A hike, hot air balloons and a highway road trip September 17th through the 27th, 2022

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. 

Safe travels everyone...

Remi and Eric too! 

The Mill and Mountain fires September 2nd through the 10th, 2022

 On Friday, the 2nd of September 2022, two fires broke out in the southern end of Siskiyou County. One was called the Mill fire which started at an old, abandoned wood Mill on the northeast part of the town of Weed. The same evening, to the west of Weed was the Mountain fire. Because of our dry conditions, both fires advanced quickly. Later that evening, the County Office of Emergency Services requested that cat, dog and large animal shelters be established for those evacuating from the affected areas. 

I had just started my new job working for the California Department of Technology, and I felt it was bad form to drop everything as soon as it started, so I worked to the end of my shift and then I reached out to Stephanie the county Animal Shelter coordinator and asked her what I could do to help. She informed me that the cat shelter at the armory building at the Siskiyou golden fair grounds was in need of assistance to get their operations started.  So, I immediately headed over to the Armory and helped out for a couple hours getting tables and crates set up for the cats and other small animals that would be evacuated to the shelter. In addition to cats, we had some bunnies and reptiles as well. 

After getting my feet wet with the McKinney fire in August, I knew pretty much the process that had to take place. Stephanie would be tied up at the county Emergency Operations Center, and the ACO's would be out in the field. So, naturally, there would be an opening for me to take care of animal care at the shelter for the duration of the fire. The only problem was, as I indicated earlier, I had just started a new job. And though I knew the hiring manager, my direct supervisor was a different story. He and I had never worked together before, and he was new to state service and not familiar with some of the flexibility that can be afforded to state staff during natural disasters. Plus, the team I had been hired on to, had A LOT of work to do and I just was struggling in justifying how I would take a week off work when I was so new and there was so much work to be done and in a short timeframe at the Department of Technology. 

So, after thinking about how long it took to do shelter feeding and care in the morning and dog socialization in the afternoon, I came up with an approach that I wasn't sure if I would be truly able to support. I thought, what if I got up at 4 AM, did cleaning and feeding from 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM, then worked my regular job, then went to the shelter from 5 to 7 PM and walked dogs and then shot to go to bed at 8:00 PM. Mathematically, if I stuck to the schedule, it would be ok. Well Saturday and Sunday, the 3rd and 4th, I was able to take a somewhat more leisurely approach to doing care at the shelter, with some helping out at Rescue Ranch thrown in for good measure. 

Fortunately, the number of incidents in California was limited to a fire in Auburn and the Mill and Mountain fire, so we were lucky that we had sizeable amount of federal, state and local resources to fight the fires. The fires were pretty much under control by the 10th of September. Though containment lines were established, the fires were still putting up some ash that was traveling north to Yreka some 20 miles away and the ash was landing on the Jeep which almost looked like snow. 

After the fires were out and resources were returned to their home areas, Remi and I took a ride down to the town of Weed to get a first-hand look at the impact from the fire. I have seen burned out areas before... the devastation from the Almeda fire in Phoenix Oregon will forever be burned into my memory, but I was feeling like I was becoming callous to the effects of wildfire and felt like I needed to be reminded of the individual impact on people from events such as this. It wasn't so much that I wasn't motivated to help anymore or anything like that. I just felt like I needed to be reminded of the loss that people experienced, so Remi and I took a ride. 

It's so incredibly sad how people, animals and communities are impacted by natural disasters such as wildfire. Yes, I truly wish that when I graduated high school, that I would have pursued a career in Firefighting, but, even at my prime, I don't know that I would have been able to hack it. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, in high school, I was such a weakling. Even though I was a marching machine, but my upper body strength was the pits. None the less, i wish I had tried... There would have been a lot of ways I could have made some sort of difference. 

None the less, I am beyond thankful for the opportunity that Siskiyou County Animal Control as well as Rescue Ranch to be of assistance any day of the year, but especially during wildfires. I may not be able to contribute the way I could have in my prime, but I am able to contribute, and in the end, that is really all that matters. 

Here is the video for this weeks blog. There is a whole lot more video content than stills in the post, I just didn't take that may still photographs this time. 

Safe Travels everyone, Eric and Remi too. 

A new job and a new Jeep August 28th, 2022

Trip log

Motorhome trip: 102

RVing trip total: 182

Traveling solo: 40

After 6 years working for CDCR, the time had come for me to move on. I came to CDCR with the goal of retiring there and learning as much as I could about GIS (Geographic Information Systems - Basically Mapping). I learned a lot about GIS, enough to know that I had a passion to truly make it a career. I had many wonderful projects that I worked on at CDCR using GIS and learning about Esri software. Esri is the premier provider of GIS technologies and is driven by environmental causes... So for me it is a win-win. In 2019, I felt like I had truly found my "Sweet Spot", because as a member of the GIS team, I was also inducted into the Drone Task force. Their mission was first to explore how to prevent drones from flying into Institutions (AKA Prisons back a decade or so ago). Then, that role was expanded to explore how Drones could be used for assisting in finding prisoners who walked away from work crews and other similar low security activities. 

These drone missions were championed by a few in upper management including Russ Nicoles who was the director of Information Technologies at CDCR. However, Tammy Irwin a middle manager saw no value in anything she didn't have a hand in creating, she did everything she could to stifle the GIS and Drone technologies. Both technologies held promise at CDCR until Russ retired at the end of 2019. At that point, Tammy was able to wield more power and kill the drone program and the GIS effort was holding on by a thread. By early 2022, it was obvious that Tammy was bound and determined to finish off the GIS program and it became obvious to me, that if I had a desire to continue working in GIS, I needed to find a different agency to do it at. 

In 2018, a gentleman by the name of Isaac Cabrera became the guiding light as the GIO (Geographic Information Officer) for the state of California. Though he did not work for CDCR, he did his best to become known and as a resource to all state agencies for the State of California and in the Counties as well. I met Isaac in 2018 as he was making the rounds to all the agencies. Isaac and I stayed in touch periodically. I had known for a while that GIS was not winning engagement at CDCR, and I thought if I had Isaac as a reference, it might help me to get on board at another agency sometime. As luck would have it, Isaac reached out to me in the spring of 2022 to inform me that there was a promotional opportunity coming up at the agency that he directly over-saw in the near future. I applied for the position and got it! I was brought on board to what was a new team of 4 positions under a new manager. 

In order to facilitate the transition, I had to go to Sacramento and turn in my equipment for CDCR, and go to California Department of Technology and pick up my new equipment. So, Remi and I made a speed trip down to Sacramento to facilitate the transition.  Interestingly enough, the shelter coordinator for Siskiyou County knew I was making this trip to Sacramento, and asked me if I could transport some cats with me. There was a rescue in Truckee that would come and meet me in Sacramento and complete the transport to Truckee in hopes of helping the cats fine forever homes in Nevada. So, after setting up some kennels in the dinette area of the motorhome, we were well set up to transport the cats. 

On the way to Sacramento, I was so sad to see how naked Mt Shasta was. I remember as a younger adult, seeing snow on Mt Shasta 12 months out of the year. Sadly, global warming is real. :-( When we arrived in Sacramento, we stayed at the Cal Expo RV park.

On Friday morning I met up with the transport van in Sacramento that came from Truckee. After that, i went and turned in my CDCR equipment, had lunch with my old CDCR supervisor, and Sonia Edwards and our manager CJ Gill. They took me to Spaghetti factory for lunch which is one of my favorite places in Sacramento.  I truly enjoyed working for them, and will miss working with them in the future, but I'm hopeful for the best going forward. 

I stayed in Sacramento for the weekend. I managed to hook up with Carol, Katie and Russell and meet baby Jack for the first time. What a happy little guy he is. Sunday, Remi and I bummed around Sacramento and went and checked out some of my favorite haunts such as the Rail yards, Lake Natomas Regional Park, the American River and the new science center in Sacramento. 

On Monday morning I went and picked up my new computer equipment and name badge from California Department of Technology. Once I had my equipment, I packed up the motorhome and headed back to Yreka.  

Just prior to my divorce, Carol decided she wanted to get rid of a Chevy Volt that we had for the previous 6 years. It was a great car and it was hard to say goodbye to the Chevy Volt and energy efficiency and green footprint that it had. I've missed that car ever since. Not long ago, someone at the RV park had a new Jeep Wrangler 4XE. I had heard of these, but never seen one "In the wild" as they say. 

The 4XE is much the same as a Chevy Volt, a lithium battery, and drive motor as well as a gas engine backup. Though they are engineered completely differently, many of the principles are the same. Well, after being awarded the new position at the California Department of Technology, I went and test drove the Jeep 4XE and fell in love. I decided that I want to have whatever car I have, paid off when I retire. So, I needed to make sure that if I pursued a 4XE, that I could financially afford the monthly payments over the next 5 years. I was surprised to find that the grey Jeep Wrangler was worth $27,000. That made the payments for the new 4XE very possible. So, the day after I returned from Sacramento, I went up to Oregon to Lithia motors and picked up my brand new shiny, 2022 Sarge Green Jeep Wrangler 4XE. I've only had it for a few days, but I love it. 

I only have a handful of upgrades I want to do to it like install a tow hitch and trailer lights plug and a set of locking latches for the hood. Fortunately, the car cover from the grey Jeep fits this new one. Also, I'm able to install a charging station on the motorhome so that I can charge the Jeep overnight. All in all, it is a dream come true. 

Here is the window to this blogs video. 

Safe Travels all! 

Eric and Remi too!

The McKinney Fire July 29th up through August 6th (so far)

On Friday, the 29th of July, 2022, a wildfire broke out near highway 96, northwest of Yreka. On Saturday the 30th as well as Sunday, I worked the night shift at the Rescue Ranch to keep the lights on in the event anyone needed to come in and drop off dogs that were evacuated from the fire area. I didn't wait very long to evacuate the motorhome from the RV park and relocate it out to the Rescue Ranch because I wanted to be in a position where I wasn't worried about Remi or the motorhome and could just focus on helping out at Rescue Ranch. The night shift pretty much meant that I started covering the desk and phone at 8:00 PM and work until around 6:00 AM. I remember working the night shift when I worked for Safeway, but I forgot how much, at least on short spirts, that I'm just not wired for it, or at least the quick alteration from an 8 AM to 5 PM job to one that is 12 hours shifted from that, but I lived through it. 

Fortunately, both evenings were pretty quiet, and really the only things I worked on was getting us caught up on laundry and dishes. Most of the time, I was just struggling to keep myself awake. During the first couple of days, the Rescue Ranch had over 140 dogs come in, including one mamma and her puppies as well as another pour little guy who was in desperate need of a bath. And just like with the Lava Fire, the community responded great with donations including a lot of dog food. Rescue Ranch was running out of space, so for the first time since the Grey jeep was bought, I put the trailer hitch into use and pulled a county trailer over to the ranch so that additional emergency kennels could be set up. It does come in handy being a known entity by both organizations so that I can work more seamlessly between the two. 

The manager of the Siskiyou County Animal shelter, a lady named Stephanie was supposed to go on vacation for a week, leaving the Saturday that the fire broke out. She cancelled her vacation because she knew her duty was here as a fire was raging in the community. She really needed to be at the county's Emergency Operations Center coordinating the Animal Care concerns during the disaster. I had planned for some time to go over to the shelter on Monday the 1st of August to help out at the County Shelter, but with the outbreak of the fire, I offered to Stephanie to do what I could to take care of the animal care during at least the next week if that was at all possible. I got clearance from my boss to do this and proceeded to staff the county shelter animal welfare aspect of things until the following Sunday. I consider myself very fortunate that the county has been willing to show the trust in me to allow me to care for the animals during the disaster. It is really very humbling, but I do get to work with some amazing animals. 

The bad news from the McKinney fire as it was called, is that it expanded very quickly, and though at the time it seemed like it took forever, in reality, in a few days, the incident went into Unified Command and CAL FIRE came in to help the US Forest Service to get the blaze under control. Fortunately, within about 10 days, it appeared that things would start to return to normal soon. However, during that 10 days, a lot of resources entered the area and were brought to bare in the region to help fight the McKinney fire as well as the China 2 fire and several others, most of which started from lightning strikes in the area. 

Before we knew it, within about 14 days, we were starting to demobilize from the incident and life was starting to return back to a form of normalcy. 

As I alluded to in one of my earlier posts, I'm finding myself in a spot of fulfillment in my life right now living in Yreka. I wouldn't say that Yreka, in and of itself is fulfilling, but I have started to build some relationships and trusts, that are very fulfilling. I really like volunteering at Rescue Ranch and I so firmly believe in their mission, but admittedly, with all the dogs that are there, is a little overwhelming. Also, some of the personality dynamics of the humans remind me of living with my parents who fought all the time, and I just really am over all that sort of drama. 

The county shelter really speaks to me, I truly enjoy volunteering there and the lady Stephanie who is the Shelter manager and I seem to get along well. At the time that the fire was really raging, we were down to only 8 dogs and 2 cats in our care. It takes 4 plus hours to Feed, socialize, clean, walk and medically care for all of them. Plus I would go back in the evening for around 2 hours to do another medical treatment and socialization of our cats. It's a drag doing it alone during the fire, but it is intimate, and I am really getting to know all of the animals being cared for at the county shelter. It is that intimate feeling that really appeals to me. At Rescue Ranch, through no fault of their own, it feels so hard to get to know all of the dogs. Some of them I know, but some of them have been there for multiple years, and it breaks my heart. 

At the county shelter, though the environment for the dogs may not be quite as airy and enjoyable for the dogs as it is at Rescue Ranch, I do feel connected to all of them because I get to work with all of them. I wish I could put it in better terms than that, but there you go. Also, Stephanie, the shelter manager is simply amazing. Very organized, eager to learn, willing to teach and has the capacity to work with just about any sort of personality while always holding true to her "true north".

I worry about some of the staff at Rescue Ranch. I sometimes fear some of them are running on auto pilot and not being able to get to know the beings who they are caring for. It almost feels like there are those that are just doing the job to do it. I do truly believe that they believe in the mission of Rescue Ranch, but the population of the ranch is so large right now, especially with the evacuee dogs, that I just don't know that they can keep going. I also worry about the organization financially. I don't know how they are keeping things going the way they are. But, I'm not on the board, maybe they are financially well-afloat and there are no financial concerns. I wish they could have kept the boarding operation going. A lot of people in the community have complained that they are no longer available as a resource, and it might have been a source of income, but who knows. But even if money is not an issue, I still worry about the emotional health of the organization. The one good thing I have noticed is they have a lot more volunteers recently since the fires this summer. 

I have to be careful though about letting the authentic me out too much. I have started to see glympses of who I am in that caring and compassionate person that I guess I have always been deep down inside. I like being that person who says "Yes, I'll commit to that... " when no one else will. I'm not trying to be better than anyone else, but I just want to help, and I very much am. I get a lot of satisfaction and even a bit of "Reason for Being" out of doing what I do. As I get older, I truly appreciate how the elderly can feel discarded. Some of it can be by being less active, but some of it could be by others thinking those of us over 60, can't do certain things anymore. 

I think that caring aspect of me, at least in the past, has had the side effect of chasing people away, or at least keeping them at a distance. It's so frustratingly awkward, wanting to be a caring helpful friend but then reflecting on how that person I use to be 30 years ago, would lose friends because of trying to help too much. It's frustrating because there are times I want to reach out and say "Hey, how can I help" but I only do it 25 percent of the times that I think I want to do that. I've lost some great dear friends in the past because I think they feel I'm getting "Weird" on them. I want to treat others the way I would like to be treated. Though I don't need anything at this point in my life, I'd like people to be willing to check in on me and say "Hey Eric, how are you doing???". Conversely, I want to do the same with them, but then again, I don't want to weird anyone out, nor to I want to be nosey. Ughhh. 

I've never been a jock, never really wanted to be. Honestly, I am a nerd, have been pretty much from the beginning. Though, I've never tried to let that get in my way of doing physical stuff if I can. We were putting folded animal crates away (that probably weigh about 20 pounds) into stack in a storage container the other day. I was totally bummed that I ran out of gas stacking those crates and I had to rotate out and let someone else take care of storing the rest. I guess I need to stick with cleaning kennels and buying pizza's for the rest of the workers. LOL 

But seriously, even though I've always been a bit of weakling, and the fact that I am 60, I do try to get out there and still swing and contribute. Don't get me wrong, I know I make a difference. I also am fully aware that I'm willing to do stuff a lot of people are not willing too, but I do wonder if I would have been better served sometimes if I had been more into being into physical fitness and worrying about my physique. But then again, it might have changed my desires in other areas, away from compassion and other socially important things, so who knows. I am who I am and I'm glad that I have the heart that I do. 

Here is the video from this some of the McKinney fire. 

Safe Travels all! 

Remi and Eric too