Thanksgiving Greetings

This Thanksgiving morning we give thanks for the rains of the past two days that have significantly dampened a water-starved Southern California. Apparently there was not enough rain to cause the mudslides in the recent burn areas that so concerned local officials and residents. The sound of the raindrops on the roof awakened us numerous times overnight.

If you happened to spend the night at an altitude above 7000’ the precipitation was of a much quieter variety, falling as a light snow. When the clouds parted this morning we could see the snow-covered peak of Mt. San Jacinto, towering over Palm Springs.

For the past several years we have joined others here in the resort for Thanksgiving dinner in the dining hall at the recreation center. The problem is that we really enjoy turkey dinner and, more importantly, the leftovers after the dinner is done. The warmed up dinners on the days following the holiday, the turkey sandwiches, and the turkey “hash” to finish it off, are all favorites. Also, it’s such a traditional dinner that certain flavors and textures are expected and, while other people’s cooking can be very tasty, it’s not the same as what “MOM ALWAYS MADE.”


Therefore, Judy began the early morning by baking her version of a delicious traditional pumpkin pie.

Soon the turkey will go into the convection/microwave oven. Judy’s main concern is a lack of stove burners and cooking pots and dishes for all of the other stuff.

We’re a little light in the seasonal decorations department—we don’t have a lot of room to store that kind of stuff—but Mr. Turkey and some colorful imitation Fall leaves have decorated our mantel (think dashboard) for the past week and all of that will be replaced with Christmas decorations next week. Hey, you have to go all out no matter where you are, don’t you?

By the time dinner was done and being served Ron was ravenously hungry from the wonderful smells of dinner cooking and totally forgot to take more pictures.

Suffice it to say, the dinner was terrific and, in spite of a few small disasters in the tiny kitchen, went off without a hitch. Judy said, “That went very well. We’ll definitely do this again next year.

One of the best parts was enjoying the whole thing again a few nights later and the wonderful turkey sandwiches for lunch.

The Fall decorations will remain up for a few days before we put them away for another year and, though we’ll be heading home for Christmas, we do have a tree, an inflatable bear for outside, some rope lights that look like candy cane and other stuff that we’ll deploy until we put the coach in storage for a couple of weeks.

THE POLICE BLOTTER

The story of how we came to live in the little historic gold mining town of Grass Valley, Ca, bears telling.

Back in the mid-70’s I worked with a married couple one of whom had parents who lived in Grass Valley. They would frequently take a few days off and visit them and return with wonderful stories about this neat little town.

We, at the time, were living in a city/suburb of Los Angeles or Orange County, take your pick, and were not happy with the conditions there for raising our two kids. Thus we were open to ideas of places to which to move and Grass Valley was one option we investigated.

We subscribed to the one-and-only Grass Valley newspaper, mainly for the real estate ads of property for sale but also to get a better feel for the community. One day the paper contained an article about a vehicle accident in town. It seems the town had hired a motorcycle cop who came equipped with his own motorcycle fully rigged as a police vehicle. On that particular day he spotted what he believed to be a stolen car. He hit the red lights and chased the car through town. The car driver turned up a street the policeman knew to be a steep uphill dead end. “Ha, ha,” he thought, I’ve got you cornered now. As he rounded the corner to head up the hill he was faced with the fact that the car he had been chasing was now backing down the hill at high speed and heading directly for him. He managed to jump clear of the motorcycle before the car ran over the motorcycle, destroying it. The driver then drove off and escaped.

Well, being used to big city news this story really touched my funny bone and I told Judy that we had to go there and see this place. Shortly thereafter, an ad appeared for a new house that sounded like just what we were looking for so we packed up the kids after school and headed for the Gold Country. We bought a home on that trip and moved there in July of 1977,

Our home turned out to be just a mile away from the local airport where the California Department of Forestry operated an airbase with firefighting air tankers. Since it was summer and they were flying frequently I decided to buy a police scanner so we could know where they were going. It was an enjoyable and informative piece of equipment and we would listen to the fire channels during the day and the local police in the evening.

One evening the police dispatcher reported a man in kilts walking down the mainstreet of the downtown area. The police responded and soon reported they were “unable to locate anyone on stilts.” She corrected them and they continued their search. Shortly thereafter they reported a guy in a skirt behind the local department store who was, “either relieving himself or abusing himself.” All of us listening in our little house doubled over with laughter.

Anyone who came into town on a motorcycle was suspected to belong to the Hell’s Angels and would be followed closely by uniformed officers in a police cruiser until he or she left the city limits. That scanner was a great source of amusement.

Now here we are spending half of our lives back in Southern California, not too far from the greater Los Angeles area. We watch the television news from LA and it is replete with shootings, rapes, muggings. Why we even had a shootout in one of our local Toys r Us stores here near Palm Springs on the day after Thanksgiving in which two gang-bangers managed to kill each other while endangering several hundred innocent shoppers in the store. This is serious stuff and no where near as much fun as the news from home. I read today’s Grass Valley newspaper online this morning and wanted to share, for your comparison, their column entitled, “The Police Blotter.” I really miss the crime of Grass Valley.

So here are some actual selections taken from the “Police Blotter” from today’s GrassValley newspaper.

Grass Valley Police Department

Sunday9:22 a.m. — A caller from East Main Street at Idaho-Maryland Road reported someone just went the wrong way on the roundabout.

12:19 p.m. — A caller from the 100 block of Normandy Court reported being in an accident and exchanging names and telephone numbers with the other party. However, when the number was called to get insurance information, it had been disconnected.

12:47 p.m. — A caller from the 1100 block of East Main Street reported a physical fight. One of the people involved had blood on his face.

1:29 p.m. — A woman from a business on the 700 block of Taylorville Road reported the vehicle next to hers in the parking lot had hit her vehicle. The damage was not found to match that vehicle, however.

3:21 p.m. — A caller from the 400 block of Mill Street reported a stolen bicycle.

3:28 p.m. — A caller from Morgan Ranch Drive reported several youths skateboarding in the street, with a Toyota Tacoma following behind them, swerving back and forth.

3:56 p.m. — A man across from Memorial Park reported he was assaulted after a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.

Monday
3:18 a.m. — A caller from the 400 block of Henderson Lane reported a diesel truck was running and making noise.Nevada County Sheriff’s Office

Sunday
10:59 a.m. — A caller from a veterinary clinic in Loomis reported a man from the 24000 block of Restive Way had been in with his dog, which had been shot by a neighbor. The man was threatening to shoot his neighbor.

4:13 p.m. — A caller from the 16000 block of Nomad Way reported a goat was “screaming, jumping, drooling, laying down.” It appeared to be in distress. (I love this one)

5:18 p.m. — A woman from the 10000 block of Carli Way reported being harassed by a man to whom she owes $800. He keeps coming to her residence because she has not paid him.

5:58 p.m. — A woman from the 22000 block of St. Helena Drive reported her daughter moved in while she was gone and refuses to leave.

8:21 p.m. — A man from the 16000 block of Duggans Road reported a woman was hitting him in the stomach and throwing things at him.9:20 p.m. — A caller from a business in the 16000 block of Penn Valley Drive reported a fight in front of the business.

11:16 p.m. — A woman from the 12000 block of Banner Lava Cap Road reported something was “being hit against her door.”

Monday

4:55 a.m. — A caller from Highway 174 and Greenhorn Access reported horses in the roadway, but sheriff’s deputies were unable to locate the horses. A woman from Orchard Springs Road called at 6 a.m. to report she had the horses blocked in with her car. The horses were returned to their owner.Nevada City Police Department

Monday

12:59 a.m. — A caller from the 200 block of Commercial Street reported an accident with a white SUV leaving the scene. A be-on-the-lookout advisory was issued for a white SUV with tinted windows and a sun roof, with possible front-end damage on the passenger side.— Liz Kellar

GRASS VALLEYFIRE DEPARTMENT

The Grass Valley Fire Department responded to 55 calls for service from Nov. 5 through Nov. 11, including those responded to as part of the joint operational relationship with Nevada County Consolidated Fire District and Nevada City Fire Department.

Here are some highlights:

10 a.m. Nov. 5 — A vehicle hit a house on South Auburn Street. Firefighters found significant damage to the front of the home with injuries to the vehicle’s occupant. Emergency personnel extricated the patient for transport to Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital.

3 p.m. Nov. 5 — GVFD responded to a reported vehicle accident on Brunswick Rd near Sutton Way. Firefighters found two vehicles with moderate damage. Nobody involved in the accident was taken to the hospital.

2 p.m. Nov. 10 — GVFD and NCCFD responded to a chimney fire on Squirrel Creek Road. They discovered the fire was contained to the chimney with no damage to the rest of the home.

Nov. 11 — GVFD responded to a motorcycle down on Ridge Road. Responders found the driver on the side of the road with injuries, and they prepared the driver for transport to a hospital.

Now you tell me. Isn’t the Grass Valley crime scene a lot more fun than LA’s.

Hello from the Desert Southwest 2008

Hello again blog readers:

For those of you who do not yet know, we are back in our winter homeplace, the desert southwest. Specifically, the City of Desert Hot Springs.

We’ve been here for three weeks now enjoying the pleasantly warm mostly 80+ degree days, the hot mineral pools, and the community around us. It has become an interesting experience to live two separate lives with friends and activities exclusive to each of them.

Our family is weathering the economic downturn okay but Laurie has had her hours at work curtailed as well as a reduction in pay that is making life tough on she and Dani. Dani is a straight “A” student, including classes in Mandarin Chinese!

Though we had no opportunity to see him, Kevin was down here in Southern California during the recent fire disasters in the community of Yorba Linda. He and Dodie and the boys are also just fine. The boys are growing like weeds, of course.It’s amazing but I think the situation right now is less stressful for those of us living on a secure fixed income.

When we left this area at the end of April this year we were amazed at the amount of new construction going on. Not just residential—though there was plenty of that—but huge new commercial and shopping complexes everywhere. Now, sadly, most of that has come to a screeching halt and those commercial developments that were near completion are now finished and standing empty. Who knows how long that situation will last and I don’t usually spend a lot of time feeling either good or bad for land developers, but this situation is truly sad. The developments here in the greater Palm Springs area are, of course, mostly very upscale and to see the millions and millions of dollars spent with absolutely no return on the investment must be financially punishing to these developers.

With jobs being lost by the thousands, companies closing by the hundreds, and banks going belly-up faster than the fish that lived in my acquarium, it’s tough out there. If ones income depends on other people’s disposable income or the stock market, one had better look for a different line of work or income for a while.

You may recall that Ron had a Goiter removed last April before we returned home. It was discovered as a result of his being so short of breath. After returning to Grass Valley his breathing became even more labored, rather than improving, and it was determined that the surgeon in Palm Springs had left another huge goiter in place that extended beneath his breast bone down to his heart. To make a long story short, in September that mass of thyroid gland was removed in Sacramento. If an adult man places his two fists one on top of the other that is the approximate size of the thing they removed. To get it out they had to crack his chest, just as is done in open heart surgery. When they do that they press both shoulders downward to help open the cavity. Since Ron has two unresolved rotator cuff injuries they were both severely aggravated by this procedure resulting in an extended recuperation lasting several months.

Since he was virtually unable to do anything for the past six months, time has passed Ron by this year. Just this morning he finally realized that Thanksgiving is less than a week away and it’s only 3 weeks till we return home for Christmas. Up until our return to the desert his world has been his recliner and a paperback book since the first of May.

We had plans and reservations to attend the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, N M, again this year but, when the beginning of October arrived, Ron was not physically able to drive the motorhome. By November, he was finally well enough for us to head for the desert for the winter.

After three weeks of the kind of weather we all dream of when we say, “Southern California,” we expect some rain over the next few days, leading up to Thanksgiving. The recent wildfires just added an exclamation point to the desperate need for some precipitation to fall on the State and, while we all enjoy the idyllic 80 degree temperatures, we’re also sensible enough to realize how wonderful a couple of rainy days will be.

We’ll be here in Desert Hot Springs until the end of April—except for a two-week sojourn home for Christmas and an early January trip to the Phoenix, AZ, area to visit our friend Sue Anderson for a few days followed by a visit with the Don Youngs at Lake Havasu, before returning here.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU AND YOURS.