Gold! Crystals?

Gold Crystal

Hmmm... What's wrong with this picture?

I've never really thought of Gold as being crystalline, but if it is vaporized and allowed to re-coalesce, it forms as a crystal. In a process, that I won’t even pretend to understand, heat, vacuum, and other chemicals leaches gold from other substances, then allows it form back into 99.99% pure gold. The picture is what the gold looks like when it joins back together. The process is called “The Van Arkle de Boer process”.



The following photo is Platinum formed with a similar process. Iron crystals called "hematite" form at the mouths of volcanoes from a natural occuring chemical/heat process.

Platinum Crystal



Iron Hematite



Touchstone for determining gold purity.

 I actually found all this information while I was looking for the word "Touchstone". I knew that a "touchstone" was used as a test for quality, but I didn't know why until I looked it up.

By using a two pieces of gold, of a known quality, to make marks on a touchstone. Then one gold mark of an unknown quality, the grade of the unknown gold can be determined by using mixtures of nitric acid and watching to see which mark disoves first. The term "Acid Test" also comes from determining the quality of Gold. Not being from gold county, I probably seem a little niave to the Mother Lode people.

This blog used to have a commenter by the name of "Gemboy" that knew all of this stuff. I havent heard from him since the post that I did on the Island Mountain Copper mine.

Washington D.C. Earthquake.

Back in 1981, I was waiting for a building permit for our house to be approved by Humboldt County that dragged on for months, but that’s a whole different story. While I was waiting for the permit, my wife and I decided to visit Washington D.C. We stayed with my wife’s brother, who was a lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission, back when there was “Trade”, but that’s a whole different story.

Anyway, we visited as many museums and monuments as we could. We were at the doors in the morning when they opened, and they had to kick us out at night. Most all the houses back there were very old brick houses, that go back to the 1800’s. I always felt uncomfortable around them. I asked many times, “What holds these houses together? They don’t have bolts or any kind of steel reinforcement.” I remember almost universally being laughed at. People seemed to know instantly that I was from California. They patiently explained that they had no need for reinforcement, because they “don’t have Earthquakes“. Many went on to state that they would never live in California because they were afraid of all the Earthquakes, and they felt that someday the whole west coast of California was going to shake-rattle-and-roll and slip into the Pacific Ocean. Then, it was my turn to laugh at them. I explained that most of our buildings stood-up real well in an earthquake, and most of the quakes that we have are nothing more than a fun ride.

I drew the line at the Washington Monument. My wife wanted to take the elevator to the top. I explained that it was too big of a risk to take an elevator ride to the top of a stack of rocks that was not designed to handle an earthquake. She chided me, and reminded me that one of my mottos is that “You only die once” and dirty-double-dog-dared me to take the elevator ride. So, foolishly, I agreed. A man just can’t allow his wife to think that he is a sissy, no matter what the risk!

When we arrived at the monument, there was some kind of a problem with the elevator and the rides were closed for the day. I was secretly overjoyed, the stack of rocks looks even more unstable standing on the ground looking up at it. As the clouds blow by, it looks just like it’s falling over. I was ready to grab my wife and run just looking at it.

Well, you know where I’m headed with this. Washington D.C. just had a 5.8 Earthquake, a crack opened up in the Washington Monument, and it is closed for safety reasons. Now, one of my other mottos is, “Ha, ha, ha, I told you so!!!”
 
Link to Wikipedia Washington Monument



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This establishment is an excellent place to teach your child manners.

Robin started this, because she mentioned that the newspaper that she used to work for wrote a piece about “No room at the Inn”. A pun on the fact that the Benbow Inn didn’t allow children under twelve in the dinning room back in the 70's. This is not criticism of the Benbow Inn, but a reminder about manners, and why they are important.
I intend to start on a high note, then descend into the abyss. It isn’t me, because I actually love children. So, what is it about so many children today that can be so darned annoying? Again, I know that it is not me. My child was a perfect child, always was, still is. She is… wow, I was going to tell you her age, I guess not even a father can get away with that. I’ll just say that she is past 30... I’m hoping that her perfection is not just the vision through a father’s eyes. Also, I would like to think that I had a little to do with the fact that she was delightful to be around when she was growing up, but I know full well that she was a good kid because it was her intent to be that way. She always seemed to want to be “good”. So, I know that I was not the great stern father that some like to be, but the father that allowed a naturally good kid to grow up to be the polite well liked person that she is. I only helped her to find the way.
We never tried to eat out when my daughter was an infant. It was just to uncomfortable for us, to know that a child that young can’t be well behaved. When she was about 2 ½ we started taking her out to dinner with us. When my wife and I went out to dinner and took her with us, she tried to be a brat. After just one annoying incident, my wife or I would head to the car with her and we would take turns baby sitting while the other gulped their dinner. She got one firm warning way up front, then, no second chances. After one obnoxious behavior, it was out to the car. After several times of this, she discovered that it was much more fun to be good. If you are wondering what obnoxious behavior is, stop reading now, a parent just knows. It doesn’t even have to extend beyond the table that you are seated. Even if your child’s bad behavior stays within the confines of your table, it ruins the thought of a nice evening out. We always included our daughter in our conversations and made her feel that she was a part of the festive occasion of an evening out. Of course you know that it wasn’t perfect, but it soon became a nice occasion for all of us.

One time we had a family reunion dinner at the Benbow Inn, when the Benbow Inn was owned by Chuck and Patsy Watts, they had a firm rule of “no children under the age of 12 allowed in the dining room”. We had the choice of not going, or taking our daughter with us. She was 8 years old at the time. I went down and talked Chuck about his concerns and told him that we were probably even more concerned about bad dining room manners than he was. He tentatively consented to allow her in the dining room. That evening she was part of the conversation and she was a delightful part of the evening, she kept her voice down she was polite, did not interrupt and she was as good as she always wanted to be, she achieved her own goals. After dinner Chuck wheeled out the desert cart and treated my daughter to anything that she wanted. He said that she was perfectly delightful, and was welcome at the Benbow Inn anytime that she liked. She probably doesn't even remember it, but it was a very proud moment for me to be the father of an eight year old that was allowed in the Benbow Inn.
Just so you don’t think that she was always “perfect”, her teen-age years erased many brownie points.

The Benbow Inn, under the current owners, had a “Lady” that decided to nurse her baby in the dining room. I was not a witness, nor do I even have much knowledge of what happened, but I think that it was politely suggested to her that she should use a blanket or a towel to cover her breast. The lady took great offense, and decided to make a great scene and took issue of the fact that she had a right, by law, to nurse her child anywhere, anytime, and in any manner. She told her friends how insulted that she was. She and her friends staged a “nurse in” where they all nursed their babies in the dinning room. Like I say, I’m not sure what really happened, I always miss the good stuff.

I don’t know about other men, but the sight of a female breast stops my heart for a few beats, then I put it all together that it is just a woman nursing her baby, and I can live through it. It’s cool with me, but I kinda’ prefer that they cover up. It doesn’t take much to be discrete. Then I don’t have to rearrange my mind and put it back into polite conversation mode
.
Whenever I go out to dinner I am cursed with, almost invariably, being seated next to a child. My wife laughs at me, that it just seems to be my luck. Almost always, right after we order, a family will come in at sit next to us. Sometimes it is nice, when the parents have the children under control. Well behaved children are a delight to be around, and they seem to sense that. But, other parents don’t have a clue. The kid will start off with a loud scream, and the parents just ignore it. Then it only gets worse from there. I usually just ask the waiter to doggie box my meal and leave. My sister in law has a theory that some people Inflict their children on you in hopes that you will feel sorry for them, because they have to put up with the bad behavior all the time.

I was on an airplane coming back from Dallas Texas a few years ago, and was I seated right across the isle from a three year old child. A child that got to ride free, because she was seated on her mothers lap. The child started with the loud screams, then she would look around and laugh at all the people staring at her. Then she would scream again. The female flight attendant told the mother, in no uncertain terms, to comfort the child and stop her screaming. She told the mother several more times. The woman explained to the attendant that she could do nothing about it. That that is just the way the child was, and she always did that on airplanes. To my delight the attendant told her that it was very unfortunate that she could do nothing about the child, because she was going to have the pilot land the plane in Denver, and remove them from the plane, and she would never be allowed to fly on Delta again. The woman seemed to understand, the child stopped screaming immediately and only whimpered for a few moments after that. Most of the passengers near me thanked the attendant. It was apparent that the attendant knew more about dealing with bad behavior than the passenger.

I saw a near riot in a Garberville café when a child started screaming and a few diners told the mother to control her kid. It turned into a turf battle, of who had the most rights to be there. The mother lost, but wrote mean letters to the editor for awhile.

I think my favorite place to dine out was the Benbow Barbeque House. They had a very neatly printed sign, in the finest calligraphy. It said: “This establishment is an excellent place to teach your child manners”, then they insisted upon it. Most of the kids that ate there were well behaved.

A good decision on Bear Lady!

A good decision on Bear Lady!

When I was growing up, I had a lot of pet wild animals. I had ground squirrels, grey squirrels, flying squirrels, I had a few snakes for a day or two, and let them go. I just couldn’t warm up to the idea of having a snake as a pet. Frogs were much cooler. Somehow I liked the idea of raising frogs. We would gather tadpoles and put them in the stock trough. The mosquitoes, that were already in the trough, provided plenty of food. They would grow legs and become frogs. As soon as they were big enough to make it on there own we would take them down to Ten Mile Creek, that drains the south end of Laytonville, and turn them loose like proud parents pushing their children out into the great big world.


My sister and I would gather milkweed and Monarch Butterfly caterpillars. We would raise them in a shoe box. Soon they would hang from a leaf, shed their skin and become a chrysalis. The chrysalis would shed it’s akin after a while and become a Monarch Butterfly, a most beautiful creature, and still my favorite bug.

One time I brought home a baby coon, it was the cutest thing that you ever saw. I imagined the he was going to become my closest friend. My dad, who was much smarter than me, told me to put it back where I found it, instantly. He said that coons would always become mean. That they are too smart and can never really be trained. They almost always become biters and they can never be trusted. The best pet is a neutered male. But, the females always get mean. That was back before I understood all the wild animal mating rituals. Now, I understand that Mommas, as a rule, don’t put up with much of anything, but getting their own way.


Most of my family had wild animal pets through the years. All of my uncles had pet deer at one time. The deer were released and allowed to be on the ranch, but it was well understood that they were not to be trusted in any way. Just the other day I read that somebody had been killed by his own pet deer. Two bucks got in a fight and gored him to death.


It’s alright to love wild animals, but they don’t make good pets. There are exceptions, that I won’t tell you about, because I don’t want you out gathering up my wild friends just to make yourself happy. Most of the pets that my family and I had were orphans of some kind. So, it was a choice to raise them and turn them loose or let them die. One of the cutest, but least likely to be a good pet, is a river otter. I’ve handled one as a baby, but never raised one. My cousin Oregon even had a pet 'Possum. It's teeth looked like little needles and it had two or three different sets of canine teeth on the way to the back of it's mouth. You didn't want to hurt its feelings, or it would play dead. All those teeth and it's defence mechinism is to "Play Possum".


So, I guess what I trying to say is that I understand The Laytonville Bear Lady. But alas, I also understand that a person really can’t tame a bunch of wild bears. The have a tendency to become overBEARing.

The Following is from the A.P.
UKIAH, Calif. — A woman who turned her rural Northern California home into a spa for wild bears won't go to jail after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of feeding big game.

After Lynne Gravier entered her plea in Mendocino County Superior Court on Monday, Judge Richard Henderson set her sentencing date for three years from now, on Aug. 8, 2014, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. If Gravier stays out of trouble and stops feeding bears, prosecutors agreed to drop the charge then.

Gravier, 77, known as the "Bear Woman," set up a plush hangout for her furry friends at her 40-acre Laytonville property, complete with a kiddie pool and a buffet of cornmeal and peanut butter sandwiches, sometimes laced with glucosamine to ease the arthritis pain in older bears.

Authorities who raided the property in response to neighbor complaints last August found a total of 15 black bears who regularly relaxed inside Gravier's house and on her deck. She also fed 18 cats, three dogs, 40 peacocks and other wildlife out of her home, which was covered in filth.

California Department of Fish and Game wardens called it the worst example of bear feeding they had ever encountered.
Gravier's supporters protested her prosecution, defending her as an animal lover. But neighbors complained that she drew in bears that terrorized the community by breaking into homes, ransacking feed sheds and chasing livestock.

"This lady may have thought she was doing a good thing," Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster told the Chronicle. "We don't want to bash her, but we have to get her attention and get her to recognize that her feeding the bears was causing a problem for the neighbors and, frankly, is dangerous."

Under the terms set by prosecutors, Gravier may not return to her Laytonville property. The house was condemned last year.

"The end result to me was very positive," Gravier said. "I'm glad that it is over and I can go on."




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Petite-Three Ernie Sandwiches and Beer.

Well.... Recipe to go with beer :

Sandwich depicted NOT Ernie sandwich.

When eating Ernie sandwiches with beer, it’s best to try to appear like it is elegant…

Sprinkle a little powdered chicken stock on the sliced ham and let it marinate in the refrig overnight, or longer, no biggie. Or you can do like I do. I usually don't think about it in time to marinate, so I rub the dry chicken stock into the ham vigorously. Then pretend that it has been elegantly marinated. I know, I should be calling it maranaDe, because it's more elegant.

Fry the ham in hot oil to seal in the juices. Caramelize the surface slightly.

Use Raisin Bread. Toast the raisin bread slightly. To what I call soft wiggle.

Spread one piece of toast with Nuefachatel cheese. You can use regular old cream cheese, but lie and say that it is Nuefachatel, because that is more elegant.

Then spread some very thinly sliced Walla Walla onions on top the cream cheese. Regular onions are okay as long as they are mild enough to pretend that they are the very elegant Walla Wallas.

Then, fit a slice of the chicken stock ham over the top of the onions.

Spread the other piece of toast with peanut butter, then spread the jelly on that. The kind of jelly is optional. Apple is always a good choice. Quince is best, and also most elegant. Grape gives a good flavor, but if you want to try something wildly different use Jalapeño jelly, or mint.

Place the jelly side down on top of the slice of ham, I know that you would have done that anyway, but it's an important step. Some people might have made it jelly side out and been disappointed.... Push toothpicks through the sandwich, cut the edges off and set aside to be used later.Then cut the sandwich into 1 inch square pieces. You can be creative and cut them into small triangles and call the “petite-threes” it’s a real conversation starter.

Now place a very large stack of these on a serving tray and place them on a table. Then tell everybody not to touch them that it’s for the PTA fair. (I learned that from my wife)

Grab a frosty mug out of the freezer, and pour a mug of Guiness Beer from the tapper. Hold the Mug by the handle with your little finger extended to the side. That’s the most elegant way to hold it.

The smart people in the crowd will already be stealing the Petite-Three Ernie sandwiches. Then just join the rest of the people eating them. It’s fun to see how long it takes for the dumb people to figure out that they are not going to make it to the PTA fair.

When all of the Petite-threes are gone, put the bowl of edge cuttings on the table because after a few Guiness', any semblance of elegance is gone and people will be glad to have them.

I dirty double dog dare you to try them!

The Humbodt County Fair

My favorite part of the fair is the ladies that are proud of their jams and jellies and pies, and peanut butter tuna casseroles.




Also, the kids with their lips quivering, because they are just about to sell their animal that they have raised from a baby, and the animal that has become their very best friend in the whole world, who has patiently listened to all their problems.



And, the dads that are proud of their kids, because the have raised them to be tough and face the reality of the world that we live in, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and go forward with their chins up.



I just love people… even the ones that sometimes make me mad. What better place than the Fair to soak in the real world.
 
Humboldt County Fair Home Page

What time in history would you want to live?

As many of you know, I spend a lot of time thinking about the good old days, but would I choose to live back then? Think of any time in history that would you go back to, and live there, if you were stuck there and could never return. This is a difficult question for me, because without modern medicine I probably would have been dead about three times now. Once when I was eight years old I was hospitalized with pneumonia, modern medicine saved my life. Actually I might have lived, but it was a lot more fun to just get well. I had pneumonia another time about 15 years ago. When I get sick, I'm too stupid to slow down and take care of myself, so I end up turning a simple cold into something much more serious like pneumonia. Chances are real good that I might have lived both times.

Eight years ago, I had prostate Cancer. The Big "C". I had brachytherapy, that's where they fill your prostate with radioactive "seeds". I have about 120 of them. It felt like I was shot in the rear end with a shotgun. Which, I guess that, literally.. I was. I didn't miss a days work. Something is just wrong about having the big "C" one day, and be cured the next. I spend a lot of time feeling guilty that it was such a small thing for me. I spend a lot of time thinking about what the Indian people would have done with prostate cancer. A lot of their "cures" was done with tobacco smoke.

I have heard stories that the American Indian had a cure for all of the diseases that they got, up until the white man showed up. The diseases that the white man had killed them readily, with no defense.

The Indians had a dance called "The Ghost Dance" which was really a prayer dance for the white man to go away, and they could return to better times. I've often wondered, how many Indians would return to the times before white man today? My good friend, relative, and Humboldt county supervisor, Harry Pritchard said that when the Indians were given hunting and fishing rights, they were standing naked in the riffles netting and stabbing fish with pointy sticks. A far cry from today, where that they have every technology known to man. But, I read in The Two River tribune that they Indian People on the Klameth have a better chance of saving the salmon than the rest of America, and they have a few good ideas as to how to achieve that goal. I would like to see a few of their pratices brought to the South Fork Of the Eel. Like the deep water holes that they are digging in the river gravel to provide real fish habitat.

But, I digress, but you knew that. I was talking to a fellow today about what time in history that he would chose to live, or would he stay right here, today, with all of our problems. He said that he wanted a big-screen TV the size of his whole living room wall, A leather Lazy-Boy and a remote control that would take him to look at anytime in history, any place in the world. He could go view the Han Dynasty in China and watch Gengus Khan awhile, then he could watch Atilla The Hun, on to Julius Ceasar. Then maybe watch King Henry the Eighth, maybe skip back to watch the Crusades. Or, the "taming" of Amerca. All from his overstuffed Lazy-Boy recliner. He could even go to Disneyland.

Sadly, I think that I would chose "here and now". One, it's better than dead, which I would be by now any other time in history. If I could visit anywhere or time, then come back. I would probably choose The British Isles. Go to a real Elizibetian theater. Go to Ireland and have an original Guiness beer. Or follow my great grandfather Cull on his trip across the great plains, to find out what really happened to him. Was he killed by Indians as we have all been told, or was he bushwacked by white scoundrels?

Where would you go, and would you chose to stay if you could never come home again?

OMG!!! The reel Suzy Blah Blah dropds a nodte!!

A while back, missing what I thought was the real Suzy Blah Blah, while dealing with what I perceived to be an interloper Suzy, I did a blog post about “The Legend of Suzy Blah Blah”.

Being a person that only deals with tangibles, and reality, I picked up that the recent commenter claiming to be Suzy couldn’t possibly be the real Suzy Blah Blah. She just couldn’t pass the hammer test.  The interloper Suzy is also very intelligent and witty, and her comments are welcomed by us all… But she just ain’t  “the real Suzy”.

So, at a time in my life, when I seriously need some reality, like only the real Suzy Blah Blah can bring me. She shows up like an answer to my thoughts in the wind. It was like she knew that I needed a little of those two “same things,” Love and Understanding. It’s enough to make a person believe in that spirit stuff.

Now, and I hope that the real Suzy is still reading, because Most of us on this blog find that our concerns are with you. Please tell us that you are okay and doing well. My heart wrenched and I felt the lonely anguish of a Humboldt Co. country girl hitchhiking in the L.A. rain. We all hope that you and your child are happy and well.

Reading the “Real Suzy Blah Blah” is like ready poetry. You have to look past the words on the page, to the feelings and “spirit” within them.

I moved her comments to the front page here, for the few of us who love the real Suzy.

suzy blah blah has left a new comment on your post "The legend of Suzy Blah Blah":

really?!! omgosh, that's embarrassing, LOL! but i love you fro making time to read it all. whew, i don't even have time to shit these days, not to mention burning sage, theres so little time, I put my kid to bed and i'm exhausted. but i relax somethimes typing and it looks like i have a few minutes to thank youuu Charlie, that's so sweet to hear. Theres been a lot of raven activity around here, very noisy. Maybe its your prayers coming through. I havto listen harder, or maybe not try to listen, . . . CAW! CAW!

thats so cewl that you made your fortune the white mans stock market LOL. it makes me smile. And i'm praying for your continuing health and that there are no relapses. Smoke that medicine. It must be awesome where you are in neveada. I love the desert, sooooo quiet and with a such a big night amazing sky. And cowboyss wearing guns to Wallmart LOL. It sounds good.

You know, I had my friend write the Suzy comments fair a spell, so it looks like everyone seems to think it wasn't me, suzy, but they don't get it. this one and the other one are both Suzy ie Suzy is one ,, LOL That's the REAL legend. Peolpe get legend confused with history. but in legend there is no linear time * line ... one doesn't come before or after the other because the other isn't in linear time ... another words you could read the old suzy comments in any order you want, you could ever read them upside down and you'd still get the same "message?", or maybe i should say "mess". LOL///

-And so that's it.
When i fierst met Ernie i parked in a position which he called "behind his truck" (but what's behind to some is in front of to another) and to his way of thinking, i blocked him in, theat was a red flag. I thought he was one of his employees when he asked me to move out of the way, and then later he said on the bolg all apalogetic, that it was him, doing business LOL@ ... I was totally surprized. I'd pictured him really really differantly. That's how visionary i am LOL

so maybe you read about hhat in the archives, i think he tried to give me a special free downtown parking spot ..LOL@ you know parking is a major problem, specially when ppl park behind you hmph. but if it's suzy that's differant cuz i'm a "legend" and everybody love Suzy (in that chapter), well, I wrot e to Ernie, " use your imagination" LOL. I wasn't really surprixed hwen he didn't get it. He always presents himself real nice though, in his misinterpretings of hte legend. Thing is, if Thay aren't "behind" you, and if theyre not next to you, they must be in front of you. right? LOL Thats what a history minded person will never understand. Because they can only understand things in order. I knew a watch repairman once who was an example of some one like that, everything needed to be in a strict order for him to have understanding of it. And it was him i was thinking of when i said, " And sometime i think love and understanding are close to hte same thing" LOL!!!!!!!
and Ernie loved that line enough to hang it on his wall LOL, thats what is cwel about misunderstanding legends. Its a whole different understanding when it comes to bullshitstory. Ha, Love and understanding? Is that from the old temstament? or was it otis redding? Whatever. 


But a historian trying to historify a legend by misunderstanding the basic mystery of communication from the heart, er i mean from the start, ie REAL communication, because there IS no start, or end, to a legend except in peoples minds ... and chief seattle said the longest journey youll ever take is from the mind to the heart. But he never had to hitchhike through LA in the rain, LOL, but anyway, Charlie, thats what i mean by suzy being one. The changeless one.

but it laate now and i haveto say a bloggy goodnight to yuo. bye bye from ms american pie.
love yu charlie two crows' straight from my heart to your heart from the true, froom the legendary,\
from the one and only,
suzy blah blah

huggles,
s

Suzy
In My "Real World" watch makers don't know diddley, you have to know how to build refrigerators to be "really" wise. In My real world Ottis Redding is the old testament.
Wishing you well,
Ernie and the rest of us

Guns, Or more acurately, Firearms.

Since I was a small child, guns were a part of my life. Guns were a very normall part of my life, and I grew up with no fear of guns, but a great respect for them. I know that I feel quite differently about guns than some people. There is such a wide variety of opinions when it comes to guns. So, I want to warn people not to make comments on this blog that might create problems for you, for instance, do not brag that you might have the first 44 Colt that was ever made, and it is still in the original carton, and it has never been fired, and it is worth four million dollars. Somebody might decide that they want it more than you, and you might have to shoot the guy with the first bullet out of your 44 Colt and ruin it's value.

Try to talk about guns in generic terms, and not brag about your 1000 firearm collection. Unless of course that you want to. I will say that I'm a gun owner, I won't say where, or what state of readiness that I keep them. Well okay, one of the lever action guns that I own, won't action smoothly because I haven't cleaned it in thirty years, but it's a gun to fondle, hold, and talk about anyway. But, I might have a sweet little, well oiled and polished,  pearl handled, nickle, 32 cal auto. I'd have to show it to you before you could see it. So, think about what you say and whether you really want my millions of readers to know about your guns.

When a person is raised with guns on a ranch, or farm, like I was, there is always talk about gun safety. I remember one phrase, "gunpowder and alcohol don't mix". I would imagine My dad hand loading ammunition and try to mix some alcohol in the gunpowder. Finally I just had to say, "that doesn't make any sense, why would anybody say that, I don't understand." My grandmother told me "when you get old enough to drink, you will understand". Sure enough she was right, I now understand that drinking and mixing firearms are not a good idea.

When I was a kid my dad had a Winchester bolt action 22 cal. rifle with a five shot clip that I thought of as mine. It had a four power scope that I had sighted in at 100 feet, which is where I did most of my shooting. the gun was completely accurate. I remember that I would take it most places that I went. I took it to my dads logging show when I was about ten years old. The Guys on the landing were taking turns shooting it. We  had set up a "Lucky Lager" beer carton about 80 feet away. They make a perfect target. I was lucky enough to find a Lucky Lager beer can on the net to show you why they made such great targets. The "T" in "dated" was the target sweet spot. I was 16 years old before I saw a round target with the "X" ring in the middle. Anyway, when it was my turn, I took the "T" out and put four more bullets in the same whole. I was so proud of myself that I almost smiled.....  but, nobody on the crew would believe that I did put all five bullets in the "T". But... But... Reallllllyyyyy! I was crestfallen that nobody believed that I had done that. My dad told me later that they were just being asshole loggers. I still don't know if he was just being nice, or if they really knew that I had "Teed" the target.

When Kids grew up in the South Fork Eel Canyon, they got to start shooting when they were about 8 years old. I remember killing squirrels and jack rabbits, with my dads supervision, at about eight years old. Kids usually got their first 22 caliber rifle at about twelve years old. They got their first "Real gun" when they were about 16. Most of the people that I know that got their very first "real gun" at sixteen, treasured the rifle the rest of their life, and they would not part with it for love nor money. Literally! Most of you that got their first real gun will bear me out. It is their one priceless treasure.

My dad when he was about sixteen went to a turkey shoot in Laytonville with his dad Grampa Roy. There was a guy at the turkey shoot that had a gun like dad wanted. It was a 250-3000 Savage lever action. They had just produced the gun, and one of it's big features was that it would shoot a bullet over 3000 feet per second. He thought that was about the finest gun he had ever seen. The man with the gun could not hit the target. My grandfather said "why don't you let my kid sight it in for you?" "No", the man said that, "it wouldn't do no damn good to sight it in". He went on to cuss the gun some more, and he made the statement: "if the kid can even hit the target with it, I'll give the God-damn thing to him."



So, there were two rites of passage for a Eel canyon kid, his first 22 cal and his first real gun. My dad went on to win many turkey shoots with the 250. All of my family were very good shots. My Dad Everett, my uncle Ben, and my uncle Edwin were a good shots. back in the '50s there was a turkey shoot somewhere just about every weekend. So, when my dad and uncles could squeeze in a turkey shoot, they would. It got real humorous, because when my dad and uncles would show up, nobody would shoot against them. The turkey shoot directors would offer them a turkey to leave. They did that for a while, but they decided that was no fun, so they started a "Branscomb shoot". Where the Branscomb were not allowed into the regular shoot, but they made them shoot against each other.  People would come for miles around to watch them shoot. So the turkey shoots got popular again. I would be remiss if I didn't add that a fellow by the name of Shine Sherburn was a famous gun affectionado that did quite well with the turkeys himself. It seems like some of us were raised on deer meat, salmon, and turkeys.

Never draw down on somebody unless you intend to shoot them.

Never fire a warning shot

Every gun is loaded

Never point a gun, not even a toy gun at anybody.

Stagecoach?

Charlie Two Crows Wrote: "Did the stage follow the coast to mattole then come inland? Or did it follow the EEl river. Jack told me the stage from eureka went to center ville after stopping in fern dale. Jack said the stage went down the beach and came to a stage stop at there mazeppa ranch then on the wild cat route to mattole then inland. Does any one have info. On this stage line."

Charlie... Back in "The Horse and Buggy Days" all inland transportation was by saddle horse, mule train, team wagons, ox trains, or horse and buggy. Stage coaches went everywhere that they could go. The only thing that I can tell you for certain is that the the roads went down the ridges. Nobody was dumb enough to try to build a road down by the river, too many bridges, too many slides, too many river and creek crossings. Newcomers brought us the riverside technology. They reckoned that they would be below the snow level. If they had built the train higher up on the ridge, we would still have one.

Having said my piece, I'll try harder to answer your quetions. The main stage from San Francisco to Eureka, came through Ukiah, Willits, Sherwood, (up on the ridge) Strong Mountain Road into Cahto, Lick Skillet and Spat out, (Laytonville) south through Long Valley, up the Bell Springs Ridge, to Bell Springs, where they had a way-station. They changed horses and lodged there for the night. From there they went to Harris, Alderpoint, Blocksburg, Bridgeville, Carlotta, and then into Springville, near Fortuna. There was a stage that went to ferndale and points west, and another stage that went to Eureka and points north. There were numerous "Feeder" stage routes. Like the "Mud-dobber"  that ran from Mina and Covello over the Dos Rios road into Laytonville. A man by the mane of John Snider drove it. John Snider also drove a 6 horse team wagon hauling dynamite from Sherwood to Island Mountain when they were builting the Island Mountain tunnel.

Now for the "bullshistory" part, because I don't really know for sure. But, when I was a wee lad I heard that there was a coach that went from Fort Bragg, Westport, Rockport, Usal, Four Corners, Thorn, Briceland, Garberville, Spuce Grove and Harris. There is still a building that they call "The Stage Stop" on a flat north of Whitethorn. I do know that there was sporadic stage coach operations on the north coast. They were about as consistant as todays coffee shops.

Humboldt Feast, Garberville Rotary Club

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their service club. At least, so say the other Garberville Rotary Club members. So they are holding my fingers to the keyboard.

We are in the midst of the final stages of having an environmentally correct fund raiser for the many great pursuits of our small Rotary Club, September 17th 2011. We are calling the event “Humboldt Feast”, where everything served is organic and from the local area, within a hundred miles, or with good justification for coming from further away, like organic pineapples will have to come from somewhere more tropical. We will have numerous booths from which artisans will serve samples of their ware.

The tickets will be $50.00 each. Ticket buyers will be presented with an etched wine tasting glass to taste the various wines that will be presented. The glass will be your souvenir, to keep with your collection of event wine glasses. Various cheeses will be there. Some of the world’s finest cheeses come from right here in Humboldt County. Did you know that? This will be your chance to taste some. Local produce will be presented, maybe some local mustards, or sauces. Who knows? Many people are just beginning to sign up for booths. There will be acoustic bands playing, and some organizations will be passing out brochures on what they are doing to improve the environment.

The event is what, nowadays, is called "a green event", where everything is environmentally correct. The foods served will be grown and presented in an earth responsible manner. Whether the foods are oysters, beef, barley, or mayonnaise it will be earth friendly, or at least the earth friendliest product available. Each item served will be able to justify it’s “Green-ness” The event will be held in the Garberville Community Park, in the back south-east corner, what is popularly known as, “The wedding Grove”. You will be able to stroll through the widely spaced booths on the mowed grass. You will have the opportunity to observe the many wild birds of the park, and listen to their songs. The area is tucked away from outside noise. It will be like you are attending a private party, which, indeed, you will be. It will be for ticket holders only

Rotarians by their nature have a tendency to be too modest. For instance, not many people know that in 1985 the Rotary International took on the project of curing polio in the world. We knew that it would be the largest project that we had ever taken on. We estimated (hoped) that it would take us five years to immunize everybody in the world. As you know we are far beyond that five years, but we have effectively cured polio, you probably don’t know any recent polio victims. But, we still have to immunize everybody until the disease is dead like smallpox.

The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation gave the Rotary Club 355 million dollars to finish curing polio in the world, with the stipulation that the Rotary International would match 200 million of that amount. I have no idea how much that I have contributed to cure polio but I have given a significant amount. (To me, it’s significant) Altogether we will be spending 555 million dollars more to finish curing polio.

Curing polio is something that is near and dear to my heart. When I was a child growing up in Laytonville, I went to school with a kid that got polio. He was a great athlete, he loved to play baseball, he was vigorous and active in every way. One day I went to school and he was gone. The teacher, in tears, explained to us that he had gotten polio, and that “we should pray for him because polio was a very serious disease“.  It was about a year before he came back to school, he was puffy from lack of exercise, and he had braces on both legs. He could barely get around on crutches. You have no idea what an impact that had on my young mind. Since then Polio has been a bitter enemy.

Wherever you see a child being immunized for polio in the world, you will see a Rotarian. They are down in the trenches doing the work. Rotarians are the heads of airlines, trucking companies, pharmaceutical companies, and every other walk of life. They make it happen. Whenever that I get discouraged about some small thing that someone in the local club is doing wrong, I think of my childhood friend, and know that I can put up with just about anything to cure Polio. We as Rotarians are curing polio.

The Humboldt Feast is only one of the things that we do to raise funds for the many, not just polio, but many worthwhile projects that we do. We will all be there.

Ask Dennis what the Garberville Rotary club has done for the schools. Ask Karen about, personally, planting trees in a South American rainforest to offset the carbon usage of the Garberville Rotary Club. Ask Brian Walker about traveling all over the world to cure Cleft Pallets. Ask about the orphanage in Mexico, or the one in Kenya. Ask about earthquake relief. Ask Seth about what it’s like to host a foreign exchange student. Ask Nancy about all the things that we do for the hospital and the projects that we do in the local community. Ask me about the local Culinary Arts project, or Nicks Interns that are working to revitalize the local forests and streams, or ask me what we are doing to help local workers and businesses. Ask any Rotarian what they are doing. You will be amazed at how involved that they are in the world around them.

Please link to Humboldt Feast for more information here: Humboldt Feast.



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Hartsook Inn

The Hartsook Inn

We have such incredibly wonderful history along the South Fork of the Eel canyon. Some places more than others. It is especially sad for me to drive through Richardson Grove and realize that I'm one of the few people left around here that had seen it in it's heyday.

I’ve often said that “I’m not really a historian, but I do know where most of the bodies are buried”. So, as one might guess, I know quite bit about the fabled Hartsook Inn. The Hartsook Inn was built by Fred Hartsook, (1876-1930) a man who was mostly known as a famous photographer. Fred Hartsook operated about twenty photography studios. He owned what was reputed to be “The largest photography business in the world”. He took the official photographs of most all of the famous people of the day, and all the great movie stars. He made the official Presidential photograph of Woodrow Wilson.

In 1919 Hartsook married Bess Hesby who was “Miss Liberty in the 1915 San Francisco “Pan-Pacific Exposition“. Fred took his honeymoon at a cabin in the redwoods, at the present location of the Hartsook Inn. I’m not sure how he got there, but it was about the time that Highway 101 was opened through Richardson Grove. According to Nona James, she drove up highway 101 before it was opened to the public. She said that it was in 1917 or 1918.

Bess Hartsook

Fred and Bess Hartsook had three children: Helen, Frederick, and Delyte. Fred Hartsook also had a daughter, Francis, from a previous marriage.

In the early 1920s Fred and Bess purchased 37 acres of pristine redwood forest and built the Hartsook Inn. By 1926 the resort was given it’s own township status, and was granted a United States Post Office. It even had a gas station! That makes it a bona fide town! The town was called “Hartsook” California. In August of 1927 the Hartsook Inn burned to the ground in a large forest fire. Uncontrolled forest fires were very common back then. They had no real way to fight them. Fortunately the redwoods were not permanently damaged and they grew back better than ever. The Inn was rapidly rebuilt and reopened. Fred had a good rapport with the Hollywood crowd, having taken most of their photographs. The Hartsook became the Hollywood group’s playground. Many would take extended vacations up here in the redwoods. The more notable among them were Mary Pickford and Bing Crosby.

As a side note, my grandfather Bill Rathjens, who owned a service station in Laytonville, was also a Kohler Light Plant dealer. He provided the Hartsook Inn with their first electricity.

On 30 September 1930, Fred Hartsook died of a heart attack at the age of 53. That often happens to old men that marry beautiful young women. Bess Hartsook outlived her husband by forty-six years and operated the Hartsook Inn until 1938. In 1938 the Hartsook went into receivership, strangely, the place burned down again… ( due to a fire in the kitchen… WINK) The Inn was rebuilt and reopened in 1941, just in time for world war II.

The Lingenfelters, Darrell and Dorothy, took over the management and ownership of the Hartsook Inn. They did quite well with it through the years. A fellow by the name of Chet Willows managed the place with his wife, Julie, who retired to Phillipsville and just recently died. I’m not sure of the ownership of the Inn during that tenure. Maybe the Willows owned it. I remember the Harsook kitchen back in the 60's. They had an executive Chef. (I'm sorry, but I forgot his name) The chef was the typical Chef, he ran things like an orchestra conductor. He was very firm, and he checked every plate that left the kitchen. If it wasn't perfect, there was hell to pay. Everything in the kitchen would stop, on the spot, there would be a lecture as to what went wrong and why it would never happen again. The kitchen had a "pantry chef" that did all the salads, pates, and cold appetizers. There was a souse chef, a pastry chef, and various cooks and helpers, plus a bus staff that cleaned and reset all the tables. They had a dishwashing staff that kept all the plates and silverware cleaned and polished.

 The female summer help, mostly high-school and college students from Eureka, lived over the kitchen. It was hot up there, in every way. I remember coming down to the dances next door at French's campground. The girls from Hartsook would come over to dance, but they had a 10:00 PM curfew, so they had to leave early. They had a house mother that lived up there with them and she did periodic nose counts, much needed nose counts, because the girls all imagined themselves to be in love with one of the local "country boys".

While under the propriety of the Lingenfelters, there was no alcohol served at the Hartsook. No way. Absolutly not. Don't even bring your own Bottle! If God had intended for you to get drunk he would have given you alcohol! Alcohol is the root of all evil. I have heard many lectures about alcohol from the Lingenfelters. Back in 1983 I was the president of the Garberville Rotary club. Any thought of alcohol was sternly disaproved of by Darrell, who was also a member of the club. I was a juror on a drunk driving trial with Dorothy. The judge asked her if she had ever taken a drink of alchohol. She firmly stated that she had not! Taken aback, he went on to ask her, "Not even a sip? Do you know what it tastes like?" That is the first and last time that I ever heard a judge get a lecture and give an oppology. He then thanked her and excused her. It was hilarious.

My mother Elsie Branscomb and my aunt Vivian Newland owned an ice cream parlor, soda fountain, and sandwich shop in Garberville. They made premium, high butterfat content ice cream, 14% butterfat. A few people even rave about it today. (me) They made Creme-de-menthe ice-cream for the Harsook Inn. I often chuckle about knowing that mom made it with creame-de-menthe Liquor. 20% ALCOHOL.
The Inn burned down again in 1973. I was a firefighter at that fire. C.D.F Battalion Chief Harry Pritchard was the Incident Commander on the fire. Harry went on to become Humboldt county 2nd District Supervisor. I also might add that Harry and I were relatives. Both from old local families that go back to the 1800’s. I was assigned the north end of the building. AHEM… the part of the building that was saved! Never mind that it was also the only part of the building that was not on fire yet when the firefighters got there. We sent a pumper truck to the river to provide the water to fight the fire. We didn’t save much, but once again it was rapidly rebuilt. What you see today when you drive past the rapidly deteriorating building is the 4th Hartsook Inn to be built on the same basic foundation.

The most recent history of the Hartsook is, that it was bought by Richard Head, who also owned the Phillipsville Trailer Park and the Deerhorn Lodge. Head added a liqour license and bar, he also upgraded the kitchen. He had a very popular local Chef in the kitchen by the name of  Kieth Tommson (sp?) Tommson operated the Trees Restaurant in Garberville, until it burned down. Homeless people had moved into the basement. Nobody asked them to leave because they felt sorry for them. It is unknown whether the fire was caused by the homeless, or if somebody burned them out. Sadly, any building the the homeless occupy, unsupervised, burns down. Fact of life #23. I've seen far too much of it.

Richard Head didn't do as well as he hoped that he would, he consequently took out a timber harvest plan to log the redwoods on the property. He cut a few, but the save the redwoods league asked him to stop. He did, and they purchased the Hartsook property. They in turn sold it to the same people that bought Heartwood College at Island Mountain, Bennett and Delphina Dorrance. I've heard numerous rumors that it may become a branch campus of Heartwood.

It's sad the way things go with some of our local history. Maybe the Dorrences will revive some of The Harsook Inn's former glory.


http://www.groupsrv.com/movie/about75181.html Click on link, then scroll down a bit for the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hartsook
http://savetheredwoods.org/newsroom/pr/pr_hartsook.pdf
http://rosieradiator.com/id3.html



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Wallmart?

In keeping with my newly adopted policy of being the kinder, gentler Ernie, I’m not going to lecture, or berate. I’m simply going to underline a few things that deep down in our hearts we already know. I just want to add some food for thought. Some of us are saddened to see the direction that America has taken lately. Some haven’t paid attention, then maybe some of us are too young to know how great America once was, where a man could support his family, buy a new car every three years, pay off a mortgage, send the kids to college, and take a two week vacation to, say, French’s Campground or Richardson Grove. All that on a simple manufacturing or construction job.

The fact that Walmart may move into the defunct Gottschalk building is all over the news and blogs of late. Everybody has an opinion about how fair or unfair Walmart is to their workers. Some vow to never shop there, others don’t give a darn about anybody, all they want is the low prices. The “right or wrong” of either position is not something that I want to debate. I have thoughts about both sides and I even understand the reasoning behind both positions. So, you ask, where am I headed???

As Americans, we have been sold down the river by the ultra-wealthy. How many times have you heard the phrase “We live in a world economy now. Too bad you don’t have a job. The only thing that you can do is educate yourself, because now we live in the information age”. We can buy Chinese products for a dime on the dollar compared to American manufactured products. Our Wall street investors have shipped buying to China and other places with cheap manufacturing. On the surface you think that the Chinese are simply willing to work harder for less. When actually their choice is to work or starve. They are only paid enough to keep themselves alive. Americans have not slipped that far…. Yet.

We, in America, treasure our antiquities. We would not think of building anything on or near an old Indian burial ground. We consider our heritage as being sacred. We would not even cut two 8” redwood trees to make our highways safer through Richardson Grove. We value trees more than human life itself. Again, I’m not criticizing. Just pointing out facts that I, also, mostly agree with.

The counterpoint to America valuing our treasures is what China does with its Antiquities. They used up the world supply of scrap-iron to make re-bar reinforcement iron for the Three Gorges Dam. They also used up the world supply of premium cement for the concrete in the dam. Now, here is the part that I really want you to think about: The three gorges that they are flooding has been occupied and civilized so far back that it is forgotten in history. At the time that all of the British Isles, and much of North America were covered with sheets of ice, the three gorges were occupied by humans! Think of the antiquities, burial grounds, and simple treasures that are being flooded with water. The dam is so big that it is expected to change the worlds weather and cause earthquakes in the local region.

The reason that the Chinese built the dam was, in part, to provide free hydro-power to manufacture products to sell to people like Walmart, and in turn you and I, John Doe American.

We are supposed to be protected from unfair competition like this by our elected political leaders. But they are elected by wall street, we don’t have the money. The ultra rich also own the media. You can expect to hear “That we live in a world economy now” until you believe it. I don’t know which is the saddest. The fact that Americans would protect American trees while using Chinese toilet paper, or the fact that we are encouraging the Chinese to deface their heritage by buying their products. We would be far better off as Americans if we had a fair balance of trade. We give China Billions of dollars a year more than they buy from us. At one time, back when America was the Great American dream, we had trade laws that protected us from unfair competition. It’s my job to get the best deal that I can get for my family. Whether or not we boycott Walmart will make no difference. We need to get back the vote and elect people that will take care of us.

Any thoughts?
 
 
 
 
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What ever happened to "Electric on the Eel"?

Electric on the Eel was a dead-head event, where the grateful dead were the headliners. Jerry Garcia "got sick" during one of his famous visits to the Eel River at Frenches Campground. Jerry had a life long problem with health issues. He was overweight, diabetic and he dabbled into too many drugs. At one of his last events here, he  had to postpone for a while to "get well". It was a bad week for Garberville, Jerry's fans were quite willing to take things without paying. They called it "taking back from the man".

 Out of the ashes of "Electric on the Eel" rose "Eclectic on the Eel" with Ry Cooder and David Llindley. They did a lot of Sam the Sham songs. Eventually, Reggae on the River became very popular and soon surpassed all other events, and became the main focus of the local venues. Then the reggae wars started, and it hasn't been quite the same since.

Funny that you would ask, I'm listening to some great Reggae music as I type this... Reggae on the River is this weekend, and it is across the street from my house. They have moved the event to Benbow Lake State Park. They only play music until 10:00 pm, no dope allowed, Jerry would not have been welcome. Bummer.

Don't pass "Pass"

I got a note the other day from an old friend and acquaintance, Mary Ann Machi. She sent me a picture of Bill Pass, and asked if I knew anything about his history. I know quite a bit of history on Bill, but my cousin Oregon knows more, if he will give us some, it would be great. Bill lived across the street from him on Oak Street in Garberville and his dad and bill pass were in the fire department together.

Mary Ann has a great history herself, being a child raised in Shelter Cove from the days when it was a simple sheep ranch, and not a town, to now, where it is a community of city expatriates. It sadens me that she thought that I might not remember her, but it is the way of things nowadays. We went from a community where everyone knew everyone else, to a community full of people with made up names, and identities. We don't know each other anymore, and when we do recognize someone, you still don't know who they are for sure. It seems that most people live lives of secrecy now.

I remember Mary Ann as a very pretty, sweet and shy person. Much like most of the local girls a few years ago. I also remember her as a very good cook... Much like most of the local girls a few years ago.

Anyway, this is what she had to say:

Hi Ernie, I'm thinking you remember me, or at least the family name (of course!) Hope this finds you well. I learned about your blog some time ago and enjoy your articles about the old days. I am scanning my Shelter Cove info collection and came across a couple pages about Bill and Ethel Pass that are attached. I know they lived in the Cove at one time. Looks like they ran a cafe in Garberville next to the theater. Would you know the name of that cafe? Would have been in the late 40's or early 50s, I think. I've looked at the theater's website and see the Black & White Cafe but that was in the 1930's. Could be theirs, or not. Also thought he ran the Shelter Cove Grotto at one time. Is that correct? Thanks so much for any info
Mary Ann

PS I've made the chowder recipe many times and it is delicious. I make it a little differently in that I only add enough water to cover the clams and vegetables and I don't do the additional 2 hours. Seems like everything is tender and tasty after the 30 minutes.

The legend of Suzy Blah Blah

Because many people like to remain anonymous on blogsites, I’ve often wondered; How much reality should I attach to what they say. If their identity can never be known, there is no accountability. However, their thoughts become pure. Sadly, in most cases their thoughts are pure crap, or more often than not, pure evil, or pure hate. Other times their thoughts are delightfully filled with poetry, love, and wisdom.

I am a person that “reads” people well. If I know a person, I can tell how they want their statements to be taken. If you don’t know a person, what they say can only be taken at word value. Much of the humor and wisdom is lost. I remember one time when a person was talking about a humorous situation, where he said with great outrage: “that’s just wrong”. I remember thinking what a great sense of humor he had. Then I saw that he wasn’t kidding around, and the complexion of the situation changed dramatically. After that, anything that I said or did around this person was couched with the wisdom that he was slightly insane. So knowing who a person is can be a clue as to how they will react.

Of course you know, those of us on this blog can’t think about anonymous posters without thinking about Suzy Blah Blah. Normally, I wouldn’t post about a “Person”. I wouldn’t dane to post about somebody if I thought that it might hurt or embarrass them personally in any way. But, how can you hurt somebody that you don’t even know? Nor does anybody else know? So I’m doing a post about Suzy Blah Blah, kind of an unauthorized biography about an imaginary person.

Back in the very start of "Suzy Blah Blah", she would post as a spaced out hippie chick. She made many typo’s but her text was easy to read. There is a premise that if you use all the right letters or make a word look like what it should be, that people will read it as the word that it really should be. If you follow me there… Her comments were always a delightful play on words, and her content was usually a play on the facts of what your post was about. Just a sample of “Early Suzy” after a radio show that they did on BioDiesel:

suzy blah blah said:
Wow!! It was such a grate show on bio-deisel! On the enviramant show on kmud tonight that i am inspird to rite a free virse poem o about it!!! Did you here the Word? O lard wonncha by me a Mursaydees Bendz…!! LOL!!!

EVERY HUMAN BEEN

Every humin bean as well as soybeen is created by god and one is not too kill or commit forniication unless you do it righteously surving god so i told billy and he says that his gandmoter is of the Juicer religeon and told him that thiss is the basick ‘concept……………………….

(And so on. Ernie)

Suzy went on to comment on everybody’s blogs in the same delightful and cheerful way. Some people were critical of her and said some pretty nasty things to her. I made the comment that: “Say what you will about Suzy, she has never said anything but kind things to anybody”. Then she started to change. She started writing in full intelligent script. She stared criticizing some of what people said. Some of her criticism even became unfair. I’m reminded of when she criticized Ben’s interpretation of the Indian legend of how the three pools of Salmon Creek came about.

She started delving deeply into spiritual things. Some funny and interesting, and some in a critical manner. When Suzy really started to change was when she wrote that she got caught with a bunch of marijuana, Billy left her, she was pregnant, and she was living south of here. Recently, I asked her on Erics blog what she had done in her life that caused her to change so much, her reply was that she was not the same person. That the real Suzy got tired of it and asked her to take over. I’m not sure what really happened to “Suzy”, but she had, and still has, a considerable fan base. Many of the things that she said struck me how smart she was/ is? I made the statement once that, she was smarter than all the rest of us that post on this blog put together.

Although I’ve often wondered about who Suzy really is, but deep down, I’m not sure I want to know.

I have a habit of always listening to the things that people say, and I try hard to understand them. The one thing that Suzy said that moved me the most, and I still have it framed and hung on my office wall to remind me:

“love is always preferable to understanding anyway--- except sometimes i think maybe theyre close to the same thing…”
Suzy Blah Blah

Here's to "Understanding" Suzy

Pot Country

My cousin “Oregon” was complaining that he didn’t have any redneck stuff to watch on television so I went looking on the internet for something interesting with a few rednecks in it and look what popped up. I found a couple of trailers that were hanging out there. The name of the film is “Pot Country”. Which only points out how far we’ve gone in the last 40 years, I remember when it used to be called “Timber Country”. Oh well, out with the old, and in with the new.

Last winter two Berkley university students showed up, Kate McLean and Mario Furloni. They had city clothes on, and they had squeaky clean faces and clear eyes. My first though was that they would never be able to find a job “trimming” looking like that. They said that they were trying to do a film about what the transition from logging to marijuana growing in Humboldt county was like. They said that they had tons of growers that they could talk to, but they wanted to talk to somebody that knew the history of the area. So I started by telling them about how the rocks got here, but they said that they wanted to start about 1950, the heyday of the timber industry in “Pot Country”.

We spend a couple of days talking and driving around. It was a nice trip down memory lane for me. They actually seemed to be fairly open minded. They didn’t really say much about all the trees that I slaughtered, and they didn’t seem to be down on the marijuana industry either. They tried to get along good with everybody and simply get the story. I felt that I had a lot in common with them, because the “Good Story” is what I live for.

My wife and I went down to Berkley for the premiere viewing of their film. I have not seen the final edition yet, so I don’t know if I die in the film like John Wayne did in "The Cowbys". But, I understand that the final edition was shown on KQED in San Francisco last night. Kate and Mario promised me a copy of the film once that it was published, and I have no reason to believe that they won’t send me one. They have such sweet faces, my wife fell in love with them, and I‘m sure she would have adopted them if it was possible.

The film won the “Hearst Award” which is apparently the top rated award at the school. Something like the Academy Award for best documentary at the university of California Berkley School of Journalism.



Pot Country | Trailer | 1min17sec from Mario Furloni on Vimeo.





Kym did a post on this film also: Pot Country



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Vent your Spleen

Do you feel like venting your spleen? Speaking your mind? Getting something off your chest? Expounding your brilliance? Expressing your anger, or in rare cases, your joy? Now is the time, no subject is of limits, as long as you realize that your mamma probably reads this blog.

I often get the feeling that some of you would rather talk about something else here, but you are too polite to say. So if something is heavy on your mind, now is the time to say so.

But ha, ha, I get to go first, because this is “Ernie’s Place”. Executive privilege, and all that, apply.  So here goes: I’ve lost a whole bunch of faith in humanity as I have aged. It always seemed to me that people were basically honest, and they sincerely cared about what other people thought about them. (This is where that loud obnoxious claxon horn sounds when a person makes a wrong answer) Blaaaaaattt! I’ve come to the conclusion that some people would do just about anything as long as they knew that they would never get caught. Not only would they do it, they would be happy that they would get away with it, after all, “It’s all about them!”

What got me started on all of this, is that I got to thinking about Casey Anthony. She has absolutely no principles whatsoever. While she was in jail awaiting trial it came out that she had used a friends credit card and ran up a bunch of bills on it that she had no way of paying. She stole her friend’s checks and used them to buy beer and clothes. She pleads guilty to 13 felony fraud, bad check, and credit card theft counts. On top of being a thief and a fraud, she is a liar and a slut. Only a fool would think that she doesn’t have at least a small idea of what happened to her daughter.

Now, having said all that, I got to thinking about “Karma” which I absolutely don’t believe in , because I can’t hit it with a hammer, so it doesn’t work for me. The strange thing of it is, Karma always seems to come around. You will see it in most cases. Do something bad and Karma will bite you in the butt. I thought about; what is it going to be like when Casey gets out of Jail? Would you hire her to work for you? It will be darn near impossible for her to find work. Sadly, there are men out there that would like to take advantage of her drop dead gorgeous body. Maybe she could become a prostitute, it wouldn’t be much of a life style change for her, she apparently would go to bed with any man that was “Hot”. I guess the true test is what would the average man think of her?

Nobody will rent her a house. Nobody would want her next door. The tattoo that she got that says “Bella Vita” (Good Life) will be wasted. Remember the man that killed the gay San Francisco supervisor, Harvey Milk? When he got out of jail he got so much harassment that he started his car in the garage and killed himself. That was his Bella Vita after he got out of jail.

Now, I’m not sure what killed little Kaylee Anthony, but I’m sure that Casey probably knows. The one thing that I know, beyond any reasonable doubt, is Casey’s Bella Vita is over!

Spleen two: Every Lawyer that I know seems like a real nice person. So why does it seem like they are all involved in some evil lawyer conspiracy to strip the world of money? The Judges all seem like they are the sugar daddies in keeping the lawyers rich. Every legal decision seems to go toward lawyers making money in the courtroom. Hey, I know that’s probably wildly unfair. But, check the name at the top of the blog, I have privilege here, and I will make any ruling that pleases me. To say the legal system feeds its own greed pleases me.

Where I’m headed is, we have our own local Casey Anthony. Her name is Claudia Pedreros. I’m going to say that everything on this blog is alleged and everybody is entitled to be found guilty or innocent in a court of law, so I’ll just give you the hearsay. But, the hearsay is that young Claudia drove her little two year old daughter to Trinity County, took her daughter down to the creek, took her out to the middle, held her little body under until she was dead, then she just let her float down the stream. Claudia then took off all her clothes and waked down the middle of the highway. When they picked her up, she didn’t remember a thing. It was only later that she remembers and told the cops what happened.

The judge found her competent to stand trail. The lawyers are going to have to bring their wheelbarrows to take home all this money.

My spleen feels better now… How about yours?

Casey Anthony already a fellon

Claudia Pedreros

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More American System of Justice, Casey Anthony

Well, I'm surprised that I am only one of a few bloggers that is going to do a post about this trial. Casey Anthony was found not guilty of killing little Caylee Anthony by a jury of her peers. To began with, I have always found "Jury of their peers" to be a humorous phrase. It implies that a persons "peers" would be like them, as close as possible. What it really means, is people just like them, as close as possible without having committed the same crime, so that way a juror might have a better background in being able to understand if a person was really capable of committing the crime or not.

So, I guess that Casey Anthony should have had a jury of "liars and sluts", because that is what her lawyer openly called her in his summation speech. I was shocked when he first called her that, then it struck me that he had just made a masterful move. Everybody on the jury knew, beyond any reasonable doubt, that she was a liar and a slut. So, the jury was ready to believe whatever else he had to say. Her lawyer went on to say that there was not one shred of evidence that Casey was anything but a loving, caring mother. Then, that there was no evidence as to how little Caylee died, or in who's care.

The prosecutor stated to, essentially, forget all the rhetoric about evidence, and go with what you know in your hearts, that Casey killed that little girl.

If I was a juror, I would have came to the same verdict, there was no evidence that laid any direct blame on Casey.

So, what REALLY happened to little Kaylee?

American System of Justice

First, this is not about the guilt or innocence of Mr. Strauss-Kahn. Nor the veracity of the hotel maid, 32-year-old, Nafissatou Diallo. It's about the American system of justice.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn was the leader of the International Monetary Fund, an organization that controls the purse strings of the world. Upon the accusation that he had sexually assaulted the maid in the hotel that he was staying, he promptly and wisely resigned his office. He knew that it wouldn't be good for one of the most powerful offices in the world to be involved in a scandal. He was jailed and held on a six million dollar bail for release.

He was a potential candidate for the president of France. On the word of one hotel maid he was jailed and his life was placed in ruin. Now, please don't get me wrong, if he was guilty of what he was accused of, he would be the lowest scum on the face of the Earth, lower than a snake, he should have to "eat dirt and die" (old Biblical saying) Remember the joy that we felt when he was arrested? Nobody, no matter how powerful, should be allowed to take advantage of a woman's charms without her permission. (Period) Most everybody would agree with me there. Say so if you don't!

Now, later, we find out that maybe, just maybe, the lady was making a little fib. I know, maybe she was telling the truth, and this is all just politics. My whole point of this post is that the man was arrested May 14th, he was released without bail on July 1st. If we are so proud of our justice system, why does it take so long to put such an important case together? There is NO excuse big enough to justify ruining a mans life. We now look like fools in the whole world.


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Noisy Falling Stars?

Okay, while we are on the subject of celestial objects, here’s a story that comes under the heading of “Ya’ll ain’t gonna believe this stuff”.

When we were kids we would go out in the orchard on the family ranch in Laytonville on the hot summer nights. Usually at family gatherings there were 8 or 9 kids. We would find a nice warm grassy spot still hot from the heat of the day. We would lay on our backs, tell a few scarey stories and watch the night sky. We would tell stories about the big dipper, the north star, the milky way and the moon.

We would keep count the falling stars that we would see. Whoever got to see the first one got to recite the poem “I wish I may, I wish I might, make a wish on the first falling star I see tonight”. You say it your way, we said it ours. Then we would make a wish. The other rule that we had is, that you could never reveal what you wished for. Which made wishing a lot more fun when you didn’t have to tell anybody.

As we counted the stars, whoever counted the most got to win. Of course there were endless arguments over whether or not you reaaallly, really saw one. If somebody was a star behind, and they saw one “Out of the corner of my eye right over there, it was so faint that you could just barely, barely see it, but it was there!” Another kid would say; “Twas not, you cheater” and the argument was on. There was no chance that you could hear anything besides kids arguing.

My uncle, who would be in his nineties now if he had lived. A man who I would trust with my life, anywhere any time. Came out one night and told us about when he was a kid, that he would come out to our spot in the orchard and lay on his back and watch the falling stars. He said that it was so quite when he was a kid that you could hear the falling stars pass overhead. He said that they made a very, very faint hissing, sizzling sound, that sounded like the old 4th of July sparklers that were made out of magnesium powder on a wire. The 4th of July was never over until every little kid had a third degree burn or two from them. And he said that some times you could hear a slight booming sound like far away thunder after a long time, that could have really been far of thunder but he liked to think that it was the falling stars. Remember, this was back before airplanes made sonic booms, so it was strange to connect the phenomenon. But he thought that it was related.

He was sure that the hissing sound came from the meteors because you could hear them go over. In my heart, I know that he actually heard them. Can you explain this to me? Or, have you heard a falling star on a quiet night. This is not a trick or a set-up, but an actual story that my uncle told, and as I said, I believe it with all my heart, but I've never been lucky enough to hear one.

Earth off its axis?

 I had a chance encounter with a friend today that led to a different discussion than we normally have. Normally we talk about history, Indian wars, or unique geology. He is a man that I respect for his knowledge and wisdom. So, I was taken a little bit aback when he asked me if I had noticed that the sun had started setting somewhat north of what is usually does. I said, “Well of course, we just passed the Summer Solstice, it sets way, way north this time of the year.” He explained that no, that is not what he meant, he knew all about the solstices and the equinoxes. So, he asked again, knowing that I grew up here, if I had noticed that the sun might be setting further north than it used to. He had heard a theory that the earth's axis was changing


I started searching my memory for some way to prove that the sun was setting in the exact same place. I remember thinking the other night that the sun was setting way north, but I had no frame of reference to decide if it was setting in the normal place or simple my imagination that it was further north.


So, my stomach tensed a little bit and I said: “Well if the earth had changed on its axis, we would be having major earthquakes, volcanoes, melting ice caps and strange weather patterns. My stomach tensed a little more as I thought about what I had just said. I stared to recall that we have been having all those changes. We even had snow in Tahoe today… at the end of June for crumb sakes.


I laughed a little nervously and told him, “Well I have an open mind, and you know me, I don’t believe in anything without absolute proof, so maybe I’m the wrong person to ask.”


About then we got interrupted and we went our separate ways. I spent the rest of the day thinking about what he had said, and what I could say that would set his mind at ease. I thought about the fact that Japan had just had a major earthquake, and that it had moved the island 8 feet, and supposedly moved the earth off it’s axis about 10 centimeters, which is about 4 inches in American. I pondered that 4” shouldn’t even be noticeable. I was somewhat comforted by the thought that at least somebody is checking it. Then my stomach did that thing again. I thought: “What if the axis has already been moving? And, the Japanese earthquake just moved it that much more!” Crap, that thought wasn’t that comforting.


I spent a little time wondering if the government would tell us if the earth was moving off its axis. Then I thought about all those science fiction movies where the President gets a very serious look on his face and says: “We can’t tell the people about this, it would cause panic and people would be jumping out of windows and stuff”. I always think, what the hell difference would it make to tell people if the world was going to end anyway? That, and the government would lie to us when the truth would serve better.


At my earliest convenience I decided to use my old fall-back. I Googled it. Well that wasn’t very reassuring! I found Article after article about the earth moving on it’s axis. Now, I know that there are things that can’t be hid. Like where the needle on a compass points. No comfort there, Magnetic North is moving wildly toward Russia. Moscow will probably be the Magnetic North Pole someday. Well at this point, I need a little reassurance, can anybody tell me that we are on the same axis? It sure feels like we are. But…..


I put some links, for you to follow, down below. You can spend hours clicking through them. I had the same thought as I had with the government. Why are they spending so much time warning us? The guy down town, that walks around with the big stick, (he calls it “A Staff”) will give you his prophesy if you ask. I always feel obligated to ask him. He says that the only thing that is saving us from major tidal waves in the Pacific Ocean is God is holding them back. I’m thinking tomorrow that I’m going to ask him about this axis thing. I’m getting a little nervous.




http://www.divulgence.net/
http://educate-yourself.org/lte/earthtiltedasis17sep07.shtml
Did you look at them?
Ernie

The star that all of the others are circling in this time exposure is the North Star. The center of the Earth's axis. Photo taken from Death Valley CA.

I will have to admit that my curious friend had me going for a bit, but all-that-I-am said, “the Earth hasn’t moved.” When I say “all that I am” I mean that I started out worrying about how EVERYTHING worked, even as a small child. No alarm clock or watch was safe from me. I ruined more clocks than any kid that I know. They ticked and kept time. I had to know how they did that! I just knew that the secret was inside, so I took them apart. Wow! Gears! One gear turns left, others turn right, big ones, little ones, the little one that tick-tocks back and forth. You have no idea how fascinating that was for me. When I “fixed” a few and made them run better I couldn’t understand way people were so upset that the clock now ran two or three hours fast every day. The Grumps!

I thought of a couple of dozen very scientific ways to prove that the axis hasn’t moved. But, science just doesn’t get you very far with some people. There are those that think that the moon landing was a fake. So I wracked my brain for a few easily understood solutions. So, here they are:

1- find a sundial that has been in the same place for a hundred years or so, and see if the shadow is still in the same place.

2- And this is my favorite, because it involves duct tape! Find the North Star. It’s right there where it always is. If you can’t find it have a smart friend show you where it is. Take a 6 foot length of plastic 4” sewer pipe. Have your smart friend hold the pipe beside a pole. Sight the north star through the pipe, then quick duct tape it to the pole so it stays in the exact same position. The north star will remain right there in the middle! On the axis, unless it has moved! Okay, it wobbles a little bit because it is not Perfectly north, but it’s so close that even your smart friend can’t tell.

3- Turn on your TV, if you see a picture, the satellites are still in alignment. It seems unlikely that they would change orbit just to accommodate the Earth’s new axis. Watching Sponge Bob Square Pants works the best.