Palomar Mountain News

Mike is living his dream of being in the woods, shaded by beautiful trees with a big dose of privacy. Having very nice neighbors was a real bonus. In fact, the former owner of his cabin, has a getaway next door and did the remodel on Mike’s home. Mike and Guy work both for the military so have lots in common. Mike spends his days at Pendleton as a heavy equipment mechanic and looks forward to coming home to his cabin in the woods. He already had a 4wd truck and is experienced in snow so is totally dialed in. He and other neighbors have worked out good parking options when we are under a blanket of snow. It’s all good!

Mike has great plans, looking forward to taking advantage of the perfect spot on his land to build a garage and workshop. Ah, lots of fun projects ahead. Welcome Mike!

It was so fun to see Mike Pique having a wonderful hike and a good dose of Vitamin D, picking up trash around the Fire Station. He said he really scored at a snow bank finding a few quarters and some dimes. Think he cashed in with about two dollars!$!

Mike is just one of many people that has volunteered for years to help keep our mountain free of debris. We don’t have trash cans on Palomar as we are just a little mountain community. Volunteers have lots of extra work after snow days, but it is good exercise and just think, we don’t have to go to a gym! Well, gyms are closed anyway so we’ve got it made on the Mountain!

Of course, it would be wonderful if the snow bunnies would pick up after themselves. Most folks do, but a lot don’t. I keep an empty trash bag in my car year-round, make it fun out and about, with a big black bag. I meet the nicest people. Usually they have their camera with them so I often ask if they would like me to take a picture of their family. Everyone is all smiles, they see I’m picking up trash, then pitch in and help fill up my bag pretty quick.

Guessing the locals that live in other tourist destinations like down in Borrego and along the beaches, pick up trash, too, but might not be as lucky to find two dollars!

Here is a link for Snow Info when coming to our Palomar Snow. Visitors make make the locals happy when those fried chicken buckets, broken sleds and all the rest go back down the mountain. But, tip$ are appreciated!

Just having fun…

Bonnie Phelps

Will you look at that!!!! I had to pull over and and meet the artist who had just finished up with her snow sculpture!

Courtney Rieches hails from Valley Center. She calls herself an ‘aspiring artist’. I think an ‘inspiring artist’ is more like it! She loves to create and has used sand and other mediums over the years. However, she has found snow is her favorite as she can warm it up with her hands to make it really come together. Courtney looks forward to snow days on the mountain. She heads up to Palomar to leave us a special gift; Smiles for everyone who happens to drive by!

Her latest creation may still be playing in the snow in the morning, waiting to be admired. If you’d like to take a peek, from the Summit, take State Park Road just past the first water towers, about 200 feet farther on the left, you should be able to meet Courtney’s Snow Dragon.

Thank you Courtney, for delivering a big dose of joy to Palomar Mountain!

Bonnie Phelps

Jeremy Dyson is at your service! He does a great job and lives and has his equipment ready to go on Crestline Road.

Give him a call or text 760-300-0345

Most of you might have had a call or message from SDG&E about another potential power outage on Palomar. The weatherman shows a possibly of strong winds again. So, our power could be out tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon, evening and maybe even until noon-ish on Christmas Eve. Of course, it might stay on… time will tell. Since we don’t seem to get the messages consistently, I just thought I’d let you know. Guessing it might affect some Christmas plans in the kitchen.

Click for the SDG&E link to outages, updated every few minutes. (Thanks for sending, Jim Billups!)

As always, we are glad to be a source for power with our generator humming and Wi-Fi hotspot. Let’s get those candles out again, too. Candlelight can make these outages pretty nice!

Bonnie Phelps

Is this the cutest bear? “Light the Way Bear” and many other wonderful things are created in a woodworking shop atop a mountain in Southern California. Justin Davis, master crafter says, “I save trees from fireplaces”.

Justin takes orders, too! Check out Palomar Mountain Woodworks and some of his other projects.

Click to meet his family and their coming-to-Palomar story!

Some wonderful gift ideas with ties to the mountain have come my way.

Most of you remember our Annual Volunteer Fire Department Barbecue. For many years, Bob and Arlene Shuster brought up their big BBQ, tending the delicious beef we all enjoyed the next day. You might have seen Shuster Oil trucks up here as they deliver gas and diesel for those with their own tanks. Wearing many hats, Arlene is also a busy author. She just published her third book! So, there are three to choose from! Details on the latest are below and you can click to order here: Grandma’s Old Trunk Living Alone, Joy for Women who are Single Again Living Alone, Choices for Women who are Single Again

From: Arlene Shuster
Subject: Grandma’s Old Trunk

My Dear Friends,

Here’s a wonderful under $10 gift idea for the little ones in your life.  The illustrations were painted by Gail Niebrugge, Alaska’s most famous and beloved artist. She’s known world wide for her pointillism technique.

I wrote the whimsical story. Robbie Adkins-Polk, award winning graphic designer, lovingly put the book in the format for Amazon publishing.

Gail, Robbie and I are first cousins and share the same grandmother.  Each of us followed our grandmother’s advice, which is what the book is about.  The book is worth Gail’s artwork alone.  I can’t afford her originals of any size!

Grandma’s Old Trunk just hit the Amazon market! 

Hope you enjoy,

Arlene Shuster

Most of you have heard about the ‘Christmas Star’ that is to appear on December 21st. I decided to check with one of our local star pros, Mike Pique for his opinion if he thought we could see it from Palomar. Yes, as long as we have clear sky!

Think we should have a good view from the look-out across from the Fire Department. Meanwhile, here is Mike’s response and a link for more info, below:

From: Michael Pique
Subject: Jupiter and Saturn – yes, for sure

Remember when we were out looking for the comet during the summer? Waiting for the comet, we first saw Jupiter, then Saturn rise in the southeast.  They were about 5 “fingers” (at arm’s length) apart then.  By September I measured three fingers.  I’m trying not to “read” articles about date of closest approach, just so I can continue in eager suspense.  One of my astrophoto friends, now in Alaska, has been building a special camera adapter to take pictures.  I do point out that  Saturn is much dimmer than Jupiter, as you can see if you look the next time we have a clear night – what a surprise to wake up this morning to overcast.  So I do not expect any dramatic brightening.  It’s mostly the predictable but not-often event that’s fun, and with a good bit of history-of-science aspects to it.  Newton famously tried to calculate the effect of Jupiter’s gravity on Saturn’s position, unsuccessfully, 300 years ago.  And these are the two largest planets we have!

If you pull up “Pocket Planetarium” or “Star Walk” on your iPad you can run the date forward (or backwards) and see the motions.  Go back to last December and run forward to see the complicated back-and-forth zig-zags that we now know are from the earth zipping past the line of sight between us and Jupiter/Saturn. Those were fun to watch from the deck these summers. Every time Jupiter got almost to Saturn, it would back up and “try again”.

Michael Pique

Here is lots more info: Rare ‘Christmas Star’ to Appear December 2020 as Planets Jupiter and Saturn Align

Sunday afternoon a few of our mountain kids will be treating us to a Drive-by Nativity. They will be setting up out in front of the Lodge about 3:30 – could be fun to watch. They plan to be all ready for drive bys about 4:00. You are welcome to cruise by, watch from your car, or get out and linger-from-a-distance if you would like.

Is this the cutest little sheep you ever did see? We have some extra brand new knit caps you can use and keep for any more wanna-be sheep. Anyone like to be a shepherd? You might just show up with a warm bathrobe or a fun casual creation to join the hosts of angels.

Sorry there won’t be any beverages or treats provided this time. It’s going to be cold outside so if you happen to bring your own coffee or hot chocolate, that could make it extra special for you.

Questions? Simply reply or email Heidi Phelps heidi@heidiphelps.com Thank you!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Details: Sunday, December 13th, 2020

Outside in front of the Palomar Mountain Lodge, at the end of Crestline Road, on the left.

Set up 3:30, Nativity begins at 4:00