February 9, 1998
Monday dawned clear and cold. Mount Shasta was vivid white against a deep blue sky. We couldn't let this rare event go to waste. So, soon after breakfast we set out on a local walk and since we hadn't been up Lombardi road (the one with the cattle guard and red barn) in a while we decided on that route. The ponds were frozen but with all the recent precipitation, Wagon Creek was rushing deeper, wider and faster than ever. The snow on ground and trees added to the picture, but it wasn't the scenery that made this walk special, it was new life.
On our way back as we neared the barn we noticed that Joe Lombardi and someone else were kneeling down in the pasture near the fence along Old Stage Road. As they were some 100 yards distant we couldn't tell what they were doing. Our route home took us by where they knelt and when we approached we saw what occupied the couple, Joe Lombardi and his wife Mary -- Joe was kneeling down giving a newborn black calf its inoculations. He told us that it was just 2 hours old and the first one born this year. When he finished administering the shot the calf struggled onto its wobbly legs and tried valiantly to make it through the snow to "mom" who stood nearby, head down, staring at the procedure. Joe (age 80) also struggled a bit to get to his feet and help the calf find the way to its first meal.
Click here for photo of first calf and "mom"
Fortunately we had the camera along and got a couple shots of the newest critter on the Lombardi ranch. We then had a very pleasant chat with Joe and his wife. He's a lively, loquacious 80 year old and seemed to enjoy answering our questions and telling about the good old days when his Dad first brought the family here to start the ranch in 1927. It was the year after the town's name was changed from Sisson to Mount Shasta. He informed us that the land our house is on use to be their alfalfa field and he had helped his Dad and brothers dig out the many stumps and rocks that were there.
That afternoon we decided to try to go to Castle Lake and snow shoe, assuming that since it had been a day and a half since the 10 inch snow, that the road to the lake would be plowed. As we turned onto Castle Lake road we saw the snow plow coming down and figured our timing was perfect. As we progressed up the road the degree of clearing and width of the cut increased on one hand and decreased on the other until we found ourselves churning through a foot of snow and nearly rubbing our door handles on the 6 foot snow banks to either side. Since we were only 3 miles up the 7 miles to the lake we guessed we weren't going to make it there. The problem now became how to turn around and go back. Backing down a mile and a half didn't have much appeal, so we forged ahead figuring the snow plow had to have turned around somewhere. At last we came to a place that was about twice the width of the Jeep and after a number of three point turns, we were headed downhill. I snapped a some pictures of the beautiful snow scenes that we were glad to be leaving and we started our descent. When we arrived home I did my snow shoeing by making a circuit of the neighborhood. Jennie passed, claiming she'd had enough snow for the day.
Click here for photo of Jeep where we had to give up getting to the lake
