Crescent City, Still Dredging out the Tsunami Damage

 Back in March, when the Tsunami stuck Crescent City Harbor the same day the Japan was hit, we were lucky that only one person lost his life.  Even that one, brought pain to a community where the sea has a history of reaching out and claiming lives. Still a lot of people lost their income and their family boats as the busy, crabbing and fishing harbor went through a full day of flushing like a giant toilet as the water rushed in and out and churned the docks to pieces, sank the boats and filled the boat basin with sludge.

Now nearly 7 months later, There is progress.  The parking lot has a huge pile of boken docks and boulders and the silt is being dredged out and hauled away, one barge load at a time, but except that barge and a few boats tied to the side, the basin is empty of the life it once had bustling there. Still many of the daily routines have resumed.  The sun alternates with rain and fog but gives no clue that it holds the strength we were hit with that day.

 There is so much that is lovely and peaceful here
and the people who make their home here have a quiet strength and a generous nature and a willingness to rebuild again and again

 Yet they also have a barely suppressed violence and a coldness that shows up in violent crimes and murder far more often that is easy to live with.  The women and children of this community are no strangers to being victims and the claim that "there is no law north of the Klamath" is repeated often enough to let you know it contains at least a grain of truth.

Where docks and crab boats filled the harbor before March, now silt fills it and must be removed one barge at a time

View of Battery point lighthouse

 So now that the harbor is filled with a huge floating platform, dredging up black and stinking ooze from the bottom of the boat basin and sending barge after barge of it away, to make room for the rebuilding of docks and the return of a working commercial fleet.  Now that Battery Point lighthouse shines its beacon on the hope of a fresh start to the community as we rebuild

Let us also shine the light into the darker places, the meth addictions and drug and gambling addictions, the families in crisis and the abused and neglected children, the homeless population that drifts here for the milder weather but finds few recourses and few resources offered.  Let us not deny that our children and young men and women have been front page news in grizzly murders again and again.

 Let us shine a beacon not only on the face of the sea, but on the face of our community, and as we come together to rebuild, let us rebuild a home where every child has a champion and a hand willing to reach out with support and protection.  Let us make our town a real community, where homes are safe and people are valued and the storms of life bring us together to help.

January in Del Norte

 Sometimes I wonder why I moved away from the mountains and prairie and the rugged loveliness of Wyoming.  I was never one who hated the blizzards, but I was never one who had to get out and work all day in them either.  Then I get out of the house on one of the perfect January days in Del Norte County (remember, here it rhymes with "snort")

 I can drive less than ten minutes and be on the beach, or walk out the door and be in the redwoods, and while I love snow and we have had it less than a handful of times since I moved here in 1989, I can drive  45 minutes and be up 4000 feet and play in the snow to my hearts content.  My heart is contented fairly easily when it comes to snow.

There are always fairly barren spots to enjoy nature from, a lot like Wyoming that way, but there are also a few brave souls dragging their surfboards down even in January, my son among them.  Brrrr.

 The wind sculpted snow drifts are replaced in my sight by wind and water sculpted sand formations and trees carved into bonsai tortured shapes

The sky here is often obscured by fog and clouds and we get close to 7 feet of rain a year instead of the 7 inches I grew up with, but when we do have the sun break through, it is just as lovely.

This day the clouds looked like the water they are made of in a way that they normally do not, and reminded me that there is also an ocean above our heads.

We get the little birds when Wyoming loses them, and out January yard is filled with robins, flickers, woodpeckers, sparrows and an occasional Osprey.

The maple tree always provides red and green for Christmas, and in January is still gorgeous wearing its coat of frost

The house I moved into 15 years ago had white walls and carpet.  I have not done much in the way of maintenance but I have made it look a bit like living in a crayon box, and the ancient linoleum I found under the carpet looks like an old rug but is easy to control the pet hair on it.

 Yesterday the sun came out, and I forced myself to do the dishes and start a load of laundry and write an hour on Duffy Barkley, Seek Well but then I succumbed to the siren call and found myself and my camera enjoying this area.  Then I called my Mom, because of all the parts of Wyoming I do miss - family is first on the list.