Ibar - Twain Harte to Columbia

As you probably know, there were lots of trees down today on Italian Bar Rd and South Fork Rd.  This morning, we attempted to drive from Jupiter to Twain Harte, which was impossible due to the number of down trees and power lines.  So, we drove out from Jupiter through Columbia.  The road on the Columbia side was clear all the way.  There was only one down tree and it was off to the side of the road.

We drove back from Twain Harte to Jupiter this evening.  The road is mostly clear and passable of down trees from  Twain Harte to Jupiter.  That is thanks to the efforts of local residents including:  Tony and Carol Reyes, Jimmy, Brian and Dorothia Ewing, Betty Oryall, and others.  However, the power lines are still down in the Confidence Road Area.  For about 1/2 mile there are power lines down everywhere.  You have to drive over them, around them and under them.  It is a little unnerving.  We believe these power lines must be de-energized or the county would have to keep the road closed.

Free PO Boxes on the Columbia Side Too

Folk can get a free postal box on the Columbia side or use the multi-residence box at the end of the pavement.  I have had my free postal box in Columbia for almot 10 yrs now...

Happy Holidays all...Carole Logue

Free Postal Box

I just learned yesterday that those of us that live where the post office doesn't deliver off of Italian Bar Road, whose PO Box is in Twain Harte, can get their PO box rentals for free.  Apparently, if the post office doesn't deliver, there are 2 options.  One option is to have a personal letter box at the last location on the pavement before the dirt road begins.  The other option is a free postal box.  At this time, the Post Office is offering us free post office boxes.  You can get the form at the post office, online, or email me and I will send one as an attachment.

Also, if you have recently paid for your PO box they will refund a portion of what has been paid. If you have questions, I may be able to answer them as we got our box for free yesterday.

Grant and Sandy Taylor

Small House for Rent on Italian Bar Road

I have a small house for rent on Italian Bar Road.  See the listing with pictures at the following link: House For Rent

Jupie Jim's Security System

Jupie Jim has been gone less than 24 hours and someone stole his camo covered security system with infra red camera, while he was gone over night, from a tree.  He'd sure like to get it back.

Emergency Phone Contact alternative to 911

It is faster in an emergency to contact sheriff's office than 911. The number is 533-5815. Zach has made up a bunch of slips of paper & he wants to go around &
pass out this number.

Thanks, Dorothea Ewing

Update on Carol Parnella from Lee

I talked to Carol yesterday and she is at her brothers house.She is unable to use either hand but the doctors expect to keep both the left arm and the right hand.Due to the severity of the broken fingers, her right hand is immobilized.The left arm is in a large splint. As she explained,they have put in pins, staples and begun to stretch the skin that remains.A visiting nurse comes by daily to change the dressing.There was also some repair work to broken bones.I believe skin grafting will come later.She is now challenged by having to lay still and basically do nothing. LET US KEEP HER AND HER FAMILY IN OUR PRAYERS. Lee

Update for Jupiter Neighbors

Reggie is doing well now and may get out as early as Tuesday.

Carol's surgery went well. They did not remove the arm and are hoping to be able to save it. I think she was released today(i.e., Thursday), but I am not sure.

Please continue to pray for them; they will each have a struggle ahead of them. They will not be able to come home to Jupiter for awhile.

Reggie Update from Jupie Jim

Jupie Jim called the hospital. He says it sounds like we got our Reggie back. "He's talking like a pirate".

Update on our Jupiter Neighbors

Please pray hard for Reggie. He came out of surgery, but is not doing well. He is still in ICU.

Continue to pray for Carol. She had surgery today to try to save her left arm. I will find out tomorrow how that went.

Betty

Update On Carol Parnella from Lee

I talked to Carol's brother on Saturday and he said they are trying to save her right hand. A specialist had worked on it and they were able to pin her fingers back in place and were working with heat to stimulate her index finger. One of the thoughts was to take a piece of bone from her hip and set it into the index finger.Her fingers were badly broken and the bones in her right hand were crushed as well. I believe another surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. More work on the right hand and cleaning and evaluation on the left arm. Let us keep her in our prayers. Lee

Update on Jupiter Neighbors from Betty Oryall

I spent the day with Carol today. She is in good spirits and very optimistic no matter what the outcome may end up being. She is still trying to be as self sufficient as possible. This is tough! Her mom was there for a while too. Please pray for continued strength and healing.

I also went to visit our other neighbor, Reggie. Same hospital, different wing. I was able to speak with him just before his surgery. His sister, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend were there. He also was in good spirits, though understandably a bit apprehensive. He was taken to surgery about noon and as of 5 when I left was not out yet. Please pray that the outcome for this is favorable. I will try to find out more tomorrow.

Jupiter Neighbors Need Your Prayers

We now have two Jupiter neighbors in serious condition:

Carol Parnella was in an accident when her vehicle started to roll down the hill, and she tried to stop it. It went over an embankment. On Friday, she underwent exploratory surgery on her right hand. Her left arm was stripped to the bone from her upper bicep to her wrist. The right hand has broken fingers a and all the bone in her hand is crushed. A neighbor, who found her, believes that both her arm and hand were caught between a tree and the runaway vehicle. She may loose her left arm and her right hand. That is the worst case. It seems the left arm was filled with dirt and bark so while she is under, they will go in and try to clean the left side a second time. The neighbor that found her following the accident says there was no muscle, no skin, and no veins in her left arm. It was just bone and red paste. He states, "It was the Lord who heard her cry. It is the Most High God who has spared her life.". Pray for doctor's wisdom, maximum restored dexterity in her right hand. She is in Doctor's Hospital in Modesto.

Doug (Reggie) DeGrunde experienced chest pain on Saturday and drove to a neighbor's house. He was also sent to Doctor's Hospital in Modesto and is scheduled for triple bypass surgery today. Pray for doctor's skill, wisdom and healing.

Thank you all. As our neighbor said (and Pastor Matt too yesterday), we have a Most High God who hears the prayers of his children and loves us with a "crazy" love that cares about us and answers us.

Jupiter Fire Truck

The trip is on for tonight to go get the pump for the fire truck! It is in Arizona - 1000 miles away. It weights 2000 pounds. How are they going to lift and move it? Grant is driving our Ford F150 truck to get it. Betty Oryall and Michael Oryall are going along to help with the driving.

Does anyone own a trailer they would be willing to loan for the round trip drive? It would have to be substantial enough to carry a 2000 pound load.

Grant will be leaving this evening so we need to hear from you soon if you can help with a trailer we can borrow. Our trailer has broken leaf springs.

Thank you to those of you that have been willing to contribute to the costs.

Sandy and Grant Taylor
Betty, Einar and Michael Oryall

New Pump for Jupiter Fire Truck

Einar Oryall bought the new pump for the Jupiter Fire Truck. Now I am hoping that whoever can will help Betty and Einar Oryall pay for it.

Betty and Michael are driving to Arizona on Wednesday to get it. The final cost was $1000. Of course they will also be incurring travel costs to go get it.

Your financial help would be greatly apprecited. You can contact Betty and Einar directly. Or, you can email italianbarnews@gmail.com

Jupiter Fire Truck

Einar Oryall, a resident of Jupiter, has been working to provide a usable fire truck for the community. He is an excellent mechanic. He has asked that the following request for financial support be posted to the blog. If you care to help with the funding needed please convey your intent to Einar or Betty Oryall or to me and I will relay it to them.

“I have resolved the horse power problems on the fire truck. It pulled Brian's driveway Sunday fully loaded fairly well. More tweaking will make it even faster. The problem is the main pump is shot. Two weeks ago Sunday we tried to fill the tank in the front; it took way too long. This last Sunday we filled the Fishers tank and noted the slow flow. We turned on the booster pump which is a secondary and got good flow. I found someone in Arizona that has a newer pump for a really good price, and it should fit with minimal work. I have checked and seen used pumps for $17,000.00 from repair places. This guy bought a fire truck from a department because it had a bad engine. He has put a jet engine in the truck for racing. So he’s offering the pump and a pony tank which we will need eventually for $3500. I made an offer of $500. He countered with $2,500. I will counter again if i can get any donations since its pay pal and they can use credit cards, since we are all strapped for cash. I can take the pump off the back of the truck and put it on a smaller truck with a tank to get to those hard to reach spots, and the big truck can support it with added water supply.”

Italian Bar Road - Road Work

Article in mymotherlode :


Sonora, CA-- The Tuolumne County Public Works Department will be doing road repairs on Italian Bar Road starting Monday.

The storm damage repairs will be from the road closure gate to Five Mile Creek Road and will tentatively be completed by Monday, April 18th. Operations will take place between 7:30 am 3:30 pm daily. During this time this portion of Italian Bar Road will be closed to all traffic.

County work on IBar

If you are wondering who cleared South Fork Road to the bridge during the last storm, it was the county.  One county worker volunteered to come out at 11 pm.  He plowed to the bridge and back until 2 am.  They also plowed a second time and they cleared the arched tree across the road.

On the Columbia side, there are some slides.  These are not as bad as the 2005 slide, but the county is planning to drive IBar from Columbia to Twain Harte on Tuesday morning to see where repairs are needed, especially as related to the slides on the Columbia side.

Did you see the article in the Friday, March 25th edition of The Union Democrat?  The article is titled "Hinterland residents weather spring's snowy weather".  The article is mostly about Ibar, especially Jupiter and Columbia residents and brags about our resourcefulness in dealing with the weather on the road.  If you haven't read it, you can read it at: 

http://www.uniondemocrat.com/20110325103087/News/Local-News/Hinterland-residents-weather-springs-snowy-weather

Thanks to all who care enough to help with down trees, pot holes, digging out others that are stuck, and caring about your neighbors.

Sandy Taylor

6PM Italian Bar Road Report

Thanks goes to Bob Porter for helping Juppie Jim with the trees blocking the road.  Juppie Jim says you can now get to Columbia on Italian Bar Road.

From the pavement to the South Fork Bridge, someone has plowed the road.  Thank you to whoever did that.  It could have been the county.  If it was the county, thank you county.

The road isn't too bad from Jupiter to the pavement if you have chains and four wheel drive.  The snow is wet and not frozen.  The ruts are clean.  The sides are about 12 inches high.  The center is lower, having been plowed by bumpers.

The main problem is a tree across the road about 1 mile between the South Fork Bridge and the pavement.  The tree forms an arch across the road.  It is about 6 feet above the pavement.  So, the tallest vehicle that can go under the tree is probably a pickup truck.  Anything taller can't get through.

Italian Bar Road from Pavement to Jupiter

At 2:30AM, Betty's husband headed to town.  The snow was deep, and he used the bumper of the jeep for a plow.  He had to turn around near the bridge because of a big tree across the road.  He drove back to Jupiter for a chain saw.  They cleared the tree.  They made it to Twain Harte about 9:30AM (7 hours later).

There are a lot of trees down and the snow is deep and the ruts are deep. Stay home if you can.  Chain up all 4 if you can and need to go to town.

We are coming home from Jamestown in a couple of hours.  Our medications are at the house and we need them.  We'll have another report then.

Sandy





.

Need Help

Billy Bear is stranded too from the other side.

need help

Jupie Jim normally says Columbia is usually the best way to go, but right now there are a lot of trees down across the road.  If anyone can help me, please call: 831-737-8565.  He has cell service now.

Looks like it might keep snowing for a while !Is anyone planning to drive out Monday morning ?

Current Road

THANK you to all who helped make the road doable. Ready for round 2 coming up?

Thank you for the update on the Columbia side and all the hard work done to make it passable too!

Last night and this morning I had no trouble coming in or going out in 2wd drive in my Jeep with snow tires - no chains. Spots are still bad on either side of Deer Creek and near the South Fork Bridge, but not too bad. Mostly you can see the dirt, though it is narrow in spots.

Road Plowed - Thank you - Yeah

Italian Bar Road is plowed from Jupiter Drive to Twain Harte. It is still bad near Deer Creek. Thank you Bob. Thank you County. Thank you all who helped in any way.

If anyone has a report on the road going toward Columbia, we would appreciate it, if you would post it.

Trek from Jupiter to Twain Harte - Friday and Saturday

We left on Friday in two Jeeps to try to make it to Twain Harte. We were trying to get Michael to Tuolumne City and in the meantime leave a Jeep at church for my husband to get into Jupiter (we all knew the Volvo would NOT make it even with chains!).

As we headed down the hill from our house the sun was shining and it looked as though we wouldn't have too much trouble. Little did we suspect..... There was an oak branch just past Rose Creek, but we were able to pull it off to the side - on we continued.

Just before and just after the cattle guard there were pine trees hanging over the road - low, but not low enough that we couldn't drive under them. It felt as if we were going through a snowy car wash!

As we began going up the hill just past the guard, we see Herschel shoveling.

He is trying to make a clear enough spot to turn around. Just ahead of him a decent size pine is down totally across the road. We backed both Jeeps up and turned around at the cattle guard. Home we went. We guessed Columbia way would have as much debris and so we called Michael's leader and said we are NOT getting out!

Well, Einar was VERY insistent that we try to get out yesterday. Michael and I were packing up with chain saws this time, when Bob Porter drove by in his bobcat. Yes, Bob saved the day!

We hopped in our Jeeps and took off after him. Apparently Brian and Matt, and then Chuck tried to get out on Friday after we had given up. They had cut the two overhanging pines and then got stuck around a turn just before the downed pine. STUCK DEEP. They went back and got the brat, met up with Chuck. Chuck cut the big pine, but they couldn't get Brian's truck unstuck.

No one got past that point until Saturday when Bobby came through. We all dug and dug, and shoveled and shoveled until we unearthed the truck. Then Bob pulled it out of the hole with his bobcat.

Brian went home, Matt came with us, and Chuck helped clear a wide path up to the top of 9 mile where Joseph left the trailer and continued on is Bob's wonderful big truck.

Joseph drove Bob's truck while Bob was in the cat. They cleared path to the top of 5 mile.

Someone had already driven to 5.5 mile (or out, I'm not sure which), so after Bob and Jo turned around we followed the tracks out. We had a caravan.

Janice was stuck in town, so JC was headed out to meet her. We had 2 Jeeps, and then Doug & Deb with chains on all 4 and Jason with Reggie in his truck.

Not too much trouble after that. Doug ran out of gas, but as all good Jupiterians do, had some with him - so no problem. Reggie and I each lost a chain and another of our broke. On we went until just before we hit pavement.

Someone, on their way in to play in the snow, amazingly wasn't stuck! But was blocking our way out, so we had to orchestrate our way past. Once done, we were free and clear to get to town.

Roads were only partially plowed in town. Power was out in many places (post office, 7-11...) but on in many others (TH EV Free Church, TH Market...).

More prayers on the way back - it was very scary. We had to back up in several spots, just to go forward. Very tough from South Fork Bridge up to 5 mile and then again from the bottom of 7 mile up to the top. Also scary at the switch backs by 8 mile.

Took 6 hours total to get to town. Thankfully not as long on the way back (1 1/2 hours) as the path had already been cleared. THANK YOU Bob and Joseph!

Well, it boils down to: The path is clear now, but still narrow and in snow. Definitely 4wd required, better with chains too. Very sunny now - it will melt a lot as the snow was fairly wet to begin with.....

Anyone with a report from the Columbia side?
---
in Christ,
Betty

Italian Bar Road - Jupiter to Twain Harte Update

Betty wrote:
"2 feet + here. Up to 4 feet on parts of the road. BUT it IS clear of major debris now from our house in Jupiter to town. Still wouldn't try it with out chains - even with 4w."

Italian Bar Road - Jupiter to Twain Harte

Dear Neighbors,

Sorry I didn't get anything posted sooner, but we are in Southern California - Desert Hot Springs and were just now able to get through to Betty to learn the road conditions.

According to Betty, Jupiter has about 2 feet of snow. She left for Twain Harte at 10am this morning and made it to town at 4pm this afternoon. It took her 6 hours to get to town. She is on her way back now and if she makes it back before more snow takes out her internet and cell phone reception we will get another update.

Some places on Ibar have 4 feet of snow. Bob Porter plowed part of the road. Thank you Bob!!! Part of the road is passable with Disneyland ruts.

If anyone has a later update, would you please post it for the benefit of all concerned or send me an email and I will post it. You can email me anytime at: taylor@grantridge.us