Local Recreation

Lorna Grabe: like high school teachers, and some worked at the University. Had other jobs.

Bob Zybach: It was like hobby farms?

Lorna Grabe: Right.

Bob Zybach: Wasn't sustenance?

Lorna Grabe: Right.

Bob Zybach: Most of the people out here were educated?

Lorna Grabe: Right.

Bob Zybach: And there was only about a dozen families?

Lorna Grabe: Right.

Bob Zybach: What brought in all these other families, were they educators, developers or what ... outside investors provided additional housing?

Lorna Grabe: Well, Hewelett-Packard came here about ten years ago, and so we had a big influx of people ten years ago. And it just gradually ... people just started coming in, and we've had a lot more recreation ... people coming out, people jogging, riding their horses. And I was asking the boys what they noticed that was different. Ted said when we first moved out here there were almost no fences, just Hollisters had a fence around the little pasture and ... everybody had horses and you could ride your horses everywhere on the trails, you

Lorna Grabe: know. He noticed that was different now that you can't ride your horses because of gates and houses and things.

Bob Zybach: Main recreation activities was ... community recreational activity might have been horse back riding?

Lorna Grabe: Right.

Bob Zybach: How about hunting?

Lorna Grabe: There was hunting in the fall when it was permitted.

Bob Zybach: How about bird hunting?

Lorna Grabe: I never did see anybody kill birds.

Bob Zybach: How about fishing along the creek?

Lorna Grabe: Yeah, our boys fished in the creek and ... the kids would fish in the creek, but I never did see men fish in the creek.

Bob Zybach: Was there ever beaver in the creek?

Lorna Grabe: Yes, there were beaver dams down by Sulphur Springs along the main road and also going up towards Oak Creek, there were beaver dams there.

Bob Zybach: Would they fish in the beaver ponds?

Lorna Grabe: Yeah.

Bob Zybach: Swim there?

Lorna Grabe: They didn't swim there, I know, kids took their horses to swim ... Jack Dolan built a small dam across Soap Creek for their own swimming purposes, and I know Jean Yates took her horse in there swimming. The kids would take their horses there to swim. That was fun too.

Bob Zybach: Would people pick berries around here or go picnicking?

Lorna Grabe: I don't recall too much picnicking, but a lot of people came to pick berries.

Bob Zybach: From town?

Lorna Grabe: You'd see people out picking black berries. Not a lot of people, but you would see people picking berries and we picked berries.

Bob Zybach: What did you think about as more people started moving into here, did you like that?

Lorna Grabe: No, we moved out because I like privacy, quiet; and I am sort of a naturalist, I'm a bird watcher, and I like wild flowers, and I think you're more creative if you're living in the quiet environment; and so we like to be where it was quiet. Our neighbors ... we have very good neighbors, and we liked the people that we've met.

Bob Zybach: On bird watching, have you noticed any particular ... notice eagles at all?

Lorna Grabe: I haven't seen any eagles, no, there's supposed to be some up by Camp Adair. Some have been reported up there.

Bob Zybach: Bald eagles?

Lorna Grabe: I think so.

Bob Zybach: The other day, I saw ... heard several different types of owls, saw two of the owls, saw red tailed hawk, saw four white birds almost the size of red tail hawk, grey with white band across the head, do you know what those are?

Lorna Grabe: A grey bird?

Bob Zybach: Pretty much grey with the same wing span as a red tail hawk, we saw them just at Tampico intersection with another person, unidentified, there was two of them.

Lorna Grabe: They weren't swans?

Bob Zybach: No.

Lorna Grabe: There are American egrets that have real long skinny legs that are the size of a hawk, there's the American egret.

Bob Zybach: Grey with a white band across it?

Lorna Grabe: No, there's a Sand Hill Crane that's grey.

Bob Zybach: These were built more like a hawk, and wing span about the same as a red tailed hawk.

Lorna Grabe: There's an Osprey that's white but they hang up more they're more up in the higher elevation like mountain lakes.

Bob Zybach: I've still got to keep checking it. How about . . you say wild flowers, any particular types of wild flowers that you noticed in this area that you consider unusual?

Lorna Grabe: Well, we moved here from Iowa and most of the wild flowers, a lot of them there have been destroyed, for instance, the trillium. I belonged to a nature study group there, and we we spent a lot of time looking for red trilliums or trilliums, and we never could find any. Coming here the hillsides are just covered with trilliums, and it's a great thrill to see these trilliums blooming in the spring. And there are a lot of fairy slippers, the little wild orchids, right by our house. I mean there's just banks of them. And that's a very rare flower back in Iowa, so I think these are a great natural resource that should be preserved in our state. I think people should be aware of this wonderful treasure that we have here and try to preserve these wonderful things. Because if you don't, the same thing will happen here that happened in Iowa; it will just be wiped out.

Bob Zybach: Do you think that more people should be out enjoying the wild flowers, or do you think by having more people looking at the wild flowers that's infringing on your privacy?

Lorna Grabe: If they are on a marked trail and are educated about the history of the valley and the importance of wild flowers, I

Lorna Grabe: think that's a good thing. I think it's educational.

Bob Zybach: It'll be more people coming to Soap Creek Valley and parking on areas ar' following trails, interpretative trails, getting an education.

Lorna Grabe: That's important.

Bob Zybach: That would be worth giving up a little privacy?

Lorna Grabe: Right. We had ... usually at our open house, at our Spring Open House, the whole school yard is just covered with wild flowers. Beautiful, the cat's ears and buttercups, and we usually put out just a little cardboard sign that says, "Thank you for not picking the wild flowers," and people respect that. And last spring I don't like to put up signs there because I think it destroys the aesthetic beauty of the building ... or the site, so anyway I forgot to put the sign up, and we were surprised even the people who'd been out there with exhibits were out there picking wild flowers, and almost everybody came in with a handful of wild flowers. So it's important to tell people "Do not pick the flowers" and tell them the names of them. We have now made cardboard names on stakes to stick by the different flowers so the people know what they're seeing. And when they see that, then they respect that.

Bob Zybach: Do you know Bessie Murphy?

Lorna Grabe: Yeah.