{"id":1043,"date":"2018-08-20T13:08:28","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T20:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/?p=1043"},"modified":"2018-08-20T13:33:57","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T20:33:57","slug":"of-dog-days-crappy-plans-and-second-hand-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/2018\/08\/20\/of-dog-days-crappy-plans-and-second-hand-smoke\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Dog Days, Crappy Plans, and Second Hand Smoke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Continuing what has become an emerging trend, I’ve not posted here for two months because, well, there’s not been a lot of progress\u00a0 to report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not for lack of trying mind you.\u00a0 And we have made several trips to the property in the time since my last post.\u00a0 Here are some images from those trips.<\/p>\n\n\n

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We’ve widened the access road to where the water tanks will be. We also received some budgetary quotes for paving the dirt road above the house (not cheap!).\u00a0 This access road is too steep for them to pave, so we’ll probably just stabilize it with gravel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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We also expanded the water tank area itself.\u00a0 More space = more water = better.\u00a0 This is the view north, towards the Tenaya Lodge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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This is the view south from the water tank area, roughly towards Oakhurst.\u00a0 There is enough room for 2-3 large tanks here now, plus space for service vehicles and a “dog house” for pumps, etc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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It is surprising to see how quickly the hillside is recovering from fire.\u00a0 This is the path down to the picnic area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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And this is looking back up that path.\u00a0 Notice how much green is now visible across the burned-out landscape.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Another example of the green recovery.\u00a0 This is looking north-east, just below the path to the picnic area.\u00a0 These trees are all dead and will have to come down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Wildflowers are everywhere, happily doing their thing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This is the view looking south across the picnic area, with our weather station in the foreground. Both of the oak trees in this image are still alive! They might just survive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I’ve been collecting any remnants I find of the old weather station, just for “fun”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About those plans<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction has not started because we’ve been waiting for the county to approve building plans.\u00a0 Here’s a sample of what they have:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Floorplans of the main residence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Floorplans of the detached garage and 2nd floor living space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As of late last week we heard confirmation that the building department has approved<\/strong> the design.\u00a0 Yay!\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we still can’t start construction, because the septic system design has yet to be approved.\u00a0 This requires, among other things, proof that the soils can absorb what comes out of the septic tank.\u00a0 The fact that we’ve had a fully functioning septic system on site for 25+ years didn’t seem to be good enough.\u00a0 So we had to do more digging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trenching begins for several “perc” tests.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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These are the two access ports for the old septic tank.\u00a0 That tank was damaged by the demolition crew’s heavy equipment, so it looks like we will need to replace it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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As usual, the finesse of a good operator is avoiding unintended damage to the surroundings.\u00a0 This guy was pretty good!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Here is the completed trench, now with perc test in progress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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They also dug a second test trench at the south end of the picnic area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Here’s a closeup of that trench.\u00a0 They are about 7-8 ft deep!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ferguson makes a big stink<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California has had more than its share of wildfires this summer and for the second year in a row, our area was not spared.\u00a0 This time (thankfully!) the fire itself did not directly threaten our property.\u00a0 But the fire was close enough, and large enough, so that air quality was a major issue — for several weeks!\u00a0 This is what it looked like at the Trestlewood Chalet (just below the Logger’s Retreat property) during a visit in early August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It looks like fog, but no, its not!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Morning sun filters through the smoky haze.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The air quality varied greatly depending on local weather conditions.\u00a0 So a day like this could be followed by a bright, sunny day that looked nearly normal.\u00a0 But when it was like this (which was most days), the air stung your eyes and was hard to breathe for any length of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent most of our time inside the house, with windows and doors closed, air conditioning on.\u00a0 Hardly a way to enjoy the natural beauty that makes this area so popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That is highway 41 through the trees below the house.\u00a0 Oddly, there was hardly any traffic on the road during this entire visit (because most of the national park was closed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Despite the smoke, you can still see plenty of green on the terraces behind the house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It should come as no surprise that fire and poor air quality took a major bite out of the local economy, closing much of the park and driving away visitors for the better part of a month during prime tourist season.\u00a0\u00a0 Like everyone else in the local area, our rentals suffered badly due to many vacations plans being shortened or canceled entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is now obvious to me is that this is what we, in California (and indeed across much of the world) should expect in future years.\u00a0 Yes summer is the tourist high season in Yosemite, but it is also fire high season as well.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There will be more fires, more closings, and more cancellations, not fewer…at least until the bulk of dead trees have been consumed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beauty of the Sierras and the Yosemite Valley is eternal.\u00a0 That will not change. But it is also a dynamic beauty, and we are currently in a state of rapid change.\u00a0 This is not simply the “new normal.”\u00a0 It is only the beginning of greater, more rapid change to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hang on tight; it is likely to be a bumpy ride!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On a more positive note, the neighbors have rebuilt their burned-out retaining wall.\u00a0\u00a0 I kinda like this style; you may see more of it!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continuing what has become an emerging trend, I’ve not posted here for two months because, well, there’s not been a lot of progress\u00a0 to report. It’s not for lack of trying mind you.\u00a0 And we have made several trips to the property in the time since my last post.\u00a0 Here are some images from those … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Of Dog Days, Crappy Plans, and Second Hand Smoke”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"status","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-status","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-status"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Large oak trees, dead above ground, are still very much alive, and making the most of their summer.","source_text":"","source_url":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/IMG_20180711_142706.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9iwY6-gP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1068,"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions\/1068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loggersretreat.com\/rebuild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}