Rattlesnakes and Miners' Court, Friday, 8/1/14 through Sunday, 8/3/14

Friday, August 1, 2014

It was nice weather again today.  Chuck worked at Nevada City and was very busy with all the

4-H people going in and out all day.   A man showed up today at Nevada City to catch rattlesnakes.  His job is to check the grounds and remove the poisonous snakes.  He caught four today and told Chuck that he sometimes sells them to people who eat the meat and/or tan the skins to make boots, etc.  If there are no buyers, sometimes he relocates the snakes to uninhabited areas.   

Cindy worked at the Virginia City depot and had a steady stream of tourists wanting to ride the train.  It’s too bad we are down a car now as she could have sold lots more train tickets if there were seats available.   

We got off work at 6:30 p.m.  Today we cooked crockpot macaroni and cheese and Elise made a salad for everyone.  We also sautéed chicken when we got home to go with the above.  After supper we all sat on the front porch of the Bonanza Inn.  It was a cool evening, and we watched a beautiful sunset over the mountains and then called it a night. 

Saturday, August 2, 2014

It was a sort of crazy day.  Chuck worked at the Virginia City depot with Connor.  About mid-morning Chuck noticed that one of the wheels on a train car was cracked all the way around, so the passengers were unloaded for safety reasons.  Chuck went to get the state owned Suburban and shuttled the passengers back to Nevada City.  A little while later the local man who takes care of maintenance issues determined that there was an extra wheel in the train barn.  He was willing to change the wheel but he needed some help, so Chuck was volunteered for the job.  It didn’t take them too long to fix the problem, but Chuck got grease all over his uniform tee shirt.  The train had continued to run short a car during this operation, but by 3:30 p.m. the third car was back in service.   

Meanwhile Cindy and Jaimi worked at the Nevada City museum.  Daniel and Elise made Bannack bread this morning for the tourists’ entertainment.  They mixed up about a cup of flour and enough baking power to fill a 31 caliber shell.  They then added enough salt to fill a 36 caliber shell and stirred in water until the mixture was the consistency of bread dough.  Small portions were fried in oil until brown and served warm.  Daniel took a sample to Cindy and Jaimi and it was actually quite tasty.   

Today there was a historical interpretation of a miners’ court, so Cindy took her lunch break at that time and went to watch a portion of the proceedings.  Cindy watched a case of claim jumping—a situation where one person takes over another’s gold claim in the event the claim hasn’t been worked for three days.  Daniel played the part of the judge, and Duel was the defendant’s lawyer.  Witnesses were called up from the audience, and it was most entertaining.   

We got off work at 6:30 p.m. and Jaimi rode home with us.  We stopped by the Bonanza Inn and picked up Connor on the way to Pit Stop Pizza in Ennis.  Duel also went with us and we met Elise and Daniel at the restaurant.  They had gone on ahead to order, and the pizza was on the table when we got there.  It was a quick supper as Daniel, Duel, and Elise had to be back at Nevada City for a special 4-H lantern tour.  Chuck asked Duel if we could tag along, so he called his father to ask permission and somehow we were suddenly enlisted as 1863 volunteers since they were shorthanded for tonight’s performance.  We drove to Nevada City and were quickly transformed by clothing into the proper century.  Chuck was the bartender and poured drinks.  However, he gave a gun to a drunken man (Daniel) who then shot Connor.  Daniel was hanged for the murder, and Chuck was given 30 lashes with a whip for being an accessory to the crime.   Cindy was assigned the part of a screamer when she witnessed Connor being shot, and Jaimi helped tend to his wound.  A good time was had by all!

 

 

Sunday, August 3, 2014

We woke up this morning and it was raining, but it cleared up pretty quickly and then was overcast and nice for most of the day.   Chuck worked at Nevada City with Joni and went to see the miners’ court performance when he took his lunch break. 

Cindy worked at the Virginia City depot with Maria.  It was slow for a Sunday, and the most excitement was when the man at the adjoining store came and reported that a beaver had gnawed a tree down and it had fallen onto the depot roof.  There is another larger tree that has also been gnawed and presents a hazard to the depot, so Cindy reported it to her supervisor so the issue can be addressed tomorrow.  The store owner was planning to call a neighbor and ask him to trap the beaver(s).   

We got off work at 6:30 p.m. and the inn mates were waiting on us to cook supper.  We made chicken and beef fajitas, and it took a long time to get everything prepared with our small working space.  We did not eat until almost 9:00 p.m., but it was very tasty and everyone was appreciative.