Wishing for warmer weather......

Today we have a winter storm warning. Warnings of 'blizzard like' conditions are forecasted into the evening.

Here is a photo overlooking Main Street in Susanville from August 07. It was warm, but not too hot.

The bottom of the photo shows the old buildings, referred to as 'Uptown'. The high school buildings are in the middle of the right hand side of the photo. As you can see, the town is surrounded by fields. Some are hay fields, many are cattle fields.

Ice ice everywhere.........

Ok, the cold and snow is getting old. I cannot wait for spring to come. I know that February is usually our coldest month here in Susanville, but can't we just fast forward?!

This creek is frozen over, much like the streets here. The sun is out right now, I hope it melts some of the snow. Realistically, I know it will melt the snow somewhat, but that will freeze into an icy mess.

Natural Talc

There is a great state park that is a little over an hour north of Susanville. My family loves to visit Burney Falls. We usually bring a picnic and hike on some of the trails. The Pacific Crest Trail goes through part of this park. Its a GREAT area to just relax.

I posted this photo today because my son wanted to know when we planned to visit the waterfalls again. Along the hiking trail towards camp Britton is a large area of talc. Its very soft and people hiking past often carve their names in the wall. After passing this area, we left white footprints on the brownish red clay soil. It was an interesting contrast.

The park is busy May-September. We like to visit during the Fall through mid-Spring. There are very few people there and its very peaceful.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=455

http://www.shastacascade.org/erog/csp/sp011.html

Antelope Complex Fire Series #4

I posted some of these photos out of order. This sunset photo is from the first night the Antelope Fire was burning last summer. The smoke was blowing to the East and covered everyone outside of town in a thick layer of ash and smoke. The wind did shift later in the week and everyone in town was covered with smoke and falling ash. It was so thick the mountian was not visible.

In this photo you can see the East end of Susanville and all the open space just outside the city limits.

Antelope Complex Fire Series #3

This photo was taken the second night of the Antelope Fire in June 2007. The smoke mixed with storm clouds looked amazing. The hill in this photo burned during a fire a year before this photo was taken. The tree silhouettes seem to be the only trees that survived the fire in 2006. These hills are just outside the city limits.

Antelope Complex Fire Series #2

This photo was taken around 3 pm on a warm summer day, June 2007. The lightening storm that came through started the Antelope Complex Fire. As you can see, it was an ugly storm. The trees shown here were burned down in 2006 during a fire that was just outside the city limits.

Antelope Complex Fire Series

Over the next few days I am going to post some photos of a fire we had last summer. The Antelope Complex Fire was about 20 miles away, just over the diamond mountians. It burned a large area around Antelope Lake, a great lake for fishing. This was our view for about a week, but it took a few weeks for the fire to be put out all totally.

Wildland Fire Series #3

This photo (June 2007) shows inmate fire crews arriving to fight the fire. One of the local prisons is a fire camp training facility. Low level, non-violent inmates are given the opportunity to apply to the fire fighting program. These guys fight fires throughout California. They work alongside CDF crews at fires. Some are hired by the CDF after they parole or finish out their sentences.

Wildland Fire Series #2

The fire burned right up to this home and the home next to it. The CDF planes and helicopters were pretty impressive that day. We were sitting in my friends backyard watching this unfold.

The Diamond Mountians are in the background. I am pretty sure the home in this photo is for sale right now.

The area that burned is now a black hillside. During a recent windstorm, dirt from the burned hillside was blowing across the highway, a mile or so away. Luckily we passed through the dust storm before it was too thick to see.

No homes were burned during this fire. A few outbuildings, vehicles, and fences did burn.

Wildland Fire Series

Living in rural California has its advantages. Crime is low, its clean, people are usually friendly, good schools, great sense of community, and the list goes on. The one thing that scares me is fire season. It can start as early as May and end as late as November. Nothing gets people's hearts pumping more then a summer thunderstorm. Not even football, and believe me, that is saying a lot in a small town.

Last year we were very lucky. We had a few fires near town. There was a large fire about 20 miles away that blanketed our town in smoke for weeks. The Moonlight fire had many residents worried. Luckily the wind kept in an area with just a few homes.

The photos this week are of a fire that happened in June 2007. There was a fire directly behind my friends home. Luckily that was contained without major loss of property and no one was injured. This deer was trying to find a safe place. I saw quite a few deer that day, all looking for an escape.

Large Headstone

Keeping with the Cemetery Series, here is another photo taken during the fall of 2006.

Ornate Gate in Cemetery

The old Susanville Cemetery has some wonder ornate gates surrounding headstones. The craftsmanship cannot be beat.

Thanks to Jim at Terrell Daily Photo for giving this blog an award!

http://www.terrelldailyphoto.com/

The award rules say: "Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."

This is hard, I visit many blogs every day for inspiration. I have to choose just 10. I am not sure if they have received the award or not. Please pass it on!! So here they are:

http://staytondailyphoto.com/

http://west-sacramento.blogspot.com/

http://portlandmainedaily.blogspot.com/

http://durbandailyphoto.blogspot.com/

http://saintmalodailyphoto.blogspot.com/

http://naplesdailyphoto-prettyizzy.blogspot.com/

http://sandiego-dailyphoto.blogspot.com/

http://amemphisdailyphoto.blogspot.com/

http://selmaala.blogspot.com/

http://www.kansascitydailyphoto.com/

Continuing the Headstone Theme

This little statue in a local cemetery is really nice. A wing is missing, but the detail is great. The photo was just ok, so I played around in photoshop until I found something I liked. I need to sit down and learn photoshop.

Old Headstones

Our town has a pioneer cemetery dating back to the 1850's when this part of the country was being settled. The difference in headstones from the 1850's to present are amazing. The ornate details on the old headstones is beautiful. I will post photos over the next few days of some interesting headstones.

Sunset over Susanville

This mountian just outside town and visible from my neighborhood. I have been sick with a cold and not able to get out much. I have been going through photos from the past year to post this week. Hopefully I can get out and about this weekend, its supposed to nice weather.

American Flag

This photo is a continuance from yesterday's post. This is a close-up of the flag attached to the lonely chimney. I was happy it turned out, it was pretty windy that day.

The Chimney

Between the towns of Susanville and Westwood is a lone chimney. A few years back, some ladies in Westwood decided to start a charity. They named it the Chimney Fund. I am pretty sure those ladies are the ones that decorate the chimney for different occasions. The Chimney Fund host local fundraisers and help a lot of children in need.

Thank you to Maureen at:http://durbandailyphoto.blogspot.com/!!!! I now have the DCP search widget here on my blog!!!!

Susanville Mill Incinerator

Following the mill theme from yesterday, here is the incinerator at the old mill. It sits fairly close to Alexander Street behind the Lassen Beverage Company. Its a great copper color in the evenings when the sun is getting ready to set.

Susanville Mill

The old mill was closed by Sierra Pacific a few years ago. The days of the lunchtime whistle and endless smoke from the different smoke stacks are gone. It was once commonplace to see logging trucks stacked full with logs.

There is a plan to tear down the mill and convert the land to open space, residential and commercial areas. A river walk is planned. We will see if this project ever gets off the ground with the current housing slump.

Susanville Elks Lodge

Its been cold here and I am already wishing for the warm weather. I ran across this photo taken back in August. The Elks Lodge sits at the top of town (uptown) where Main Street curves to go up the hill towards Eagle Lake and becomes California Highway 36. This building hosts weddings, proms, community events, crab feeds, rib cook offs, etc. The large pine tree on the right side of the photo is the town Christmas tree during the holidays.

At The Car Wash

I don't think the car wash will have many customers this week.

Jim from Terrell, TX Daily Photo tagged me for New Year's Resolution.

http://www.terrelldailyphoto.com/

After reading Jim's blog, here is what I found: (As explained by Chris of Nashville Daily Photo.)

When it comes to New Year’s Resolutions we seem to fall into four categories: 1) quite serious about them, 2) flippant about them, 3) pressured to do them, or 4) do not do them.So, the purpose of this little game is to let us know which category you are in. I will give mine, then tag 3 other sites to do the same thing.

I guess I fall into category 2. I think of things I need to do. But thinking about them and actually accomplishing them are two different things.

Here it goes for 2008:

1. Eat better.

2. Exercise more.

3. Have more patience.

I am tagging three Daily City Bloggers:

http://west-sacramento.blogspot.com/

http://photoscitymine.blogspot.com/

http://quincydailyphoto.blogspot.com/

Sunrise over Susanville

This morning there was a great sunrise. I was freezing cold on the front porch with pajamas and sandals on.

Bizz Johnson Bike Trail

This bridge is part of the Bizz Johnson Bike Trail along the Susan River. The bridge crosses over South Lassen Street, just a few blocks south of the courthouse. I took this photo last winter. This photo is going to be featured in an area guide available at the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses.

For more information about the Bizz:

http://bizzjohnsontrail.com/

Snow

This photo is from last year just after a snow storm. It's on my list of photos I really like.

Neighbors.......

These two guys were out today helping remove snow in the street. The quad has a snow plow attachment and the tractor scoop removes snow pretty well. They plowed the snow away from the gutter drains and the ice spots in the intersection by our house. A few other guys in the neighborhood have quads and mules with snow plows. Its nice living in a small area where people help each other. Plus its a great 'excuse' to play with their toys.

Getting around in the snow.......

This morning we drove to the store to pick up a few things. On the way we saw an old man riding his scooter towards Main Street. Most of the roads have been plowed, so he was able to do that. At the store he passed by again. Hopefully he didn't have any problems on his trip.

The Artic Storm is here....

Yesterday the storm we have been waiting for started to come in. It started raining last night and finally turned into snow this afternoon. Blizzard warnings are in effect until Saturday morning.

Hopefully our power will stay on. If the winds that hit Sacramento this morning come our way, the power might be off again. Stay safe everyone!

This bush in my front yard. The snow just started and is coming down pretty hard.

Bad weather is coming our way!!!!

Ok my friends in Northeastern California, its storm time! Depending on what channel you listen to, or what website you read, this storm is going to be good. JDX already is announcing Stormwatch 2008, so tune in, lol.

We prepared by getting out candles, flashlights, lighters for the woodstove, etc. I have to run my nephew to Reno in a just a few so he can go home before the storm starts. Hopefully I will get back before the snow gets too ugly. Hopefully I can stop by the market for some easy food in case the power goes out. Its Lassen County, the power is just about guaranteed to go out at some point over the next few days.

Update 11 pm-ish - Wind knocked out the power for a little over 5 hours. I was in Reno shopping, so hubby and the kids were home enduring the pain of no television. What a rough life. The wind is expected to gust at 80-100 miles per hour tomorrow. If that happens, I know the power will go out again. Its Lassen County, the power will go out!!!

January 2008; Theme Day, Best Photo Of The Year

I took this photo on June 23, 2007. There was a wildfire just outside of town. It happened to be a few hundred feet behind my friends property. Thankfully no one lost their lives or much in the way of property and belongings. If you want to see more photos of this fire, check it out at my other photo blog:
http://janastanleyphotography.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html


Check out these other Daily City Photo Blogs for some amazing photos:

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