Sandy J. Hartwick's Blog, page 4

The Miner’s Wife

Photo courtesy of Nathan Wright.

“They liked to party and the more that they partied, the more the paranormal activity increased.”

The Miner’s Wife

There is a house in Bridgeport, California that is haunted, or at least it was back in the late 80’s.  The house is on an unassuming  street  and appears normal enough and just glancing at it would not give you any reason to expect a haunting. The story goes that many years ago,when Bodie (a mining town near Bridgeport) was booming,  a drunken miner came home, beat his wife and then threw her from the second floor window killing her.

One of my friends knew people that lived in the home during her childhood; they reported hearing someone walking up the stairs or the kitchen faucet being turned on, but no one was ever there.

Later, my friend’s brother C. and his roommate rented the house and experienced these things also. They liked to party and the more that they partied, the more the paranormal activity increased. They noticed that sometimes there were indentations on the couch as if someone was sitting there, but when anyone mentioned it, the couch would pop back into place, as if someone stood up. 

One night C. was lying in his bed when a poster he had on the wall began to shake violently, finally flying off the wall and landing on his face. Another night he was upstairs and he could hear someone coming up the stairs. He called out thinking it was his roommate. No answer. When he turned to go check, something screamed in his face. Nothing was there. He packed his things and left the next morning.

Not long after this, his roommate saw the ghost standing in the doorway of the master bathroom. She had long brown hair and was wearing a brown skirt and and a long sleeved, blue shirt.

When word got out about what he had seen an old woman named Eunice approached him and talked to him about it. Eunice had lived in Bridgeport her whole life. She had lived across the street from the house at the time of the murder, witnessed the murder and testified at the trial. When the roommate described the ghost, she said it fit the description of the murdered woman.

 

 

 

The Ranch House

The Ranch House

Back in 1983 or ’84 my husband and another cowboy helped some married friends move from Nevada to a ranch in Oregon. The new place had a big historic ranch house on the property and that is where they stayed for the night.

After a long day of moving, my husband and the other cowboy laid out their bedrolls in one of the spare rooms, while the couple set up in the master bedroom.

Around midnight, my husband and his friend were awakened by loud talking and laughing in the kitchen. It sounded like ranch talk with two or three people talking about cattle and such. My husband shrugged it off and went back to sleep.

In the morning he asked his married friends about all the conversation that was going on around midnight. They gave him a blank look. They had slept through the night and no one else was in the house. His friend confirmed that he had heard the conversation also.

The couple was leasing the ranch from a family that didn’t get along and the grandparents of the family had passed in the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Eric Muhr

“The couple was leasing the ranch from a family that didn’t get along and the grandparents of the family had passed in the house. “

 

Time for Spooky Stories

Photo courtesy of Toa Heftiba

Time for Spooky Stories

The sunshine is beginning to reduce its intensity and the daylight is slipping away faster each day. Trees and bushes are turning golden and the fallen leaves bounce across the roads in the breeze. Autumn is here, October is nearly half over and Halloween approaches. It seems like a good time for some spooky stories. I will start.

My first ghostly story occurred in 1978 and I was about 13. I was at a friend’s house and we were alone.  We had spent the day in her room and as the sun set and it grew dark, it was the only light on in the house. We were listening to “King Tut” by Steve Martin and when the song reached,”Now when I die,” there was a crash in the kitchen which sounded like someone had dumped the silverware out of the drawer. We were both scared, but she ventured out to look. There was no one there. She then told me that someone had died in the house long before.

My second story happened much later when I was staying with my parents, because my pregnancy was high risk and I needed to be close to a hospital. (My husband and I lived on a remote ranch at the time.).

I was staying in my childhood room, when I woke in the night. My mother had left a light on in the living room for some reason. I could hear the creak of footsteps in the hallway and I got up to see if one of my parents was up. No one was there, but I could see foot impressions in the carpet walking away from me towards the living room. I went back to bed and pulled the covers over my head thoroughly freaked out.

My last stories involve cats. Our neighbors’ dog had killed my son’s beloved cat. We were all heartbroken. In the middle of the night about a week later a cat jumped onto the foot of our bed. THERE WERE NO CATS IN THE HOUSE. I freaked out and kicked my feet all across the bottom of the bed. My husband said he had felt it too.

Another time in our living room, two of our cats were sitting on the back of a sofa, the sun warming them from the window behind them. Suddenly both cats saw something in the doorway of the room, poofed up and tore off the couch terrified. There was nothing there. My husband and I noticed that they were so scared that they had peed on the window behind them.

My stories may be tame to you, but I have had plenty of other times in old buildings or houses when I have had that creepy feeling of being watched or had the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Do you have any ghost stories that you would like to share with me? I would like to use them in my blog. I can use your name if you want or you can remain anonymous. I plan on sharing a spooky story everyday until November 1st.

 

 

Time is Speeding Up

 

 

Keeping a journal is a great way to look back at a moment in life and is perhaps, more revealing than the frozen Kodachrome moment of time.

    

Time is Speeding Up

As I have said in previous blog posts, keeping a journal is a great way to look back at a moment in life and is perhaps, more revealing than the frozen Kodachrome moment of time.

Journal Entry – September 5, 2003 Friday

Another day, another chance to do good & great things or at least to do good & kind things. Yesterday, we went to see Grandma Ann in Yerington & I guess it made her so happy, because she called Mom after we left.

I will try to go more often. Sometimes it seems like time is speeding up–often half the day is gone and I have not accomplished much. And so going and doing things like visiting people do not  seem to happen often . . . although they should as their value is great in love & human connection & memories whereas the floor will continue to be in need of vacuuming as long as it exists and its cleaning though time consuming is but temporary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kayaking the Snake

“As we approached the Perrine Bridge, which stands 500 feet above the river, two BASE jumpers leaped off the bridge, floated down and landed near us.”

 

 

Kayaking the Snake

We have friends visiting this weekend and yesterday we took them kayaking on the Snake river.

We are lucky to have many bodies of water near our home providing all kinds of aquatic sports opportunities; however at this point we only have paddle boards and kayaks.

We are fair weather, smooth water kayakers unlike my kayak instructor brother-in-law who kayaks in the ocean, wears a helmet and has taken his kayak in rapids and with him on the plane to different destinations.

Yesterday, we were blessed with a perfect fall day, the water was like glass and we only saw a handful of other people, two boats and a few other kayakers and paddle boarders.

We paddled from the launch at Centennial Park. As we approached the Perrine Bridge, which stands 500 feet above the river, two BASE jumpers leaped off the bridge, floated down and landed near us. My friends joked that we had paid them to do this just because they were visiting. 

We passed under the bridge and continued on upstream to Pillar Falls. The water level has dropped enough in the Snake  that we could pull our boats up onto the rocks. We explored where the river has etched and carved away the rocks into interesting shapes and bowls and finally sat in the fall sunshine enjoying a beer together, just relaxing and talking. Finally, we reluctantly had to pack up and head back.

The return trip was just as nice. Golden, fallen leaves were on the surface of the water. A fish would jump occasionally and leave a ripple in the water and a few ducks floated past. It was one of those fortunate days, we felt blessed to have the experience and share it with our friends who had never been to our area or on the river.

 

Crack Bacon

Crack Bacon

We don’t make bacon often, but when we do, it is always Crack Bacon. Named years ago after what we had heard was a most addictive substance. Perfect on its own or added to those home-grown ripe tomatoes appearing in a garden near you now as a delectable BLT.

You will need:

1 # bacon

2 Tbsps brown sugar

Fresh ground black pepper

Chipotle pepper

Cayenne

We use glass baking pans to cook the bacon in the oven. We have found this to be a superior and less messy way to enjoy bacon.

Preheat oven to 425. Place the bacon in the pans in a single layer. Depending on your bacon and the pans you may have 2 or 3 pans.

Sprinkle the pepper and spices on to taste. We generally use a generous sprinkle of the black pepper and the chipotle and just a dusting of the cayenne.

Place the pans in the oven and check after 15-20 minutes. Ovens are all different, so you may need to check sooner.

We find that no matter which bacon you use, some pieces will cook faster than others, so after the initial cook time you will need to check the bacon every few minutes to avoid incineration.

When the bacon is about two minutes from golden perfection, sprinkle on the brown sugar. Drain on paper towels. Try not to eat it all in one sitting, as it heats up great for a sandwich later.

On those rare occasions when we have a lot of leftover bacon, we put it in the freezer. You can then just pull out a piece or two at a time to add to a sandwich or…

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels

“Named years ago after what we had heard was a most addictive substance. “

 

Exercise, Life and Keeping Yourself Accountable

 

 

 

     “October 8, 2020 Wrists hurt! P. ups 25+10+10+5 Wall sit 2:45”.

Exercise, Life and Keeping Yourself Accountable

I want to follow up on yesterday’s blog post. Keeping a little notebook and writing down your workouts is helpful. It enforces some accountability and it is kinda interesting to look back and track your progress. Make it simple and use it.

The notebook in the photo is mine and notes today’s effort. If you can’t read my messy handwriting, it says, “October 8, 2020 Wrists hurt! P. ups 25+10+10+5 Wall sit 2:45”

This brings me to life. I have no idea why my wrists are hurting today. It was uncomfortable, but I did my push ups, although I didn’t get the 30-35 in a row I was hoping for. If it had been really ouchy, I would not have done them or may have even gone to a doctor.

Listen to your body and avoid injury. Sometimes we all get lazy, but anytime I am not feeling 100% I try to make a compromise to get the work done, even if it is not perfect. I think many of us have ignored our bodies’ complaints and paid for it.

It isn’t worth having to start back at the beginning or worse being laid up for months. This July I had some sort of sinus thing going on and did not complete my push ups or planks for the WHOLE month. When I tried to do them, it would hurt so badly and then I would have a terrible sinus headache all day. In August, I got back to my exercises, but did lose some progress on the number of push ups I could do in a row.

Life also has a way of messing up exercise schedules. I don’t do my body weight exercises on vacation, but try to fit in some sort of healthy recreation to substitute. Whatever happens in life try to get back to your exercise, even if all you can manage is a short walk or some stretches. Eventually things will get back to some sort of normal and you can get back on track.

 

 

 

Push Ups and Planks

“My husband and I do the planks together, because misery loves company. “

Push Ups and Planks

My exercise routine has varied a lot over the years. I recall one year in high school where I ran every day–rain, snow, wind and even fog. I miss those days and I hope to run again eventually.

My current routine involves doing push ups and planks once a week, doing some stretching twice a week and a daily walk.

These are the traditional push ups, not on the knees. As much as I dread push up day and plank day, I will keep doing them, because of how much they help my body.

My goal is to eventually be able to do 50 push ups straight. I am at 30 straight now and then I finish up with 20 more if I am feeling strong or I break it up into 15 plus however many I think I can do (usually 7 or so). I finish with a 2:45 wall-sit.

My husband and I do the planks together, because misery loves company. We do two 1:13 front planks, one 1:35 reverse plank and two :45 second side planks on both sides. We are not really sure what the goal is, but we add on 5 seconds to the time when we feel up to it.

I guess the point of this post is to encourage you to start on your own body weight exercise routine. The work is challenging, but so good for you. Just start easy and slowly increase, you will be surprised how much definition you will begin to see in your body.

This article lists 15 reasons why they are beneficial, including mental health and the fact that you can do them almost anywhere. https://fitactiveliving.com/benefits-of-bodyweight-exercises/

 

Turkey Massacre

              Turkey Massacre

Photo courtesy of Kirk Thornton kirkthornton.net

Journal entry November 19, 2004

Next week is Thanksgiving and so we shall have a turkey massacre on Monday. Sometimes I wish I had never ordered these birds! They are all locked up, because I don’t have a real fence around the house and they make sh*t paintings all over my sidewalks and decks. Isn’t it funny how problem #1 leads to problem #2?

Since they are all locked up together, the turkeys (we believe) are eating the chicken eggs. We know that they ate five (at least) today. I am thinking about some serious thinning of the flock. I was going to keep a breeding pair of the turkeys, but now I am thinking they all belong in the freezer.

Life goes on as usual at Hartwick farm . . . at least until Monday.

 

Last Item on my Bucket List

Last Item on my Bucket List

My bucket list gets progressively more dangerous. 

The last item on the list is donning a squirrel suit and going for a flight. This is also known as Wingsuit Flying. One of my dear friends and I have agreed on this and imagine ourselves using our walkers to bring us up to the edge of a yawning precipice and taking off. She told her daughter about this and her daughter exclaimed, “But mom that’s dangerous!” When my friend told me this story, we laughed and laughed. (Interestingly enough her daughter loves to rock climb on scary cliffs.) 

According to the Skydivers’ Information Manual, the United States Parachute Association requires that any jumper have a minimum of 200 freefall skydives before completing a Wingsuit first jump course and making a Wingsuit jump. 

Since I haven’t made one skydive yet, I guess I better get started.

Photo courtesy of Lane Smith

lanesmithmedia.com

“According to the Skydivers’ Information Manual, the United States Parachute Association requires that any jumper have a minimum of 200 freefall skydives before completing a Wingsuit first jump course and making a Wingsuit jump.” Source Wikipedia