Tragedy Spring Fountain

Our stake is getting ready to do a handcart trek with the youth next week. The selected location is a popular one for groups who do this sort of thing, following parts of what is called the "Mormon Immigrant Trail" just off State Hwy 88 outside of Jackson, CA. A couple of miles up the road from the trail head is Tragedy Spring, where three men were ambushed and killed by Indians. Many years ago my Dad took some scouts up to the site and built a little water fountain out of rock and mortar, which was fed by the spring. The line from the spring to the fountain has since deteriorated and no longer bubbles up through, but as you can see, the fountain remains in good shape.

The men were former members of the Mormon Battalion, and they were blazing trail for a company of Saints - many of whom were from the ship Brooklyn which had arrived in San Francisco with members of the Church on their way to the Salt Lake Valley just a few months before. The plaque to the right of the fountain notes it's creation (the plaque was placed by the Sons of the Utah Pioneers), and has the date 1967 on it, which sounds like about the time the fountain was built. I think my brothers Mike and Joe were involved with it, and they would know better.

Also among this company were other members of the Mormon Battalion who has been working for John Sutter at his mill in Coloma when gold was discovered. One of the massacred men (Ezra Allen) was carrying a pouch of gold that the Indians inadvertently left behind. The pouch was eventually taken to the dead man's widow in Salt Lake, and she had a wedding ring made with some of it, using the rest to help provide for herself and her children.

The first two photos were taken facing east, and the last one is facing north. You can't see it too well in this photo (unless you click on it to enlarge), but the source of the spring is covered by a little shed sitting right between the two large trees you can see. The spring now comes down to the right of this photo, and with such a wet year as we've had, is gushing quite well even this late in the season. Just above the shed is the actual trail cut by these pioneers, which is still easily traceable through the trees along the ridge. Fascinating history.

4th of July Dislpay

With it being Sunday, and no kids at home, or friends to share it with, there was not much doing at our house in the way of fireworks of the 4th - but down the block they always put on a big show. I missed getting video of the really good rockets they had, but here's just a little bit of what we saw

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I did get out a couple of old sparklers and light them, just to pacify my feelings about celebrating with flare(s).

The Climbers

This is a video clip left over from Pam & Rob's visit last month. Notice that Lucy follows her grandpa's preference for footwear.

One thing (at least) that Grant and Lucy have in common is that they both like to climb. In fact, even more so than Grant, Lucy seems to have great upper body strength and has no problem pulling herself up on things. Coupled with her apparent fearlessness, she can get pretty much anywhere she wants. It was fun to see them play at the park.

Raise The ROOF!

We've needed to replace the roof for a few years, and finally got to it this summer. We had to rip everything off (there were three layers of shingles), replace some of the plywood sheeting and fascia boards on the southern eaves then put down all new felt and shingles. We started Monday, and after a slow, tough day, started to move along much quicker on Tuesday. By Wednesday we had done all the carpentry work and had the county inspection. Working from 6 - 11:30am Thursday and Friday we finished when I expected to.

Jeff Heller (L) and me (R) removing shingles;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Kim Pitt and a couple of YM I hired to help

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Piles of old shingles outside the front door.

Materials delivery from Close Lumber ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;The pallet doesn't have legs, it's the other man.
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Below is one of my favorite tools in all the world. Several years ago I re-roofed a friend's house, and as a nice gesture she paid for some tools for me. This is so much better than nailing by hand (which is what I did on Rich's house 20 years ago, and my own house 23 years ago). I also have a compressor large enough to run three nail guns, and assorted hand tools like a roofing triangle and nail puller. Roofing houses is a lot of fun for me. Tearing off shingles is something I want never to do again.

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As you may see, the band around the handle of the nail gun is not just an ownership label. It's a wrist band from the emergency room. A couple years ago Kim Pitt and I were putting a new roof on the house of one of the widows in our ward. I was cutting a shingle around a vent cap when the knife slipped and sliced deeply through me wrist. It was pretty cool looking after they sewed it up. Kind of like Frankenstein. Anyway, I put it on the gun as a memento.

A Day in Old Sacramento

Melody and I had an extra day because I came home early from the hike, so we spent some time in Old Sac. One of my favorite places to visit down there is the old hat shop (Rich and I once bought each other hats for our birthdays there). Yesterday I put on a Viking hat, made a face, and Melody snapped this photo.

We ate at Joe's Crab Shack (Yumm!). We walked around and later got ice cream cones to eat on the way home. It was a fun day.

The Hike That Wasn't

The 50 Mile Hike for Aaronic Priesthood Scout Camp was organized this year by one our High Councilors. He did a great job of preparing, but could do nothing about the weather. It has snowed heavily all winter, and when we got up to 6500' elevation we were slogging over 6' -12' of snow. With the help of my GPS we were able to track the trail under the snow, but it was difficult going for hours before reaching our destination.

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Above is a creek crossing over a log (which we made more than once, backtracking due to the snow) - the other photo is of the lake we camped at the first night, completely frozen over. This was to 6800' and the planned route would take us up above 7200' for the next three days. With the steep switchbacks and trails on the eastern aspect being even deeper under the snow, we had nothing to do but turn round and head back.

Our camp the first night. No bare ground to lie on except this flat rock outcropping. My accommodations are the black backpack and blue tarp to the left of the tent.

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The photo on the left is the ridge we had planned to cross on the second day, just before sunrise. The photo on the right was taken just as the sun peeked over the ridge. (You also see one young man still in his sleeping bag, with his head and shoulders uncovered even though the temperature had dipped to freezing.) It was a beautiful morning. And I really enjoyed the oatmeal, hot cocoa and beef-stick bites I had for breakfast.

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On the left is a view of the scenery from the trail (at a lower elevation) and on the right is the ever picturesque Blue Lake. We stayed here the second night while considered our options.

This is the crew that made the hike. We covered 27 miles with the backtracking and explorations of different routes - and promised to let them try again next year.

As for me. I had the same trouble I've had in recent years adapting to the elevation. I just don't process oxygen like I used to. After a couple days at altitude I do a lot better. Some of the trip was no fun at all -other parts were as enjoyable as always.

I'm in Heaven

A friend of mine just got back from Hawaii vacationing with his family, and he brought me two of the island's favorite treats. SPAM flavored macadamia nuts! I was thrilled. They taste great.