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Wino Country LbNA #10267 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Aug 20, 2004
Location:
City:?
County:Sonoma
State:California
Boxes:1
Planted by:Mimulus
Found by: Not yet found!
Last found:N/A
Status:a
Last edited:Aug 20, 2004
NOTE: THIS BOX WAS VANDALIZED AND REMOVED. I hope to replace by July 2005.

When I first moved to Sonoma County I rented a charming bungalow, one of three identical homes built in 1906 named the Three Sisters. I was befriended by my equally charming neighbor, Ardez Barham, who was 89 years old, born 3 years before these homes were built.

Ardez had very little vision left, but managed to live an independent life: watering her garden, cooking, light housekeeping. Her niece (Ardez never had her own children) came weekly to take her to the beauty salon and shopping. I visited her often and she regaled me with tales of growing up in Sonoma County. This box is dedicated to her memory.

Ardez grew up on a farm on Sonoma Mountain. When she was of school age her parents bought a house in town as Ardez's mother had gotten a job for Luther Burbank. Also Ardez and her sister could go to school in town more easily. When asked what her mother did for Luther Burbank she replied, "Oh, she mostly picked rat poop out of the seeds."

Apparently Luther Burbank would take a wheelbarrow over to the school 3 blocks away (rebuilt in the 1930's and named Luther Burbank Elementary) and trundle Ardez and her sister back to his place. There the girls would wait until their mother was done with work. They always spent their summers on the farm and when she was a teenager she and her sister would ride their ponies from Sonoma Mountain all the way over to the Washoe Tavern in Hessel for dances. They would stay in a room overnight with all the other young women. "Christian sleeping arrangements", she assured me, "no hanky panky."

It turns out her father also worked for another famous Sonoma County resident: Jack London; as a day laborer at Beauty Ranch, just down the moutain from their farm. So I asked if her dad ever spoke about him. She said, "Oh that Jack London, all he ever did was hang out down at the creek with the other hobos, drink and listen to them all telling stories. That is were he got all his ideas, that old wino!"

So here are the clues:

Xanadu

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

an excerpt from Xanadu by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

Yes, but did it have a Stag Party room?

Now answer these questions about The Call of the Wild. Take the first and last letter from each answer and unscramble to come up with the location.

At what saloon did Buck win the bet?
What was the name of the boat which brought Buck to Alaska?
What was the name of Buck's father?
What was the name of the Irish Setter who befriended Buck?
By what river did Buck have his showdown with Spitz?

_ _ U _ H

_ _ _ V _ _ I _ _

What was the last name of the man who rescued Buck from Hal?
What was the name of the gold rush in Alaska?

_ R _ E

_ _ O T