Living in Contra Costa County

Here is some great advise for anyone living in California or Earthquake Country.  Big ones don't come often but when they come we need to be ready.

Although in Part 1 I covered getting there and why I went here; and in Part 2 I covered most of what we did for fun; Part 3 is the most interesting because it is a character study of sorts.

I think we live in an age where people are to cautious.  Now I do not think taking foolish risk is good but I also think we are over protective and risk adverse in this country to the point were it is crushing our spirit (and our economy). 

The Kid on the right is not at the point they would slide from.  He was just working his way over.  The kid on the left is, although you might confuse him for a rock.

There is a huge glacier on the west side of West Highland Lakes that this year comes right down to the water.  (We have had a lot of late snow this year).  Of course my boys want to slide down it.

Last year they did the same thing, but the glacier ended in a swampy mess before it hit the lake.

Well this year the boys were better prepared.  They had a small air mattress they were going to sit on.  They also grabed the cardboard water case that has plastic on the bottom. 

As they started to climb the side of the mountain to get up to the top of the glacier we actually gathered a crowd of campers to see if they would actually do it.  There was speculation that they would shoot right into the water. 

Now I knew my kids had done the same thing last year and had come to a stop before hitting the bottom, but they might get more speed with the air mattress, but so what I figured.  The lake is only about 2 feet deep around that point and I can always warm them up.  I talked to them about where to go down, not too close to the trees or rocks.  I also did not permit them to go to the higher side of the glacier. 

As you can see looking at the picture of the glacier there are avalanches here (note the bend in the trees) at times in the year, but the snow was too shallow now. 

In this picture you can make out some of their path down in the snow on the right side of the glacier.  The left side of the glacier continues up around the rocks.

My kids ended up doing this several times (One to comic effect when my oldest and very large son fell of the air mattress and grabbed the rope handle while getting on.  He started flying down the hill.  One of his little brothers grabbed the back end and was pulled along.  They got a lot of speed without being on the air mattress but finally stopped at the bottom.)

No one else, even other kids, watching would try it.  Now I did not try it.  I was not scared of the trip down.  I was scared of the walk up.  We were already at about 9000 feet and it could kill my fat butt. 

I am really proud of my kids and their willingness to do some risky things. 

I think that was the highlight of our trip to Highland Lakes. 

This is Part 2 - Part 1 was about where we were headed and why!

I was looking forward to spending time in the sun and reading a book while enjoying nature.  Of course the kids were bored after the first half day, but I got them to slow down and by day 3 they were having lots of fun.

They did a little swimming but the water was chilly, the spent some time hiking.  They hiked around the East Lake:

There is my son Weston on his hike around the East Lake.  Janson ducked behind a tree.

My oldest Son Nelson and my friend Paul took a Short Hike into the Carson Iceberg Wilderness!

Of course they did a little Fishing:  Corbin Caught a couple small ones that tasted real good.  I did not fish I am the repairer of poles and the string of new rigs, remover and cleaner of fish.

When you get my little boys near dirt or sand they start digging.  At one point we had an entire series of canals, dikes and damns on the West end of East Highland Lake.

On the way home we did stop at Alpine Lake for a little dip.  But I have saved the best thing for my next and last post on the Trip - Danger Boys!

We don't have much money for Vacation this year, but I was able to take my four oldest boys and a friend of mine on the Great Camping Trip this year. 

I love the high sierra and miss the days when I was younger and back packed all over them.  So I like to go High and we went up to about 8,000 to 9,000 Feet to Highland Lakes off Highway 4.  Highway 4 is one of the most scenic routes over the Sierra.  Although it is a state highway at some points it is basically a one lane road with no divider marks down the middle winding through the mountains.  It goes past beautiful Alpine Lake and then past Mosquito Lake.

View Larger Map

Finally we take the turn off and follow a dirt road up 5 miles to Highland Lakes.  High Land Lakes is two lakes at the crest of the Sierra, smaller one on the west side drains west and the other drains east. 

East Highland Lake - My Wake Up View

With our late winter snow was still on the ground in patches - not enough to make us un comfortable.  Maybe 5% coverage in the camp ground area.  Enough to keep us cool, let the boys have some fun, and to put the ice chest in when the ice was gone.

Breakfast at Highland Lakes

Technically the camp site was not open, so the water pump was not working.  However, the rest rooms were open and I did not have to pay camping fees!  Yippee!  Not to worry I brought plenty of water and we used water coming off a nearby glacier for cooking and cleaning.  It was probably safe to drink but we boiled it while using.

I am going to finish this off in two more parts - Part 2 - What we did for Fun! and Part 3 - Danger Boys!

Property Taxes in California!

I get a lot of questions from people about what will their property taxes be after they purchase the home.  There is no one answer.  There are some complex issues that can arise, but I will give you the answer that will probably apply to 99% of the purchases.

For those of you old enough to remember in 1978 California Passed (over the objections of then and now Governor Jerry Brown) Proposition 13.  This was the beginning of a Nationwide Tax Payer Revolt.  Within a Day of it's passing Jerry Brown was all for it and within 2 weeks everyone thought he wrote in the first place.  He then tried to ride the issue into the White House as part of the Tax Payer Revolt.

Proposition 13 Limited Property Taxes to 1% of the assessed value.  It also placed the maximum assessed value at purchase price plus 2% per year.  If you buy a house for $200,000.00 the maximum it can be assessed at (barring unusual circumstances or improvements) is about $221,000.00.

Now politicians are clever and they have found ways to get around the 1% limit.  There are some special districts and some special assessments on many properties.  There is Mello Roos Assessments which are really improvement bonds, not taxes, but it feels like a tax. 

In different areas agents will know the approximate tax rate as a percentage of the purchase price.  I have heard of some areas as low as 1.1 and as high as 1.5.  In East Contra Costa County for the most part it is around 1.25 to 1.3%.

Each home will have different assessments and after you are in contract they will have to provide you with a disclosure report showing all of the assessments.

A home purchased for $300,000.00 in East Contra Costa will probably have an annual property tax rate starting out of about $3,750.00 to $3,900.00; but always check, these numbers are averages.

I couple of weeks ago I took my sons up camping to a place called Highland Lakes in northern California.

The boys actaully showed the patients to do some fishing.  I had brought the poles but was caught off guard by thier attention spans.  They actually wanted to fish and I had not brought that much bait.

These two lakes have a mixture of Brook Trout, Cut Throat Trout, and Gold Trout.  My son Corbin caught a 9.5" trout, but I cannot make out which one it is.  I suspect it might be a hybred of two or three types.  Rest assured he tasted good.

What type of Trout do you think it is?

As the primary season approaches I am looking for honest people with new solutions to old problems; however, not primarily government solutions.  I do not mind tough choices and sacrifice; however, raising taxes is not the tough choice I am after.  Cutting services I can live with, even some of mine.

What I want for loss of "Government Services" is a vibrant and dynamic economy that rewards hard work.  I want a country that I can support my family in.  I want a country with as much Freedom as possible.

I support the TEA Party movement.  I will probably vote Republican, but the real test is here in the primaries.  A RINO is a Republican In Name Only.  One that talks the talk but does not walk the walk.  I will not vote for a RINO.

Today the WallStreet Journal had an excellent article on the "Civil War" in the Republican Party right now.

The establishment provided us with a looser up in the 23rd New York Congressional District in an effort to appeal to moderates.  Moderates and most people are attracted to people with unique ideas and not stuck in a mold, as long as they have integrity.  I do not agree with everyone in the TEA Party, nor do I agree with some people in every regard who I do support.

I California Poizner and Whittman are going at each other pretty strong.  Both are talking tough, but both have questionable patterns of checking which way the wind is blowing.  There is another Republican Candidate for Governor - Larry Naritelli.  I do not know much about him, but I am giving him strong consideration.

Help Stamp Out RINO's!

Arena FootBall League is Back.

Those of you who follow my blog know that I like Football, and I really like NFL Football.  But when I cannot get the NFL I love to watch Arena Football.  It is a great off season fix.

For those not familiar with Arena Football it is played indoors on a 50 year field that is also narrower.  There are 8 men on the field at a time for each team (5 line and 3 back field).  No punting is allowed.  The backfield can be in motion vertically as well as horizontally.  It is a wide open high scoring game.  Very Gen X and my kids love it.  They call it the

Well last season the Arena Football League went bankrupt and we did not have the off season fix, but a new Arena Football League is back.  I understand they bought the assets of the old League and so we get some continuation and tradition.  There are 15 teams now.  Some old AFL teams and some new ones.

Tonight they start the season on the NFL Network at 8 PM EST.  The NFL Network will host a game every Friday and you can watch any of the others on Web TV.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Three of my boys are home schooled and Monterey Bay had the Home School Day on Monday November 2.  So we packed up four of the boys (the other is in Public School) and headed down Sunday afternoon for a fun night at the Hotel first.

Public School day is FREE which put this right in out price range.  The kids loved it especially the sea otters.  The big hype is on the Sea Horse exhibit which I felt was so so.  There is a large tank with sharks, big tunas, barracudas and a number of other fish.

Most of the fish are salt water, but they did have some nice looking trout; wish I had my rod and a fry pan; but they probably would have tossed me out.

What I did not know is there is a huge underwater canyon that goes 2 miles down right off the Monterey coast.  The average depth of the world's oceans is 2.5 miles so what they have is an area with multiple habitats they can study close by. 

It is Good to be back to Work: Some of you may have caught my post “Time for a Break.” In fact I have been back since Monday, but so busy I had not had time to get this post in.

I took my two oldest sons up to a place called Sterling Lake off Interstate 80 at the Cisco Grove Exit. You need to follow a dirt road about 6 miles in. I also took one of my old buddies from church for adult company. He took the pics.

I started coming up this way when I was in Boy Scout Troop 102 out of El Cerrito California. We used to park the cars at Sterling Lake and haul everything into a base camp at what is known as Upper Eastern Brook Lake. We set up a regular summer camp run just by our own troop. We had canoes, row boats, swimming area, lashed up a camp kitchen, it was all pretty impressive. If any of you guys read this and send some pics I will post them and write more on the camp. My troop had first did this in about 1968, but I had not been here and my troop did not revise the tradition until 1978.

Off the trails leading out of Sterling Lake is a small area of only a few square miles containing maybe a dozen nice lakes. Many of the lakes are not on the topographical maps and the best view of the area is a Google Satellite view. (The link takes you to Sterling Lake.  Scroll North and zoom in to see some of the other lakes.)  The two main trails (Red Trail and Blue Trail) lead back to Mosey Pond. This is just a fantastic area to hang out.

My kids in the raft at Sterling Lake.  I am swimming near them in a couple of shots.

It was very hot up there. In the old days there were a number of logging roads, many have been shut down and you can no longer drive into Mosey Pond. You can no longer park next to sterling lake and have to haul all the camping gear down from the road, probably only about 100’, but a steep 100’. I am not the hiking machine I was when I was younger.

Heading out on Our Hike near Sterling.  Me in foreground and My oldest Nelson on rocks above!

We had borrowed a raft and my kids paddled all over the lake. Saturday we hiked about 2/3’s the way to Mosey Pond on the Blue Trail. But we got hot, so we stopped for a swim and lunch and headed back.

Panorama of Sterling Lake.  I am barely visible in the raft with my son Corbin.

My kids worked on their Royal Ranger Badges, Camping, Camp Safety, Fire Craft, and Dutch Oven Cooking. My 11 year old needs his Firecraft badge and he really got into chopping wood and starting fires. It is always good to have one like this as it saves me work. The kids made a really good stew and cobbler using the Dutch Ovens.

A good time was had by all. The best part is that many of the problems I left behind resolved them self. After a good rest I came up with some solutions for the others. One of the dichotomies of life is God wants us to work hard, but we also need to know when to take a break and trust him.

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