By Ted Denmark
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The first thing to note here just after the Summer Solstice is that the cherries are fully ripe on my mature south side yard tree, and my local feathered friends are in a kerfluffle over getting a bit more than their fair share of the tasty red sugar juice. The small birds are the cutest as they try to hide their depredations in lines of attack from the sides opposite the house, but this year for the first time the small but growing band of ravens, now a task force of four large adult birds, appeared one morning going back and forth between the old redwood upper deck and the cherry tree’s top branches, bending them over almost to the breaking point (adult ravens are fairly large jet black birds about the size of chickens). When I heard them squawking, I had to go out and shoo them off before they could do any real damage (and bird poop the deck). They were definitely upset with me, but I told them they had to go in no uncertain terms. The amazing thing is/was that they didn’t come back for a second scolding, so at least I won that round. Ravens are very smart and equally clever sky scouts but also, I think I learned, sensitive to being given a disciplined fair warning. So they are more interactive in this way than I would have suspected—and appear to have understood why they were unwelcome. They did show up again four days later to set a vigil by jumping around the dead branches at the top of the old snag just below the tree line of the south meadow to fuss and squawk at their prospects for making a return raid, but when I came out again onto the deck to wave my arms, they flew away and did not reappear before the cherries were all gone.
Well, the other big seasonal news of late spring is that the solar-heated hot tub (below the cherry tree) is working beautifully with little attention needed except for taking the cover off a couple of hours before its intended use since it heats up to about 108d in the late afternoon and then settles back to 102d when uncovered for an hour or so, which seems about right for a dip by early evening when outside temperatures drop down to the mid-sixties. It’s hard to value in money terms, but as a lifestyle amenity, it’s nearly life changing … feels really good, restful—even free on a daily basis—and even luxurious, particularly with the newly installed back yard solar motion lights that stay on at low intensity all night but brighten up when anyone walks around in the vicinity. Of course, looking up at the dark night sky is a wonder out here in the country away from city or other bright lights. This new high-life afforded by the upgraded hot tub deck has transformed the south side yard like nothing else (or at least after the new fire wood storage shed added last year… and of course the cherry tree that I call “the Champ” that I set out thirty years ago).
Well, also with the exception of the new ‘changing room’ that was completed last year to go with the hot tub/ cool pool deck lifestyle, allowing anyone expecting to use the tub to have a place to change into bathing ware (or “clothes optional” for private use) and stash their things. The changing room is a small 8’ by 10’ room adjacent to the hot tub deck that has no fewer than four doors, two leading to the deck, one leading to the new downstairs bedroom (now still my tool room but this will have to change sometime soon) and one leading into the downstairs bathroom, all doors with glass in the upper half, having replaced the window that was previously in place before the changing room was built into that corner of the house under the rehabbed redwood deck above. The changing room is sealed and fully insulated, now allowing complete lower floor air circulation to occur for heated or chilled air to move in circular paths throughout the downstairs master suite, like on the upper floor—another remarkably successful upgrade—making the lower floor plan fully complete with better access to everything. Having a refreshing water tank for a dip, whether as the cool pool on a hot afternoon or a hot tub on a chilly late evening (not both on the same day of course), brings one closer to the wondrous nature in the spacious privacy of one’s own back yard.
The final bit of news on the plumbing front (after the addition of the new tankless hot water heater installed last year) is the addition of a new 500 gallon thermoplastic domestic potable water storage tank up the hill above the old orchard. The old redwood water storage tank can now be used for irrigation watering for the drip network system, and the new tank, set about thirty feet higher, will service the house with new valves and pipe runs that will increase the gravity flow water pressure inside the house and hose runs around the house. This has also been a long time coming as a significant upgrade to the service level as well as automation of the overall water system (the new water tank overflows into the irrigation system water tank so only one pumping cycle is required for maintenance of water capacity).
The final stage of the current upgrade to the water system coming later this summer will be to build a small pump house over the new (as of three years ago) solar-powered deep well, more easily protecting the plumbing from freezing weather and providing room for a manifold of uses down by the spring on the lower service road, such as filling the also new lower thousand gallon thermoplastic water storage tank as well as the lower redwood pumping tank for getting water up the hill to the two storage tanks above the orchard, and for local water bottle filling and fire safety use on the lower road. There will be room in the new pump house for a backup 220 volt gas-powered generator, fire hoses and a future solar electric vehicle charging station. This new pump house will make use of most of the remaining versatile commercial refrigeration panels (white enamel steel-polyurethane-steel sandwich) that have now been used for much of the final construction of the house and environs (hot tub deck and various roof and storage decks) over the last decade.
So, the spacious (3,014 sq. ft.) GEMO (Golden Eagle Manzanita Oaks) House is finally finished, feeling fully complete, and a beautiful and very lovely place it has become to spend a long summer in either carefree or working mode with satellite wifi and cell tower connectivity. For someone who would like to be here in this parklike setting in the high Sierra, now that the drought is over and the forest is healthy and almost back to normal … it’s a breath of very fresh air with a hint of pine. The new milder winter season with less snow here at 4,000 feet ain’t too bad either, particularly for skiers wanting to find it up the hill at Bear Valley (where there is still plenty of the white powder, sometimes called “California concrete” by colder climate Colorado skiers).
There is one more amenity that is currently happening that could be of great interest to anyone wishing to live the outdoors Sierra lifestyle but afraid of the fire danger that is always present in these forested areas: a U.S. Forest Service sponsored fire abatement program that is now underway throughout the Dowd’s Landing Subdivision, will remove a lot of undergrowth and smaller trees and bushes on these large acreage lots, making fire risk management much easier than in previous years. This will finally also remove all the dead and downed trees that were not able to survive the drought era of the last decade. It is probably also worth mentioning for those not familiar with why our area here near the Stanislaus River Canyon, has such a good fire management record: the Columbia Airport, home to the amazing Forest Service fire-fighting air force (CDF), is only ten minutes away by air. They are a reliable resource always at the ready that has saved countless homes and properties in past years with their quick response time, something we can all be very grateful for, safeguarding our high Sierra lifestyle to be enjoyed in comfort and peace.
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