rock and Alta Peak, standard landmarks seen from many places in Three Rivers.

The colors look a bit off in this photo, so I carried it outside. Then the colors looked very wrong. Nope, this is not being painted for Disneyland’s Small World (and please do NOT start singing.)

This view of Alta Peak and Moro Rock is from Kaweah Lake in early winter. In this scene, the lake is low (and behind the viewer) and there is some snow in the mountains because winter hasn’t begun in earnest.

It appears that winter has begun in earnest early this year!

My colored pencil artist friend from Kansas, Carrie Lewis, requested a guest post for her blog on last Saturday, so I wrote of my experiment using colored pencils in Mineral King, A Plein-Air Experiment.

Whatcha doing, Central California Artist?

Messy beginnings

All my paintings begin this way. It no longer causes me distress, that continual uncertainty about my skills. With approximately 1300 paintings (not counting murals) completed since 2006 and most of those sold, I am learning to just flow with the mess. 

Planning

With the Holiday Bazaar happening soon (Saturday, November 19, Three Rivers Veterans Memorial Building, 9-4), I needed to take inventory and plan. I counted up the number of available paintings by subject, tallied them by size, and came up with a plan. 

Three Rivers subjects are in the shortest supply. 8×10 and similar sizes are the most likely to sell at a one day bazaar here in town. So, two 8×10″s, one 8×8″, and a 6×18″. (Priced at $125, $100, and $165)

Chop chop and hubba hubba

I went quickly through my photos, going on “gut instinct” rather than evaluating to the same degree that I evaluated sizes and subjects, and without hesitating, assigned inventory numbers and titles, wired the backs for hanging, and started painting.

Cover that canvas

Take a break for drying

These will turn out just fine. Most paintings do. If not, I will just add more layers or turn them into Sequoia tree oil paintings. It’s just the business of art.