Restoring Irving Gill's "Williams House"

Happy 2006!

This has been a busy fall and a very neglected house blog as a result. My apologies. I decided to start this blog early in the summer of 2005 as an outlet to write. It is nice to have a place to write on matters unrelated to current work and it’s a nice way to keep in touch with family and friends on house-related matters. This house has been the center of our family and friends since 1982. It is less of a social hub these days than it was back in its retreat house days, but I know that there are many people out there with a deep affection for the house.

Though this blog has been silent, I have been doing a good bit of writing about this house and its role in my healing from postpartum depression. We moved here in part to restore our health – an escape from the air and water of the San Joaquin Valley in California. This blog has been neglected because I am actually writing a book on my postpartum depression experience. I started the book in late August, around the time the neglect of the blog began, and I expected to complete it by now. As these things go, the project has grown and I do not expect to complete the manuscript until middle spring of 2006. The book features this house in an unusual way, so I will report on the project here as it nears completion.

I hope this note finds everyone well with great prospects for 2006.

Spelt sourdough-like pancakes on Frederick's half-birthday

We started celebrating half birthdays in our family back when I was a little girl.  My sister and I were born 18 months apart and my parents tried to preempt birthday envy by celebrating my "half" birthday on Kimberly's birthday and her half birthday on mine.  The half-birthday girl would get a small gift and some recognition of her six-month milestone.

When I got married I carried on the tradition because you really cannot have enough birthdays.  Sander agreed and we celebrate his half birthday on January 4th.  On Frederick's first half birthday three years ago we celebrated with pumpkin cheesecake.  He was young enough to stick his finger right in the middle of the cheesecake, but also unseasoned enough that he did not realize he should lick his finger.  I quickly cleaned his finger off and he was none the wiser.

Happy Birthday Marby! On your 3rd birthday (in redwood years)

Yesterday my dad and I took my son Frederick up to the Ponderosa, a small community in the high country with a nice little cowboy restaurant, filled with knotty pine and small, rustic antique collectibles.

At over 7000 feet elevation in October, I assumed my 3 ½ year old would get a wee bit cold walking across the road and parking lot and into the restaurant with only a t-shirt and underpants.  He insisted that he could manage.  As the lady in the car next to us suggested, he would likely change his mind rather quickly.  I grabbed the clothes and held his hand as he tip-toed across the road. 

That’s where we first met Marby and her friends.  They were dining on the patio in the sun as I walked by saying "Frederick, the sign on the restaurant says ‘No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service’ and implied in the sign is ‘no pants.’”  I heard some chuckling. 

Frederick had the solution: he would sit outside in the sun.  As Marby and her friends left with comments like “nice underwear, buddy!”  We enjoyed our burgers in the sun and Frederick proved all of the adults wrong.   

Trail of 100 Giants Ribbon-Cutting

There are a whole lot of things about living on the edge of Sequoia National Forest in a fairly isolated area that are simply unhandy.   But I found myself driving home from the ribbon cutting for the Trail of 100 Giants saying “we get to live here.”  The scenery in the high country is absolutely breath-taking.  I turn a 30 minute drive to the trail into a 45 minute crawl up and back to take in the magnificent landscape.

Exciting week in California Hot Springs

This is a small community – 250 full-time residents according to the 2000 Census.  Not a whole lot happens here.  However, this week is an exception. 

Trail of 100 Giants

Tomorrow is the grand re-opening of the Trail of 100 Giants, a stand of giant sequoia trees about a 45-minute drive from the California Hot Springs valley in the Sequoia National Monument.

After the Fire

As I drove home late yesterday afternoon, I scanned the horizon for signs of smoke from the forest fire.  None!  The sky was remarkably clear…blue, with giant cumulous clouds rising above the Sierra Nevadas.

A few cars passed me coming down the mountain.  From this I decided that, indeed, the road was open and I could get home.  Overall, there was precious little traffic, as if life had come to a standstill.  In the morning there had been fire response vehicles coming and going in a steady stream.

Forest Fire: Report from the Field, with pics

I went to the barricade at 7:00 this morning and the sign was clear:  ROAD CLOSED.  Like a good girl I went home, for a while.  By 8:30 I checked with postmaster Dean about the road conditions.  He knows everything.  He suggested that I try again, indicating that Scott, the Deputy Sheriff, was escorting people through the maze of fire response vehicles and equipment.  I badly needed to get to town. 

Fire is 60% contained

According to postmaster Dean this morning, the fire has been 60% contained.  The sherrif is now providing escort to anyone who needs to drive to the valley.  My mom attempted an exit at 7:00 this morning but the road was closed.  She left at about 8:30 hoping to find Scott the sherrif.  I sent her with a camera just in case.  ;)  She left me with instructions to close all of the windows about noon.  The wind will turn and we'll have a smoke-filled house again otherwise.

I have not seen the fire site myself, but last night, as my mother described the fire, she had tears in her eyes thinking about the Fitterer property.  The Fitterers are a long-time cattle family in the California Hot Springs area.

Fire should be contained by morning

My mom took a drive to get the skinny on the fire.  She reports that it is in the White River Canyon on Fitterer’s property and headed to McFarland grade, west of us.  She estimates that if the fire is not contained, it would still take from 1 to 2 days to reach us.  The smoke is particularly bad in the California Hot Springs valley because the winds were pushing it up the White River Canyon and into the valley.  As evening comes, the wind direction changes and the smoke should clear out.  I have a slight headache, much like I would get in a smoke-filled bar.

The authorities appear fairly confident that the fire will be contained.  We called our friend Ted Reese earlier for information on the fire since he works for the California Division of Forestry.  He was not home.  It appears that he’s on the line and that the fire is very close to his house.  His wife Sheryl called here by mistake – she was actually trying to reach Ted on the line.  She reports that the fire should be contained by morning.

In the meantime, we have all showered in case we lose electricity (our well is on an electric pump).  We have also saved some drinking water just in case.

Forest fire, 5 or so miles away

A fire broke out at about 3 pm here, approximately 6 miles south-west of us.  An excavator’s exhaust pipe hit some high brush and started a brush fire on or near the Fitterer property.  We are at 3,500 feet elevation and coming out of a very wet year.  Grass was very high this year.  It’s been very hot lately.  Fire danger is very high.  The smoke is getting thick and we are starting to wonder how much potential the fire has.  It would have to travel north over a steep grade and down again to hit the California Hot Springs valley.  Winds typically blow east-west. 

I’ll update later and post smoke pictures should we be able to find the camera.

It's now about 9 pm.  We haven't heard anything solid.   My mom is taking a drive right now to find out how close this thing is.  I packed some clothes and am going to take a shower.

That ain't smog, guys: