Page 40 - Sonoma County Gazette - June 2018

Howdy ya’ll. I was working today at a beautiful west county property that has gardens galore, a large pond and horses roaming through a gorgeous pasture. A young man driving a big flatbed truck came to deliver hay and animal feed and he was wearing cowboy boot and hat, and naturally when I greeted him, howdy was the first thing that came out of my mouth. My Mom is from Texas originally, so I was raised with ya’ll being part of my vocabulary, interestingly not too much else of her regional dialect had made it through the years she had already been living in California. Anyway, I’m still apparently in the howdy kinda mood. I love that my beloved west county still has cowboys (and girls), rednecks, hippies, rastas, stoners, winos, and the like. It keeps things interesting you know.
Are we having fun yet? Zippy the pinhead wants to know. This issue of the Gazette is focused on fun, as are we all. I have a vivid memory of Robbie Brown speaking up in Mr. Stormer’s English Lit class senior year. Mr. Stormer was hunched over the podium as was his wont, discoursing on one novel or another’s take on the meaning of life. Robbie, as was HIS wont, cut loose with a wiseacre quip. Stormer cut him short.
Anyhoo, it’s the night before I leave for my big bike ride and I’m trying to make my deadline. I’ve been up since 5:30 and worked a long day mixing 29 bags of concrete (amongst other tasks) to build a large-shade structure at the afore-mentioned little slice of Sonoma County heaven. I’m excited about the ride, a little nervous (the massive amount of exercise, the 100 plus new people I will be hanging out with for almost a week, the not so comfortable bike seat that will be my closest companion the whole time), and currently just plain exhausted.
generation” as performed by a card-carrying worshipper of Hemingway. The Youth of Today never failing to disappoint.
My fund-raising is an ongoing success. I made my deadline to raise $3,000—just barely. I am currently sitting at $3,300 and would love to make it to or beyond my original goal of $3,900. You can still donate to my causes by going to www.climateride.org and looking up my page under my name, Gino Gaffney. One of the groups I am raising funds for is the Nature Conservancy.
and there’s plenty of fun to be had. Camp Meeker Beach has had a bit of a trim—it was getting a little shaggy—and there is some calm contemplation to be had. Contemplation—another one of those refined forms of fun.
I don’t currently have a lot of background info to give you on the organization, but I do know that they are doing some great things locally that got me excited to help support their efforts. They strive to protect wild lands and provide public access to them, free of charge. The connection I have to them is that they are the owner of the Jenner Headlands Preserve property that is about to be opened to the public in the next few months.
Farther afield, down at the other end of Dutch Bill Creek, there is plenty of fun to be had this summer. June 10th brings the Vineman Triathlon to Monte Rio. Sound more like torture than fun to me, but to each his own. June 23 and 24 will see the Russian River Rodeo come to nearby Duncans Mills—all the ridin’ and ropin’ and whoopin’ and hollerin’ you could ever shake a stick
at. Then there’s the Big Rocky Games on July first. Rock skipping, ice cream eating, and I don’t know what all.
I have been out there twice in the last few years as part of guided tours, which up till now was the only way you could access the property. Wow, what a gem! It’s approximately 5,600 acres of spectacular scenery—coastal grassland, diverse woodland, several watersheds, etc. The view looking down the coast from the top of the first set of hills up from Hwy 1 is a must see.
I like to have fun too. I had fun digging up dirt on our man Boss Meeker last month. If you recall, our enterprising carpenter/lumberman/land baron came out to California at a curious time—in 1861, just as war fever was gripping his home state of New Jersey. The great majority of 20 year old men (as Melvin was at that time)
“What is the meaning of life, Brown?”
Robbie didn’t even pause. “To have fun.”
Stormer’s head sagged further into his shoulders, an “I weep for this
But was Robbie wrong? I think it all depends on your definition of “fun”. I happen to think that Martin Luther King was merely following a particularly refined and heroic version of “fun.” Or am I stretching this trope to the breaking point? Is my trope tripe?
That all being said, it’s summer in Camp Meeker
They are finishing work on the parking lot, restrooms, picnic area, etc., that are a couple of miles north of the town of Jenner and will provide the access point to the property in general.
joined up and fought, or at least served in some military capacity. Melvin, however, had pressing duties escorting his sister out to California, there to be wed to her swain. Once in California, Melvin decided to stay.
On the Occidental specific side of things, you know what June means
right? The eagerly anticipated return of the Friday night farmers-market! And with the 1st of the month falling on a Friday we don’t have long to wait.
I am so excited for the return of the social scene, Lata’s samosas and lassi’s, Phyliss’s flowers, Raymond’s baked goods and many other favorites. I love seeing all the vendors and their wares, the sun shining and the streets of my home-town full of happy people.
A gentle reminder to folks that dogs aren’t allowed at the
I suppose I should feel
triumphant at this bit of
muckraking, but I really don’t.
What would I have done in his place? It’s easy to say I would have joined up... but talk is cheap. What we can say is that once Mel Meeker got to California, he got to work and made something of himself. At twenty a newly arrived immigrant (forget for a moment that California was already a state by then),
by twenty-two a landowner, by 24 building a house for his family. After that house, newly built, burned down, he and his family lived in a barn for three and a half years while he built yet another house. By age thirty Melvin was a made man: a homeowner, a builder, a land baron, a sawmill owner actively turning redwoods into San Francisco houses. Yes, I cheerfully stipulate that that act is as morally ambiguous (at least under today’s eco-greenie standards) as skipping out on the Civil War. As stated before, who am I to judge? Melvin was a hard-working man: he figured out which equipment his sawmill needed, arranged delivery of same around Cape Horn in a sailing ship, and made it all work. Add brains to brawn: US patent number 281,100, filed April 1883, lists Melvin C. Meeker of Occidental, California as the inventor of a “head-block gear for sawmills.” That would be when he was in his prime at 38.
market. I know we like bending rules in the West County but please abide by this one as it could get the market in big trouble if you don’t. As much as I’d love to bring my dog down to socialize I would much rather leave her at home than risk losing our precious market.
There’s lots going on at the Arts Center as usual, check out their website for details - www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org.
Please shop locally and on that note I hear that there’s efforts afoot to re- form an Occidental Chamber of Commerce, more to follow.
Congratulations to the new graduates of Salmon Creek!
On to new adventures for one and all.
40 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 6/18
This is how it is with great and powerful men: to make lasting achievements, be they in carpentry, lumbering, land acquisition or any of the other trades and practices by which one can make the dollar and the dent in the history books, one must have a singular drive, an obsession. Obsessively driven men are not often saints, and there is no evidence Mel Meeker was such a man.
Who are we to judge?