Landslide on 101

Our hillside is not the only one to succumb to natures power this year. Check out this site that details a landslide that took out our main artery here on the north coast, highway 101.

this aerial photo was copied from SoHum Awareness Facebook page

New York Times Article

Recently an article about our area appeared in the New York times. It is well written and a bit funny (as well as only slightly skewed; Garberville isn't really a scary place). It has been interesting to read responses from locals. Read it yourself and get a taste of this place we love. In fact the crazy weather he writes of is happening right now, as the rain just gave way to a shining rainbow.

Encore Snow: The Last, Last Show?

And Perse Came Home

Perse has been residing on the neighbors place for a number of years. I had bottle fed her and befriended her and then she left me for a bull across the fence. How fickle! But now she is home and with a new calf. I forgive her, she is welcome here.

She actually ran up to me last week while she was in labor. I hung out with her until I got too cold in the rain and then later went back to where I left her and I couldn't find her. I had thought she had left me again. But no, she was here the whole time, just waiting until her calf was big enough to join the herd here at our house. It is so silly, but I love this cow. She often runs up to me and licks my face and moos softly. It always warms my heart.

One Last Snow?

Meandering on a March Day

I have been spending too much time glued to the depressing news out of Japan so in between rain showers I head out to the yard to begin working on our garden beds. I spy some cows.

I think the cows might need some food, so I holler and go down to the barn to give them some hay. I listen closely and I hear a roar. I hike to investigate.

Oh, just the falls. JUST the falls! After some quiet time I head back up the hill, huffing and puffing and with lots of stops to enjoy the scenery. The buckeye trees are leafing out. And Kate always seems to get the highest vantage point. If I had more energy I would climb up there and enjoy the view. The view was lovely. Kate's pretty good with the camera.


By the time I get home I was wet on the inside andand cold and too tired for gardening. I eat my lunch. Our garden beds will have to wait for another day because I feel renewed enough for another round with the news.

I mourn for the Japanese and for our world. A horrible natural disaster coupled with a serious nuclear incident shrouded in mystery and lies.

I think of the beauty that surrounds us, surrounds me created by a loving God and I realize that I don't walk in peace with such a world. I consume too much. Use too much. Want too much. Greed is what powers a lot of grief and I think about that on this showery March Day.

Enjoy what you got.

State of Emergency declared in Humboldt County

Most likely our sheriff, Mike Downey, and Governor Brown had the tsunami in mind when they declared the emergency. Their timing, however, cooincides perfectly with a very large landslide appearing on our ranch. Think I'll send off for one of them "forms". (Of course, we realize this isn't a real emergency in light of all the recent events, but perhaps the humor will lighten the load a bit. Lets continue to pray for all those with real emergencies, and share the load locally.)


The PROBLEM, starting at the top. (At the very top left you can see a much smaller "cliff". We discovered that one a few years ago while hiking with Boy Scouts.) The rest of the damage has opened up in only the last few days.

Where there was a long, steady, boring slope... much more interesting features are forming.


The road doesn't really line up anymore. Thankfully, you can't confuse water... the creek still flows downhill.
Actually, the entire slide is flowing downhill.
Amusing myself playing Indiana Jones on the old road surface. Hmmm, perhaps a tourist attraction? Some of the cracks were 10 to 15 feet deep.



So far the creek is hauling away whatever invades it's territory. Probably not too good for the fish and everything else that breathes underwater.

Some of us are more resistant to change than others. ( Or, perhaps like this tree, we only partially accept the change and divide our lives. Working short-term, perhaps, but some change is inevitable.) Meanwhile the resilience of the part of this tree which holds on in the wrenching of tragedy reminds me of some people I know. And today, the citizens of Japan.

Do You Believe in Heaven?

We're home and we do. Heaven on earth.(photo by Jo)

We also believe in an eternal heaven.

I recently read a book entitled, "90 minutes in Heaven," written by a man who says he visited there. Paramedics on scene said he had no pulse and left him in his crushed car. He says heaven is great. Blissful. Illuminating. Timeless. Perfect Peace.

Funny thing is that about 10 years ago I stopped breathing while having a procedure in an radiology lab. I woke up to mouth to mouth and some cute paramedics. I remember someone screaming that they didn't want to come back. That someone was me. The place I dreamed of, or visited, can best be described as light. Not light that shines on you, but light that embraces you, that surrounds you. Light that is.

Jesus said He was the Light and that makes more sense to me now. It is also how the "90 minute" guy described heaven. He got to stay longer than I and he heard amazing music and got to embrace people that were there. But I thought it was pretty cool that our experience with the light was so similar.

Mark's recent scare had us talking about death recently. While we were in the ER they were preparing us, I guess, for what might happen, but when they start talking about the possibility of needing life support they scared us. And then we smiled, (me still scared) held hands and talked about eternity.

Las Vegas Beauty

Mark was discharged from the hospital a few days ago and we have been sticking around Vegas enjoying watching the sun set and our adorable grandson. Soon, we need to head north, back into the rain, sleet and snow because there is no place like home and the taxes need to get done.

Alls Well.....

I ended my last post with those words and little did we know that Mark's body was beginning to go to war against itself.

He came home from Hawaii with a very inflamed and infected toe. On the one day we were home he went to the doctor who thought it was some kind of staph infection and put him on Bactrim, a type of sulfa drug. Of course, as the story goes, we rushed off to Vegas to see our grand baby enter the world. After the first week of antibiotics was done, Mark's toe still did not look 100 percent better, so he called his doctor who prescribed one more round of Bactrim.

On day 11 of taking the medicine, he woke with a really bad headache and looking back on it we realize his skin was taking on a weird color. On day 12 his knees ached severely and he took 4 ibuprofen and later went for a walk. After the walk we decided to head to our daughter's hot tub and we discovered Mark's lower body was covered in this really bizarre non blanching rash. They looked like really dark red and purple burns or bruises. I had recently been looking at rashes online for the baby and realized that he had a dangerous rash and needed to go a doctor ASAP. The doctor at the urgent care clinic thought it was the early stages of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and after contacting the ER Doctor gave him a shot of benedryl and rushed us off to the hospital . He began getting IV steroids at the hospital and was informed that he needed to be admitted because it could progress to a point that he would need life support. REALLY?! For a rash.

Apparently Mark is one of the few people each year who have this reaction to Bactrim. It is a rare type of autoimmune response and apparently it can progress to major organs being affected. It was scary and we called on friends to pray that his response would just stop and, praise God, it apparently has. He is still in the hospital for observation and meds to suppress his immune system, but besides being stir crazy, he is doing fine. Great really, considering what could have happened. Our current doctor says he has an apparently mild case of erythema multiform. We hope to get discharged soon so we can go back to our daughter's house to get back to the job of grand-parenting.