Title: September 5, 2026 - Delilah
Friday, September 4, 2026
I came in at the end of Delilah’s Friday shift because it is a three day weekend and the traffic is usually terrible. Sherri made me chicken cordon bleu for a lunch/dinner. I ran a few errands before leaving at 1515. While there was pretty good traffic until Centerville, it flowed along smoothly. I made better time than I thought I was going to.
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| Outhouse View |
I felt tired, so I laid down
for a while. Then I had a sandwich. Finally, I finished bringing up
my stuff. Either I am getting weaker or packing more stuff. The stuff
at the end of the pulley felt really heavy. When I was going up and
down the stairs, I realized I did not bring my knee brace. It did
not hurt too bad. There was a hunter who drove by. He indicated he
was bow hunting and looking for deer.
After I got things sorted out, I decided to go back down and see if I could take some evening shots of the tower and stars. I was somewhat successful on the tower, not so much on the stars.
When I went back up, I let Sherri know that I was available for a call. Then I crawled into my bag and read and waited for her call. About 2100 she called. We talked for 45 minutes, then I read a bit more until shortly before 23000.
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| Delilah from the road |
It felt like a short night of sleep last night. When the moon rose, I woke up for a while, but not because of the brightness, but just to gaze on it. Like the sun which causes the moon to fade from view, the moon causes stars to grow dim to our eyes. Isn’t this like how heaven will be? We think we see clearly now, but we do not. When heaven comes, we will see that our current times are just a ghost of reality. What is more, even heaven will fade before the glory of God. If our hymns could only capture a bit of this!
Having rambled on with my thoughts-no apologies, just realizing this is what was going through my mind. I did look for lightning on EGP, but there was none. I had my breakfast and then went down to the ground. On the way down, I realized that things did not feel quite right with the body. Not feeling sick or bad or achy like the flu. More breathing harder than I should going down.
After taking care of the things which were on the pulley, I decided to go for a walk. Maybe that would help out whatever is happening. As it turned out, I probably walked too far and up too much. If anything I was breathing harder and not feeling better. Also the heart was beating pretty good on the uphill. At least a good part of this walk back is downhill. That helped with the breathing and heart. But there is a climb back up to the base of the lookout. Which I take easy, but I still feel winded, fortunately not lightheaded or feeling like I will faint. But I am careful not to push it. That was only about a two mile, 50 minute walk.
And then it is back to the normal day. At 1100, I responded to the Sierra Lookout Checkin. Then it is doing the scans. I am still tired from this morning and still not feeling right. I lay down for 15 minutes until the next scan. This continues through the morning until lunch time.
At 1230 I fixed my lunch-peanut butter and Nutella sandwich along with some chips. But then I faintly hear a call on R5 Project, our off command channel calling out Delilah. Turns out it is 335 trying to reach a couple of her staff. They are down in the Kings. I try to reach out to either of them. The Kings is far enough down where we cannot directly reach them. I also try on Channel 2, which is a command channel using repeaters.I do reach them and say what the message is, but I cannot hear their replay. Porterville does get a response from them. Not sure how well I relayed the message, but the jest of what is being transmitted. I do not do many relays. I knew the mechanics, but not sure how well I would execute in reality. I gave myself a middling grade.
During all of this, I knocked over my carton of milk. I ended up having to remove the glass on the desk and cleaning up under it, along with some papers there. Sigh, not the way I wanted to down my milk nor to conduct a relay.
I do the weather and fall into the familiar patter of scanning. About 1400, I heard the sound of a propeller. I realized it was coming out of the south, but could not see it. I am also seeing that there are hang gliders off Sontag Point. If there is something flying out there and it is low, how to warn them about the gliders. By the time I recognize it, it is flying over where Davis and Delilah Road meet. It is a helicopter and I can see the id of N551HQ on it. As it flys by I wave and they acknowledge. That makes my day much more than spilling milk. I follow them on FlightAware as they go out over Pine Flat Reservoir and head northwest.
I go back to my scanning. There is not much exciting. Well maybe just a little. As I am doing one of the scans, I looked over at Pine Flat Reservoir. There I see another helicopter. When I look at FlightAware, I see that it is a CHP helicopter. It flies off towards Sanger. Wonder what they are doing out there? A rescue? Looking for a pot farm? Something else illegal? I guess I will never know.
Around 1800, I prepare my dinner. This is Birdseye Alfredo Chicken Skillet Meal and a couple pieces of bread. Pretty easy, just heat it up and service. I will confess, not my favorite. But it is a good dinner meal.
As the shadows start to deepen, I continue my scans until 1930, which is the end of the shift. There was a nice sunset with a layer of clouds. Looked almost fiery at times. After I went out of service, I went down and got a few things, then locked myself in.
Around 2030, Sherri and I talk for a while, at least until 2130. I then look at my phone for a bit more before going to sleep.
Extra Photo's
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| Sunset through the trees |
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| Sunset and Pine Flat Reservoir |
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| Valley Lights at Sunset |
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| Hummers |
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| Whose Track? I think a bobcat |
