This unusual pine is on my property. Why I never saw it before, and how it got this way is one of the many mysteries of Mother Nature and Big Sur. That’s why I am here.
And here is a closer look.
Tag: bigsurkate
BSK, checking in
Super Bowl Sunday, around noon, my systems went wacky. They are still not up to normal … even for up here in the wilderness, so I am writing from Cambria. While I have and had 4-5 bars, everything was connected, up and “running” – the phone didn’t ring, and people who tried to call were directed straight to voicemail, which then did not show up for 18 hours. I couldn’t get email, twitter, FB, OR TV. Wonderfully isolated from the world with my critters, a fire, and a book.
I have had a fire going constantly since Sunday morning – or was it Saturday? Time has not mattered. It stood still for me. I stayed warm and comfortable. This morning, heavy frost covered everything, causing the dogs to slip and slide as they escaped thru the front door. I had to go out in it to keep an eye on my blind dog as his now-absent scents could not guide him, but I stoked up the fire when we came back inside.
The photo below was taken Monday morning when SOME the clouds cleared for a few moments. Yes, snow at the higher elevations although I heard from a north-facing neighbor at 3000′ that they had snow. Not me.
If I don’t post tomorrow, know I am preparing for the next rounds of showers (varying reports on those) and keeping warm, puzzled by my systems.
Five years blogging
Wow, bigsurkate turns 5 today. What a ride it has been for all of us. This blog started because I was pissed off at the Sheriff at the time, and decided my anger could motivate me to create something positive. I think I met my goal. In the last five years, this blog has grown way beyond anything I expected when I spent the night (ALL night) of July Fourth teaching myself how to blog. Lots of learning twix then and now. Lots of technical changes, too. The blog’s readership has grown until now between blog subscribers, twitter followers and FB, over 1000 people follow this blog from all over the world, and it has been viewed over 672,000 times. Who knew?
Now, so many people contribute information, photos, and comments, that it is truly a community effort. Here’s to another five years of serving this community that is our family. Blessings to all.
Bigsurkate and other updates
I got back home just before sunset last night, to find my solar power system unresponsive. I relied on the gennie last night, and tried to get the solar online. No luck. Someone had turned the PV switch off, and my gennie was not charging it today. Tomorrow, I have to run to town to replace groceries eaten by my dog sitter, propane for my appliances, restock on critter food, and all the usual, so I won’t get a chance to figure out what is wrong with the solar … Means I better get gas for the gennie back-up, as well, until I can read the manual, call my power guy, or otherwise become brilliant in solar power. I know, but it MIGHT happen!
My dogs sitter may have messed up my solar (or someone else?) but he had a fire laid out for me to Light last night, all four dogs were good, as were two cats, he hauled in firewood for a few days, and with all else, I have been warm, thanks to him.
Blaze got the contract for the Partington Rd clean-up. I understand there was a meeting between Blaze, Cal-Trans, and the Partington Ridge Road Association this morning. Will keep you posted as I can.
Friday the BSMAAC meeting is to be held at the State Park Conference Center, starting at 10 am. I will be attending. Kathleen Lee promised an agenda by end of business today, but so far, it has yet to find my inbox.
We have one more month of overnight closures at Rocky Creek, and then life will get a little easier for all of Big Sur. NOTE – I did not say “normal” – ain’t no such thing in Big Sur.
Glad to be home, and back doin’ what I do.
Wilderness Ethics
Z’s comment on my “I am not a cop …” post got me thinking. I have lived up here in the midst of the National Forest — the wilds of Big Sur — for 14 years. (25 in Big Sur) Half of those, alone — if you don’t count my guard dogs. Anyway, the fire news has slowed considerably, so this morning’s post is devoted to one of my pet peeves.
The sense of “entitlement” is very real, and was clearly evident in that group of six from Santa Cruz who explained to me, “We’re from Santa Cruz, and we’ve been coming here for ten years!!” And their point is?? That “entitles” them to go around a USFS barricade? (I did not confront them, again. I might have lost it, and done something stupid. Besides, I have the evidence, in photos, if needed.)
I have had people climb my gates, lift their bikes over and continue on because they feel they are “entitled” to trespass on private land that is posted. One bicyclist, refused to believe that this was private property, accusing me of erecting gates and the other trappings of a homestead on government land!! What planet are these people from? Amazingly, many of these people are from either Monterey Peninsula or Santa Cruz.
One time, it was a group of Hmong hunters from San Jose. My dogs alerted. It was very early, very foggy, and I did not see them until they were about 20 feet from my front door. Being hunters, they all had guns. Another time, a group of hunters set up camp on my private property, just outside my gate. They pointed a gun and threatened to shoot my dog. That time, the MCSO DID come, in full on riot gear, with assault weapons. MCSO said the hunters were extremely polite, and would I agree to let them leave in the morning when it was light? Ha. The hunters were polite to the armed, uniformed MCSO, but extremely rude and obnoxious to me, an aging single unarmed woman and worse, to my dogs, so no, I want them off my property NOW, in the dark.
I have literally hundreds of stories of people thinking they are “entitled” — and not just on forest service land, but on private property. Once, on another piece of property where a friend was caretaking while the owner was gone, this couple from LA just walked on down, was wandering around the back of the house to the deck overlooking the Pacific. “What are you doing?” we asked. “Oh, we just wanted to see the view.” “We wouldn’t dream of going into your backyard without your permission. Why would you think it is okay, here?”
Big Sur has always had a love/hate relationship with her tourists. Tourism is our primary economic resource base. But it seems as if more and more of them come with this ‘tude that makes loving them a real challenge. And *I* don’t work in the tourist industry!
I have a sign in my cottage that says, “The more I get to know some people, the more I like dogs.”
Yup.
Ret Capt Mike’s comments re departing Deitrich
firefighterblog has a wonderful wrap-up on the quiet departure of IC Commander Mike Deitrich from the Basin Complex Fire leadership, and some of his public relations blunders, including the Apple Pie incident and the Tassajara Zen Center abandonment. I highly recommend that you take a look, if you have not done so, yet.
http://firefighterblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/basin-complex-commander-deitrich-exits.html
LA Times Apple Pie Article
There is a great 2 page article about the arrest and the defense of Apple Pie Ridge by the Curtis’s with photos of Micah, Tyson, and Ross on this page:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-backfire7-2008jul07,0,3314737.story
More photos can be seen here:
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-0706-bigsurfire-pg,0,7181154.photogallery
Ross is fast becoming a folk hero. If his dad were still alive, he’d write the screen play, and we’d have the movie in no time!!
While as I have posted in public forums, there are two sides to this issue, and thankfully, no one got hurt during the course of saving the Curtis property, I say, to quote Benjamin Franklin, “Those who trade freedom for security, deserve neither freedom or security.”
When I first got a copy of the 409.5 memo on 7/4, I called OES, and they had a Commander Teter of the MCSO call me back. When I got no satisfactory explanation about the issuance of the memo, other than to “educate” the Big Sur community about the power the MCSO had, I was furious. It was a holiday. Everything was closed. What could I do? The only places open were newsrooms. Having lived and worked in Monterey County, some of that in the justice system, I knew I needed to go outside of the county. I called the LA Times newsroom and the SF Chronicle newsroom. I posted something on surfire2008.org. Before it was removed, and probably rightly so, as it was posted as a “notice” and it wasn’t really “official,” as is required, Deborah Schoch, a staff reporter from the LA Times called. After speaking with her for some time, I got her phone numbers, and said I’d pass it on to a member of the Curtis family who was not in Big Sur, and if they wanted, they could pass it on to Micah and Ross.
Some people may think it is sensationalism, but I think it is what we need. We needed the spotlight shown on this unbelievable situation so that others, outside of the rather small Big Sur community were aware of what was happening here.
StationKATE