Shortly after our last post the COVID 19 virus struck our country and while we were at the lodge, the shelter in place orders came. Jim is over 65 and I am very close, so we decided to stay at the lodge and weather the storm. We did not realize that weathering the storm meant more about two major snow storms in the sierra. The first storm brought about 5 feet of snow over 3 days. We lost our electricity and were seriously considering heading home but PGE was able to fix the problem within 4 days. Karen and Larry came up for a visit while the electricity was out. Though they are real troupers, they decided to head home after an overnight.
One evening, (just prior to the storm) the highway patrol visited us with a report that someone was in danger at our school. They checked around the school area, around our cabin and our neighbors cabin and did not find anyone (thank goodness) and we thought that would be the end of our excitement at the lodge for a while.
As the storm was going on, the sheriffs department came to check on a report of a RV stuck in the snow - since there were no RVs in the vicinity, we prayed that no one was stuck in an RV down the hill. We now believe the RV was actually on the other side of the freeway.
Some of our neighbors down below Fulda got trapped with over 8 feet of snow at their cabin and had to hike up to the railroad to call for help (there is little phone service down the road). Their kids and friends tried their best to snowshoe back and rescue them, but in the end, the sheriff's department was called. They used snowmobiles partially back (the snow was very deep and very soft), and snow shoes the rest of the way to get our neighbors out. We were told that they had been stuck for 3 days with little more than pancakes to eat. The "rescue team" and "rescued couple" ended up sharing a spaghetti dinner with us before heading home. The actual statewide shelter order came right after they departed.
We enjoyed the massive snow - but would have enjoyed it even more if we had been able to go skiing. The ski resorts along with all entertainment and restaurants were quickly closed as part of the pandemic measures, so Jim, Quincy and I basically just stayed in the cabin, worked on small projects and took walks down our snow sided street.
It kept snowing with small amounts for about 2 weeks, and then came the second storm. This storm dropped 2 feet of snow (which may not sound like much - but we already had over 6 feet of snow standing on the side of the road and more than that next to the cabin). Our electricity was knocked out again - this time due to a line being weighted down. And it was repaired by PG&E in a much shorter wait time.
By the way, when our electricity is out, we do not have running water. The pump goes out with it. So washing dishes, flushing toilets and other water based fun things are a bit of a challenge. In these situations, we get really good at melting snow on the big stove.
Quincy started to limp between the storms and we thought he had hurt his ACLs again or possibly fractured a bone. He started to complain and limp more, so we elected to head home for treatment about 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately, our vet did some X-rays and found that our boy has cancer on 1/3 of his scapula. Since Quincy is a big dog, once we talked with our fantastic nephew, we decided that he was not a candidate for invasive treatment (which would include an amputation, chemotherapy and radiation). We decided to medicate him for pain and as we shelter in place, we spend most of our waking hours with him. It is a tough time for all of our family right now. We are hoping he lasts long enough to head to the lake for some swimming (one of his favorite things to do at the lodge).
Some good news. The school has been sold to our of our Fulda neighbors. We are happy it sold to someone local. We are sure he is going to fix it up and make it nice again.
And more good news - our neighbor across the street (who has been sick) is doing much better.
As spring continues and the shelter orders also continue, we plan to complete the hardie panel on the ground floor of the lodge and work on many small projects. Due to the COVID 19 virus, we have been forced to cancel our July Family Reunion and are not able to plan any camping trips in the foreseeable future. So, we plan to spend as much time at the lodge as we can. Hopefully, things will get back to the "new normal" soon.
