O.C.F. Caretaker's Journal O.C.F. Caretaker's Journal"A mark was on him from
the day's delight, so that all his
life, when April was a thin green and the flavor of rain was
on his tongue, an old wound would throb and a nostalgia
would fill him for something he could not quite remember.
-- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Saturday 28 April Steve is away at the Newport Wine Festival for this last weekend in April. Arrow, who we have seen only rarely out here this year for some strange reason or another, is staying down in Traffic. We've been eating dinners and talking Fair and those days when the outside world almost ceases to exist is definitely drawing near. Other signs of life around here include the arrival of the first Sauna crew and a Chez Ray sighting, as well as a few other folks checking out their booths. Yesterday I picked up steel at Coyote to begin the new Energy Carts project. I also hit Big B's Tires and got ten doughnut spares for twenty-five measly bucks. Even as the king of the great deals I am proud of that one even though they have absolutely no other use for them other than cut them up for recycling. The old Energy Carts were of course made out of peach carts and the battery acid tended to spill out all over the place when they were tipped---not really a good thing. I am now in the process of fabricating four identical trailer wagons that will accept demountable 48 X32 inch plywood boxes that will contain the batteries and inverter, as well as room for tools, worktable, rack, and other cool stuff. Quiet energy efficent units, the kind of alternative energy the Fair needs to be all about IMHO. In a way it's gone full circle for me because I helped Clif Cox build his original Power Cart back in '93, which in turn lead to the Fair's eventual adoption of the idea.
Thursday 26 April The last three days have been those classic kind of Spring Days and I have been struck with an accute case of motorcycle fever, barnstorming out of here for long afternoon rides. I've temporarily taken up leatherwork to create some custom touches on my bike, not a very vegan pursuit I must admit but then I'm sort of a dichotoumous anomaly anyhow, for how many vegan bikers do you know after all? At any rate I tend go through hobbies as often as the average person changes socks. The Oregon Youth work crews from Looking Glass were out to volunteer a couple of shifts today, something they have been doing with me for the past three years. We worked as usual on rotten dimensional removal, which has been a Personal Crusade of mine ever since I've been here. There are always plenty of pockets of resistance to be found but it is also gratifing to pass through areas that have been previously swept clean and have remained so since, especially with the total lack of any flooding this year. Now I have probably heard just about every solid reason, heartfelt opinion, and frankly downright lame ass excuse as to why the it is seemingly okay to leave lumber out on the floodplain until it just finally decomposts of its own volition. My own view though, shared by some, is that the place looks and feels a whole heck of a lot better without all that slimy rotten naily crap everywhere you look---and so to that end I have been making it disappear just a tiny fraction bit quicker than in the geological timeframe.
Tuesday 24 April This evening I performed another important annual Spring Rite of Passage by pulling the plug on my television satellite provider. I had to call several times to figure out how to navigate the inextricable maze of dead end automatic services and actually get through to real live person before I could be connected to the official Termination Department. Now they must only just put their sweetest nicest people in there and they are oh so sympathetic too and why do you really want to do this and so on and so forth, but by the time I finally wrangled myself off the phone the deadly steady intravenous feed had finally been cut. And oh man what a strange feeling kind of relief it is too. It is fine to watch a few movies or whatever in the coldness, wetness, and darkness of Winter but little by little it sucks me in until suddenly I find myself an utter zombie slowly dying on the couch while endlessly surfing for hours on end practically each and every night. The scary thing is that this is a typical scene repeated literally millions of times around the country except that there is never a desire for escape. Television is well and truly the new opiate of the masses. The Kill Your Television Website and the Kill You Television Homepage have far more articulate arguments against the mind numbing influences of the idiot box than I could ever possibly make during my post suspended consciousness reawakening---but at least I have my brain back once again.
Monday 23 April The weekend was a full one, and today felt a wee bit like the morning after as we picked up the pieces and got things put back away. Lots of trees did get planted along the banks of the Long Tom and Indian Creek yesterday and in fact, the review team for the Oregon Watershead Enhancement Board has recommended a grant for "restoration" and wetlands enhancement of Indian Creek be funded. If it all goes through as planned the work will be done this September and the State will pay $68,650 of the $118,220 project, the Fair making up the rest mainly through in-kind volunteer labor and donated expertise. Briefly the three components of the project are: 1) replacing culverts 2) creating meanders and 3) planting native species for shade and habitat. Many thanks to Steve, Leslie, and the Lump Committee for their very visionary work in applying for this grant which will certainly greatly contribute to turning what is now basically an overgrown ditch into a fully diverse eco-system. Riding my bike today I saw another telltale sign that our favorite festival is on the way---a VW bus broken down on the side of the road.
Thursday 19 April Obviously it has been more than a couple days since I made my last entry but the days have gotten longer, it seems to get way late before I know it, and all these dumb meetings and stuff, and I'm so tired, and oh . . . . .excuses, excuses! But that little old hit counter keeps on spinning around and so there is that constant demand to keep au courant. And so without much further ado---on Monday, you will we glad to hear, we rescued the Site Truck which turned out to need nothing more than the fuel filter, and later attended the Board's "How will we pay for all these visions?" Workshop, attended only by the Usual Suspects---as usual. On Tuesday we hauled compost in the morning, I hauled steel T-posts that we owed to Alphonso of Festiva Latina, and then help Hilary dig a big hole out of clay and fill it again with gravel. I was a bit tired after that. Wednesday found me welding and fabricating a few things up on a rainy day and later brainstorming with Craig about our Monolithic project. Today I bushwacked around with Alisha Taylor of Nearby Nature, looking at possible senarios for a nature trail here on Site. At one point I brushed my arm against some Stinging Nettle and it still tingles so it obviously is at a strong potency at the moment. We are having a big weekend on Site this weekend; Highway Pickup and a Coordinator's Potluck Saturday, and a Earth Day tree planting party on Sunday, so we have been gearing up for that. The place is getting into full bloom right now and so it is nice that so many folks will have the opportunity to appreciate it all
Sunday 15 April It was a fairly warm weekend and so there was a fair number of visitors out here at the Fair. Today Eric Nusbaum was out to begin putting the new kitchen garden at Zenn Acres. We got four 4 X 12 foot raised beds built and I went out with Steve to pick up compost from the Dead Lot. During the first run back I got stuck in the mud and had to get pulled out with the tractor. Going around for the second load, the Site Truck broke down in Veneta. I thought it would be an easy enough thing hitch-hike back out to where Steve was waiting by standing near the disabled truck . I don't even half expect that any little old ladies are going to stop, but I would sort of would like to believe that working guys in pickups, especially ones that were at the gas station and could see my predicament, would help out. None did however and my faith in humanity was somewhat shaken on this Easter Sunday as I jogged the mile and a half down 126. The real world is just a little too unreal for me as I'm reminded practically every time I'm out there, and am ever grateful whenever I get back here on the property.
Friday the 13th In the morning the four employees met for our monthly staff meeting, nothing so unusual except that I was there. On the way back in I saw that Tinkerbell Tommy Rhea was finally moving in to Zenn Acres, and about time too as he's been puppy doggin' around every day for the last couple weeks now. So I have a new neighbor and the Fair has another surrogate Caretaker of sorts. I went to meet Charles Drew in Salem as we were going to go up together to catch the Blazer game in Portland. Unfortunately my luck gave out and I was caught in a massive traffic jam. After over an hour of total gridlock I gave it up, four-wheeled over the meridian, and headed back to Eugene. I thought I could at least catch a movie but the vicissitudes of misfortune were still in an agitated state of liquidity and the movie had floated onward. But from there I was suddenly pulled hypnotically by a strange force because the next thing I knew I was standing in the roll-away toolbox aisle at Sears, and on which they just happened to be have on sale. Unable to pull away and escape the mysterious self induced vortex I finally broke down. Then after spending a bit of time waiting at the pick up area I was informed that they they were out one of the units I purchased and to make a long story short I was gratuitously upgraded. So in the end it ended up as a Good Friday.
Wednesday 11 April It happens every year. It is one of those signs of Spring just as sure as the arrival of the red breasted robins. Ed Moye shows up with a sledge hammer in one hand and his poetic pen in the other--- he's ready to go to work inspecting booths. Last Winter was an easy one but Nature does take her toll every year it seems. Today was my water quality monitoring day and with my partner out sick I got to take my sweet time at it. The levels of the Long Tom and its tributaries are actually up due to recent April showers but on the whole the situation is still rather dire. Here is a rather interesting article in the Washinton Post about how the California power crisis is starting to affect the politics right here in Oregon.
Tuesday 10 April It was a cold rainy day and so most of it was taken up with personal chores, although I did go to Balance Nursery to pick up a few Elderberry trees with Steve and we wound up with a bunch of donated cuttings as well---so we have quite a lot of stock to plant out here on Earth Day, Sunday the 22nd of April. I caught BLOW*** at the matinee, which sort of reminded me of the good old bad old days only way worse. Coming out of the movie I realized that I had left my lights on and had to get a jump start from an older couple that had also been at the movie, commenting to them in the process that I didn't feel any stupider some of the characters in this film were. Here's little more info on the Fuller residence as I called the realtor today. It is a full thirteen acres with a hundred thousand dollars worth of marketable timber on it and the asking price is $339,000. I'm just a little more than worried about local timber company exercising a buy, cut, and sell option there, as has been known to happen quite a bit around these parts as they scrounge for everything they can get there hands on.
Monday 9 April Yesterday after work I attended Zak's surprise fete, already in full swing by the time I arrived. He and Ceecee live in three connected yurts hand built successively over the years, seemingly one on top of the next, the spaces within twisting and turning sinuously into every definition of nook and cranny, incorporating countless recycled BRING features, and furnished to overflowing with a lifetime of funky fantastic treasures. It actually makes this yurt look like a hospital waiting room by comparison. The Fuller residence is For Sale. That is the wooded property that directly abuts the north side of Chickadee Lane and the OCF. There are three buildings on what appears to be several acres. The large main house is very well maintained, there is a gigantic workshop, and another very solid looking outbuilding. There is an easement so it is set back well away from Suttle and there is a nice greenhouse as well. This would be the ideal location for a well heeled member of the Fair Family who wants to be wants to be here year round but also loves the smell of chickens. Please spread the word about this interesting spread as it is really in our best interests to see one of our own owning it.
Saturday 7 April My third anniversary as Caretaker. While the pay and benefits were about equal it has certainly been a lot more fun than those three long years I spent in the United States Army. What a long strange trip it's been. I'm working on yet anonther trailer project, this one using old stuff laying around Site to create a fire suppression unit. We are beginning to prepare for what is looking like a very dry dry dry Fair season. The Water Crew had their first crew get-together this year out here on Site today---complete with Easter Egg Hunt, BBQ, and the teardown of the watertower at Mount Pincus, slated for complete removal before this year's Fair. Hilary and I checked out the Oddfellow's Lodge in Elmira which is for sale cheap in "as is" condition. The building was built in 1906 and unfortunately hasn't always recieved the best TLC to say the least. Even to my optimistic eye it looked like a serious money pit but could become something special with enough energy.
Friday 6 April In Britain they have Mad Cow Disease but down home here in Veneta just have---some very mad cows. A local rancher headed out with a load of fairly contented cud chewing heffiers but when he checked the load in Lorane he discovered . . . no cows! Backtracking back he discovered a rodeo roundup of sorts in progress along Highway 126 near our property. Seems the door on his trailer wasn't quite latched proper and the all them cows had hit the road, so to speak. Try as new founded volunteer wranglers might, they weren't hardly no match for getting them there road rashed bessies back into that there trailer for another one of them there wild buckaroo rides, no siree Bob. Eventually they had to be taken back to the ranch the old fashion way, via cattle drive. Not just another day out here in the country, this time we actually made front page news in the big city folk newspaper, the Hooter-Tooter. Haw!
Thursday 5 April Had a great visit with my brother although he seemingly brought the good weather with him and took it when he left. What we agreed upon most is that we would each like to switch to the other's job. Last night we saw YOU CAN COUNT ON ME***1/2 which I apparently enjoyed a bit more than either Jack or Hilary did. A slice of life of a small town is depicted when a rambling brother comes home to visit his single mother sister. The characters are continually developed throughout the film until nothing is as it first appeared, but then again not in the usual over-the-top Hollywood fashion. I had a vivid prophetic dream the other night which I hesitate to share but since I don't make a habit of it---here goes. In some post-apocalyptic looking shantytown I was trying to get piles of junk off the poor desiccated looking plants, but finding all sorts of toxic waste in the process. It was all completely beyond my ability to fix. People laying around in the blazing sun were half-heartedly trying to discourage me by saying that everything was good just the way it was, that I should just mellow out and leave it alone. My obvious interpretation of this is to just keep redoubling my efforts to assist Nature before it is too late and ignoring any and all pressure to the contrary. This quote apparently needs to pertain to both sides equally---Rules are like flagpoles in a slalom race: you observe their presence religiously, skirt around them as closely as possible and never let them cut your speed.-- Katherine Neville
Tuesday 3 April It's light out but I'm waiting for my brother Jack who is to swing by for a visit any time now. He is between a job in Khazakstan and Kryzakstan so this might be it for a while unless I get to go visit him sometime. Lots of good mountains is what I hear. Paxton spent the night out here on Site and this morning we got the Electro-Luminescent Wire order in so be looking for lots of pretty glowy thingies at this years Fair. I also set up Dave Peek with a new blenderbike that he will share with the Waste Warriors on Sunday night so I won't have to make yet another one. It's a non-vegan allegory of the worst possible kind, but I'm now sort of like the proverbial lobster that goes into the pot of cold water and then the heat gets turned up so slowly that I never quite realize when it is fully boiling. Right now though the water has a nice feeling bathtub temperature and I am blissfully swimming around in here. Plenty to do but plenty of time to do it in.
Monday 2 April Yesterday was the Fool's for the Earth Culture Jam, an event for teenagers, sponsored by the Oregon Country Fair, hosted by the Amazon Community Center, and based on the concepts of the Power of Hope. There was a high ratio of adults at first, actually expected because of the time change earlier in the day. Eventually though about fifty kids showed up and all considered it a lively success for the first try. Certainly word will spread and there are plans in the works to do more of these events and eventually even a week-long camp at the Fair Site. This was my first experience with this project although I have attended some similar type things long long ago and far far away as a teenager and remember them too, so I know personally that this must be an important thing to do. I gave a mutant bike workshop which actually proved to be popular---I can get along well with kids well enough being as I am so much of one myself---and although it can often be a giant stretch of the imagination, in fact many teenagers are kind of sort of like real people after all is said and done. I'm looking forward to more involvement in these events and believe that this could be a great new direction for the Fair to be headed in. The Board Meeting tonight provided an interesting study in contrasts.