After the Quake

After the Napa earthquake of about 6.1 we heard bad news from our friends in Napa with wine barrels falling down, glass breaking throughout the kitchens, sprinklers going off and flooding some businesses. It was tragic. Thankfully, we in Geyserville were not affected by the quake. We are all still here, standing tall in Geyserville with the art sculpture trail continuing to grow along the highway 128. There are some stunning new pieces to come and enjoy!

As for the quakes: we have over thirty mini earthquakes every single day up in the geysers. Sometimes we feel them, and sometimes we do not, but it's almost always just a mere rumble. Nothing to fret about.

COCKROACHES & COYOTES

A few years ago, we were having coyote problems on our property. We suspected they had a den in a ravine at the back of our property and they were chewing on irrigation lines and coming too close to the house, and our feral cats, for comfort. So we contacted the county trapper--no not Clem. (Be sure to Read Jessie Poshepny Vallery's post "What Would Clem Say?")

Some folks from Geyserville may recognize the name Fred Radtkey. He lived in Geyserville for awhile and has family in the area. And he still collects his mail at our post office, though he is now retired and lives on the family sheep ranch out near Annapolis, I believe. Fred held the the job of county hunter for many years, after Clem, I guess. And he was the one who came to our rescue when we were having problems with the coyotes.

Fred and his dogs made several trips to the ranch and he would stop by the house each time and fill us in on the latest. He was eventually able to alleviate the problem and the coyotes moved on to friendlier territory. But we learned a lot about the critters from Fred. Did you know that they were originally native to the southwest United States, but are now found in every state of the union, all the way up through Canada to Alaska, and throughout Mexico and Central America and into South America. They are quite opportunistic creatures and survival specialists. On one of his visits, Fred summed it up as only he could. In his easy-going, slow and deliberate way he told us, "When the world comes to an end... the only things left... will be... cockroaches and coyotes."

It's hard not to admire the survival instincts and love of the wild that Bryan Tedrick's sculpture of the Coyote symbolizes. Perhaps the residents of Geyserville, like Clem and Fred, identify a bit with that ol' Coyote. And maybe that's why everyone seems to love him.