But this is Chico, too

It never ceases to amaze me how sparsely settled Glenn County is. Here we are in a state with 37 million people and Butte County’s neighbor to the west has about 30,000 people.

Because California is so urban — more than 90 percent of its residents live in cities, suburbs or towns — many of its rural areas are almost empty, or at least it seems that way to urbanites. We are accustomed to seeing people, cars and houses everywhere we look.

That’s one of the things I like about Glenn County. On some of the country roads, you can drive for miles without seeing anybody.

This blog specializes in short jaunts I call “walk around the block.” This tour of Glenn County is a drive around a very large block. I deliberately picked one of the most rectangular routes I could find.

It starts on Highway 45, just south of Ordbend, and goes through Glenn, Willows and Bayliss.
Follow Highway 45, one of the state’s oldest roads, along the Sacramento River, one of the state’s earliest transportation routes, until you reach Glenn.

Glenn has a working post office, but its general store is closed and boarded up. In the Valley’s tiniest towns, retail businesses seem to be vanishing. The Ordbend general store recently closed as well.

At Glenn, turn right on Highway 162 and head to Willows. On a clear day, the low-lying cropland allows an unobstructed view of the mountains that ring the Valley.

One of the first businesses you’ll see as you enter Willows is Common Grounds Coffeehouse, which has mouth-watering pastries, not just your usual muffins and scones.

Willows, like so many towns that got their start more than 100 years ago, has some handsome public buildings. I took this photo of the Glenn County Courthouse through the arches of the Veterans Memorial Building.

Once you’ve had a look around downtown Willows, you need to double back a little and head north along Highway 99 West. About three miles out of Willows, you’ll turn right at Bayliss-Blue Gum Road, heading east.

As you turn the corner, you’ll pass Sierra Nevada Cheese Co., a maker of gourmet cheeses. The company gets much of its raw milk from cows on nearby dairy farms.

Along Bayliss-Blue Gum, you’ll see a few stands of the road’s namesake trees — eucalyptus. You’ll also pass through Bayliss, another tiny community with a boarded up general store. But Bayliss’ Carnegie Library, built in 1917, is still in operation. It is the only Carnegie Library in the country that was built in a rural area.

While driving along Bayliss-Blue Gum I took a photo of this falling-down barn. To my urban eyes, it’s picturesque. But I want to emphasize that this is a thriving farming region and most of the outbuildings aren’t dilapidated.

The drive around this very large block ends a mile past Bayliss when Bayliss-Blue Gum reaches Highway 45.

Keep in mind that you’ve seen the more populated side of Glenn County. West of the Interstate 5, you encounter stretches of countryside that are very likely as empty as they were when the first white settlers saw them more than 150 years ago.

Posted by Steve Brown at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I no longer bounce out of bed. I wriggle into a sitting position at the side of the bed, then use a chair to hoist myself into a standing position.

Once I’m out of bed I no longer bound across the room. I take a step and say ouch, then take five halting steps before hitting my stride.

Every day I wake up and face that fact that I’m wearing out. Throughout the day I’m also reminded of this. I sit down sigh and groan as I get up again.

Then there are the aches and pains that are there regardless of whether I move. I remember my grandmother telling me, “I’d give anything to have your pain-free body.” All I could think of at the time was that I wasn’t going to worry about it for another 40 years.

In a flash, all of those years have gone by. Now, I’ve reached the point when there’s not a moment that a part of me isn’t hurting.

But it’s not just the hurting. There are things going on that I can’t even feel.

When my blood lab report comes back, I no longer have straight A’s. In fact, I recently got a C- in glucose, triglyceride and prostate specific antigen levels.

My weight is out of control and my blood pressure is getting harder to control. My digestive enzymes keep threatening to eat up my pancreas.

Last year, I had my gallbladder removed. What will be the next organ to go?

I have cataracts in my eyes and ringing in my ears.

When people ask me how I am, there’s potentially so much to talk about. I want to tell them “not so good,” and then recite the things that are wrong. So far, I’ve been able to stifle myself with everyone except my closest friends and relatives.

Four months ago, my aunt, who is only 13 years older than I am, was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I’m worried about her, so I’ve been talking to her on the phone every week. We use this time to catch up on each other’s maladies. She’s amazed at how adept doctors have become at figuring out what’s wrong with us: The endless battery of tests and procedures we are put through, and then all the pills we have to take. She tells me she remembers a time when people just sort of went along for years not knowing what was wrong with them and then dropped dead.

There are times when I think she wishes those days would return.

Chico is a good place to be when you’re starting to fall apart. Tending to the sick is one of its main industries, exceeded only by education and, perhaps, the running of cash registers. In the last couple of months, I’ve seen my regular doctor twice, visited two specialists, had a couple of blood draws and undergone an MRI. In a few weeks, I’m having an ultrasound-guided biopsy. I’m doing all of this without having to leave Chico.

What dreary people we become as we grow older, obsessing about our disintegrating bodies. When I was young, everything worked. I barely knew I had a body. My mind was my identity. But my failing body is asserting itself, working its way into my consciousness. Chronic illness is boring, depressing and frightening — boring because it never lets up, depressing because it saps my energy and frightening because it could kill me.

Posted by Steve Brown at 07:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Building by building, Chico is starting to look better. I like how Chicoans are finally getting it that looks matter.

My first example is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Institute of Religion building on the northeast corner of The Esplanade and Memorial Way.

I had always felt that it was a little too modern-looking in that setting. It sits at the end of a long row of early 20th century buildings on that side of The Esplanade.

So I was pleased to see that the building is sprouting some arts and crafts era touches, including overhanging eaves with brackets. Now all it needs are for a few clinker bricks to be attached to the existing brick facade to fit in perfectly with some of its neighbors.

Next up, is a row of storefronts on the east side of Mangrove Avenue between Third and Fifth streets. They must be among Mangrove’s earliest commercial buildings . They’ve been looking like they could use a facelift.

I was surprised to see that the same Old West style — with the exaggerated false fronts — is being carried out as part of the remodeling.

Mangrove catches a lot of flak from Chicoans. It’s the thoroughfare we love to hate. Maybe this row of storefronts will earn some praise once the project is finished.

My final example is a building on the west side of The Esplanade just north of 11th Avenue and south of Lindo Channel. It’s part of a group of businesses I took this photo of several years ago.

The Esplanade is often cited as an example of outstanding urban design. The street itself may be, but some of the buildings that line it aren’t.

But maybe this business is leading the way for some changes for the better along that block. I’ve noticed that building rehabilitation and improved design standards are among the goals of the avenues neighborhood plan.

Posted by Steve Brown at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When I returned to the copy desk at the Enterprise-Record, I had to severely cut back my involvement in the fledgling Chico Community Chorus. It meets on Tuesday evenings. In my new job, I have those evenings off only one month out of every four.

Despite my time conflict, I remain a strong supporter of the chorus. I take great pleasure in group singing. I love to sing my heart out. Singing with like-minded people doubles my satisfaction.
We all need to chase our blues away. Life is a vale of tears. It can be full of bad trips. Singing is a way to get us out of our sadness.

Singer-songwriter Carole King acknowledges the therapeutic power of music in “Jazzman,” from her album “Wraparound Joy.” She sings: “Lift me, won’t you lift me, above the old routine. Make it nice, play it clean, Jazzman. When the Jazzman’s testifying, a faithless man believes. He can sing you into paradise or bring you to your knees.”

The Jazzman King sings about can “bring you to your knees,” but his music gives us a way to get us back on our feet.

That’s what group singing does for me. It’s also a way to be in touch with deepest parts of my soul and help me remember that life is full of sweetness.

And yet the Chico Community Chorus is stumbling. People are so busy nowadays. They don’t seem have time to set aside a couple of hours a week for a bit of bliss. From its inception, the chorus has struggled to have enough voices to round out its soprano, alto, tenor and bass sections.

The first meeting was almost a year ago. A couple of months later, Ken Lacy, the director, was so dispirited that he wanted to throw in the towel. But I urged him to keep going. I still feel the same way, and so does our core group of about a dozen people. I figure there must be at least a few dozen people in Chico and surrounding areas who are as avid as we are about the pleasures of group singing.

The chorus, which is sponsored by the Chico Area Recreation District, meets every week from 7 to 9 p.m. at Pleasant Valley Recreation Center, 2320 North Ave., next to Bidwell Junior High School. You can just show up at the meetings or call Lacy at 891-4526 for more information. Right now, the group does everything from a cappella rounds, to singing pop tunes with a karaoke machine, to using sheet music to practice four-part harmonies accompanied by a piano.

Posted by Steve Brown at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)