Palomar Mountain News

Noreen and Colleen’s parents came to America as Irish Immigrants.  The girls were born in New York City.  When they were 5 and 2 years old Read More…

At the very bottom of an old box of Christmas ornaments, I found this yellowed card from 42 years ago.  Some of you know, we first bought our house on Palomar in 1975, lived here a few years, than sold and bought the same house back in 1998. 

We had two sons when we lived in Escondido and raised our boys there.  They enjoyed going to our favorite mountain to visit friends and play in the snow.  Almost two decades ago those boys had grown up and were off to college. 

We made a written list of what we’d like in downsizing from our five bedroom city house.  We wanted a place in the country with a “view, just two bedrooms, a detached guest house, some fruit trees, easy care…”.   It was quite a surprise when we learned our old house was for sale!  We bought it back the next day and call it the ‘Square House’ because in 2006 we were able to buy the place next door.  It has a 12 sided round house that we built out as a ranch with a barn for horses to keep a certain Cowboy happy.

Brandon married a childhood friend, Heidi Ackermann. They have four children we call the ‘Treasures’. It was always real special to have them visit but so rare with their busy city lives.  However, they decided to move their family out of the city to grow up ‘free range’ – climbing trees, having lots of animals and exploring. 

A dream I never dared to dream came true when they moved next door last yeatr and acquired Round House Ranch as their very own.  Brandon is in management with a VoIP company so works from the mountain most of the time. Heidi home schools between teaching on-line classes at Palomar College.

During their move, I said to Don one night, “wouldn’t it be nice if Nathan would move to Palomar, too?”  Don said, “Nathan would never move to Palomar, he loves San Diego!”   The next morning my phone rang.  It was Nathan.  He was selling his home in La Mesa and said, “what would you think about me moving to Palomar and live in the guest house?”.  This mom got tears in her eyes.  

About 6 years ago Nathan purchased two cabins on Palomar, rehabbed one and has it as a vacation rental.  He uses the second one for storage for some of his fix and flip projects in the city.  He works from our apartment (hooray for good internet) but does commute up and down quite often.  He is my broker for my Real Estate Business and the nieces and nephews are getting some great hands-on training so are in line for ‘opening doors’ for many years to come.

We are so blessed to have our whole family as ‘New Neighbors’ living next door and looking forward to many new adventures. 

We love drop-ins and you are welcome to pop by.  Thank you for all the cards, your friendships and all that makes Palomar such a special place.

“May your holidays be a blending of caring times, sharing times…

moments of love.  Merry Christmas”

From our family to yours!

Bonnie and Don

Brandon, Heidi, Kiara, Judah, Sunshine and Atticus

Nathan aka “Uncle Nathan”

Click to meet more New Neighbors

Read More…

 Neither rain, sleet, snow or heavy winds and power outages will stop

Read More…

Just got this welcomed message from Chef Chad at the Conference Center:

Power back on at camp.
How about your house?

We unplugged the generator and sure enough!  Let there be LIGHT!

If the winds pick back up, SDG&E might need to power down again.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Bonnie

The power is still out on Palomar.  I spoke with crews working to check lines.  There are a lot of branches down and they want to make sure their lines are safe to turn back on.  Because of the calm wind now the possibility might be to turn power back on tonight.  However, because of stronger winds predicted through the weekend, it might be longer.

Click for more SDG&E info.

For weekenders, unless you have a propane fridge or a generator hooked up, the next time you are at your cabin, you’d want to start fresh with your refrigerator and freezer supply.

Several folks have called and asked about the ‘Sweetwater Fire in Cleveland National Forest’. Cleveland is a very large forest so that area is down in east county.

So thankful to wake to the calm day on the Mountain!

SDG&E has the power off on the Mountain because of the extreme wind.  It is a safety precaution with the fire danger.  It will be off through Saturday but maybe off until Monday or so.  Things in your freezer will last about 12 hours and the power has been off up here since about 1:00 pm today.

Over the past years our power has been off during the winter so folks without generators, bag things up and put them outdoors…  that isn’t going to work this time.

It seems so trite to be concerned about having our power off for a few days compared with what others our dealing with tonight.  Take care everyone.

God Bless you All,

Bonnie and Family

Huge tree is down near the top of the Nate.  About 3 feet in diameter.  It is totally blocking the road.  Already called in to County Road crew.

Just spoke to James, foreman with County Roads. He was driving down the South Grade and was the first to stop in front of a large tree blocking the grade this morning.   Three hours later the had that grade open.  The Nate will not be opened until some time tomorrow.

Thanks to all who work to keep our mountain safe!

The chefs at the Christian Conference Center want to make sure they have enough supplies and food for all.  Please RSVP by tomorrow so they can get their order in for the cookie party and lunch for all on Tuesday! Click for more details.

Santa hats optional!

Thanks!

Chefs Chad and Steve

   Most of you have seen the devastation from the newest fires in Ventura and LA Counties.  So sad. See article below about those extreme winds heading south.

<<From: Rosemary Johnston Subject: San Diego faces ‘extreme’ wildfire danger starting late tonight – The San Diego Union-Tribune Sounds like the most danger is in east county, but I suspect it could get challenging on Palomar also.>>

Since it is a very real situation for your city house or mountain cabin – no matter where we live, you might consider scrolling though this info and updating your property photos, insurance records and County Assessor information and being prepared with an updated To Go Bag and your vehicles full of fuel.

We’re praying for all impacted by the fires and for safety for our beautiful mountain.

Bonnie and Family