#117. Claudia Lima on Timber, Art, and Making a Life in Humboldt

Claudia Lima talks with Scott Hammond about growing up in Julian, studying animal science at Cal Poly, working in wholesale lumber, and building a life in Humboldt County with her husband John and their family. She reflects on the timber industry, logging families, local healthcare, housing, jobs, Blue Lake, her painting career, and the people and places that make Humboldt feel like home. 

Transcript

Welcome And Vacation Talk

SPEAKER_05 0:30

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and neighbors, and all those out to see, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt Podcast, located in Humboldt County, California, with my new best friend, Claudia Lima. Hi, Claudia.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Hi, Scott. How are you?

SPEAKER_05 0:43

I am really good. Oh, good. Really good. I'm on vacation. You're looking good. I look great.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

You're on vacation with your state farm, Scott Hammond?

SPEAKER_05 0:51

I'm on vacation because Jenny and I leave for Zion National Park on Saturday for three days in the park.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

Ooh.

Growing Up In Julian And 4-H

SPEAKER_05 0:58

I know. And then Vegas, and then we're going to see Pink. Ooh. I don't even know her that much, but I like some of her. Get some vinyl. Yeah, we'll get some vinyl. We'll talk about vinyl in a minute. So tell us the Claudia Lima story. You're from San Diego, I understand.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Yeah. I am the oldest of nine. We grew up in a town called Julian, a small town.

SPEAKER_05 1:20

I know Julian.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Yep. I was the Apple Day queen.

SPEAKER_05 1:24

I bet you were.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Yes, I was.

SPEAKER_05 1:26

Is that a high school thing or is that Yeah, pretty much. Did you go to is there a Julian High? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Yeah. Yeah, because we're just Julian High School. My brother and sisters all went there. Still real good friends, or was 21 in my graduating class.

SPEAKER_05 1:39

That's right. Because it's famous for apples. Yes. And on the other side is the desert, Anza Borrega, right? Brega Springs.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Yeah. Great place to grow up.

SPEAKER_05 1:48

Oh my gosh. Great place to grow up. Right. Yeah, I love that. Cleveland National Forest.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Yep. Well, I worked at Cuimaca State Park when I was in high school.

SPEAKER_05 1:57

We went to Cap Cuyamaca in sixth grade. Yeah. All the sixth graders in Nash City.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_05 2:02

Which is San Diego. Um got to go up there and I met met a girl named I still remember her name, Jerry Reddy, and she was really cute. She lived in El Cahon and a little crush thing going on, and it never went anywhere. But I digress. Just a little. Tell tell me more about growing up there and how'd you get into Humboldt?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

So I grew up there. I uh was really involved in 4-H and FFA, and my ag teacher uh thought that and I agreed that I should get go to Cow Poly. And I was headed to get a uh uh teaching credential because I wanted to become an ag teacher. But then life kind of went on. My dad bought uh a wholesale lumber yard from uh Simonson, which was up at the Smith River.

SPEAKER_05 2:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

And that yard was in El Cahone, so when I graduated, I went back down there and we opened up a wholesale distribution yard, and so I sold wholesale lumber. Redwood. Yes, I was.

SPEAKER_05 3:06

San Diego County in the county only, or yeah, just San Diego County.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Okay. But it I travel up here quite a bit with my dad to buy wood. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 3:14

At Smith River.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Well, we would land in San Francisco or Oakland. It'd take us two weeks because in those days there were sawmills everywhere. The good old days. Now it takes you three days. Right.

unknown 3:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

And you're mostly driving.

SPEAKER_05 3:32

It's interesting to take the Madnequit cruise around Humboldt Bay, and they always point out this thing had like 150 mills.

unknown 3:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:39

And now we got one and a half.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:42

It's like Schmidbauer, and then there's I don't so there may be a second one.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

I don't know what it would be, but Humboldt Redwood down in Scotia, and then North Fork out in Corbell. Yeah, that's a big and then Sequoia Forest Products, the old Arcata Forest products.

SPEAKER_05 3:58

Right. Where's that at?

SPEAKER_02 3:59

That's uh off of Gentoli.

SPEAKER_05 4:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

And is the Where the Brit mill used to be.

SPEAKER_05 4:05

Where Britt was. Okay, yeah. What about Emerson, Red Emerson's Mill out there? It's closed. That's all done.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:11

That was a big mill, right? That was a big map. In Manila?

SPEAKER_02 4:14

There's another fencing sawmill off of uh Oh in Arcada by the high school or the college. Oh, um yeah. Campbell's Mad River Lumber.

SPEAKER_05 4:25

Right. Right kind of around the corner.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 4:27

Yeah. So we were heavy, heavy duty lumber at one time. And by the way, the logging conference was a lot of fun this year. Oh, wasn't it? Yeah, JD had a great time.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Yeah, she's that board did a great job. It was, you know, uh an absolute new location because we've always been we always go f uh Eureka, Redwood Acres, to uh Ukaya. And during COVID, we went to um Willet's. It was just a little one. Oh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:01

So UK there at the fairgrounds.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 5:03

So what do you think this will cut? So this so for those of us that don't know anything about the logging conference, uh tell us what that is. And it rotates every other year. Aaron Ross Powell Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

It goes from Ukaya to uh or from Mendocino, Ukaya to Humboldt County.

SPEAKER_05 5:18

Aaron Powell It celebrates celebrate logging. I guess it does. Yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

It's a great three-day celebration for all the families in the timber industry and a great opportunity for people to come and learn more about, you know, the r timber industry. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 5:33

Right. And all the modernization and the families and the families and other industries surrounding it.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Trevor Burrus And job opportunities. And yeah, it's just a great three days to get together. Trevor Burrus Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:47

I like the fairgrounds at Ferndale for that, because there's so much room to kind of spread out.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

It it worked out very nicely. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 5:53

Yeah. All the equipment and everything. Trevor Burrus Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

It was kind of interesting because I take my artwork to all of the to the uh Sierra Cascade Logging Conference and the one in Oregon, which is huge. And normally by two o'clock on Saturdays, it's pretty much cleared out, but it wasn't that way in Ferndale.

SPEAKER_05 6:13

Aaron Powell We'll talk more about the artwork, but do you mean like this artwork?

Lumber Work And The Logging Conference

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Yes, I was gonna bring you a calendar.

SPEAKER_05 6:21

I've got the calendar.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

But you already have one.

SPEAKER_05 6:24

There it is. So Claudia was featured as the featured artist for the Coast Central Credit Union. Uh calendar for 2026.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Huge honor.

SPEAKER_05 6:32

Huge honor. Look at that. Yeah. We'll talk more about art. Yeah. I want to go back to your uh so what Cal Poly were we gonna go to?

SPEAKER_02 6:39

The real Cal Poly. I went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

SPEAKER_05 6:42

So slow.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

And I got a degree in animal science.

SPEAKER_05 6:46

What a great school. It was a great school. Oh, we toured campuses with Jesse and we went to Pacific and we went to Malibu and we went to uh Santa UCSB. But the one I wanted to go to without my choice was slow because it's so beautiful. The culture there is so cool, the people are nice.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Well, I have to tell you, so I like I said before, I was real active in 4-H and FFA, and I would always qualify to go to the state animal judging contest that was held in San Luis Obispo. And the first time I went, my aunt was my chaperone, my aunt Pearl.

SPEAKER_05 7:23

Ah.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

And we took the Greyhound bus.

SPEAKER_05 7:26

Sweet. From El Cajon.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

From El Cajón to uh San Luis Obispo, and we pulled into that town and I said, I'm going to college and I'm going here.

SPEAKER_05 7:38

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah. It was so much fun. And I still have a lot of really good friends there.

SPEAKER_05 7:43

That's a cool place. Yeah. Yeah. Jody's sister Lisa has Pizza Republic, which is out by the airport.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05 7:49

Yeah, they love it. They love that place. Yeah. It's always fun visiting there. The weather's always really good. People are still kind of got that country feel. It's got a real downtown that's alive. It's really alive. It's got an alive down, which is rare for California anymore.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

The biggest adjustment I had was when you went to the beach, the water was so cold. It was really cold. You are not compared to San Diego. You're not in San Diego anymore. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. You've got to turn purple and you go, oh, maybe this isn't working. Yeah. Maybe I'm not going to get used to this.

SPEAKER_05 8:25

Maybe I'll just wait for Hawaii. So uh that brought you to school. So you how was your did you do four years there?

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Mm-hmm. No, actually, well, probably almost four, but I went to uh junior college at Mount Sack for two years. Oh, okay. Which was a great way to do it because it's in Pomona. It's right next door to Cow Poly Pomona.

SPEAKER_05 8:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

And so I was still able to keep my job at the state park and go home on the weekends. And, you know, it cost a whole lot less to go to the junior college, and they had a a great animal science program there. So it was a great way to get, you know, the things you had to get out of the way.

SPEAKER_05 9:11

Were you gonna be a vet?

SPEAKER_02 9:13

No. I was gonna be an ag teacher. Oh, cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:16

Instead, what happened?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

I went to went back to work for my dad. Okay. Went into the lumber business and went into the wholesale business.

SPEAKER_05 9:25

And that's how you met John?

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Yes, because I worked for my dad. Well, the whole family has worked at the lumber yard. And so I worked for my dad for, I don't know, about eight or ten years. And then I moved to Mendocino County and opened up a lumber brokerage office so that I just sold truck and trailer loads of Redwood and high-end Douglas fir. Wow. Yeah. So I broadened my horizons. By yourself? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 9:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:56

So that's iconic, right? I mean, a lot of did a lot of women do that in the middle of the year.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Oh, no, no, no. I was gonna say it was me and Betty Foster. Just you and the crew. We were the crew. Betty Foster worked for a Thatcher Lumber Company. And uh yeah, in those days, no. They're then a few start dwindling in, but you know, anybody that I've ever met in the lumber industry is just they're great dandy people. Aaron Ross Powell Oh, they're the best. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:24

Just normal. Yeah. There's always going to be one or two, but there's I remember golfing with the hoo-hoo guys up at Baywood.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:31

And they have a riot. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Oh, that's my those are my people. Oh, those are the I grew up with all those bros, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:39

We uh used to call on when I sold advertisers, I would call on Copeland Lumber.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_05 10:43

And a little bit of Schmidt Bauer, but um you know, some of the local yards. Yeah. They're also great guys.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Just Yeah. I I you know the people in the timber industry are amazing. All all aspects of it.

SPEAKER_05 10:58

Now your husband John was a timber was he a faller or was that um he started out as a truck driver, but uh he was a logger.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Then he bought a cat and uh started logging.

SPEAKER_05 11:11

So he had his own company.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 11:13

Wow. Would he be a jippo? Would that be appropriate? Yes, he is a jippo. Jippo meaning what?

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Kind of like gypsies. You just uh I mean we've had a great life. You just go from job to job. You just you never know where you're gonna end up.

SPEAKER_05 11:27

Get the phone call.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

You get the phone call, uh and you go pack up your trailer and off to the woods you go for the summertime.

SPEAKER_05 11:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Great life.

SPEAKER_05 11:37

Could be anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Could be well, we stayed mostly in Humboldt County.

SPEAKER_05 11:43

Yeah. So uh who do I know? Oh, Joe Kent.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:46

Yeah Oh yes Hey Joe Kent, what's up?

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Yeah, Joe.

Cal Poly Years And Career Turns

SPEAKER_05 11:49

Little Joe. He used to run the show.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

He's one of my fans, big fans, him and Regan.

SPEAKER_05 11:53

Yeah. Oh, what a guy. They're funny. So if you knew Joe Kent and uh and I do and you do, uh I I was talking to Regan once. I go, do you ever see Joe mad? I mean, because Joe is like Mr. Christian Jesus, lovely guy, Mr. Hospitality.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

But down to earth.

SPEAKER_05 12:10

And down and lovely, yeah, not a weirdo like me. Um however, he was I go Regan goes, yeah, I saw him get really pissed once. He goes, These these lot new guys with their corks, their spike boots, uh-huh, put him on the dash of this brand new F-150 truck that Cor that they had just bought, Simpson had just bought. And he goes, Joe came frickin' unhinged. He lost his mind, screamed at these guys. I go, Oh good, my brother's a human being. Yeah, he's real. He's a real guy. Where do you go, Joe?

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Yeah, because he's pretty steady Eddie.

SPEAKER_05 12:46

Oh, he's just lovely, man. I just love that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Yeah, he is a good man.

SPEAKER_05 12:50

We go way back with he and Linda, just sweethearts. So you went back to the lumber industry and you wound up in Mendo. So uh how'd you get to Humboldt, beautiful Humboldt County?

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Well, I came up here for Bill Scott, who was the uh sales manager for Simpson Timber Company. It was his 50th birthday party at the sidelines, and that's where I met my husband. You met my husband. I met my husband at the sidelines.

SPEAKER_05 13:20

In Arcata.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

In Arcata. So for In downtown Arcata.

SPEAKER_05 13:25

For those of you that don't know the sidelines, it's gone now, right?

SPEAKER_03 13:31

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Meeting John And Life In Logging

SPEAKER_05 13:32

Yeah. They they got something happened. Anyway, so yeah. It used to be like Bar Row there, right before the boot club was on the other side. And then Sidelines and Everett's. How do I know?

SPEAKER_02 13:43

And the alibi.

SPEAKER_05 13:44

Alibi. Yeah. And then Merinos, which burnt, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:48

Wow. Back in the day. And then we used to go to the red pepper in college.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Yeah, that's before my time.

SPEAKER_05 13:54

Yeah. It was um yeah, it was you didn't need an ID. Just say it that way. I IDs are not there anymore. It's long gone. It's like Humbrews now. It's something it changed. It changed over time for good reason. So then you met John and and what what were you doing? Oh, so you're up at this party.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

I was at this party. There was I I'll have to throw this in. They even had a stripper. Really?

SPEAKER_05 14:21

That's the alibi.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

No, at the sidelines. Oh. On the bar.

SPEAKER_05 14:25

On the bar.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

With baby oil.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

Wow. You've heard it here first. Wow. This was a PG-rated show, Nick. What happened here?

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Oh my God. I had no idea all that was going to happen, but we all ended up over at the Plaza Grill, and he wanted to uh split, you know, a hamburger, and I had to tell him first off, I don't share my food.

SPEAKER_05 14:48

So it was the first thing.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Yeah. First thing. And then we were married a little over a year after that.

SPEAKER_05 14:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Well, I ran into him again at Ruth Lake.

SPEAKER_05 14:58

Huh.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

He was logging up there, and a bunch of my friends, we flew up there to the Flying A ranch. Flying Double A.

SPEAKER_05 15:07

Stayed there.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

That's a cool place. That was a great place.

SPEAKER_05 15:10

Man, that was iconic. People could fly in and camp and it was fun. Eat and drink and fly home.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:18

So you flew in for what purpose? To see John?

SPEAKER_02 15:23

I was walking across a tarmac and he was standing there by his pickup, and I said, Hey, I think I know you.

SPEAKER_05 15:32

That's a nice way to say hi.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

And that was the beginning of the end. That's nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:36

So guys hung out ever since. Yep, ever since.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:40

How many years is that?

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Uh 34 years this year.

SPEAKER_05 15:43

That's a really cool story.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:45

Oh, great. And you guys have Christopher.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

And we have Christopher.

SPEAKER_05 15:48

Yep. That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

The love of our life.

SPEAKER_05 15:51

He's amazing. How old is Chris now?

SPEAKER_02 15:52

He's going to be 29 at the end of the month.

SPEAKER_05 15:55

29, yeah. Gabriel just turned 27.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:58

So yeah, we had parallel paths, Chris and Gabe. A lot.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Well, Tony and I go back way back because we had a mom's group.

SPEAKER_05 16:06

With Nancy Cardelli.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

No, it wasn't Nancy. It was Helene Wilkie. Yeah.

unknown 16:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:12

All your moms supporting each other.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

And we all and I still have my picture.

SPEAKER_05 16:16

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Us and our babies.

SPEAKER_05 16:18

That's one yeah, she was a real uh force of nature. I know she brought everybody together. Joni el spoke very highly of her.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 16:26

Is she still around?

SPEAKER_02 16:27

I don't think so. I think she moved out of the area.

SPEAKER_05 16:30

Some people do that.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Yeah.

Finding Painting And Building An Art Life

SPEAKER_05 16:31

I don't know why. Don't come here, it's rainy. It it dumps rain like ten months out of the year. The the people are weird. It don't please, if you're thinking about Humboldt, come and spend money. And then, you know, just know that it's it's it's it's actually magical. So uh let's go right to the hard stuff, ready? So you met John, you stayed here, and you had your family. And what did you what did you what have you done with since then?

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Well, so John was in the lumber b or the logging business. So I phased out of my logging or my lumber. I gotta get it all straight here. So I phased out of that and just started helping him with the books and parts runner and uh just all around helper for the last 33 years. And uh then I started well actually John bought me some uh painting lessons for Christmas from this gal. She was beautiful and she was really good. And I couldn't tell you her name.

SPEAKER_05 17:43

How long ago was this?

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Oh god, probably 33 years ago. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:50

That's a cool gift.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

It was a great gift. But the problem was she had a substance abuse problem. So when I would show up, um they would might still be in bed. They didn't know what day it was. It's Humboldt County, folks. It's hard to say. I don't think this is gonna work. Give me a painting, and I'm uh and we'll all go our separate ways. But she was really good. But it got me thinking so Humboldt used to have art, art painting and drawing classes in the summertime, and it was a great way to do it. So uh that's when I started painting. And you know, off and on, but now I'm able to uh do it full time.

SPEAKER_05 18:38

Aaron Powell Oh, yeah. I've seen your stuff everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:41

Yeah. No, you're iconic iconic style. We were talking about you last night. You're I mean, maybe that's a real basic thing to say. There's nobody with your style.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

It's an impressionistic style.

SPEAKER_05 18:52

It's beautiful. Yeah. Thank you. Always with a lot of color. So uh who are you and what do you want?

SPEAKER_02 18:58

Who am I and what do I want?

SPEAKER_05 19:00

Well, I'll those are Johnny's dads. Thank you, Tom. Those are his two questions of life. So let me just spring those on. Can I just bring those on you real quick?

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Well who the heck are you?

SPEAKER_05 19:10

What are you doing here?

SPEAKER_02 19:11

I I'm Christopher's mom and John's wife, blogger's wife.

SPEAKER_05 19:16

That's part of it.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Yeah, and an artist. Okay, cool. And what do I want? I just want things to things are good. You know, I just want them to stay good.

SPEAKER_05 19:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:26

There's a lot of good stuff happening.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 19:28

As much as the news the news would tell me otherwise if I watched it.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

Well, if you watched it.

SPEAKER_05 19:32

I just we boycott it since COVID.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

No, it's Really?

SPEAKER_05 19:36

It's the same stuff. Did you know, Nick, that uh there's a storm in back east and there's big trucks that turn over in Minnesota and and that uh Trump's doing more stuff and and that co I remember it was three stories. It was Trump COVID and um uh and and storms back east. And you know, the death count of COVID. It was like, what am I watching here? It's like there's nothing new happening here.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

We had I thought we had the best summer that COVID because we were camped out on South Fork Mountain. Oh, yeah. So you it we the whole crew was up there. We had a beautiful logging camp with a whole view of all the way to the ocean. Wow. Um you didn't even know COVID was going on until you came to town and saw somebody with a mask.

SPEAKER_05 20:23

Right. So South Fork that's up toward Is it up? Route one.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

So you go up You go up and turn at that kneeling. No, no, that showers pass. Is it you go up 299.

SPEAKER_05 20:37

Like snow camp? Up that way?

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Up that way. Yeah, you could go up that way.

SPEAKER_05 20:41

Let me show everybody where snow camp is. Nick, focus in on the This is my little see my pointer here? Oh yeah. So this is Humboldt Bay. You and I are right here in Eureka. And this is 299. And I'm guessing snow Snow Camp is right up South Fork is right in this area.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

It's Route 1. It'll take you all the way to the Dinsmore store.

SPEAKER_05 21:03

Oh yeah, it goes all the way to 36. Yeah. Oh, here it is right here. Look, there's Route One. There you go. And there's 199. We go to Medford to the Jacksonville Brit Festival. Yeah. And Medford's up here. And uh Spain is over that way. Ole. Hola. So uh got up here, met John, got married, been logging. Um what um let's go to the quiz. You want to do that? Sure. Do you want to earn one of these candy bars? Ooh, yeah. It's not a candy bar. It's a delightful fleur de soul, courtesy of Dick Taylor chocolate. You know what I was thinking about? What? I really considered this the other night. What's that? Not yours, but we just pop one and start eating it on the show.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:50

I'm thinking about it. So anyway, so let me put this right here.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

You're not eating mine.

SPEAKER_05 21:53

No, no, I wouldn't touch yours. No, you're fine. Brought to you by Quality Body, by the way. Gotta get a plug in there. So yeah, you you've done full circle then. You've come San Diego to Mendo to Humboldt.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Yeah. I love this state. Oh. It's a beautiful state. There's no state like this.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

I know it.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

I know. It's a beautiful state. And I feel so fortunate that I've been involved in most all aspects of the lumber and timber industry. Mm-hmm. Um and I've got I've got I get to travel up and down it all the time.

SPEAKER_05 22:28

Yeah. Yeah. There's so much I mean between We just got back from Sonoma.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:32

And that was magical and fun. And, you know, there's all the Mount Shasta and Lassen areas. It's like there's the whole state. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Yeah. We just got back from Monterey.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

Monterey's cool.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 22:44

Tahoe's magical.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Yeah. I haven't spent much time up there.

SPEAKER_05 22:48

But Joni's brother's got a place that's they call it the cabin. It's like amazing. And it the sun rises up from the east and it's the whole lake is right there. It's just so much fun. Joni hikes and saw a bear last time and it just it's awful cold.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:06

You know, hot day in the summer is 75.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

I know it's perfect. I love I mean, like Julian, the elevation was 5,000 feet, so the days were perfect.

SPEAKER_05 23:16

So you come off of Julian West and you get to Ramona?

SPEAKER_02 23:19

Yeah, but we always went the Cuimaca route.

SPEAKER_05 23:21

And went south.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Down through Cuimaca.

SPEAKER_05 23:23

Pine Valley. Uh or Alpine.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Yeah. Alpine. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:28

And then heads up.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

And then Del Cajon and Mission Valley.

SPEAKER_05 23:31

Aaron Powell I miss that area. Yeah. We used to go to Desert Lot Camp.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 23:35

We are young Anair DeWells with long hair and um kind of hippie feral children.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Well, so we would go coming home, come up Interstate 8, and everybody's headed to the desert. And when that one of the games we used to play is to count how mu what the value was. So the motor homes and all the toys. Oh, right. Because they're all headed.

SPEAKER_05 23:59

They're all going to Glamis.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Yes. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 24:01

They're all headed at the dunes. That's where they filmed Star Wars uh three. Some of that uh Is it Job of the Hut. Yep. That was filmed out there. We used to go to the other route down to Ticati to get uh tacos. Again, no ID necessary in Mexico.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

No.

SPEAKER_05 24:17

And we're we think we're cool, or sixteen chugging beers and quarter tacos, which are now two bucks or more.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Aaron Ross Powell Spent a lot of time in Ticati. My dad's right-hand man was from Ticati. Oh, is that right? Yeah, so we'd go down there quite a bit.

SPEAKER_05 24:31

Aaron Ross Powell It seemed like a cool little town.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

It is a very cool town.

SPEAKER_05 24:35

We did a thing. I'm gonna just confess my crime real quick. So we would stash our weed in a rock under a another rock before we go into Mexico. Aaron Ross Powell That was smart. Yeah, we're just being smart. So maybe I'm confessing smartness. We'll see.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

You're you're you're brilliant.

SPEAKER_05 24:51

The jury is still out. So we Nickel liked this story. So we stashed our weed, went into coty, drank and and ate and had fun, and came back. And it's nighttime now. We go over off the side road and get your stash and put it back in the car. And within three minutes, we're pulled over by by immigration, by border patrol. Hey man, pull over. Hey man, what? Oh what? We didn't do nothing. We didn't do nothing. And it's like, and they're not there for the weed. They're there to see if we had we're trafficking people. Yeah, yeah. And you know, no, we live in National Sea. We're just going back home, dude. We're just tacos, you know. Didn't do nothing. It's like, get out of here. You Indian.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

I got through my girlfriend and I got thrown out of a whorehouse in Mexicali one time. Well, that's another story. Yeah. Pray tell. What were we doing there? We had actually been down in the Imperial Valley and we were, I don't know, we'd gone horseback riding or something, and we told her brother we want to go have good Mexican food.

SPEAKER_05 25:52

In Mexicale.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

In Mexicali and good uh and hear some good music. He goes, I know just the place. The Bahia Hotel. Oh yeah. So we're making a big circle around town going, Don't they la bahia? And everybody's looking in the window, going, What? Bahia?

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Are you sure? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Okay. We finally found the place.

SPEAKER_05 26:18

And it's a prostitution.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

Yeah, we were asked to leave. They bought us a drink and then they said you need to leave.

SPEAKER_05 26:24

Right. Yeah, we we have working people.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Too much competition.

SPEAKER_05 26:29

You don't appear to be on the job right now. Well I remember going down there for a beer, and it was it it was a beer, it was a joint that was about as wide as Dick's studio, and it went back, you know, 200 yards. And we could I don't know what was going on. They they couldn't seem to get us beer. And then it was like Mast Dinero. So we just we did the walk of shame out of there. It's like, okay, I guess you don't serve our kind here. But yeah, all those Mexico stories. And then there's Tijuana, and that's all.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Oh, yeah, that's a whole different I have whole photo albums of that. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 27:05

That's next level stuff. I did my um you might know this place in Mexico. Uh it was down uh down at Porto Nuevo on the way to Ensin, the lobster place where you could get two tails of lobster. Check this out lobster, beans and rice, tortillas, twenty bucks. And everybody was there. Sailors, hippies, locals, knuckleheads.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

If it was even that much money.

SPEAKER_05 27:28

Maybe it wasn't that maybe it was 15. And then, you know, and then the knuckleheads were there.

SPEAKER_03 27:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:33

And um it was just famous. Everybody would love it. And it was all broken tur turquoise walls with broken paint, and it didn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

Well, we used to uh camp down below Ensenada at El Bufadora.

SPEAKER_05 27:46

Yeah. Yeah. Estero Bay.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

My dad camped there when he was a kid, and we all camped there.

SPEAKER_05 27:52

Yeah, it's beautiful there. Oh, it was great. It's like San Diego with no people. I don't know. Big giant bay.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

Yeah. Yeah. The bay on one side and the ocean on the other.

SPEAKER_05 28:01

The blowhole.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 28:03

We went down there and there was this uh Federal police with with Uzi with automatic weapons. We're going, I don't know, man. What are we what are we doing here?

SPEAKER_02 28:13

It well, it has its moments, you know. There's more enforcement sometimes than others. I don't think I'd really want to go down there right now.

SPEAKER_05 28:21

Not these days.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

Yeah. But so the blowhole, there was never anybody there. And we hadn't gone down there for a while. And so we thought, well, we'll run over there. They had a Ferris wheel.

SPEAKER_05 28:37

Did a whole thing with it.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Yeah. Before it was nothing.

SPEAKER_05 28:39

It's like Cabo Wabo with Sammy Sammy Hagar.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:42

Although I never was there. Was that La Paz?

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Is that what's that?

SPEAKER_05 28:47

Uh down south of Baja. Uh Cabo Wabo is in is it?

SPEAKER_02 28:51

It's in Cabo San Lucas. Cabo San Lucas. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:54

Yeah. Have you been down there?

SPEAKER_02 28:56

I used to go down there when there were two hotels, the Solomar and the El Presidente. And a and a hotel in town, but Woochargusto.

SPEAKER_05 29:05

Yeah. It's funny. It was great. I love going back to San Diego. Tacos every day.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

See, my brother raced off-road. Oh, okay. So we would pre-run down. So we got to know all the Baja.

SPEAKER_05 29:17

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:19

So you got to go in the car in the car?

unknown 29:21

No.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

I was a prerunner.

SPEAKER_05 29:23

Oh, prerunner. Yeah. Which means what?

SPEAKER_02 29:25

You take the gas.

SPEAKER_05 29:27

Oh. You're the pit crew.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

We're the pit crew. Okay, I got it. Oh, but on the pre-runs, no, you got to go in the car. Not in the actual race car.

SPEAKER_05 29:36

But in a four-wheel drive.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Yeah, yeah. Oh no, we do that. Yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_05 29:41

Oh, the desert's so beautiful in summer. Well, in the spring.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

And fall.

SPEAKER_05 29:46

And fall.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

Too hot in the summer.

Loving Humboldt And Facing Homelessness

SPEAKER_05 29:48

Yeah. We're getting to the chocolate here in a minute. Let me let me ask you about Humboldt for a minute.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 29:52

What do you like? What do you like the best about Humboldt and what do you like the least about Humboldt County?

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Well, I love the people. People are great. And it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 30:02

Oh both, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Yeah. It's pe the people, the beauty. You know, you live in a place like this, you have a lot of freedom.

SPEAKER_05 30:10

Mm-hmm. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

A lot of freedom.

SPEAKER_05 30:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

What do I like? The least thing I like is um probably the homeless situation. Um I I mean, I feel for some of those people, you can tell, you know, when you go behind raised food place, those people you know, they got their trailers. I would suspect those people have jobs. They just can't afford to get a house or get into an apartment.

SPEAKER_05 30:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

I have a lot of empathy for them.

SPEAKER_05 30:41

Lot of a lot of mixed stories. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Yeah. But I I don't like I don't like the thievery. That's pretty nasty.

SPEAKER_05 30:48

Yeah. And the five-gallon buckets full of everything.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:52

Yeah. It's it's hard because I s I see uh Aaron Ostrom with Pac Out uh his organization, they'll clean a camp and it'll be needing a cleaning again in six months. I'm going okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Um Well you know, I I uh I have a lot of empathy for those people. But if they just clean up after themselves, there's some common decency here and some humanity.

SPEAKER_05 31:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

That that would be that make it less hard.

SPEAKER_05 31:19

I don't think it's asking that much.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

No.

SPEAKER_05 31:21

You know, do you have to poop everywhere? No, I don't. No. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

No.

SPEAKER_05 31:24

Can you clean up your needles and throw your shit away? Yes, I can. And why don't you do it? We don't well, we don't know. Not everybody violates that, but some.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

But I have to say, I have been down on Third Street and s and seen where they're using the trash cans, but nobody's picking the trash cans up.

SPEAKER_05 31:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

So there's trash everywhere. Yeah. That's what makes me crazy.

SPEAKER_05 31:45

Aaron Powell Yeah. And we're not going to be too shiny for tourists if we're going to rely on that income if they come out.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

That's not that's not very welcoming.

Healthcare Realities And Keeping The Hospital

SPEAKER_05 31:54

So what do you see for our future and our our present and our future? What do you how do you how would you like to see a version of us that's interesting prosperous?

SPEAKER_02 32:08

We have access to everything, especially with the Internet now. You know? I just I I guess I'm involved at the hospital, and so what I'd like to see is if our medical care, but I don't, you know, people complain about it, but I don't think it's much different anywhere else in the state now. Because my sister just had some issues in San Diego, and it's the same thing, the same weight, no doctors. It's just it seems to be kind of a California issue now that didn't exist, you know, 25 years ago when my son had leukemia. I mean, there were I I am I mean, if he was gonna have it, it was good time good thing he had it then because I mean things were just taken care of.

SPEAKER_05 33:00

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

There was no waiting. There if you needed a test done, you just went to another room.

SPEAKER_05 33:05

Aaron Ross Powell So on the Providence Board, we've seen a lot of doctors talk to a lot of them. And as a kind of inside education, which I think is really good, uh, we ain't doing that bad for a small area.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Aaron Ross Powell No, no, no, no. And like I and what I think is, you know, you may go out of town for a specialty thing that can't be handled here, but you're still gonna use this hospital. There will be something that comes up during your treatments, whether it's, you know, cancer or whatever, that you're gonna have to come to our local hospital. So um having experienced that firsthand, I'm a real strong believer in that and the importance of keeping this hospital.

unknown 33:51

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 33:52

I did an ER visit mm, probably within the year, and it was I was really surprised.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Oh, it's pretty cool, huh?

SPEAKER_05 33:59

Now like Michael came down and said hi, and it was like, oh, this is this is hands-on medicine. Then I feel like I'm being taken care of here.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Yeah. Well, them getting you in and you know, trials immediately.

SPEAKER_05 34:14

They had the one record day, right? They did was it f uh 252 people in a day? That can't be right. 67? They'd like some crazy number.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:23

Like record number last year.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:25

So um Yeah, medicine and healthcare and homelessness. Well, the the next H word is housing. So these seem to be the three that are the the, you know, nobody has Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

Well, you know, uh the housing, yeah, if it was affordable. But it just costs so much. And I think it's more the bureaucracy than anything else. Because trust me, I'm in the lumber or, you know, have access to the lumber business, and it's not the cost of the lumber. But uh yeah, it's a bureaucracy and the time it takes.

SPEAKER_05 35:00

The taxation. Yeah, I just don't think it's all like necessary. Yeah. I I feel it. I would look poor cannabis people that tried to do it right. They got taxed. I I don't know. Well, welcome to the real world. Right. I don't know that I'm a cannabis guy, but are we going to tax them to death? And it's and the answer is yes, we already did.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Yeah, yeah. You did. Yeah. Thanks for coming. Appreciate the revenue. Yeah. So Yeah, that kind of got a little out of hand. I didn't really stay on top of that, but it's the boom and bust.

SPEAKER_05 35:32

It's the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

Well, yeah. And somebody made a comment about it the other day, but you know, it's supply and demand.

unknown 35:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:38

Can we create that many more weed smokers or eaters? I don't think so. Especially if it's really good weed, because you only need a like one or two hits and you're good.

SPEAKER_00 35:47

Aaron Ross Powell, I don't know.

unknown 35:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:50

How would I know about that? Well, I have a 21-year-old son.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 35:54

And would I ever thought that'd be normalized anywhere around my my life? And and the answer is no, I didn't.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:02

But hey, I digress yet again.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

You've got a liquor cabinet.

SPEAKER_05 36:06

Yeah. He does. He's got Yes, he does. The band's got a collection.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Oh, there's a band here.

SPEAKER_05 36:13

Well, there's there's a um there's a there's a lot of liquor. You know who drank liquor here? Who? The only two people in 115 shows. Of course, Eric Hollenbeck.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:24

In his Dixie Cup. He had what did he had some bourbon or something? Yeah. Just casuals, like having a Kool-Aid.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Oh, he was having it while he did the interview?

Housing Costs And Job Hope

SPEAKER_05 36:32

Yeah, he was fine. Yeah. Yeah. He was holding it. Cocktail hour. Yeah. And then Rosa Dixon, she just broke out. She took over the show and broke out his vodka and poured and made a couple drinks. I'm going, okay, this is actually happening. Okay. Whose show is this?

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Yeah, I was going to say who's in control.

SPEAKER_05 36:54

So how do what do you see as our challenges going forward as a as a county?

SPEAKER_02 37:00

Oh well, I think I don't know. It's just that, you know, you listen to history and you think we are experiencing this for the first time and it's been going on forever. It's true. So I I think uh a big part is the brain drain. I would like more opportunities for young people to stay here.

SPEAKER_05 37:23

Yeah. That'd be nice.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

That that I think is is huge.

SPEAKER_05 37:27

Keep it fresh.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Yeah, keep it fresh and keep the demographic young.

SPEAKER_05 37:33

I wonder how we could do that better. Well, we got hump with Cal Poly, not Humboldt. I was going to call it Humboldt State.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Yeah, no. Well, you got Cal Poly, and that's a good thing. I just think um instead of naysaying all the job opportunities that that get presented to this county, that perhaps we should be a little more open.

SPEAKER_05 37:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:54

The the whole Amazon thing came uh forward on um uh the the project they're trying to do at the at the airport. Yeah. Business park. And it's like well, you know, and all these people violently came out against it. You know what? Have your say, and then you gotta sit down and then go with go with the flow, go with the democracy. And so um not going I'm not going into process, but I'm going, you know, Joni, a couple of jobs is not gonna hurt. Things are hurting here, and there's no jobs for the but it's gonna take up space. Okay. I think we have some space that we can.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

It's a business park.

SPEAKER_05 38:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

What did they think was gonna happen there? Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 38:35

They're not burning things. It's not gonna cle create pollution. So I I often wonder about this I hesitate to call it small-mindedness. I think smaller mindset thinking about why why is everything a no?

SPEAKER_02 38:49

I know.

SPEAKER_05 38:50

It's like almost everything's like a naysay.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

Well, uh it's a heck no. It's a heck no. It's a hell no. And the sad thing is, no kids here. It's all it's all contributing to the hopelessness and the homelessness in this county. If a person doesn't have a job and a purpose, they become hopeless.

SPEAKER_05 39:13

Yeah. And that marijuana industry just keeps selling products.

SPEAKER_02 39:16

And then it just, you know, it's pot or much, much worse.

SPEAKER_05 39:22

But I think it's a fair generalization that there's I know so many people that just grouch on the couch, man. I'm gaming and yeah, he just he's been without a job for a year. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

There's no hope.

SPEAKER_05 39:34

Uh I've got a uh yeah, I've got some st business stories of people that just is do you get a job yet? He's still in unemployment? What?

SPEAKER_03 39:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:42

Why why? He's a capable person. Huh. Yeah, just that that trippy, stuck place.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

Well, i i if there were jobs and opportunities and things that would get people out of bed.

SPEAKER_05 40:00

And we know multiple people that are looking for work, younger people, and they can't find Jack squat. And they can't they they'd like to work at the Habit Burger, but I'm sorry, the Habit's full of people already. They've already hired. That's those jobs are taken. This job is taken. You know, and and Amazon, I don't know, a couple hundred jobs, uh how could that hurt the team? I I don't know. Maybe there is a big downside, and I just don't see it because I don't see it. Um Let's do something, man. Let's keep going. Offshore wind, that that's on hold. And the Great Ro Redwood Trail might happen in my kids' time.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

But there's Well, what's that? I mean, when they when everybody was trying to outlaw the timber industry, their big cry was, we'll have service. It'll all be s it'll be a service economy. Well, where did that get us? And especially where did that get us during COVID? The timber industry went crazy.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

I bet.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Couldn't find, you know, employees. I mean, it was it was a great time to be in the timber industry. Right.

SPEAKER_05 40:59

Because people were building, right? Yeah. There's demand.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

There were no tourists here.

SPEAKER_05 41:03

Uh-huh. Good great point. That that drives. And I wonder what seven dollars a gallon is going to do to tourism this summer. It's like they ain't going to fly. Maybe they'll drive more and they'll come to Humboldt. But I don't know that.

SPEAKER_02 41:20

Still.

SPEAKER_05 41:20

You know, because it's going to cost a pretty penny to go anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 41:23

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: I I think people I I think what's really sad about it is people now are probably having to make a decision between what do we eat and filling up their gas tank. Because it's it's it's pretty awful. It's coming. Prices. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:40

I just saw$7.65. I'm going, I just joke with somebody, which is no joke. I go, what if it goes into double figures? It's like$10 a gallon plus. I'm going, do can they fit that on that board?

SPEAKER_02 41:54

I'm sure they'll make it happen.

SPEAKER_05 41:56

They'll add an extra piece of wood on the side.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

Like the old days, you know, when they had the little wooden or the plastic.

SPEAKER_05 42:04

Tape it on. Good Lord. Yeah. No, we have the worst gas prices. By the way, Humboldt has the worst gas prices in America.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Well, I don't think so because we just made this trip to Monterey and there wasn't that much difference. Was it no, everybody's caught up.

SPEAKER_05 42:19

Yeah. That's a great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Don't worry about it. You're not Yeah, we're not that special anymore.

SPEAKER_05 42:26

We were in Maui like four years ago, and it was cheaper in Maui than it was in McKinleyville.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:31

I'm going, what? You know, and you go to Weaverville and it's a buck cheaper.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

I know it.

The Quiz: Best Days And Worst Calls

SPEAKER_05 42:35

You go to Oregon, it's two bucks cheaper. I'm going, what what are we doing here? Oh my gosh. Anyway, hey, time for the quiz. Hey, it's time for you to earn some Dick Taylor chocolate. Brought to you by Dick Taylor Chocolate Bar. Chocolate Craft Chocolate. Oh, let me read it rather than wing it. Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate, 73% dark with Fleur de Sol. Ooh. I know. This is our uh best-selling fleur de sole chocolate bars made using our award-winning two ingredient Baylise dark chocolate. We add uh a sprinkling of hand-harvested fleur de sole sea salt.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Salt. Oh, I know. I love it.

SPEAKER_05 43:13

From the Bitterman Salt Company. I don't know where that is, for a subtle and delicate finish. Um Are you ready?

SPEAKER_02 43:21

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_05 43:21

Okay, question number one. I'm gonna ring the bell again just for effect. What's your best day that you've ever had? One of your best days.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

Oh, probably the day Christopher was born. That's cool.

SPEAKER_05 43:36

Yeah. Was he born in Mad River?

SPEAKER_02 43:38

No, he was born at General Hospital.

SPEAKER_05 43:40

In General, okay.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

Yeah. Yeah. That was a great day.

SPEAKER_05 43:45

So was Gabriel. Yeah. They would shut it down, I think, kind of like Yeah. General, that was a good hospital. I thought that was a good vibe. Uh number two.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

My worst days? I think the worst days were when you get a phone call that there'd be an accident. But fortunately, everybody was pretty much okay.

SPEAKER_05 44:10

But just starting the day with some sort of Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

Yeah.

unknown 44:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Yeah, the accident.

SPEAKER_05 44:15

My brother called from Missouri. It was nine two thousand four when my dad died. Hey Scott. It's like six in the morning. Yeah. Yeah, Jeff. What do you you never call, do you? Hey Scotty, uh dad. Dad died last night. Thanks, bro.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Goodbye. It was like one of those calls. We had two weekends in a row. Somebody ran one of our employees off the road, uninsured. Of course. On and on. Yeah. So that was, you know, the Saturday morning phone call. And then the following Saturday, our log truck had gotten in a wreck, and thank God nobody was hurt. So it was two back-to-backs.

SPEAKER_05 45:01

And they were both vehicles.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

And they were both vehicles.

SPEAKER_05 45:08

It's all related though. It's all risk.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. No, we were pretty we were pretty lucky. Has John ever had any sort of accident? He broke his back in a truck driving log log truck. Okay. And then, you know, some of the old timers come around and talk about some of the near-death experiences that he doesn't really bring up.

SPEAKER_05 45:32

Yeah. Yeah. Those are for after two or three beers.

SPEAKER_02 45:37

Oh yeah, no. They come out and it's like, whoa.

SPEAKER_05 45:40

Yeah. I remember losing uh Marshall Sunberg.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

Back in the day. We used to go to church with his family.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

Well, you know, that painting at the airport when you're in TSA, the climber on the uh end of the wall.

SPEAKER_05 45:53

Right.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

That's him.

SPEAKER_05 45:55

That you painted. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 45:56

I did that for Garth. Oh, yeah. The family. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:59

They're a nice family.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

Yeah, they're a great family.

SPEAKER_05 46:01

What a nice, nice family. They're so cool. Okay, question number whatever. Let's see if it rings. There we go. Um, what's crushing, soul crushing for you, and what's fulfilling?

SPEAKER_02 46:14

Soul crushing?

SPEAKER_05 46:15

Yeah, what takes it out of your the wind out of your sails.

SPEAKER_00 46:18

Ah, boy. What well, let's see.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

I don't know. I've been been uh when my husband doesn't tell me something.

SPEAKER_05 46:33

Ah that's it. Hear that, John.

SPEAKER_02 46:37

When I have to find out through a phone call or from somebody else. Third party. That's soul crushing. Disclosure.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

That's fair.

SPEAKER_02 46:47

That's a good answer. Or an email.

SPEAKER_05 46:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

What is this? Don't you tell me this?

SPEAKER_05 46:55

You're a mandated reporter. That's a good one. What do you find fulfilling?

SPEAKER_02 47:02

Oh, I don't know. Hanging out with my friends and doing my artwork and hanging out with Christopher and uh Yeah. My family.

SPEAKER_05 47:15

Family and friends, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 47:16

Yeah, we got a great we got a great little posse.

SPEAKER_05 47:19

Nice. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 47:20

Yeah, we're very lucky.

SPEAKER_05 47:21

You blue light kids are all cool kids. Oh yeah. We haven't been out for a while because of the weather, I guess, but it's well the weather and I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 47:28

Are they having music out there very often?

SPEAKER_05 47:30

I think they do on the weekends still.

SPEAKER_02 47:31

Oh, they do? Because it was so consistent.

SPEAKER_05 47:34

Oh, such a thing for many years.

SPEAKER_02 47:36

So much fun.

SPEAKER_05 47:37

Yeah, and it's changed over the years. COVID again changed life. Yeah. They tell me the logger bar is really fun.

SPEAKER_02 47:44

Oh, it is fun. Have you ever been to one of the plays?

SPEAKER_05 47:47

I have not. I want to go.

SPEAKER_02 47:48

Oh my God. You should interview him.

SPEAKER_05 47:50

We had Michael Fields on.

SPEAKER_02 47:51

Oh, you did?

SPEAKER_05 47:52

Oh, he's great.

SPEAKER_02 47:52

Oh, yeah. No.

SPEAKER_05 47:54

It was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 47:55

See? Uh-oh. I disclosed I didn't I missed an episode.

SPEAKER_05 47:59

You're supposed to know all the episodes, Claudia. How dare you?

SPEAKER_02 48:05

Oh no, you need to go to one of those plays. They're they're outrageous. They are so much fun.

SPEAKER_05 48:11

Over the top.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

Over the top. And it involves all the local politics in Blue Lake. Yeah, it's he does such a great job.

SPEAKER_05 48:22

Poor Blue Lake. Did they ever figure that out?

SPEAKER_02 48:25

Oh my God. Who knows? It's a different story every day out there.

SPEAKER_05 48:29

Expel anybody that so you know Jason Bethany Shea, Pastor Jason Bethany. They live right next to the school. They're great, great friends. They love we go out there and hang out. Um yeah, love going out there. The funnest, the funnest, the funnest, is that a word? Uh Mad River Brewery used to do the uh Bob Dylan's birthday party.

SPEAKER_01 48:49

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05 48:50

And right before COVID, they had a big one. And it was in May. His birthday's in May, and all the bands that and all the the cadre of local musicians they they'd cover Bob's songs, Dylan's songs.

SPEAKER_02 49:02

Oh, in Blue Lake.

SPEAKER_05 49:03

Blue Lake at the Mad River Brewery.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 49:05

And the last one was just like a a riot. Joni's dad was there and he got so excited because that was his jam and had such a great time.

SPEAKER_02 49:14

We're so lucky. We have these great musicians.

SPEAKER_05 49:16

There's a lot of talent.

SPEAKER_02 49:18

There is a lot of talent.

SPEAKER_05 49:19

And envious of Blue Lake.

SPEAKER_02 49:21

It's cool because of the weather and the weather's perfect.

SPEAKER_05 49:23

The vibe is cool. It's hard to find a house there, but who knows? Who knows? Maybe one day. So um we'll talk about music in a minute, but in the meantime, last question. You get to go out to dinner and first of all, you get to do anything you want in a day. Yeah. And then go out to dinner at your favorite restaurant. What what are you going to do and where are you going to go with your day off?

SPEAKER_00 49:44

Uh oh.

SPEAKER_05 49:45

With the uh 100% Humboldt credit card.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

Oh, with the hundred percent.

SPEAKER_05 49:49

Anywhere you want to go.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

Oh. Well, I'd probably go fishing or clam digging.

SPEAKER_05 49:54

Oh, fun.

SPEAKER_02 49:55

Yeah. With Linda, my friend Linda.

SPEAKER_05 49:59

She likes clam digging?

SPEAKER_02 50:01

Yeah, but we haven't been able to do that in the city.

SPEAKER_05 50:03

On the bay?

SPEAKER_02 50:04

No, no, no. You go out uh out by clam beach.

SPEAKER_05 50:10

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

But I don't I don't think you've been able to do it for a while.

SPEAKER_05 50:13

Yeah, it's been a minute.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

Yeah. Or go out and the other day I got to go out and gather cows with uh Linda for Dean Hunt. Okay. Got to cowgirl up a little bit. That was fun.

SPEAKER_05 50:25

On horseback?

SPEAKER_02 50:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:26

Oh, that's cool. Dean's also a nice guy. I know. Hi Dean. We know Brian really we knew Brian really well. He's a realtor.

SPEAKER_02 50:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:33

Well, hi Brian.

SPEAKER_02 50:36

He's watching over us. Love you. Yep. And then my favorite places to eat are Larpens and Brick and Fire.

SPEAKER_05 50:44

Yeah. Good calls.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:47

Good, good, good.

SPEAKER_02 50:48

Those are really good.

SPEAKER_05 50:49

Yeah. You know what? New restaurants in town? The Habit Hamburger. But let me just tell you, I've had the burger in Reading, they were great. But they have um deep fried green beans.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05 51:02

Supposed to be delicious. It sounds like I would get my vegetable for the day.

SPEAKER_02 51:07

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:08

They gotta be healthy.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

They gotta be green. They gotta counteract. It's gotta be delicious.

SPEAKER_05 51:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

Let's hope they're fried and lard.

Vinyl Records And Favorite Music

SPEAKER_05 51:16

Yeah, in the real thing. Pretty sure they are lard. Yeah. So speaking of music, so you you have a vinyl collection like I do. And my my kids got me a big stereo for uh for my birthday on January 2nd. And uh started the collection with Dark Side of the Moon by Pig Floyd. And now um let's just say we have a room full of vinyl. I've upgraded the turntable. I mean, it's like a dark they call it black crack. Yeah. It's kind of an addiction. Yeah. And it's not that, it's it's a habit.

SPEAKER_02 51:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:46

It's a it's a hobby.

SPEAKER_02 51:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:48

Did I say habit? I guess it's a You said it was a habit.

SPEAKER_02 51:51

It's a spinning habit for you now.

SPEAKER_05 51:53

It's fun.

SPEAKER_02 51:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:54

It's like collecting baseball cards as a kid.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:56

Because all this old music that you can experience. Oh, look at the hey, we had this Rod Stewart album. This is so cool. Oh, I love this.

SPEAKER_02 52:03

I I have all my originals.

SPEAKER_05 52:06

Fleetwood Mac, what? She sounds oh, it sounds really good on vinyl. And so it's it's a whole interesting different culture. So what did what did you like to listen to? What's your what was your jam?

SPEAKER_02 52:17

Oh, geez. I think I have every Will Willie Nelson, every Merle Haggard, every Jimmy Buffett.

SPEAKER_05 52:25

Merle lived here for a while, right? No.

SPEAKER_02 52:27

No, Sh Lake Shasta. He was over there. Or Mount Shasta somewhere else.

SPEAKER_05 52:33

The other guy. He was part of their um Was it Merle? I think Merle lived here here for a minute. I'll come back. I'll get back to it.

SPEAKER_02 52:42

Trevor Burrus, Jr. But anyway, well he might. He wrote that song about the bar in Garberville.

SPEAKER_05 52:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:48

So you had to spend some time there to know the Blue Room.

SPEAKER_05 52:51

The Blue Room in Garberville? Yeah. Really? Is it still there?

SPEAKER_02 52:54

Yes. Well, I think it is.

SPEAKER_05 52:56

Is that the name of the bar?

SPEAKER_02 52:57

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 52:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 52:58

I'm pretty sure.

SPEAKER_05 52:59

The Blue Room. Yeah. How do you know about the Blue Room?

SPEAKER_02 53:05

Are we going to go over every one of my stories?

SPEAKER_05 53:08

It's a logging bar.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

It's a logging bar.

SPEAKER_05 53:10

Do they have PBR and tap? You bet they do.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

You bet they do. So one time we were in one of those bars, my girlfriend ordered a uh cluing cream or some little drink like that. And this guy just leans over the bar and he goes, Honey, this is a work a man's bar. We don't have that stuff here.

SPEAKER_04 53:30

We don't do that here.

SPEAKER_05 53:33

We we got two beers. Went back to Sioux City, Iowa. They had, I thought, yeah, we'll go in here and get an IPA or whatever. They had Miller and Miller Light, and then they had a tap of um the cinnamon whiskey, the red hot um Oh, oh yeah. Tell us what that cinnamon whiskey is. Fireball.

SPEAKER_00 53:55

Fireball. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:56

Untap. Chilled. I go, okay, I'll just have the Miller, I guess. Get out of here.

SPEAKER_02 54:03

Champagne a bottle beers.

SPEAKER_05 54:04

That's right. Oh, what a uh Yeah, we're less beard beard people now. I like cider now. Oh, you do? There's some good ciders.

SPEAKER_03 54:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:12

Yep. So uh what else did you listen to? Fleetwood Mac?

SPEAKER_02 54:16

Oh shoot. I well, you know, uh yeah, I have my Fleetwood Mac and the Gordon Lightfoot and uh Gordon Lightfoot, how dare you guys. Yeah. That's he's from way back in the day and the Jim Croce and the Jesse Winchester.

SPEAKER_05 54:33

Is he country?

SPEAKER_02 54:35

No, you didn't know them. Jesse Winchester. How old are you?

SPEAKER_05 54:38

I'm 66.

SPEAKER_02 54:39

Oh, you're younger than I am.

SPEAKER_05 54:42

Okay. Yeah. Jesse Winchester.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

Yeah, I liked a lot of those singer-songwriters, kind of folk. Croche. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:49

Yeah. I have some crochety. Also boss gags, but he's a big thing. Yeah, I have a boss gags. Um Best of Ar Low Guthrie. You ever heard of Slim Whitman?

SPEAKER_02 55:00

Yes. I might have one.

SPEAKER_05 55:02

He was a Yodeling cowboy.

SPEAKER_02 55:04

Yeah. And uh Lefty Frizel.

SPEAKER_05 55:07

I've heard of it. Yeah, he's famous, right?

SPEAKER_02 55:09

Yeah. And who were the two uh the dad and the brother or the dad and the son that uh did the bluegrass?

SPEAKER_05 55:17

Oh, I know who you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 55:19

Um the son was killed in an accident.

SPEAKER_05 55:22

Yeah.

Legacy Thoughts And Closing Requests

SPEAKER_02 55:23

Merle and not Merle Haggard. No. Anyway, it'll come to me when I leave here.

SPEAKER_05 55:31

That's okay. We'll get it later. Well, hey, great having you. Let's talk about your legacy real quick. What are you proud of?

SPEAKER_02 55:38

Oh, I I I'm pro I've I've had a pretty good life. I think I've been a pretty good person. Nice. I think I've been nice.

SPEAKER_05 55:48

Except for Mexicali.

SPEAKER_02 55:50

Well, I mean, you're we stumbled in there.

SPEAKER_05 55:52

We were just directed. We didn't know where we were.

SPEAKER_02 55:56

I wasn't bad.

SPEAKER_05 55:57

It wasn't bad. We just had a beer. A beer and gone.

SPEAKER_02 56:00

Had a margarita and left.

SPEAKER_05 56:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:02

That's a good story. The music wasn't any good. We're out of here.

SPEAKER_05 56:09

That's a good one. Yeah, no, I love that. And so uh I always asked this question at so at the end of your life, what do you want to be remembered for? Uh, what are we gonna say at your memorial? And what and and then what would you like in your tombstone?

SPEAKER_02 56:24

Well, I I just think that I had a lot of fun. And my dad's was the best. He said he had himself a time. Oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_05 56:36

Yeah, that was a good one. Had a had himself a time.

SPEAKER_02 56:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:40

Oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

So I might steal that. Okay. Good. Yeah. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_05 56:44

I would borrow that one all day long. Well, thanks for coming. I know stone these are great when they go quick. This one went quick.

SPEAKER_02 56:50

I know.

SPEAKER_05 56:50

Yeah. Anything anything to add?

SPEAKER_02 56:53

No, thank you. This was fun.

SPEAKER_05 56:55

No, you were fun. Yeah, I know. Thanks. Thanks for being here. Hey, if you're just joining us. As we wrap here, my friend Claudia Lebah, my friend from Blue Lake. And uh hi to John. Hi, John and Chris. Uh if you if uh you'd like to uh first of all, thanks for joining us. Thank you for joining us. Uh Scott Hammond 100% humble podcast. Like us, love us, leave us gold bullion, your jag, whatever you want to do. It's all online. You can plug it in and donate. Uh we don't do this for free. Actually, we do. In fact, none of it's for free. It all costs money. But we'd love with that being in mind, if you like the show, why don't you just take a minute and write a nice review or a comment? Yeah. Or a heart or a little five-star thing or something. And better yet, vote for us uh for best of humbled. Oh. Northcoastjournal ncj.com or northcoastjournal.com. Go to best of humbled. It's under the bonus section and best podcast. And we'd very much like your vote. It's the nomination month for May, and then we're going to vote in June, provided we make the primary. You win a little plaque and a little pointed hat that says you're number one.

SPEAKER_02 58:04

And you get that little banner.

SPEAKER_05 58:05

You get a little banner, and you get to go to a party in Blue Lake.

unknown 58:07

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 58:08

At your house. No, it's it's at the casino. So hey, we're yeah we're looking to win that this year. So we're in it to win it, baby. It's so Yeah, vote. Yeah. Get out there and vote. So uh northcoastjournal.com, Scott Hammond, uh hundredhumbold.com, and we're on all the podcast platforms. We're on uh Access TV and of course YouTube. So uh thanks for joining us. Have a great rest of the day, and thanks, Claudia. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 58:31

This was fun.

SPEAKER_05 58:32

I had fun too.