I forget an important event that occurred at the cabin. I had a fire. The short story is that it was around Christmas. I went one evening to hang out with Ernie. We watched a movie, talked, played guitars and had a good time. It was past midnight when I walked home. I was feeling pretty good and I liked seeing all the Christmas lights all around. It was pretty, in the spirit of the time. As I got closer to the cabin I noticed a pretty glow coming from that direction. Must be the Christmas lights or the porch lights I had left on. As I got closer, yikes!!! What the!?!?! Holy S__t! The cabin is burning! I ran as fast as I could, quickly (under 2 seconds) evaluated the fire, ran into the house and grabbed the fire extinguisher.
Fire extinguishers are a a great invention. Just know that a medium sized one will only last 15 seconds. True, only the outside of a 4' x 8' section was burning but it did the job. I called Ernie, he came and we hosed everything down just to make sure. Strangely, when I walked into to the house to grab the extinguisher, I couldn't see anything because it was full of white smoke but none of the smoke detectors went off. Anyway, with Ernie's good advice, and a lot of grease elbow, I fixed it all and you couldn't tell the difference. Here are some pix in chronological order.
So depressing...
Working at it...
Gettin there slowly
Not bad, huh?
It was my fault. I can't tell you what started the fire precisely but know that it involved a cigarette, and a bag full of what I assumed were inert ashes on the porch close to the outside wall. Beware of ashes, friends. They make look dead but they're not.
I wrote more about this than I cared to. Here's the part that makes Walker Basin special in another way. I had bought some floor boards to replace the damaged ones; primed and painted them (Amy did actually,) all set to go for the next time I would be up. It turns out my son goes up with his GF before I do and he tells me over the phone that my neighbor George and Jeremy had fixed the floor. I came up the next weekend and sure enough, it was done. That's what you'll find in Walker Basin. Something that disappeared long ago in most places.
The same weekend, I called my other neighbor Andy. I hadn't been up because of this, that and the other and last time I saw him, he had some smaller oak pieces in his burn pile for me to take. Me: Riiiing. Andy? I'm calling about the wood. Andy: Hold it. I've got it in a little wagon, I'll bring it by. No amount of money buys that.
I didn't tell you about the time when I was supposed to go shoot guns with Andy... We had discussed going up to his 20 acres and shooting guns. I missed a weekend and went the one after. I called Andy and the first thing he asked me was about shooting. I told him I had missed a weekend and wasn't sure if still was up to it, that I hadn't bought any cartridges nor brought my Winchester Wingmaster. Andy said to come over. I went over, we talked and after a while he said: hold it. He went somewhere in his house and came back with a box of cartridges with my name on it.
It's been a while i've posted and have plenty to say so take a break and see the place in january after a light snow storm.
Pretty, ain't it? And only 2.5 hour away from LA. Spring time is coming and the place will be so green and covered with wildflowers, it will put Ireland to shame. At 3500', Walker Basin has four seasons. Nothing like a toasty fire in the wood stove during winter. Nothing like watching the rain fall from under the porch in the Spring. Nothing like lazying in the shade with the cool breeze coming down from the Sierra Nevada in the summer. Nothing like a glorious, cool, Fall day. So close to LA but it feels like it could be Telluride, Ketchum or Jackson Hole (not my words but my Redondo Beach urbanite brother's.)
I've been trying to let people know about Walker Basin, a 12 square miles undiscovered gem full of history, beautiful sights, good people and much more. I do wonder though if I shouldn't keep it private. I don't want it to get spoiled...
I'll post again soon.
