Tag: forest

Oh NO! Again?

~ JodiLea ~ Leave a comment

I knew it was too good to last. As soon as the weather turned slightly warm, the utility company sent trucks to invade our neighborhood. These trucks had large equipment and assorted other machines that I did not recognize. Five (possibly more) crews of road workers have claimed the streets that I use to get to town.

The normal orange signs are posted:

This sign is new. They are posted on every street, multiple times. There is usually a crew for trenching, and one of them serves as a flagman. They are very casual about the major disturbance they are causing.

I was at a stop sign, wanting to turn left. My signal was on, so he would know what I wanted to do. After a few minutes, he waved me on, indicating I could turn left.

As I turned the corner and saw the road’s condition, I looked over at the guy. He nodded his head yes and waved me on impatiently. I just knew that this was a mistake!
Only half the road was available due to the massive machines lined up on the left. The road that I was supposed to drive on had a trench, and to the right of that was a pile of asphalt. My little Subaru was going to get dirty and possibly stuck.

I know that I had a wincing look on my face. I had to negotiate the road by driving split. The left tires rode inside the trench. The right tires flattened piles of asphalt. My car jumped and bucked like a rodeo bull. Had I not been driving, I would have been car-sick. Why people like off-roading, I will never understand.

All this roadwork is giving me flashbacks of last summer. Plenty of trenches were dug, but they blocked the road or put metal plates over them. Those trenches were 4 feet deep. And yet, no signs warned us back then.

Last week, I was a prisoner in my own home. I woke up to the sound of asphalt being scraped up and spewed into the back of a truck. This is not the sound one expects to hear when living in the forest.

The view is taken from my front porch. The noise is muted for the reader’s sake.

The following afternoon, another crew showed up and paved over the entire cul-de-sac and partway down the road. When we built our house and moved in the Summer of 2012, the road was falling apart. Fourteen years later, it is finally smooth and new.

I am expecting an Earthquake or a tornado any day now.

TTFN

Things I’ve Learned after 10 years of Mountain Living

~ JodiLea
Oh My!
  • You cannot escape the 100+ degree temperatures, even surrounded by trees at 4,000 feet elevation.
  • Do your grocery shopping on Thursdays or early Friday mornings. Before the weekenders (a.k.a. flatlanders) start arriving. Don’t go into town until Monday.
  • Just when you think winter is coming to an end, a massive blizzard hits and dumps 5 1/2 feet of snow, breaking trees and tearing down power lines. We did not have power for 2 weeks. It was worse than camping!
  • Dawn and dusk are the times to avoid being on the road or in the forest.
  • When you overhear people in the grocery store or the Post Office discussing cats, they are not talking about kitty cats. They are talking about cougars & mountain lions.
  • Everyone has an opinion on how bad the winter is going to be. They often contradict each other. Believe no one. Wait for winter and see for yourself.

TTFN

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Making a Statement

~ JodiLea ~ 2 Comments

Dang! I wish I was clever enough to think of brilliant ideas. When I saw this photo, it reminded me of our street. Each year the potholes grow bigger because they get patched in the spring, but the entire road needs to be repaved. The county does not have that kind of money, we are told. Yes, it does. Some of our well-traveled roads in town get repaved every other year. It’s just our road that doesn’t.

Before you decide I’m paranoid, – hear me out. Every year like clockwork, we have snow storms, and our powerlines get knocked out. Sometimes the outage lasts for weeks. Why? Because we are the last street in town to get plowed. PG&E will not come here until the snow plow has come and gone. I am sure small-town politics are at play. But I digress…

One summer, our potholes became mini sinkholes because the tar got melty in the heat and caved in. I was not going to write another letter to the Mayor or the council. It was time for action, and I had a great idea! Invite the Mayor & his family to dinner. To get to our house (at the end of the road), he would have to navigate through our treacherous street. Right? Mission accomplished.

I was unable to execute my plan because hubby would not let me contact the Mayor. He was convinced the Mayor would not come and I would embarrass myself. He should have let me try it. It was a lot simpler than this year’s plan. (hehe) I will need some muscle to help me move trees and replant them. I live in the forest, and from my family room windows, I can see a multitude of healthy little trees. I know a professional gardener. I know guys with muscles. This could actually happen.

Arbor Day is coming up soon. Just don’t tell hubby, OK? And YES, that includes YOU, Susan, and Robert!

TTFN