Garden Valley Senior Center News: Bring Your Own…Pool Table?

  Bodaciously outrageous, but yes—we need your pool table or we can’t play! The idea sprang forth from many locations ala the paradigm of recombinant conceptualization, or as MacAngel would say, the “survival of the fittest concept”. The point is, when thinking up ways to have fun, lots of folk came up with this table idea and the Center would like to encourage people to stop in and play a game of pool and we need a pool table to fulfill that dream. Got pool table?

  4th Tuesday features BBQ Chicken and Hot Dogs on the menu for our Cookout on the Deck, Tuesday, July 23, at 6 or so. Board members will provide the fixin's, including Macaroni Salad, Baked Beans, Potato Salad, Corn Salad and Desserts (including Rhubarb Crisp). Ken Patterson and Friends will provide the MUSIC!

   The 4^th of July breakfast and our first Friday BINGO games were so very successful, we have big heads and big thoughts. As the Senior Center is looking to find a new direction, after losing all funding we'd been receiving from the government to pay our coordinator, cook, and helper, we are extremely grateful to everyone for this show of support. 

  The Center looks forward to coming up with new and inventive ways of serving the community at large, as well as the senior citizen population. Everyone is invited to come in on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays, from 10 - 12 noon, to speak with the volunteer coordinators and give your suggestions, ideas, and voice your willingness to volunteer, or just chat with them.

  New board president, Ruth Richter, says, “We want your input and encourage you to be part of the solution as we look to the future of what the GVSC can be in Garden Valley. We believe the possibilities are mind-boggling and are enthusiastic to try some of those new possibilities."
  Granny's Closet continues to be a gathering place on Fridays, 12-5 and Saturdays, 10-4, for happy shoppers chatting with each other as well as with the Granny running the shop, and sometimes vying for a special purchase. 

  Look for a unique opportunity on the weekend of July 19 and 20, for a great selection of antiques, vintage, and collectible items. These things won't be the usual Granny prices but compared to any antique store, they will still be a huge bargain. 

  Granny's continues to have a wide selection of shorts and tees, with additional ones added on a daily basis. If you need summer wear with only a small investment, Granny has all sizes and styles. And while you're shopping, you might just spot some bit of pottery, a dish, a gadget, books or puzzles, or that little something you didn't know you wanted but decide you just have to have.

  July in summer sizzles but don’t fizzle out and lump into a chaise longue potato. E-Z exercise queen, Ione, will help with that but you must stand up, put one foot in front of the other, pick up the keys (heaven forbid we should walk) and get that car to the Senior Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:00 p.m. The stretching and muscle contracting will make you feel great enough to join in on the sweets afterwards! Free class for all.

   Come try out YOGA with Shanti, who is traveling from Lowman to lead free classes. This is a seriously wonderful class for everyone at their own level, so if you have stress, get to the Center for this one. Her second class is Friday, July 19, at 10 a.m., then regular Friday classes start on August 9. Bring a mat or slip-proof rug.
  This big, happy, comfortable room is available for your events, small and large, short and long. Contact the Center for your party needs.

  Call the Center between 10 and 12 a.m., Mon, Wed and Fri, to reach a real person and try other times too. Leave a message and some happy volunteer will give a ring back: 462-3943 or e-mail gvseniors@frontiernet.net. Check us out on Facebook too. The Senior Center is located at 261 S. Middle Fork Road, around a couple of corners from downtown Crouch.

Where is the Old School Bell?

  The Crouch city clerk and Crouch Garden Valley Historical Museum board would love to solve the mystery of the old GV School bell, which was the old Tucker family bell donated to the school. It was last seen on the old school campus, after it fell to the ground.

Crouch Historical Museum in Syringa Building

  A variety of residents provided clues but each led to a dead-end. The bell was not moved legally but if it shows up in the museum yard, no questions will be asked, and it will be happily welcomed to the bosom of museum caretakers.

  Ed Griffith, chairman of the museum board, says they are in search of more and more items for display—“we need hard-fact stuff--any tools of interest.”

  City Clerk, Vickie Chandler, elaborates, “We would love household appliances and other home items and machinery. Placerville has two museums, with themes. We’d like to do that—a mock-up classroom, kitchen—the more we have, the more people will be inspired to help.”

  In process is the organization of family genres, like Charters, Mills, Castle and Ostner. The Syringa Club will have a corner exhibit in the entry, for memorabilia of the club, which initiated the library in the current building of the museum.

  Chandler explains that they finally took the museum sign down because visitors kept coming in and saying, ‘Is this it?’ We didn’t really have a museum. Steve Ally donated a cultivator and we’ll have a photo of him with it beside the machine.” They have also acquired an old logging chain.

  Griffith says, “The new sign will be up this Friday and the building is freshly painted—we are looking for grants to pay for it. We are also looking for some good people to join the board, as we have lost some, due to busy schedules. There are two people doing most of the work, along with Vickie.”

  The board would welcome anything with interesting history, including photos. Residents can either donate, for a tax-deductible receipt, or offer things on loan—these would be covered under city insurance.

  “Naturally, we are looking for donations to enhance the budget to do other things,” says Mr. Griffith. “Hard items or cash will be appreciated…and we will be doing more fundraisers.”

  The board of the Crouch/Garden Valley Historical Museum wants to thank all those who have helped, and welcomes the assistance of valley residents. For information, call Vickie Chandler, at 462-4687. The Museum is located in the Syringa Building next to Crouch Community Hall.

 

Wander Inn Ya’ll!

   The curve in Middle Fork Road in downtown Crouch leads right to the cozy setting of Wander Inn Motel and Cabins, so the ten-year-old name is apropos and sure beats the old cognomen, Valley Motel.

  After selling her home elsewhere ten years ago, Maggie Ryan thought it seemed reasonable to purchase a business where she could live and work. Her career had been in hospitality, so the homey little inn with five different units seemed the perfect situation.

  Maggie has a wealth of stories gathered on the front porch where folk tend to congregate. “I get people from all over—rafters, kayakers; Starlight Mountain Theatre grandparents come to see the kids in shows,” she says. “My patrons come over and over—it’s a place they’ve always come and you see the kids grow up. I get a surprising amount of older women in twos—sisters, cousins, friends, road-trip buddies.”

  This is the business and location to make lots of friends. Maggie muses, “If you sat here all day, there would be a parade of people. That’s the fun. You never know who’s gonna show up.”

    Her longest customer is Harold “rafter”. In his sixties, he rafts two-hundred days out of the year. He is famous for taking over a unit for a month, rearranging furniture, and holding BBQs for all the people who come to see him. He was here for the Wander Inn’s first summer and has come ever since.

  Maggie says, “There is always the ‘Kevin Bacon’ effect. On my second 4^th of July, I had everybody out here watching the fireworks—it’s a perfect spot, with all they need—bathroom, water, food. One guy said, ‘You have a funny accent, where are you from?’ ‘New Jersey.’ ‘No! I’m from New Jersey! Where in New Jersey?’ Then it was, ‘I’m from Georgia.’ ‘No! I’m from Georgia!’ Their daughter knew so-and-so…and so on. It’s fun.”

  The Wander Inn is dog-friendly and has everything but phones—fridge, microwave, coffee makers, wifi, television and there are two units with kitchens. The bedrooms have quilts made by Maggie’s mother, who is eighty-eight now and is always interested. The inn is quaint and cute, even with no genealogy—“Sorry, nothing historic,” Maggie shrugs.

  Its face has changed, though, with the recent addition of Books in the Attic, Maggie’s used-book shop that was housed over Cabin Keepers and on the Boardwalk, before a close friend built the small cabin in front of the inn.

  The shop adds a companionable element to the inn, bringing another type of patron to the property. “It’s a bit slower than on the Boardwalk,” says Maggie, “but the people who come in, come in to buy books. I don’t have to carry t-shirts and touristy stuff. I’m carrying older books, which is much more interesting. The true reader—book lover—finds it’s like a little adventure.”

  Books in the Attic apparently feeds Maggie’s book-loving soul, and balances her own love of adventure with an enjoyable occupation. When her father found out that she was going to run an inn in Idaho, he said, “Promise me two things: get a gun and get a dog.” Maggie says, “I did, but I’ve never used either one. He’s gone and now I think about my own age and I don’t want to miss anything. I open my door to people I don’t know, but these people--the things some people say—that’s the stuff I don’t want to miss.” 

CuMo Works on Public Relations

  County residents are familiar with Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines Limited as the company involved with the CuMo Project. In October, 2012, the company completed a management change, for the massive (6 billion tons) molybdenum, copper, silver and tungsten deposit located near upper Grimes Pass and, early this year, changed its name to American CuMo Mining Corporation, which will focus on the CuMo Project

  Shaun Dykes, former project manager and new chief executive officer and director, says, “It was not really a good name—shareholders didn’t like the diversion of funds, so we did something about it. The Idaho CuMo Mining Company will manage and run the project, and our offices are in Boise.”

  The CuMo deposit was first discovered by AMEX Exploration in 1963. Since then, it continued being optioned until metal prices hit an all-time low. Finally, in 2004, the large CUMO Molybdenum Company optioned the land in Boise National Forest to Mosquito.

  In February, 2011, the U.S. Forest Service approved a comprehensive Environmental Assessment of the 2,900-acre area proposed for exploration. By August, 2012, the U.S. District Court of Idaho answered concerns of environmental groups, by ordering the Forest Service to undertake further groundwater analysis; a Supplemental Exploration Assessment was initiated.

  Before a last minute BBQ shindig in Crouch’s Weilmunster Park on Thursday, June 27, Shaun Dykes responded that the groundwater issue “is a problem occurring in many areas—rules and regulations hadn’t been written for modern times. In order to understand groundwater, you have to drill holes—so far, there is no ground water”. As of the end of 2012, sixty-eight holes, totaling 121,700 feet, had been completed.

  Senator Steven Thayn wanted to know what kind of cooperation CuMo is getting from different groups. Dykes answered, “The Forest Service is great. Environmental groups are anti-everything--we’ve paid for the sins of our fathers. The environmentalists took care of that with new laws, but now it’s gone too far. The answer is in-between—it should be allowed but do it right.

   “CuMo can afford to do it right and clean up the messes. I think it’s a hell of an opportunity for those around here. There is a boom-and-bust mentality with smaller scale companies. We’re in a moly low-price environment but we wouldn’t have to lay people off.”

  Dykes assured that they will get all the various agencies to agree on how to take water, air, and plant samples, to get unbiased samples: “This requires their cooperation. We’ll take all sorts of tests, we will study each hole. We’re after the scientific facts—not only for locals, but the shareholders and banks too.”

  The good news about the project, according to Dykes, is there is no acid-forming rock. Right now, the rock up there has a neutralizing capability and he says that’s a big advantage over Thompson Creek: “It’s benign, nice and clean up there now.”

  “We are in a transition stage from exploration to development, to now know what we’ve got,” explains Dykes. “There are over one-hundred years of life left. It will be an open pit—one-mile square; a mill, with two or three possibilities; waste dumps…this will all be determined in the next round. We’re looking at the end of February, 2014, when the Supplemental Assessment will be finalized. It will be seven years from inception, but it’s a very deliberative process.”

  Dykes sounds assured about reformation and reclamation of the land. “One hundred and twenty years from now, we will have to get it back to the original—but I think it’ll be better.”

   Having received multiple hammerings from the Boise County Job Creation and Retention Council (JCRC) in the past, the company shies away from making statements regarding Boise County jobs and training, but they have always assured the Council that if they go into production down the road, the jobs will be there. They cite fifty to sixty local workers in the current phase of exploration; 5,000 during mine construction phases; and 1,000 jobs for one-hundred years during production. Dykes says, “We’re going to try and bring in local people and give a tremendous amount of training.” The ongoing concern of the JCRC, according to Garden Valley Director, John Cottingham, is of getting the training in place by time the jobs open.

  Because of the scale and long life of the project, Dykes says it is important to his company. “We’ll spend two to three times more on this than anything else. The environment—flora, fauna, groundwater—we’ll go by international bank rules—the riparian zone is 500 feet from Grimes Creek. You have a treasure—it is very rare what you have up there.”

  For more information about the CuMo Project, contact Shaun Dykes, at 206-331-0334, sdykes@cumoco.com or go to www.cumoproject.com. 

 

 

 

 

GV Artists on Exhibit Now!

   Andrea Mirville Metos (Andrea de St. Amour) is a singer, songwriter, pianist, guitar player, banjo picker, linguist, activist, actress, car racer or, for this exhibit, call her an artist. Her life is often described as the "E Ticket Ride" at Disney.                           

  

  She started painting seriously when in her teens, in Nice, France, where she was born. While studying in France, she started painting highly colorful paintings of desert cactus and portraits of native Caribbeans. French art dealers only accepted paintings from male artists so she adopted the nom de “plume” of A. de St. Amour.

   Metos’ paintings have been featured in several art shows in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her trademark is vividly colored large canvases portraying the De Anza Desert landscape of California. Locally, Andrea's art work has been exhibited at two Crouch grand openings: Wild Bill's Bistro and Garden Valley Market Grill Room.                                                                

    Nicknamed "Andretti" by friends, because of her pedal to the metal style of racing, Andrea has amassed over thirty-five first place trophies during her career. Let’s hope you can catch her at the three-woman artist exhibit, which opens at the Garden Valley Center for the Arts this Friday, July 12.

   Freelance artist and computer illustrator, Gail White, does painting in various mediums and sculpture in wood, metal and stone, but her emphasis at the Center is pottery. As the new head of the pottery studio at the gallery, she is holding numerous classes this summer. Learn to form slouch bowls, garden lanterns, leaf sconces, coil and pinch pots, and try your hands at throwing on the wheel.

   Gallery curator, Lois Heffernan, says, “Gail has done a lot of teaching. We got all of those kilns and wheels from Treasure Valley Community College and Gail is a whiz at repairing them. We wanted to show off her pottery in this exhibit.”

   Painter Kellie Cosho says she paints things that interest her, in acrylic, pastel and ink. “Past experiences often appear!” she says. Cosho has been in juried shows in the Sun Valley Invitational Art Festival, Boise State University Gallery, University of Idaho, Boise Gallery Festival in the Park and more. Though her studio is on Warm Springs in Boise, she owns a cabin in Garden Valley and says, “I’m just so excited at what they are doing up here—I’m happy to be a part of it.”

   Lois Heffernan explains that all the shows are juried: “Three of us choose what will show in the gallery. This is quality work.”

   The opening wine and cheese reception will be on July 12, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and the show will run through July 30. The Center for the Arts is open Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from noon til 4 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays. For information, call 462-6860.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Syringa Club Accepting Submissions for Fundraisers

   Two projects this summer are topping fundraising concerns for the Garden Valley Syringa Club, a community service organization for ninety-nine years.

   The Poetry/Prose book publication is on hold while submissions are still being sought: Poems up to 60 lines; prose essays with a max of 800 words; and black and white photos or sketches. Any subject is acceptable. Artists must be over fifty years of age and residents of Boise County. Mail to: 223 Middle Fork Road, GV 83622 or afoofymax@aol.com.

   Submissions received so far are very appreciated—thank you for your donations.

  The popular annual Birthday Calendar features a color photograph of Crouch/GV subject matter. In recent years, photos by Elaine Baker and CJ Scharf have been chosen, and the club is grateful for the honor of displaying the work of these talented artists who have donated their photos for the calendar fundraiser. The club is now accepting submissions for the 2014 calendar. Please e-mail photos in jpg format, to jprachyl@frontiernet.net.

   New calendar advertisers are also encouraged to contact Judy Prachyl at 805-717-9325 or 462-2576, or Carol Wyckoff, 462-3371.

   It’s time for the annual summer luncheon. It will be difficult to train sandals to trip lightly to another location, after so many years of lovely luncheons catered by Cheryl Goo. This year, the luncheon will be held at Two Rivers Grill, 347 S. Middle Fork Road, (next to the Dirty Shame), for private party dining. Members and guests may choose from menu items. Mark your calendar for Thursday, July 18, noon—3 p.m. Guests and past members will pay $15 plus gratuity. Anyone interested in Syringa Club may attend. RSVP not necessary but appreciated.

   Syringa Club members have been active this year. One-hundred plants—larch, Idaho poplar, rugosa rose, ornamental American cranberry, and red osier dogwood were planted and most have been sold at the Crouch Farmers Market. Call Jayne at 462-4698 for purchase. Thanks to Leigh Ward, at Warm Springs Greenhouse, and Bill Partridge, for their generous help.

   Former member, Helen Mills, passed away last year and in January, members wearing Helen’s hats presented $100 to GV Library, in her name.

   Syringa received a $1500 grant from the Senior Center, to publish a community-fundraiser book by resident artists over 50.

   Golden Eagle Radio in Crouch was awarded $250 by Syringa. The radio board chose to use the funds toward music licensing.

   A large antique basket filled with Idaho-themed gifts was donated to the library’s St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser auction. John Tucker, husband of former member Pilar Tucker, was the successful bidder, at $80.

   The Nosy Neighbor Home Tour to benefit the Senior Center was supported with a $100 sponsor-donation.

   Lunchtime meetings were enlivened, and members enlightened, by various interesting guest speakers: Mary Jo Dawson, GV Trail and Sleigh Rides; Pat Marion, Zone IV representative on the school board, speaking on school safety and firearms; Lonnie Bramon, advising the group on book publishing; Mary Wilson, two-time speaker as the Crouch Cat Lady and president of the GV Center for the Arts; and Vickie Chandler, Crouch City Clerk, with information on the Crouch/GV Historical Museum and offering a prominent corner of it for Syringa Club memorabilia.

   There are six months left of this year to have more fun and be of service to the community. For information, call President Jayne Carlson, 462-4698; VP, Judy Prachyl, 462-2576; secretary, Mac Angel, 462-2511; or treasurer, Ione Messick, 462-3284.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Yes, it was indeed a Hot Time in the Old Town on July 4th in Garden Valley and "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" parade float by McLain Electric took the prize as Theme Winner, for $100. Judge's Choice was Cole Youren and Greek Hoards' float, "Chariots and Horses", for four show tix to Starlight Mountain Theatre.

Jean Brown, of Brown Saddlery, got a Two-Night Honeymoon at Uncle Billy Bob's Romantic Redneck Vacation Rental for her "Redneck Motor Home Float".

Photo by McLain