Digging Out

The tag line to this Golden K blog is “A romantic vision of life at 3100 feet“.   For the most part over the years I’ve remained true to that tag line.  I’ve written about life in the foothills with an admittedly idilic perspective and how my years old vision has come to life during the past seven years.   Although the romance remains strong, and for the first time in seven years since making the move from the SF Bay Area, I had second thoughts and doubts.  But they didn’t last long.

Snow and Ballrooms

Tuolumne County like so many other areas of California and the U.S. has had a hard winter; especially the past couple of weeks.  The amount of snow that has fallen and accumulated, even at lower elevations,  has been debilitating and has put a great strain on local resources and first responders.   The Golden K, at 3100 feet, took on a tremendous amount of snow for this elevation.  Several large trees – including two of my majestic Black Oaks – have fallen from the weight of the snow.  It will take weeks for the snow to fully melt.  

The Golden K is magical after a first powdery snowfall but once the melt begins, and the mud and tree debris begin to emerge, the landscape evolves into a bit of a mess!  It’s a little bit like a big party where you walk into the ballroom and all the decorations, the tables, the plates and bar-ware, and food are on majestic display.  It’s a beautiful and enticing sight.  Then when the party is over you look back and see dirty plates and napkins scattered on the stained table cloths, the bar is depleted, and the chairs and tables are beginning to be folded by staff in baggy uniforms.  But you do have the memory of what it looked like at the beginning and that is likely to sustain you until the next wedding, anniversary, or retirement party when the ballroom is once again majestically beautiful.

The Clean Up

 This morning Holly and I walked down to the road to meet up with the person servicing our all house generator.   As we walked down our long driveway I commented that it was truly fascinating to see the transformations from season to season and even from storm to storm.  The snow is slowly melting and the “dirty dishes” are beginning to emerge.   I realize that this time it may take a little longer to clean up the ballroom because this was one heck of a two week party storm!  But past history tells me that the tablecloths and dishes will be washed, the bar will be replenished, new decorations will be placed in the appropriate places and the room son will be ready for the next set of guests.

With a little luck those guests will be in the form of blossoms on the cherry and dog wood trees, black tail fawns chasing behind their mama doe, and cool adult beverages while watching a spring time sunset.   Wow, look at that!  In spite of a tough two weeks pretty hard winter, my romantic perspective of life at 3100 feet remains stronger than ever!