AA 12 Step Service... I remember Hauling 20 gallons of water to Cohasset, CA. (Near Chico) - I was the Man with the Van and my Friend's Tenant needed it.

The Entire Town of Cohasset burned in 2024 but the Newspapers report that all 400 people evacuated Safely... Now to be Homeless in Chico...

The tenant was an old lady in AA... The water was for drinking and bathing. and since I Could Do The Work... I Did... EASY!

We met through AA and I did the "Service" and felt happy to be able to serve.

I owned a Ford Windstar Cargo Van...

with a free mattress in the back. 

I became a Turtle with my home on my back... 

And I traveled from California thru Nevada to Utah...

Bob Law (Byron) was the Landlord.

Photo of Bob Law of Cohasset

Mike Jensen "volunteered" me to haul water... and I also took the Lady to the Laundromat... 

Mike Jensen Self Portrait

https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents

Liz Merry - Report from Manton, CA

What a difference a day makes. 24 little hours. The Park Fire started in Chico’s Upper Park last Wednesday and raced north, gobbling up towns and 300,000 acres in just a few days. It’s now around 400,000.
I wrote last week’s column Thursday and had a vendor gig in McCloud on Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday. I had planned on leaving home around noon, so submitted the column Friday morning. Then we looked at the fire’s progress and knew I wouldn”t be going to McCloud that day. By late morning, Mr. Standish and I thought it might be prudent to get some things out of Manton. We filled up the Lexus SUV with artwork, wine, and other beloved items, enjoying the luxury of not having to bolt out the door on a moment’s notice with only our Go Bag and doggies.
I delivered that carload to Mr. Standish’s brother Warren’s house west of Red Bluff and brought him back to Manton with me. Warren drove our ancient Subaru, now full of tools, saws, and other implements of destruction, back to his house. I packed the Lexus with all the stuff I needed to set up my booth in McCloud, figuring I would drive up Saturday. Mr. Standish had filled the F-350 and horse trailer with more stuff, making a nice space for Donny One Ball the donkey.
Within a couple of hours, the Evacuation Warning was upgraded to Order and an ominous wall of flame and smoke rapidly approached from the south. Holy cow! Suddenly we were flying around the house, gathering last minute items, filling a cooler with frozen food, not panicking. Then the power went out. Yay.
When everything was ready, we walked Donny over to the horse trailer and he flat out refused to load. No number of carrots and buckets of grain could entice him. He behaved like a toddler throwing a tantrum in a grocery store. Two sheriff’s deputies arrived in the driveway telling us to hurry up, so Donny got to stay home. We suspect he has invited the cattle next door over to party in our absence.
Driving down Manton Rd and Hwy 36 was a surreal experience. I have never seen a fire that huge, hot, and fast moving. I was a wildlands firefighter in my 20s and have lived through many fires in Manton, but I have never seen anything like this.
We got to Warren's with the truck, trailer, and Lexus just as night was falling and the view to the east was apocalyptic. People parked along the west side of the airport on Paskenta Rd, watching in awe and horror.
Swamper and Lucky, our doggies, consider this a huge adventure. Brand new smells and virgin things to pee on. They love their Uncle Warren and have taken to sleeping in his room - king of the castle and all.
As I type this Thursday, all homes in Manton are safe. The fire was stalled at the South Fork of Battle Creek, which is essentially across the street from our house on Hazen Rd. This victory was due to cooler temperatures, a shift in wind direction, terrain, humidity, and the relentless and brilliant work of fire crews and aircraft. We are very grateful.
Thanks to our wonderful Sheriff Kain and his department, we have been able to make quick trips home to check on Donny and the barn kitties. Manton folks on the Tehama side, (we are a joint town - in more ways than one,) can make appointments for short escorted visits to feed and water critters. Going up every other day has been working for us. Donny has been like, “Whaddup? Got any carrots?” Spoiled donkey.
The thunderstorms predicted for this weekend may keep us out of our homes for another couple of days, but we are turning to gratitude instead of frustration. We are safe. Our critters are safe. Our neighbors are safe. Our home is safe. Thank you to everyone who prayed, sent good thoughts, or communed with the Weather Gods or Universe.
North Valley Catholic Social Services has partnered with the California Fire Foundation to distribute Emergency Aid to people impacted by the fire. One $250 debit card per address can be obtained with proof of residency and ID. Call 530-247-3341 or drop by their office at 2400 Washington Ave in Redding. They are working to secure more funding, so following their page on Facebook is a good way to keep up with any new developments.
And speaking of funding, remember how the Adopted Budget allows the county to drain the reserves in order to fill the $18 million budget gap? And remember how Supervisors Candy Carlson and Pati Nolen strongly opposed the idea? “What if there’s a disaster? What will we do?” Supervisors Leach, Moule, and Hansen pshawed that and the budget was adopted. What could possibly happen? Now we know. The final version of the budget won’t be presented for a couple of months. Can’t wait to see what Chief Administrator Hydrick comes up with to make ends meet.
In non-fire related news, Louise Wilkinson’s restraining order hearing was postponed until this coming Monday at 10:30am. I think everyone is hopeful that a resolution can be found before a trial is warranted. That would be a big waste of time and money of which we have neither.
If the county was hoping to make an example of Wilkinson, mission accomplished. If they really consider an 82 year old woman to be a credible threat when our sheriff does not, that’s terribly sad. If they pursue the RO and double down on making it permanent, it will be clear they are trying to silence the criticism of a citizen who has been making the effort to be involved for over 20 years.
So we wait. To go home. For Wilkinson to be free to attend meetings again. For common sense. Fat chance of that.

Then I drove to Oregon and Washington State... where the van's transmission died... and then the engine caught fire... on Highway 5 near Centralia, Washington... I had to take Amtrak Home. The van got smashed at the junkyard recycling center in Vancouver Washington...

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/08/lets-build-solar-powered-desalinization.html
Solar Powered Desalinization Factory converts Seawater into drinking water... Good for making Ice Cubes for a Scotch on the Rocks or for Showering, watering plants and livestock...


My Webstore on Zazzle...
https://www.zazzle.com/gregvan

Free Winplot Art for use in your own creations. Pirate at will, Matey It's Fun!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/p/go-ahead-and-pirate-any-of-these-images.html

Read More on My Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/GregoryVanderlaan

Numbers have cultural meanings... For Example 5150 meaning is Danger to self and others. 1,4,9 is the shape of the TMA in the movie 2001... The Big Black Box. This is my list of every number I can think of and what they mean...
https://gvan42.blogspot.com/p/for-example-and-its-one-two-three-what.html


a small sample of the list...  0: number invented by Indian Mathematicians.  Brought to the middle east and then Europe by an Arabian named Al Khwarizmi. (Algebra). Handy for expressing BIG numbers like, 1 followed by a hundred zeros – a googol.  A googolplex is 1 followed by a googol zeros. Spelled differently than google.

007: James Bond, a secret agent for her Majesty in England. A Character played in the movies by Sean Connery... and a gazillion other wanna-bees.

half pipe: a skateboard word referring to a part of the skate park made out of a concrete pipe sawed in half... a big concave area remains.

¾ waltz time… 4/4 rock music and folk… 5/4 Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five”

1: The traditional beginning number used when counting. For Example: One for the Money, Two for the show, Three to get ready, now GO CAT GO! But don’t you, step on my Blue Suede Shoes. also: And it's 1, 2, 3, what are we fighting for? Country Joe and the Fish.

1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34… Fibonacci sequence… add together any two consecutive numbers to calculate the next term.

1/20/09 date Obama moved into the White House.

1.44 - Size in Megabytes of a Floppy Disk. According to Larry Niven - Science Fiction Author it's the minimum size needed for a Neutron Star.  1.44 times as large as the Sun. "The Chandrasekhar limit ." The currently accepted value of the limit is about 1.39...

1.618 Phi the golden ratio - found often in art and nature