Friday, May 14, 2010

Garberville Farmers Market.

You can tell by the length of the shadows that it is High Noon in the park. Well, I guess that you would have to know what day is was. The park is oriented ... Never mind, Country people are a little differnt from city folk... I guess I just should have said that the farmers market was just getting started.

I went over to see if I could find Ram & Marissa Fishman, they weren't there. The consensus was that it is too late for scions and too early for apples. Plus, not many people have their horses shod at the farmers market.

The above paragraph would make sense to anybody in Garberville, because in a small town everybody would know that Ram and Marissa have and apple orchard and shoe horses. But, the paragraph makes as much sense as anything else in Garberville.

The above bus is a group that they call "Grass Roots Radio" They were here representing Grass Roots Radio. I ask several people, that seemed to be connected to the "event", what was going on with the radio bus. I say that they seemed to be connected, because they were all wearing name tags saying "Grass Roots Radio". The first lady that I talked to said that "This is a really big deal for Garberville!" "Do you know that there are four radio stations here today?" I ask what frequency that they were broadcasting on. She said:"Gee I don't know, maybe you can ask in the bus". I thought "That's a good idea",

On my way to the bus, I stopped to talk to another lady that I knew. I ask her what the bus was all about. She gave me the standard answer about "Big Deal" "Grass Roots" Etc. But she added that they were very environmentally aware and conscious. I thought "that's good", if you're on the radio, it helps to be conscious. As I got closer, another person told me about how really great that they were, and that they powered their radio with solar power panels that they strap to their roof when they get where they are going. And, that they power the bus with bio-diesel. That way if they are driving through a corn field to get to where they need to be with their radio and run out of fuel in a corn field, they can just squeeze themselves some more fuel right out of the corn field. I got kinda' jealous hearing that, I usually have to call my wife and have her bring me gas when I run out.

I finally got to the bus. I got to looking at things and discovered that everything was covered with a fine yellow powder. I asked the man in the side door what happened, and said that it looked like fire extinguisher dust. He said “nope, that's Black Rock Desert dust. We do Burning Man”. Well, that explains everything... They “Do Burning Man”. I asked another person if it could be washed off. He looked incredulous, like the dust was a badge of honor or something, and besides "they are going to be right back there next year, then they would have to start washing all over again."

I was still a little confused about what "Grass Roots Radio'' was all about. I went back to the store, and Brian the clerk at my wife's Radio Shack asked me what the heck "Grass Roots Radio" was all about. I looked up at the counter and there was a lady there buying something, she had a Grass Roots tag on. She seemed very pleasant, intelligent, personable, and articulate. So, I started chating with her a little bit, I asked her where she was from. She told me that they had just come down from Oregon to be with the Grass Roots people. Brian asked her what she was doing here. She said "Well I just had the most wonderfull bowl of soup at Chautauqua. It was absolutely delicious, but the potato was raw" I could see that he had another question forming but he saw my grin and gave up.

All I could figure out is that they were just a group of very nice people having a really great time. I confess that some things just can't be "reasoned out".
Above: The guy in the white pants is Chris McCurdy an outstanding guitar player and singer. He once played in the Norton Buffalo Band.


Above: Dogs are not only allowed, they are required!

Above: An Ol' friend giving the universal South Fork of the Eel canyon high-sign for "Deer!" The spread fingers denote the exclamation mark. This sign is usually followed by a number of fingers held out in front denoting how many deer, then a nod in the direction that you can see the deer.
The sign can also be used generically, in this particular case he was saying "Oh deer, the road is closed!" (note the exclamation mark)



This is the local war protester. He is very late to work today because he got side-tracked with the Grass Roots people. He wears pink pants,striped socks,and if he was facing you, you would see that he wears a red ping-pong ball on his nose. He does his protest while playing gay music on his accordion. He wants you to know that he is serious! (Note the widely spread fingers) His sign says "No More WAR!" He used to write out which war he was protesting, but it got tedious, changing it all the time when the wars kept changing. Someday his sign will just say "Frickin War". But, he is a decent person with an honorable cause, so in that respect I support him. If he stops the war(s) tomorrow, I will be the first to apologize for funnin' him.


Another day in the park!

10 comments:

Idaho said...

What does it mean if the person giving the universal SFork "Deer" sign is also sticking out his tongue when they are "warning" you about the deer........or road....or people on the plaza?

Robin Shelley said...

I think that signifies a dead deer, Idaho, but we'll have to wait for Ernie to tell us to be certain.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Well, the South Fork of the Eel canyon sign language (SFEC-SL) is entirely situational, and contextual. For instance, if the man in the photo was standing next to your tomato garden with his hands at his ears with his fingers spread and his tongue sticking out. It would mean, “The deer ate your tomatoes!, because your fence is too short, and they will be back tomorrow night”.

In the situation in the above photo, the tongue extended would mean, “They closed the road!, and they really don't care”. By not having the tongue extended it means that “They closed your road!, but they are hoping that you won't notice”.

Because the SFEC-SL is so situational and contextual it can be wrongly interpreted. The SFEC-SL sign for “I love you” can be also be something vile and disgusting. So one must be careful to maintain eye contact at all times, to make sure that you are being read correctly.

There is also a dialect of the SFEC-SL that the loggers use. It is called SFEC-SL-XR, for x-rated.

Idaho said...

Bless the ol' timers... without 'em we newcomers would never know this stuff! LOL!

Ekovox said...

Oh, boy oh boy, this Southern Humboldt bullshistory is really cacamamie, half-baked and just plain silly.

In the Eastern Humboldt region, the five extended fingers pressed to the temples and flapping signifies "Does your sister have a squire for the Saturday night dance?" If followed by the receiver giving back the one handed thumb to the nose with flailing fingers, it meant, "No, she headed out to town with that one fella from Hawkins Bar with the new truck who just cashed his big end of summer piss-fir willy fire check."

If the transmitter of the aforementioned twin five finger to the temples sign followed up with the bent left elbow with backward palm skyward with right arm hitting the elbow at a 90 degree angle, that would answer the thumb to nose signal with, "Oh, ok....say, you wanna get a beer at the Circle A?"

That my friends, is grass roots radio. All solar-powered, sustainable, green and organic. No bus needed.

spyrock said...

thats some good writing eko
thanks, spy

Idaho said...

Now wait. That was very illuminating Ekovox.
I happened to be nearby, and I very clearly heard Ernie tell that person in the picture that you can sneak up on deer by approaching them flapping your hands like ears at the side of your head.
Can you imagine giving a newcomer advice like that, that poor fella was seen going down the street practicing his deer "calling" sign language.

Ekovox said...

Now, standing on your hind legs with hands in the air"palms forward
e with elbows bent at 90 degree angles in the "Gentle Ben" attack pose, is something all together different. You wouldn't want to go down the street calling bears that way. It's better to just yell, "Here, Bear! Here Bear!

Idaho said...

Thanks for that clarification Eko. I once came out of my house in the early AM to investigate loud noises. The ursine visitor was not impressed by my raising my hands straight up in the air. It must have been the angle of the arms, or... maybe because I was only wearing a t-shirt at the time and calling out "Here bare"... I had the wrong spelling.

Anonymous said...

All you guys are trying call the animals. In Alaska we tried to keep the bears away from the house and we did a good job of I might add. We just put up some goal posts.

Oregon