Stephanie says

I built this timber dynasty from sheer will, parlaying a small inheritance and a driving thirst for timber land into the purchase of that first parcel of virgin forest.   We logged Bear Creek Mountain by hand, a man on either side of a standing tree, muscling the teeth of a crosscut-saw blade back and forth through the bark, then pith, then heartwood, out the other side, until the weight of the tree above the widening cut broke free with a mighty crack, and the tree toppled.   Timber.     Ernie was the ancestor. Ernie Whipple.   He came here with a vision and a bankroll and enough drive to amass 20,000 acres of forest land.   Old growth timber.   It was all virgin timber then.   He acquired a rock quarry, later a lumber mill.   He backed into a blade at that mill, severing his left arm just below the elbow. There was no one about so he fashioned a tourniquet with his belt, holding one end in his mouth and cinching the buckle end ...

Yep, it's official.  Had cake and ice cream in celebration yesterday after learning the secret handshake.  (Just kidding about the handshake.)      I learned a lot and have very optimistic hopes for this seasons vegetables and flowers.   It was hard work and a lot of fun with a great group of fellow garden enthusiasts.  Now comes the practical experience answering questions on the phone Plant Hot-line. Questions anyone?

Billie Reynolds had the neighboring place to our Sitkum home, just off the Coos Bay Wagon Trail road.   I was intrigued with her fascinating stories and exotic tales about her early life.   This was so long ago I don’t recall if she actually told me her stories, or if I overheard adult conversations, (my dad always said I had the hearing of a bat.) Her parents divorced in the mid 1920s – seemingly sharing custody.   Her father lived in Portland OR and her mother in Billings Montana – so when they switched-off, they’d put Billie on the train from around age three onward, in the care of the conductor for the entire journey. Just Billie. She remembered being well cared for by the train staff, and these solo trips seemed quite unremarkable to her in the telling.   She moved to San Francisco after high school, during the Depression, and had a job as a money courier,transporting cash from her employer’s place of business to the bank.   The money was packed in...