Captain's Log #24 - January Heat Wave

2/3/18

“Holy Smokes, Batman! This stuff is legal?”

“Yes, Robin, the aging Baby Boomers who vote this in were thinking of the 1 oz. lids of light-green leaves that you’d have to smoke a whole joint to maybe get a buzz, or the so called Panama Red that was flower tops but all seeds, nasty tasting and harsh. Since those bygone days selective breeding and careful cultivation techniques have produced marijuana that is of extraordinary strength.”

“I feel like I’m on a roller coaster!”

(“Hoo-boy, I’ll be hiding the keys to the Batmobile tonight.”)

There is no reason that having marijuana should land you in jail so it’s a good thing it’s been made legal in California. For those of you unfamiliar with the product but familiar with wine, it’s like wine but more so. It’s like the difference between wine and vodka. A 4 oz. glass of wine is a 4 oz. glass of wine, but a 4 oz. glass of vodka is much more! If you are so inclined, try it after work when the kids are out of the house, you have nothing that needs to be done, nowhere to go, and leftovers in the frig. I recommend watching PBS’s Victoria, fabulous sets, costumes and acting!

January Heatwave

When I was 17 we had a cold, dark, crummy winter. It rained to the point you were screaming at the sky to stop. Then, in January, the weather broke and it was sunny, warm and dry. My girlfriend, a year older than me and living with her boyfriend, said “Let’s go camping!” Why not?

It took us a week to get everything together. I bought a pair of inexpensive hiking boots and tube socks with the seam running along the bottom of the foot and over the heel. I don’t know what I did for a sleeping bag, I didn’t own one. We begged and borrowed backpacks. She bought  an 10-foot long, bright-orange plastic tube tent. We were going to hike from Arroyo Seco Campground at the very end of Carmel Valley to the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center & Hot Springs in the Ventana Wilderness. We had a USGS map with trails marked: Horse Pasture, Rodeo Flat, that sounded doable enough. It’s not far as the crow flies. Her boyfriend would pick us up at the Zen Center (did they have electricity and phone service?)

We got our stuff, including the boyfriend’s sweet golden retriever, into the back of his pickup truck and took off on the hour-and-a-half drive. As we approached Arroyo Seco a couple of raindrops appeared on the windshield. We exchanged glances. It had gotten noticeably cooler but just the other day we had been sunbathing. He dropped us off at the campground. There was no one there. We noted the lone phone booth next to the shuttered restaurant.

With the enthusiasm of youth, off we struck with map in hand. We crossed the metal bridge and confidently embarked on the trail. We walked. And walked. And walked some more. Sure enough it started to sprinkle and was getting colder. Cold and wet we put up the tube tent primarily because the dog was looking very unhappy. A cold, wet dog in a small tent (wet dogs have a particular fragrance.) At that point we decided to turn back but first I had to put some mole skin on my heels and curse my new boots.

We finally got back to the campground, that last distance to the phone booth was excruciating. (Were we in shape?) Thank god the phone worked, and we reached him! (This was way before cell phones, even before answering machines!) Yes, he would come and get us. It wasn’t raining at the campground and the warm sun dried us off. What the heck, life was good. We pulled out and ate all the food we brought, and smoked most of the hash. Life was very good! I’ll always have fond memories of blue cheese, smoked clams and pumpernickel bread. Later that week we learned that it snowed in those hills. We have only the dog to thank that we weren’t there.

We’re having a very mild winter this year. It is full blown spring. Today it’s predicted to get to 79 degrees; no, that’s not a typo. In this case I think it means we’re in for another drought (go ahead and prove me wrong.) Great camping weather, though.

In my last log I mentioned the grueling exam I recently took. I passed. Hopefully it will help me secure other employment because I’ve been informed they won’t be renewing my contract (nor those of the other Limited Term employees that came on the same time I did.) I’m out of work Feb. 15. It’s been a year already. I have applications in for two other positions elsewhere and will be expanding my search outside of state government to county and city government; their job security is excellent.

In other news, I’ve been scientifically playing around dyeing yarn with wild mushrooms: pre-mordanting yarn with aluminum and iron then poaching those, and plain yarn, in mushroom-extract adjusted to pH 3, 7 and 9. See attachment. It’s fun and mysterious! Who would have thought a large, bright-orange mushroom would make light-lavender and deep forest green? More mushrooms! I have two projects planned for today: a full-on test of a new ‘shroom, and dyeing 50-yards of handspun a rich chestnut brown. Did you know there are more than 10,000 species of mushrooms in North America? I’m not interested in eating them but am becoming intrigued by the ones in the grocery stores...

Thanks for hanging in there with me, let me know what you’re up to.

Many blessings,

Karla, mom & k.j.

A belated Happy birthday, Rod! And Alaska Nowers, thanks for the calendar, what a beautiful family you are.

And as always, let me know if you’d like to be removed from this distribution list. This is my creative writing outlet, sometimes interesting, sometimes not so much.