With the Mill and Mountain fires firmly behind us, it was time for life to start to try to get back to normal a little bit. During these disasters, not only are the people impacted, but the pets are too. Remi has been such a trooper watching me come and go all the time to the shelter, work for 8 hours and then back to the shelter and then to bed. So, I decided it was time for a outing with just Remi and I to have a little outing for just the two of us. She always enjoys these, and I know I sure do too. Though it wasn't all that Challenging, I took the Jeep 4XE out with Remi and I to check out the Klamath river which runs just north and west of us here in Yreka. I love rivers and over the last 40 years that I have traversed this area, since Karen and Mike moved the Ashland, I have never gone down to this area and checked it out. So, we took the opportunity to do so. It takes less than a half hour to travel from Yreka to this river, and I don't know why I have never stopped here before but I'm sure glad I did.
There were a couple of disappointments in taking this little outing today. One was that while there wasn't much traffic on the dirt road around the river, when someone did come through, they were going way to fast, so walking up the road didn't seem like a safe idea. The other was the amount of garbage that I saw in the river was well along its banks. it really makes me sad.
As many of my recent blog posts have indicated, volunteering for two local animal shelters in my off-hours is very important to me. One shelter, the Siskiyou County Animal shelter is very much in need of help. Due to budget constraints, the shelter only has one full time employee and I've been trying to help where I can. The lady who runs the shelter is amazing in keeping everything running with so few resources. I've been volunteering at animal shelters for the last 20 years and I have been fortunate enough to meet many wonderful people shelter volunteers and staff members during those years, most of them in the Sacramento area. Frequently, I do post about my volunteering activities, in hopes that others will see that it is meaningful and rewarding work and maybe one of my friends on Facebook will consider volunteering in the community to help as well.
Veterinary care has been harder and harder to come by over the last decade or so, but the situation really became exacerbated by the COVID 19 outbreak. All these contributing factors have caused a significant impact on Spay and Neuter efforts for domestic animals like dogs and cats. That fact on top of the recent wildfires has cause our dog population at the shelter to fill all of the 16 kennels that we have at the shelter. We have 16 kennels, but only 12 dog beds, 2 of which were damaged but being used because we had nothing else. And we had no money to buy more.
So, Stephanie and I put together a Amazon Wishlist which include dog beds and other needed supplies. Then on Friday the 9th of September, I put a Facebook post out there asking if anyone could help us with some of the items we were in need of. Stephanie and I were both truly surprised and humbled by the response from those that I knew on Facebook, many that I had only met once and some that I had never met. As a result of the post, we received 5 dog beds, each worth about $100.00 each and for dog houses, each worth more than $150.00 each plus a lot of other supplies. This response far outstripped my wildest expectations. I was truly touched.
Shortly after I moved from Southern California to the bay area in 1985 to become a computer programmer for Safeway stores, my sister Karen and her husband Mike decided they wanted to start a Hot air balloon business. They reached out to me and asked me if I would be willing to invest in this business they wanted to start and I said sure, I would contribute $5,000 from my savings towards it. Hence, they launched "Dragons Breath" where they offered Hot air balloon rides throughout the Rouge Valley in southern Oregon. Ever since they started that business, though the businesses only survived a hand full of years, we have been intrigued with Hot Air balloons. One time we made a stop in Lake Havisue Arizona to see a hot air balloon festival. I saw a post on facebook earlier in September of this year about a hot air balloon festival in Montague which is just east of Yreka. So, I got Remi up early one day and off we went to Montague to check it all out. Though they didn't do any early morning inflations to enjoy the color of the balloons against the dark morning sky, it was wonderful to experience none the less.
Rescue Ranch and Siskiyou County Animal control work very closely together. They do their best to share resources in order to serve the community to the best of their abilities. Being a volunteer for both of them allows me to interoperate with both organizations about as seamlessly as anyone could. On the Friday before the hot air balloon festival, I loaded up a pair of dog houses that Siskiyou County Animal control had borrowed from Rescue Ranch to return them to the Ranch. You see, some time ago, Rescue Ranch loaned them to the county shelter in order to help them expand their capacity. With the donations of four dog houses to the county shelter, the loaned dog houses could be returned to the ranch. After Remi and I finished at the Balloon festival, I dropped Remi off at the motorhome and then I went over to the ranch. I dropped off the Dog houses and then loaded up a county Office of Emergency Services trailer with portable dog kennels the county had loaned to Rescue Ranch during the wildfires earlier this year. Once the trailer was loaded, I towed it with the Jeep back to the County Livestock area. The new Jeep by the way did an amazing job at towing the trailer without any problems.
Oh ya, funny story, when I loaded the kennels into the jeep, I tossed by go-bag from the front seat into the back seat where the kennel was. When I unloaded the kennel, I didn't realize that the Go-bag I tossed into the back, fell into the kennel. You can see it in the last picture set above. I didn't even notice the extra weight. It took me 24 hours before I figured out what happen to my go-bag that I normally carry in the jeep!
As part of the new job, my manager Louie decided to have everyone get together for a team meeting at Cheesecake factory at Arden Fair mall. That would mean I would have to drive to Sacramento. I hatched a plan that Remi and I would drive to Sacramento, spend the night in a hotel and then camp out under the parking structure s at the mall during the day and I would telework. Then, I'd go to dinner with the crew and then drive home afterword's. Well, Remi and I made the trip from Yreka, and Louie made the trip from Sonoma, but no one else came. The hotel was fine and they allowed dogs, with a $250.00 deposit, but the reason for the trip was a bit of a bust. But, I learned that it wasn't fair for Remi, so I'm not going to be able to do that sort of trip with her again. If I have to go back to Sacramento again, I'll have to get her a kennel up here in Yreka for a night or too... or get someone to house sit for me.
Here is a video documenting the performance of the Jeep Wrangler 4XE as I drove in two completely different styles going down to Sacramento, and coming back up.
And now, here is the vlog entry for this entire timeframe, excluding the driving performance mentioned in the video above.
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