Message Forum

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

I think the first reaction would be to kick back and say "Phew, glad that's over." (And then pray that it really was.)

08/06/20 11:27 AM

#2900

Sandy Wachs (Oldham)

Garry, I would be on the first airplane out of the country when this is over. I am fortunate to be able to see my son and his wife, but I miss traveling, and live theater.

Good news is that they are really working on that vaccine for distrubution. Not only are they testing stage 3, but they have planes ready to ship it.

Hang in there!

08/07/20 08:46 PM

#2901

For one day? I'd want to give

and receive MANY hugs!

08/10/20 06:47 PM

#2902

The hurricanes were nothing, but the earthquake was an interesting wake-up call.

08/11/20 12:11 PM

#2903

Melody Jones (Parker)

Really no big deal, it was too far away to even disturb my sleep. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a "3".

Apparently North Carolina doesn't know how to do earthquakes. Not at all up to California standards!

08/12/20 08:06 PM

#2904

08/22/20 10:18 PM

#2905

Cough .... wheez ...cough ... tears .... yuk ..... cough ... cough, cough!

08/23/20 08:54 AM

#2906

Seeing the reports and photos, and following the fires on the CalFire maps is gut-wrentching. I've been to several of the places affected, and one of our favorites - Big Basin - seems to be pretty much gone. Even where we lived, far from the fires, is choked in smoke and bad air. Garry, I hope you and Bonnie, and all the other Custer California Contingent are safe and ok.

08/23/20 09:22 AM

#2907

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Big Basin redwood park is gone. Museum, country store, historic buildings ... trees ... gone. It was first on our tourist visitors stops before the Golden Gate Bridge. Roaring Camp Railroad next door ... gone. So far 1500 square MILES gone and that's with 15% containment. In comparison Milwaukee is less than 100 sq miles. The Custer contingency is mostly in large municipal areas and pretty safe although Bonnie is at the top of a hill and Roy Franks lives down south where there are lots of fires. It'd be nice to see .... cough, cough ... the sun!!! Hope Roy is safe.

08/23/20 10:40 AM

#2908

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

We're sad for you. 😢

08/23/20 06:04 PM

#2909

I'm so, so sad about Big Basin. We too took all our visitors there, and I camped there many times, first as a junior Girl Scout camp counselor, right after moving from Wis. at age 18 and many times thereafter with family growing up and later with church. The hike to the waterfalls deep in the park's canyons is amazing - my go-to place to imagine when getting my blood pressure taken! The buildings may be gone, but hoping the resiliant redwoods, which were here for thousands of years, can survive. Several Bay Area friends and family are evacuated, praying for the fire to turn another way or be put out. There is supposed to be more lightning tonight, which has everyone terrified.

08/23/20 07:07 PM

#2910

Big Basin Park headquarters - before and after:

08/23/20 09:47 PM

#2911

I guess wherever you go, something will threaten or hurt you. As Paul Harvey used to say, "You can run, but you can't hide." We're going to find out later this week what it's like to have two hurricanes in the Gulf at the same time. Our governor is warning that there will probably be a lot of folks without power for an extended period. With one leading the other, if you lose power in the first one, the crews won't be able to go out until after the second one clears the area. We live in the northern part of the state, so the winds should be diminished by the time they arrive, but we can look forward to some heavy rain. Two of our kids live in Katy, TX, about 30-miles west of Houston. That area floods quickly, even in small storms. There's always a chance they'll spawn tornados, too! Wish we could send some rain without lightning your way, Gary.

08/25/20 03:04 AM

#2912

At present, it looks like Marcos will fade away while dumping some rain, but Laura appears to be strengthening. Trying to pay attention, but it'll be a couple more days before we know for sure where and how bad it'll be.

08/25/20 11:15 PM

#2913

Looks like the Gulf coast will have to hunker down. If you could send a couple of glasses of water our way we'd appreciate it! Good luck Bill and others.

But Jim and Terri, I have to apologize. I was thinking of Henry Cowell Redwood State Park, just down the road from Big Basin, near Felton. They've saved Felton so far although the fire got a number of subdivisions in the area. And there was just a story on the redwoods at Big Basin. Most of the centuries old, 300 feet tall redwoods are still standing, smoldering but standing tall and proud in all their ageless majesty. As you know, they actually use fire to germinate their seeds! It won't be pretty for a while, but our kids and grandkids will be around to build memories again amongst these beautiful giants ... and tell tall tales about the blazes of 2020.

08/26/20 06:27 AM

#2914

Bill - Looks like you're in for a bit of a storm. Do what they tell you to do and STAY SAFE. Hope for the best for you.

Garry/Terri - The mature trees with intact trunks will probably survive, at least if they get near normal moisture in the future. They get most of their moisture from the morning/evening marine layer (fog), and that's iffy with the changing weather trends. The big trees that had hollowed out bases, the ones our guests stood in for their pictures, may not make it through this intense of a fire. If they burned inside, the fire up into the core, they may still stand for a while, but in effect, be choked off eventually. Those are the ones that come down.

The trees may still stand for our grandkids, but the site as a park - ? Regardless (or irregardless, in Mlwaukee-ese) of the political feelings about CA's budget management, the quadruple whammy of disasters that have hit them lately will leave little money to restore things like the parks for some time. While we're praying for rain and a vaccine and all those other things to help, let's also pray that you guys don't get a quake on top of it all.

Anyone - if you're evacuating or just getting away from it all, you're welcome here. We've got room and lots of peace of quiet, a little rain, and, oh yeah, grits, lots of grits.

08/31/20 06:42 PM

#2915

So, did I miss a global warming event, or flunk geography, or something - ?

I was watching a program about sharks, and the shark "expert" they had on was a professor (of sharkology or something) from the University of . . . KANSAS??????

09/01/20 05:46 AM

#2916

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

But Jim, if Jamaica can have a bobsled team.....( a piece of wisdom from a small lake in "Pure Michigan", where the water has " no salt, no sharks, no worries" )

09/01/20 07:54 PM

#2917

We always thought the Lauras we knew were sweet ladies, but the one that visited last week definitely didn't fit that description. We had over 5" of rain (all the gauge holds) in a couple of hours and lots of wind. Local forecasters said 70-80 MPH. That's highly unusual this far north of the Gulf. Just got power back a half hour ago. I've had a change in attitude about the a/c running too much. Like the sound of it and hope it soon wrings >10% out of the humidity and 10° off the temperature. Our two Texas boys delivered a large Cat generator, along with enought gas to run it for a week. It exceeded our expectations, but won't miss refueling and changing oil. It has 78-hours runtime now. Quite a bit of gas left over. We'll let it run through the night, in case there are any "hiccups" in power. Our water system was down for four days. A deputy came through on Saturday and asked if we'd be willing to pay and extra $3/month on our water bill to support getting an emergency generator. It was up and running that same evening! Really enjoyed that! We haven't gone into our woods, but around the house, the only damage was some fallen branches. Still have more to pick up, but with high temps and humidity, we work on picking them up when we feel like it. They're not in the way.

When we were kids, we spent the entire summer without electricity other than what batteries and the '39 DeSoto furnished while we camped in tents near Chetek. We had an outhouse and a pitcher pump for water. Our kids have a hard time wrapping their minds around that. Most of the time, we thought it was fun! Thanks for the good wishes!

09/02/20 08:11 AM

#2918

Bill, I watched the track of Laura and as it moved inland, it looked like it was going right over you. Glad to hear you're OK.

09/02/20 03:30 PM

#2919

Yeah Bill, I saw it coming right your way too and "inland" is relative. You were a lot less inland than say our friends in Wisconsin. Tried to call but got voicemail so I thought maybe you had your hands full. Glad it was no more than some branches.

But I'm confused with your childhood accounts. How the heck did you get to Custer? It's a long bus ride every morning from LA.!!!

09/04/20 02:55 AM

#2920

Garry,

I was born and raised (or is that razed?) in Milwaukee. Went to Longfellow School until the middle of 4th grade, then 36th Street School, (old) Custer, Edison, and (new) Custer. Spent most of a year at UW-M, but had a kid on the way and dropped out. After another kid and a few years at Centralab as a draftsman and technician, I became the draftee, rather than the drafter. After a divorce and a couple of years in the Army, I returned to Centralab as a Sample Dept. Supervisor. Decided to use my GI Bill for a couple of years at MSOE and then went to Industrial Nucleonics in Columbus, OH as a Field Engineer. Spent a couple of months a year living there for continuing training, but wound up assigned to a paper mill in Hodge, LA. Many other assignments meant that I, and later, we, traveled all over the South for 30-years. -- The company name changed several times; it became AccuRay before it was taken over by Combustion Engineering, which was subsequently taken over by ABB. http://www.industrialnucleonics.com/1970s.htm -- We've lived in this area for nearly 50-years now. Never saw a hurricane get this far north before and a local weatherman said tonight it's the first time a Category One has ever gotten as far north as Monroe. They usually blow themselves out, but slow down forward movement and dump buckets of rain on us. Our land slopes and the water usually runs off to a low field south of our home, so we have a pond for a few days. Our boys in Katy, TX got some rain from Laura, but very little wind. It pretty much stayed within Louisiana for the first day and South Louisiana is much worse for wear. Our governor said today he's very concerned that our COVID-19 numbers will spike again because of the influx of repair crews and lack of housing for many. They aren't using the Super Dome like they did after Katrina. They're putting families in motels and hotels, so they can have some separation. Those crews are doing an amazing job. Our rural road is again completely open with branches and trees pushed to the side for future cleanup. It's wet enough now that they're making giant bonfires. We're believers in global warming and anticipate more of these events in the future.

09/04/20 08:43 PM

#2921