By Bob Spiwak
Monday morning, and there has been lots of weather turmoil over the past few hours. It rained, and while driving to Mazama there was fog that ranged from super-dense to one totally clear stretch at the Mazama Community Church. Pastor Picklesimer must have a good connection to the Above, because shortly thereafter it was back to pea soup. There’s snow on Goat Peak, but it’s hard to discern how much due to the fog and clouds. It’s probably not yet time to wax the skis.
There will be a power outage on Nov. 11. Mark your calendars, although you’ll hear about this again as the day gets closer. This will be from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. as repairs are made to lines on the Loup. The following day, a five-hour shutdown will be from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. It might be a good idea to get some firewood in the house and check your battery supply.
Fencing is being installed along the Methow River at the site of a salmon recovery project.
Deer season will end tomorrow, and from what we have heard there were a lot of successful hunters. As of Saturday, the report we got, unconfirmed, was that at Thomson’s Meats in Twisp there were 260 animals hanging around to be butchered. We were also told that the butchers at the Evergreen IGA store in Winthrop are likewise endowed with many Bambis on the racks.
From mammalian to piscatorial projects — the salmon recovery mission at Fender Mill has progressed to where the piped water is now flowing into the river. Somewhere upstream (this is our understanding), the miles of pipe have sucked up ground water, and where this corridor ends there is a broad channel that leads to the river. A side channel in the river that had gone dry earlier this month is again flowing. Earlier, the muddy water generated during construction was pumped out in order that the liquid entering the river would be free of debris, as we were told in a second-hand conversation.
The above-mentioned channel is now flanked with many steel fence posts, which will support fencing to protect the greenery that is being planted, to ward off deer, beavers and, conceivably, bears, from eating the plantings which will include native grasses. Already in the ground are what I took to be wild roses, what might be a red osier, and other leafless stalks embedded in topsoil which will then be covered with straw.
Because of our proximity to the project, we get quite a few questions about it, one from several people about whether the area will ultimately become a park or interpretive center. We’ve made a number of calls to the Yakama Nation office in Winthrop and left the requested call-back number, but so far have gotten no response in order to convey the questions.
Another question has come from downstream denizens — we being among them — as to what effect the capturing of ground water will have on those living here and beyond. With the amount of water being withdrawn, will our water table be diminished? How will the fishing regulations downstream from the Weeman Bridge be affected? Hopefully, we’ll get some answers.
West Boesel had a traffic-stopping incident early Sunday evening. A literal traffic stopper. A large dog wearing a harness was cruising down Highway 20, somewhat oblivious to the traffic, which literally came to a halt as some people tried to get the pooch off the road. The dog progressed westward, and near Grizzly Mountain Road, it turned around and headed back to the east. We were told it belonged to someone who was riding a horse at Big Valley, and the dog had become disoriented. With the assistance of a variety of people, including locals Madeline Eckmann and Mary Milka, Rover was on his way back to a car waiting at Dripping Spring road. Hopefully it was the owner. I hope the horse was tied.
This was the biggest event in West Boesel since the highway was widened in 1984.
