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Growing up in the Northern California Bay Area, I was surrounded with redwood trees, and the lumber that was cut from those trees.  We had coastal redwoods in our back-yard which I remember climbing.  Those trees were young, maybe 50 years old but boy could I get up in them, 60 or more feet in the air, way above the houses.  You could see a long way from up there.

Our fence was built with redwood 4×4, 2×4 and split pickets.  Our siding was Redwood plywood with clear coat finish.  We had redwood trim boards and finish lumber inside.  We were surrounded with it and my dad was a forester who would take us on hikes in the woods.

When I was in high school a Lumber Company was making the news: Palco.  They were the target of a hostile takeover by a Texas company called Maxam.  My dad got the contract to value the timber, and shared with me the volumes.  He predicted at current cutting rates VG Fine grain Redwood would run out in 20 years in commercial volumes.  I went to College, and then into the lumber industry.  By the late 80’s Maxam had doubled the volumes. My dad said: this won’t last for long, not enough timber.

He was right, but when Maxam sold the 7700 acre Headwaters acreage VG All Heart redwood production was over in volume.  That left an opportunity for VG Western Red Cedar to move into the market, and the company I was working for had the perfect distribution arm KD Cedar in Hayward, Ca to deliver the replacement product.  I ran KD Cedar with this in mind from 1992 to 1997 and found good success with companies like Beronio, Melrose, Van Arsdale, Channel and Truitt and White.  Many of these companies stocked the Cedar right where the redwood used to be, it was a natural fit.  Some still called it Red Wood: (Western) Red (Cedar) Wood.

When I went to work at Patrick in 1997, we exploited the strong supply relationships that Patrick had in BC Canada to leverage our Cedar business in California and worked for the next decade to expand the customer base.  It the 2000’s we expanded the reach to Southern California where we found more success with companies who had been sold scant D/Btr Flat grain Cedar.  They greatly preferred the VG full sawn stock.

My father is responsible for planting the seed for this concept to become reality, but my grandfather’s company TUMAC had the connections to make it happen.  It’s now 2019, and while volumes of VG WRC are smaller than they were 20 years ago, the builders and architects in California still prefer to specify Cedar where Redwood was once the norm.  Certainly there were others who recognized the opportunity, but Patrick enjoys a 50%+ market share since we were the first in and the most reputable.

When I was in high school I would spend some weekends at the rule Ranch on the Northern California coast cleaning up for my Dad who managed the ranch.  Bruce Nikolai would join me and together we made up a work and clean up crew.  One winter we were dispatched to burn rubble left around from a century of farming.  We spent several weekends burning all wood and debris in and around the barns and out buildings scattered around the property.

The views were amazing, 300-500 ‘ above the Pacific Ocean just north of the town of Jenner.  This is where the Russian River meets the ocean, on a clear day you could see 20 or more miles into the Pacific.  The original Farm house sat up on the hill above the barns and protected by an old cypress hedge.  The grounds of the house covered over an acre, it was a Victorian style house, tall ceilings and quite prominent.  Local stories told of the ghosts that frequented the house, articles were written about the Haunted house on the hill above Jenner.  Bruce and I were clueless.

After cleaning and burning most everything outside, dad set us on cleaning out a part of the old house which had been abandoned many years prior.  We burned what we could and took the rest to a dump a couple mile away.   On Saturday afternoon we dug to the bottom of a room that had been filled to the ceiling with junk.  So much stuff you could not open the door, so we took most stuff out the window.  Underneath it all was a coffin.  We did not open it, finished up for the day and went to dinner.  We called my dad to ask what to do, he said take it out of there and burn it if it’s empty.

So Sunday morning we drove back up the hill and got our burn pile going, about mid-morning we looked inside and found the coffin empty.  Just some old red sheet and linens in there, we hauled it over to the burn pile and set it ablaze.  It burned hot.  We finished up that day, drove home and i did not give it much thought after that.

At College later that year I found out the house was no longer haunted, then a few weeks later that big home burned to the ground.  Coincidence?  No, I believe we let those ghosts free and they came back and did to the big house what we did to the coffin, set it ablaze.

Stewed tomatoes, 4 to 6 cups or more.  Fresh roasted in oven for 45 min or canned. Put in large chili pot with a can of chicken stock.  Cook 1 to 2 lbs ground buffalo till brown and cut to little pieces with spatula as cooking.  In same pan with remnants saute two large onions and some bell peppers diced and sweat till translucent.  Season with pepper, salt & garlic.  Add to pot.  Add chili powder about 5 tablespoons.  Add salt pepper and a small can diced chilies.  Drain and rinse 1 or 2 cans red kidney beans.  Add after pot has come to boil and reduce heat to simmer.  Check taste after 1/2 hour and add spices as you desire.  If too soupy add tomato paste.

If you like add dark chocolate and cinnamon.

This gets better over time. Usually the next day I pull the pot out of fridge and slowly reheat.

Serve with avocado diced fresh sweet onions and sour cream

My college roommate Jim Crystal worked in summers as a river guide.  We would hear great stories of his adventures over the years, but I did find the time to go until I was 50.  Jim has the opportunity to save the company he worked for from closure by buying it a decade ago, so he did.  Its called OTT (Orange Torpedo Trips)

My partner Brad Mehl, who grew up on the Rogue River rafting with his dad and brother, joined Patrick Lumber around the time Jim bought OTT.  Brad had guided for OTT in college too and was a big fan of the Rogue River.  After we all worked ourselves out of the depths of the great recession we began to find bigger trips for our trading group to use as bonding experiences.  Brad suggested the Rogue Lodge trip OOT offered, and we booked our first trip in 2014.  Patrick or portions of the group have been on the river every year since.

Last summer after a good friend Jimmy Mac passed away a group of us did the lower Salmon river 4 days camping.  A few from Patrick came, but most were OSU Beavers.  Jimmy’s son came along and we were able to share good memories and build some new ones.  This was in the summer of 2017, and six of us did the Salmon right after the Rogue.  Jim calls this the “Hostage Crisis”, being on the river 7 days straight.  I did not really understand or have perspective of the name until on day 6 when Cris Schureman told be “at least in jail you get a phone call”.  Its true, no phones work in that canyon and you have to go with the gang.

This summer I took my boys Nick, Jack and Zack down the Rogue.  I think they loved it as much as me, its wonderful to see them develop a strong relationship with each other.  Another fantastic trip, good food, super water conditions and great company.  One notable point is that Jim, Brad and Cris have been on every trip with me, its a great way to strengthen your bond.  Thank you my friends!

 

 

 

 

Friday the 20th of July 2018 we attended the celebration of life for John Jayne. He was my boss at Disdero Lumber from 1986 to 1997.  A good mentor and great golfer John, Dave Menkens and I frequently paired with a fourth in industry golf tournaments. John carried a 2 handicap and we won many events. I remember a 10 year stretch where we won at least one trophy each year. Lots of good times on the course.

John was very personable and he was an asset in developing relationships.  Disdero grew from a Northwest company into a much larger base under his watch. He brought in Lockdeck with Gunner Brink, added distribution yards in Washington and California and found profitable lines to promote. We was generous in dividing the pie and always was upright and fair.

John gave me a long leash at a young age. When he became GM I was part of his executive committee along with Perry, Loren and Coop. These were good years and we had a lot of fun.

My run at Disdero ended in 1997 after I pushed too hard for quantitative compensation for some of the employees. The ultimate last straw though was a book that I had shared with the Seattle branch manager. Gunner described it like this in a speach given in December 2017  “He was also strong willed, confident, and didn’t always agree with management. Young, aggressive, and not yet politically savvy, he pushed things a little too far… he loved books, and he loved to share them with others, but when he gave the president of the company a book titled, “How to fire your boss”… one chapter ended and another was about to begin.”

I will always remember John for his good natured personality and great golf game.

My grandfather McPherson who was one of the founding partners of Tumac Lumber in Portland in 1959 died in 1994.  I was close to him and spent many evenings in my 20’s playing a few holes of golf or barbequeing with him. Sometimes we would just sip screwdrivers on his back patio overlooking his rose patch and hole#3 on the Charbeanu green nine.

When he passed away my uncle Tom and my Mom set up a small family business with some of the inheritance we received, money built on the trading business of Tumac.  There were 7 or 8 of us and we called it MAC Clan Investments.  Originally we invested in stocks like Willamette industries.

A few years later there was an opportunity to roll that money into a family farm in Colusa that my dad’s uncle Bill had run for over fifty years. It was an old prune orchard which was still producing. We all agreed to reinvest the funds and grandpas old Tumac money went to work for Sunsweet prunes.

Several years later a federal farm bill came along with an incentive which allowed us to remove the prune orchard and pay off our loan. After the prunes were gone we crop shared row crops with a local farmer.   Lima beans were our primary go to crop. The great recession hit in 2008 and Colusa milling could not get a reasonable price for our dried and bagged beans. We held them in storage. Same was true in 2009 and our pile grew.

Later that year my dad called to share that finally we had a buyer. When the receipt came through it showed Tumac as the broker. Yes the same Tumac that my grandfather started 50 years prior. And that is how money comes back around to work, I think my grandfather would have liked that!

Welcome to Halsey Sites.  My blogs will vary in length, content and timeliness.