Welcome, everyone.
You have now entered the cosmic radio receptors
of
KCOW
one hundred point seven FM
located just a few miles north of the
California border in lovely coastal Brookings, Oregon.
Thank you for tuning in to this week's
interesting program.
I'm doctor Gigi, and my cohost is, as
always, Jacques Kepner. How are you today, Jacques?
Hey, doctor. I am finer than a lighthouse
climber.
That's what I'm feeling good today because,
wait a minute. Let me find my where
am I?
Welcome to the Doc and Jacques Radio of
Ray Show. Special thanks to to today's sound
engineers. I think Ray
Simon and Michael Gorse are in there filling
in for the still on the mend,
Tom Bozak. So hello, Tom Bozak if you're
out there listening. I know Linda is.
Special thanks to all of you.
We we can't do it without you. You're
hearing the live syndicated show right now on
KCOW in Brookings, Oregon. That said, the same
syndicated show will be rebroadcast at exactly one
week from now each and every Wednesday morning
at 8AM
on our coastal affiliate Southern Friends KZZH
ninety six point seven FM in Eureka Humboldt
Region.
Welcome and hello of all to our listeners
there. And then a few hours later, the
Shame Show will be played on my old
alma mater. The Shame Show? Shame Show.
And you were snoring not because of the
program because it was so early. 08:00 in
the morning. Oh, yeah. I should have done
that. Mick?
01:00 in the afternoon at my old alma
mater, KFUG
one hundred and one point one FM in
Coastal Crescent City. So now you know that
Doc and I have your coasts
covered.
All
right.
I got to write this up. It's that
time
when good medicine and health tips are colorfully
presented by my German American actively practicing medical
doctor, Doctor. Gudrin Reid. Doctor. Gigi,
as she likes to be called,
is also a distinguished scientist, and because of
her research, she holds
four
DNA technology patents in her name. I could
barely say those words together,
much less understand them. You have also been
a university professor, still kind of are in
a way,
syndicated broadcaster, newspaper columnist, artist, and the list
goes on and on. Wow. Alright. Doc,
what medical marvels do you have for us
today on this week's health segment of
doctor MDG?
No. It's true. Sorry. I I think I
might have a flu. I'm not sure. Maybe
it's a cold. I'm not sure. What is
it about today?
Today well, first of all, you have worked
on the little preamble on Tommy. Right? Aw,
cute.
So today, we'll be discussing
why having a cold is not the same
as having the flu. Really? Yeah. So I
gotcha. I'm clogged up now. Well, let's talk
about it. Okay. So when we see someone's
sniffling and sneezing
and then we ask, hey, how's it going?
We often hear, oh, it just caught the
flu.
But in real life, they're walking around with
a common cold.
There's a huge difference between those two, so
let's talk about the difference. Okay. First I
gotta say, can I say something rather unrelated
but funny?
For me,
food has never made me fat.
But scales
sure do.
No. Like a weight scale? Okay. That one
went over. Bomb.
I've heard better jokes. Okay. So both illnesses,
the flu and the cold
oh my gosh. That's our guess. That's hurt.
Are caused by viruses that attack the respiratory
system.
That would be your lungs, Chunky. Yeah. Whereby
the flu tends to strike much harder, faster,
and with more serious consequences than the common
cold.
The common cold, we just, from now on,
call the cold,
is usually blamed on rhinoviruses.
There are several kinds out there. Rhino as
in nose. Yeah. I know that stuff. See,
I'm pretty smart. I've been around you for
a while.
They prefer the nose, the upper airways, particularly
the nose and throat. Symptoms tend to creep
in slowly over a day or two. And
the patients often report a runny or stuffy
nose, sneezing and a scratchy throat, and maybe
a mild cough. Alright. I told doctor Gigi
that I I keep thinking I'm God.
She asked me how long I'd felt this
way. Well, I answered shortly after I created
the sun, the moon, and the stars, doctor.
So fever in adults is uncommon in the
cold. And when it does occur, it's usually
low grade. Most people feel under the weather,
but they can still function and symptoms typically
resolve within about a week to ten days.
K.
Influenza,
on the other hand,
has a reputation for arriving like a bolt
of lightning.
Oh, the flu comes in heavy and hard.
The many people can pinpoint almost the exact
hour when they start to feel sick.
High fever, chills,
pounding headaches, deep muscle and body aches, which
we create ourselves as we have talked before,
profound fatigue and a dry hacking cock,
classic hallmarks of it. Of the flu? Patients
often yes. The flu. Influenza virus. Patients often
describe feeling as if they were hit by
a truck. Wow. I told doctor Gigi that
I was losing my memory. She asked me,
when did it start?
I said, when did what start?
Come on, John. Give me a laugh.
That's how he laughs. Okay. I wasn't done
with my flu. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
So the recovery usually takes one to two
weeks up to four weeks.
And the exhaustion, the feeling tired and hit
by a truck can linger beyond that.
Now the complications
is another key
dividing line between cold and flu. The cold
may occasionally
lead to sinus infection or in
was that a real cough? It was. I
mean, that's John Zimmerman or his he's a
blame.
Or an ear infection, especially in children. The
flu, however, can prog
progress progress
to bronchitis
Yeah. Or pneumonia
and may send vulnerable
patients, which
means older adults, pregnant women, or young children,
and people with chronic conditions
like asthma or diabetes
or heart disease to the hospital.
And in severe cases, influenza can be life
threatening as we know from that big
flu in 1918
Famously killed so many people. Mhmm. Well, diets
are for people that are thick and tired
of it.
And I know it's three meals a day,
but how many should I eat a night?
I'm a light eater. As soon as the
sunlight peeks over the horizon, I start eating.
Alright. What else? Okay. Then let's go to
the treatment.
So there is no cure for either illness.
So we cannot cure it. And antibiotics
do not work against viruses even though a
lot of people
say antibiotics to anything that, you know, makes
us better.
For the common cold, we typically just say
rest, plenty of fluids,
saline nasal spray, throat lozenges, and over the
counter remedies such as the decongestions or pain
relievers
for the muscle pain.
Cool. Because especially the sleep because we
during sleep, our white blood cells work the
best. Our immune response needs to sleep. Now
for flu patients,
we do the same thing. Right? But we
might add an antiviral,
which is not an antibiotic, an antiviral,
which is Tamiflu,
basically.
So if the illness is caused caught very
early, like within the first forty eight hours,
then we can give the Tamiflu. The Tamiflu
might
make you one day less sick,
but it
basically makes it so you cannot really cough
it on. So that's the big advantage. He's
not coughing or the flu that he's coughing
over there. He's just having too many cigarettes.
Yesterday, I replaced our bed with a trampoline.
Doctor Gigi, hit the roof.
Okay. My boss is going to fire the
employee with the worst posture.
I have a hunch it's gonna be me.
I got her laugh.
He has he has dragons. He has daggers
from shooting from his eyes at I got
a stomachache.
K. So public health experts emphasize that the
prevention remains the community's strongest weapon.
So what should we do? We can do
frequent hand washing with soap and water, warm
water,
cover coughs,
John,
and sneezes. He was. So they don't He
was. Right, I think. Well, he was. I'm
just telling him. So he did good. Thanks.
And sneezes and avoid close contact with people
who are sick and
stay home when you're really sick.
Or Keep smithy eyes. Hey. I know. The
dagger's on his eyes. Remember? Doctor Gigi told
me that I have two parts of the
brain,
left and right. On the left, there's nothing
right. And on the right, there's nothing left.
That one is a good one. Okay. Okay.
Okay. So let's look at the prevention.
There is currently absolutely,
besides what I talked about, but there is
currently no vaccine for the common cold.
Most likely because it has so many different
viruses, viruses, so many different rhinoviruses
by themselves. And there are some coronaviruses too,
by the way, that cause the common cold
or the cold. But a seasonal flu shot
as in, you know, the flu vaccine is
recommended every year
for anybody over six years of six months
of age.
Pretty much. So the vaccine makes you less
likely being in the hospital. How long do
they last? Or is there Every year you
need to get it. For some reason, they
do not the the flu vaccine the the
the influenza virus does mutate a lot.
Still, it does not really make any sense
to me that they you have to get
a vaccine every year. But so far, you
Vaccines are bad. Did you know that the
worst time to have a heart attack doctor
is while playing charades?
Okay. It's
as if your jokes are any better, buster.
He's falling asleep on me over there. Alright.
I have one more sentence. I have a
gasp.
Okay. I have a Alright. What do you
have? When you when you say I have
a flu or I have a cold and
if you really wanna know if you have
a flu or cold, so make sure you
know how slow it came on, how bad
you feel.
Because,
if you're just like somebody sneezing and and
coughing and
doing stuff like that, then you probably just
have the common cold. And really, you can
go anywhere because the common cold is everywhere.
You cannot really pass it on. Used to
have a temperature of the common cold or
not? No. Not really. If they do, it's,
like, very low. Wow. Alright, doc. A a
baseball rolled into a bar, and the bartender
threw it out.
I I used to play instruments by ear,
but now I use my hands.
You're all the you're all the encouraging. I'm
well happy.
Alright. Well, thanks, doc, for that very interesting
thing about now we know. Right? Now we
know. We know.
Oh, I can't find I can't find
the.
Okay. Here it is right there. Do you
got Thank you, ma'am.
I'm looking for the prologue for our guest
today who is silent Sam over here except
when I would,
you know, tell these great jokes. But I'll
read it off Gigi since I I can
run up on my phone. Some of you
heard that doctor Gigi and I were and
me?
Doctor Gigi and And I. And I. Yeah.
Oh, my God. Now you got me testing
everything. We're treated to a special event last
Friday.
When we took up an offer by our
friend John Zimmerman to be flown out on
a helicopter to one of the most iconic
lighthouses in the world,
that being the Saint George Reef Lighthouse,
well, well, what do you think we're gonna
do? This lighthouse
is a monument that has withstood the test
of time and interest. It stands
just off our Northern California and Southern Oregon
coastline like a Statue Of Liberty, but it
is a glimpse back into time
and was born out of tragedy.
After the Brother Jonathan was wrecked in 1865
upon the reef rocks and
killing one hundred and sixty people, the idea
was conceived and the lighthouse
was eventually built many multiple years later and
it took a long time to do it
as we'll find out from John.
How many of us have ever ventured out
upon the beach on a clear day or
stopped along a Coastal Bluff and looked out
and seen the towering lighthouse about seven miles
or so offshore? Unless you're in Ray Simon's
house where one of the best views I've
ever seen was from your house, Ray, our
engineer,
when you had that super telescope. The spotting
telescope. Fantastic,
man. That was so incredible. That was 13
miles away, I think he said.
You are most probably like us. You were
fascinated by such a unique and memorable sight.
So let's fast forward a few years when
we saw that first saw that lighthouse
to finding out from fishermen that, sure, the
rock is approachable, but you cannot
moor a boat anywhere around there as it
is battered by big waves and sits upon
the rocks itself. That means the only approachable
way to get out to the lighthouse is
by helicopter.
So keep fast forwarding, and now you find
John Zimmerman, our friend, and president of the
Lighthouse Restoration,
Society.
And he, over many interviews and conversations about
the Lighthouse on this very program and others,
has offered doctor offered doctor Gigi and I,
and me
Right? You got it?
Once in a lifetime opportunity. Would we like
to be shuttled out on a helicopter and
given a tour of the lighthouse?
Well, do you know how high I could
jump?
Pretty darn high when I heard news such
as this. So
if off we went into a little red
helicopter that flew us out to Lighthouse and
we were given a robust and fascinating nearly
three hour tour of the Grand Old Lady
by vice president of the Lighthouse Restoration
Project, Richard Hoff.
We will give you we will give you
our take
on what our experiences will,
on We're less than a week ago. Right?
Yeah. Less than last Friday.
And we'll be talking with John about the
lighthouse because he is the man that knows
it best. He has been out of that
island multiple times and is a very big
promoter of such a national treasure as the
Saint George Reef Lighthouse. So Gigi and I
are honored
to introduce John Zimmerman to the Doc and
Jacques Radio Show here live in the KCIW
Studios. Welcome, John.
Welcome, John. Thank you. Wake up. He's done
with his jokes. I wasn't telling a joke.
Did you say lighthouse climber? Yeah. I said
I'm finer than a lighthouse climber because I
had to walk up those I counted them,
and now I forgot. Over 95 steps. 95
and they're not that easy. No. They're pretty
steep. No. Yeah. 95 steps, and we went
circling around. It reminded me of being up
at Fort Point in San Francisco at the
at the battery there,
the the big So you did give a
good introduction about it for the lighthouse, Saint
George Reef Lighthouse. And we have John Zimmerman
here who is the president of the Saint
George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society,
also called Boboto,
as an acronym.
Bobo
gums? So, John, you were not born the
president of such society. Where were you born
and raised?
Portland,
Oregon. I lived there,
through my college year. Well, up to time,
I went to school in Corrales,
Oregon State, and then I moved to California
in 1985.
Spent, roughly thirty years there and then moved
to Brookings.
Cool. And you've been in Brookings for how
long? Almost ten years. And then how did
you first
I mean, you obviously had seen the lighthouse
before you moved here or right after you
moved here?
Yeah. I,
I studied lighthouses and nautical history from time
I was a kid. And,
Saint George Reef and, Tomahawk are the two
probably the two outstanding examples of, of way
washed lighthouses in The United States. They also
happen to be built by the same engineer,
Alexander Ballantyne. And when, Ballantyne finished till McCrack,
then he started it on Saint George.
But, I never really thought I'd ever get
out to the Saint George Tree Flight House.
It was just this situation that
about the time I was
volunteering at a, a Bay Area lighthouse, so
it's East Brother down in,
down in the Richmond Bay north of,
of the bridge there. Yeah.
I had learned that, Guy Towers had formed
a society to, save Saint George Reef Lighthouse.
And so I made a telephone call, and
we got to be fast friends. And
then, after a period of time, he had,
invited me to come up to, fly out
to the lighthouse in 2002, and they're relighting
it for the first time in
twenty seven years and, celebrate the hundred and
tenth anniversary of the the building of the
lighthouse. And,
so, I did, and, we stayed in touch.
And then when I retired, I
didn't wanna go back to a major city.
So I thought, well, Gee Brookies is kinda
nice, and it's kinda close to Saint George.
Maybe I can volunteer.
So that's how I got involved. So there
was a restoration,
society then?
Yeah. He started in 1986.
Took him ten years to go through all
the,
paperwork
with the various government agencies. Remember, that was
before emails and any of that sort of
thing.
And,
it took him ten years to get the,
Lighthouse
nominated to be out of the historic,
register
and,
to create a board and to, get transportation
out there and,
then later on to comply with the different
government and agencies,
NOAA and,
the FAA to land a helicopter out there,
a number of other things. But Yeah. He
worked his rear off trying to get this
thing going. So it was state owned
till It was still owned by the well,
there's, it was under the, federal government, and
they
there, it was under the GSA to be
disposed of. Oh, what? Like, torn down or
Well, sold or or disposed of some way.
Woah. In the eighties then. This is, after
it was discontinued in 1975.
I don't have the exact year that they're
gonna,
put it up to to be disposed of.
But I do know in 1983,
eight years after the lighthouse was discontinued, they
took the first
order lens out of the lighthouse and relocated
it at the,
Del Norte County Museum Mhmm. Because they're afraid
that it was gonna be vandalized. There's already
been a number of,
lantern room,
planes that were,
destroyed from gunshots from boats.
And, that lens is right behind that, and,
it won't be a matter of time between
the elements being exposed to were not protected
by the
the lantern room and so forth and people
taking potshots out of it, that that priceless
lens would have been destroyed. By the way,
I wanna remind everybody that you can actually
see the lens itself
that it's massive. It has a big stairway
that goes up and around it, and it's
parked in the Del Norte Museum like you
just mentioned,
Del Norte County.
Is it Frenzel Limbs? It's on Fifth and
Age. The Frenel Limbs. For Fentanyl. Fifth and
Age. I used to call it Frenzel myself
until I got corrected. But, Augustine
Fernel was the inventor that
perfected the refracting
qualities of the
light beams and and created the Fresnel lens.
And the glass is extremely heavy. It's extremely
thick. Right? It's bizarre. Custom made.
Wow. And it's Every one of them is
different.
K. So Wow. So it could And assembled
there?
They were assembled,
they were,
assembled either at the Lighthouse Depot,
on the East Coast
and then disassembled
and wrapped and and numbered and then sent
out to the Lighthouse. If you go to
the,
museum in Crescent City, you look along the
brass that's holding each prism and you'll see
a number. Oh,
wow.
They are exquisite.
I mean, just absolutely exquisite,
pieces of art. Yeah. And and they are
invaluable. The,
last I heard,
the, first order lens that was taken out
of the Point Arena Lighthouse that is on
display,
out there,
at the lighthouse,
not up in the landing room, but on
on the Ground Floor in the,
Fox Signal Building. This was thirty years ago.
They figured it was worth 4 and a
half million dollars. Oh, man. Trip. Well, thank
god it's preserved forever.
One of the things that struck us as
soon as we got out there, we landed
on the caisson.
I was wondering how that was gonna happen,
but it's bigger than you think. But you
still gotta be a good pilot to get
it in there. Oh, that was nice. You'll
be whacking your helicopter blade on the side
of
the lighthouse. It was actually
pretty close.
But, Eric did a great job. Eric and
Kirsten, great, great pilots.
We were very lucky to get them. Yeah.
So that was a cool ride. We got
into the little red helicopter,
and he flew around to the right and
then he flew to the left and the
person on the left and the right person.
It was a beautiful day. The sun and
the and the And then we landed in.
We had a full tour. We didn't just
go, okay, here it is. A full tour
from every floor and, actually, while we talk
about the lens, I did not know that
the frequency
and how often it pulses or or how
it turns, that's
each lighthouse is different. I had no idea.
Well, how else if you're on a
ship and you're looking along the shore, you
have a Pacific Coast pilot which would tell
you when to look for lighthouses and and
so forth
or listen for foghorns because they they were
all different too. Yeah. How would you know
where you were if they didn't each have
a different flashing signal? Well, now I know
better. But back then, I just thought there
was something. Yeah. That's very horn. The horn
was the foghorn Same. And that's what I
would think would drive any,
tender or keeper of the lighthouse crazy. I
you had to put up with that noise?
John Gibbons told me, and I've had I
just talked to him today on the phone.
I've talked to two of the 90 year
old lighthouse keepers last two days. I sent
them each a picture of the lighthouse revolving
so they they would see it. And, of
course, they're very, very happy about that.
But he told me a long time ago,
and and I can't give you the duration,
but the fuck horn will go off and
then there'd be a short duration
and then it'll go on again and then
there'd be a longer duration. He said when
when the foghorn was on, the keepers instinctively
knew when to stop talking and start talking.
Uh-huh. They tried to talk over. There wasn't
any possibility of that. Yeah. And if you
went inside of the lighthouse, it was six
and a half foot thick walls. You could
not get away from that noise. Right. Oh
my god. We went down the basement where
it that foghorn
well, it stood with huge what was it?
Ran by steam?
Originally, it was whistle. A steam whistle, and
the whistles protruded out of the caisson. Mhmm.
And then later on, they converted from steam
equipment to distillant engines, which is internal combustion,
big wheels, you know, hit and miss engines.
And they ran a,
some type of a foghorn with that. But
then later on after that,
they,
converted to a what they call a diaphone.
And a diaphone is a two
tone,
foghorn and it goes
beeee o.
Woah. And they all do? All all of
those biophones
do? But but here again, they are the
duration of the the the tone and the
duration of how often they go off is
all listed in the coast pilot so that
if you're in fog or you just hear
them and you can't see them, you know
exactly where you are. That sounds Well, we
were wondering,
the the Foghorn down in Crescent City is
on day in, day out all the time
every if there's fog or not. In our
house. Yeah. So I'm wondering,
was the foghorn going throughout or only if
there's No. No. In those days, the man
lighthouse, they only fired that thing up when
it was necessary. And I remember Bob Hagemeister,
who's the third 90 year old plus, lightkeeper
who just recently passed away about a week
ago.
He told me he said, you know, you'd
you'd see the fog coming in. If you
couldn't see a mile off the lighthouse, you
go down and start up the engines and
and get the compressed air to the the
right, level and then you'd trip the foghorn,
get it going. And he said, you go
all the way down the stairs, you start
up the thing and then you go outside
and be clear again.
Oh, wow. You shut it down. Yeah. Then
you go inside and you go back out
and then it'll be it'll be foggy again.
But, you know, compare that to the old
days when you had
boilers and you had to build up a
head of steam which took quite a bit
of time.
And you you get the steam build up
and all of a sudden the fog goes
away.
Right?
Just So they had it easy. They use
a switch compared to,
to having to, you know, to shovel coal
into the
firebox to raise a head of steam.
Wow. What a bunch of work. Okay. Let's
let's go back to the beginnings.
Tell us about
the brother Jonathan shipwreck,
which originated in San Francisco. They stopped in
Crescent City, and you tell the rest. Yeah.
They they,
actually, Richard Hoff tells a much better narrative
of the brother Jonathan than I do. Hey,
Richard. You gave a great tour this afternoon.
And he does a great job of that
as well. And, of course, Harlan Watkins, he's
outstanding. He's the project foreman out there, and
he organized the crews. And and, you know,
we couldn't do without those two. I mean,
they do a fantastic job.
But the, brother Jonathan was overloaded,
as as with many
sidewall
steamers of the day, he was not overpowered
to say the least.
And,
was that What year? This is 1865.
K. I think the engines were, like, 200
horsepower or something like that. Oh. And, they
were they were overloaded. And,
they went out and they tried to get
back, and they didn't make it. Because it
was so foggy. They they kept Well, the
storm is do you see get what they
call what's what they call that when you
have a mist from all the breakers where
you just can't see anything? It's not even
a fog. It's a well, it's a fog,
but it's a mist from the all the
wave action. Yeah. But
frequently in the old days, they would take
steamers between
Northwest Rock where the lighthouse is located and
Southwest Rock. There's about a mile, mile and
a half gap there.
But,
as years went by, that wasn't advised because
if you get thick weather, you can't see.
You know, you just don't know where you
are.
Even with the lighthouse, you sometimes don't know
where you are.
So it was laden with, 250,
260
souls were aboard of this ill fated ship
with a bunch of gold. That was a
lot of gold. A lot of gold. And
so it hit the Dragon Reef Rocks, which
was that I love that name that Either
Jonathan Jonathan Rock or
Mansfield Break, one of them.
They call the Collective
Reef
the Dragon Rocks or Saint George's Reef.
Wow. The dragon. Dragon. Yeah. Man, we could
have had a lighthouse dragon. Saint George slew
the dragon. That's right. That's right. That's right.
That's right.
Yep. I heard. So a hundred and fifty
or 100 sixty of those souls died. So
Some were rescued and were able to get
back in
to shore.
But wasn't it salvaged? Somebody ran went out
there and grabbed the gold. Right? Yeah. I
hear again, I'm not really clear on the
facts. I've read them, but I haven't internalized
the, information. But they,
they found the gold, but but they didn't
find it all.
And they, brought a lot of it up,
and it was worth, you know, considerable amount
of money. Wow. How cool is that? Alright.
We gotta take a break here right now
because it, time flies when we're having fun.
It's already that mid break time here on
the Doc and Jacques Show
radio show,
proudly
broadcasting live from the KCIW
one hundred point seven FM Studios in lovely
Coastal Brookings, Oregon, and run up and down
the coast. So our friends at Crescent City,
hello, and our friends down in Arcadia, hello,
back to you.
A list of major sponsors for this community
radio station are Advanced Airlines, who now fly
in and out of Crescent City
to Oakland and LA seven days a week.
Hello to Advanced Airlines. Michelle Buford, hello to
you with our own
vibrant local Curry County Chamber of Commerce in
Brookings, Oregon.
Nick and Lisa Rael. Hello. Hello, Nick and
Lisa. Big, big folks in our community and
their PPA or the Partnership for the Performing
Arts. We thank you for your support. And
we got a new major supporter, doctor,
and that is,
a new team that has joined us on
this,
as a supporter of the Coastal Home Health
and Hospice.
Even though that's the umbrella,
organization,
this, exemplary,
it's actually durable medical equipment, DME.
That's what they do. They they have great
priced,
durable to a nonprofit.
It's a non profit. Right? Mhmm. It's all
covered by three.
And they have great beds and hospital beds.
Wheelchairs
and unit diapers, nebulizers, I guess. Right. So
they have all that stuff and it's in
Brookings. And so that is open for all
of our, purviewing. And lastly, I'd like to
thank my dear co host doctor Gigi Reed
and yours truly, Jacques. On behalf of KCIW,
thanks to all of you.
Alright, doc. Let's hit him up with some
more questions to this man who is the
president of the Saint George Reef Lighthouse Preservation
Society. That's a mouthful.
Yeah. You should abbreviate it. And by the
way, when you said how Tell me how.
I've tried it
because you have to change all our documents
as a nonprofit,
which should be a a pain. But I've
tried to think because we thought about how
about just the St. George Lighthouse where there's
a St. George Lighthouse down in Florida. Oh.
Because that won't work. Right. Yeah. How about
Dragon Reef? Like oh, yeah. How about
Dock And Jacques? D R. Lighthouse. Doctor is
locked or dot, Dragon Rock. Yeah. Lighthouse.
Okay. So You were ill. Alright. So we
flew over there, and you stayed over in
the other side.
You didn't come with us, but we're tell
we're here to talk about our fantastic visit
to the lighthouse. Yes. And I wanna hear
all about it. Okay. So number well, first
of all,
it is in kind of in disarray and
is in
despair. We were gonna fly out on the
Thursday, but then there was such a
big
storm the day and the the day before
and the day before that
that knocked out several windows and several doors.
And so you had volunteers
out there
that cleaned up the place so we could
get in.
It was nice and clean, but you the
windows were all shuttered.
Right. It took five days to do that.
That was a cold Wow. That was a
cold continent. Cold here. Yeah. Three inches of
rain or Yeah. Three inches of water in
the kitchen. And then it The kitchen is
the the galley is high up. Then it
swirls down and goes down all the stairs.
And I guess there are dead fish and
just seaweed and just junk. Everybody was Well,
dead birds mainly.
Oh. Yeah. How did they get there? I
mean, the Well, they got in and couldn't
get out.
Why? You mean, like like,
seagulls? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Oh, wow. Big arm.
Yeah. So it was all nice and dry
when we got there? They've been squeegeed down.
It was They worked like dogs. I mean,
they really did for several days.
Harlan told me he'd never seen the lighthouse
in such bad condition. He'd been going out
there longer than me. And,
so, you know, they're dedicated a bunch. You
know, a lot of these guys are not
young. I mean, Harlan's 70,
and Rich is in his sixties. You're in
your nineties. You? I'm in my nineties. Yeah.
And certainly over there. Many of us here.
But, we actually Well, you guys had younger
younger volunteers. Well, we're, you know, we're getting
younger volunteers, which is so important. Mhmm. And
and,
we want them interested because we're gonna need
to be replaced someday. And,
we had actually and I've got a a
big shout out to the Cal Lifelite people.
There were three young men that wanted to
go out there. We had a opportunity to
take them out there for just the day,
and they worked like slaves out there, all
three of them. From Cal Oar. We wanna
get them in the radio here and talk
about Cal Oar, the rest of you. Talk
to Dan Bratton. He runs the whole Dan
Bratton? Yep. Dan Bratton. Yeah. He he's helped
us out over the years too. He's another
good one. Okay. We'll get him on this
too. Very much into the community. There you
go. This one. This one.
But, you know, those young guys, they couldn't
wait to go out there, and they spent
all day working. You know? We were shocked
when people said, yeah. We this is Friday.
People say, oh, we've been here since Sunday.
Out on the out on the rock Yeah.
Since
and it was like, wow. So they went
through that bad weather spat,
and it was up rather high. Again, every
how many levels are there?
Caisson is down underneath the The caisson is
70 feet above the water. The top of
the caisson, which we call the catch tag
for the water catch water Yeah. Is 70
feet. And then you go another 74 feet
to the,
74 to 76 feet to be the focal
plane of the light, which is midway through
the lantern room. If you go all the
way to the top of the dome, you're
over a 160 feet. That was cool at
the very, very top. Yeah. And you have
replaced the original light, Frenzel lens with a
much smaller one. We couldn't believe it was
smaller. It was Yeah. It's a chemo edition.
But it works in much the same way
as the Fresnel lens does as far as
the optics. And,
that light will throw a light out as
far as the big lens will. Oh, very
cool. Now when was it started again?
Last week. Oh, it's so cool. The twenty
second. Yeah. Yeah. It was opportune. And I'm
not supposed to say this, but there was
a movie being made out there. I'm not
supposed to spill the beans, but I'm not
gonna say who.
There was a movie made out there. Which
was so cool because, you know, we had
to they had to
rescreen something, so we had to scuttle back
in. So we weren't in the Yeah. And
everything They underwrited our our our week long.
The week,
the five days that they were there, they
underwrited their helicopter cost,
which made it possible for us to go
out and get some work done.
So on the weekend, we were responsible for
the helicopter that weekend, and the tourists covered
that. How opportunity of a timing too because
with all that mess out there that was
caused by the storm, which was really cleaned
up by the time we got there. So
was it a And and when we we
saw so we got dropped off and then
the helicopter and Eric in the helicopter
put a sling. It's called a sling or
something. Right? Sling basket. Sling basket. So it's
this basket, this big old metal thing with
all
the the the All the crap from it.
I mean, literally, the crap from it. Toilet
or any garbage.
We're not supposed to say that. Well, it
has to be pulled out. It doesn't work
with the water. This is clean. And it
was all of the equipment Yeah. It was
clean and
I don't know how many slings we pulled
in now. So we do bring out all
the propane, all the water,
all the food, all the tools Exactly. Yeah.
Generators,
and then they bring back, we're still trying
to clean out the building. I mean, it's
when you get out there infrequently,
you you you
you don't ever get everything totally finished. Although
we've gotten a lot further the last, two
or three times we went out there. We've
been starting to get some make some real
headway.
But our goal is to get out there
every quarter.
You wanna gotta remember the the when it
was in operation, you had you had three
keepers at least, and then in the early
days, four keepers
that constantly kept up the general maintenance.
You get out constantly. And if you get
out there every couple years, I mean,
you know, it's like giving someone on the
Titanic a pail and expecting to save the
ship. You know? It's just it doesn't really
work. It was overwhelming. But we're gonna do
it. There's no doubt in my mind that
we're gonna get it done. Like, the galley
would have been painted so many times, but
most, recently, what, by the the coast guard
back in the seventies.
It the paint was hanging thick. Yeah. And
and it's lead paint. So you gotta watch
everything you're you're doing there. Hazmat equipment, the
whole nine yards. And it's everything is covered.
Okay.
When I see pictures and posters, I always
see the the the tower, the lighthouse tower
itself. It's beautiful. And I see it in
paintings colored in all beautiful light, but it's
rusty
colored. It's it's it's rock and and rust.
And bricks and and and and what is
that? And granite. Granite? Yes. Granite's on the
outside. It's so amazing. And some of those,
blocks all fit together like a jigsaw as
a Richard. How big are some of those
rocks?
The the big ones are over 17 tons,
and the smaller ones are two and a
half. I mean, what? The pyramid was built
on
two to five ton rocks, but this the
biggest one was 17?
Oh my goodness. So the the lighthouse had
had, past tense, a boom. Is it called
a boom? 90 foot boom that stuck out,
horizontally
over the water. And that's how they kind
of landed the ships. Right? That was the
conveyance. Yeah.
They, at 90 mile
originally, they had a 60 foot boom. Later
on, it was 90 feet.
That was the bare minimum
as far as distance from the lighthouse because
you get a you get a surge going
in and out with these weights.
Amazing. And, you have to time all this
stuff.
One time, John Gibbons here, again, the same
keeper that I interview that I was telling
you this morning or today that I would
talk to.
And he was 18 years old and, he
was,
unhooking the boom from the the the boom
hook from the from the the boat that
the Locksley was in, take off, and,
the boat went out from under him, and
he was just hanging there. Oh. And, there
was a surge, and the boat had to
go back out and and wait a while
until the surge was over with him then
go back in and get him. And he
was hanging there the whole time. He wasn't
sure he was gonna be all that. Oh
my god. Like, how long enough? Yeah. My
goodness. Okay. So it is a massive structure.
It is above the waves. The sea level,
just the caisson or the base of it.
The first thing we got off, we noticed,
of course, the color of it. It's like,
wow, that really looks like it battered and
rusted and it just had this whole antique
look to it. But then the smell of
the sea lions, people don't realize there's a
huge colony of sea lions. Are they stellar
sea lions? Yep.
Underneath them, when we first got there They
see the California sea lions. The California sea
lions. Okay. Big populations of them. And they
have little nurseries,
pools for the babies. It was so amazing
looking down. But the smell when we got
there was bad, but then it came out
and when it changed, it was perfect. And
we were able to just enjoy these seals.
But I also was told,
you don't want to go in that water
because those seals
will look at you like a good morsel
of food. Yeah. Munch, munch, munch.
Yeah. Munch, munch. And if they don't get
it, we just missed it. There had been
a bunch of, well, the the there there
were actors and the the film crew out
there. And by the way, one of them
was dressed up. It looked like a zombie.
Right? But I'm not saying anything. I can't.
I'm sorry. Okay. So anyway, what we saw
what what what we were told by our
tour guide is when the orcas
swim out there, then all of a sudden,
all these sealants Mad dash roads. Mad dash
to the rock because they don't wanna be
food either. So They were there just before
we got Yeah. We arrived. So And and
they they were saying, Doug, the couple of
days before, the orcas were actually there. They
were hunting in packs
and they were circling
around. So that was It's like a brunch
counter.
Yeah. You have mortgage support.
Yeah. Right. I guess so. Right? All you
can eat. Yes. It's it's So many still,
so little time. You know? Yeah. It was
really a trippy experience and,
yeah, I did get winded walking up. I
was the last one walking up those stairs.
But That's true. Yeah. And they were steep
and each step is its own rock or
or Yeah. All that's been carved and fitted
in. I mean, it's really
how anyone can go out and look at
something like that and not be absolutely
amazed.
Right. I mean
And, and I ask about that, all those,
how many steps? 92 or 95, I think.
I Yeah. 95 steps. Think after all this
time, I'd remember, but I don't. Yeah. We
tried to count, but then we got lost
in looking at something. Then you got more
going down the schedule. It was like going
down the up and down the parapets, to
the the towers of the castles in Germany.
In Germany. Yeah. It's just exactly. But they're
all fitted together like They're fitted together. And
in Germany, when we go up to the,
you know, the towers of The Parapets. Gabriel
Tower. So they got smaller and smaller, but
these don't. No. They're the exact same size
from the bottom to the top. That's right.
They were smaller. Yeah. Just the the wall
thickness. How tall is the, the tower of
the lighthouse? Well, the tower itself is 74
feet. And then it's up 70 feet from
that. Yep. So a 140,
Say forty, one forty six. Okay. And then
top of the dome, one forty one about
one sixty. Okay. Way up there. And, again,
what happened on a great storm of nineteen
fifty? '2. What happened in that storm? Waves
over the top.
Waves
over the top of the tower. What happened
with the waves?
Knocked lantern panes out and, flooded the interior.
Water was running down like a waterfall
all the way down the engine room. Couldn't
All buildings shaking shaking.
Oh. Yeah. Wow. I mean, folks, can you
imagine you could see how tall that thing
is when you sit on the shore. The
shore. Exactly. But imagine waves going over the
top of that, breaking out the land. Yeah.
Yeah. And then when we looked at when
we had the tour, we also had a
so called slideshow,
except for you guys don't have slides. You
have,
saran wrap. No. No. No. What is that
called? The the wrap papers, the big posters?
Yeah. There was no oh, yeah. Yeah. They're
not saran wrap. They're shrink not shrink wrapped.
They're they're laminated. Laminated
pictures. Huge. But then so some original still
people show off their bed. It was, like,
put in the wall and
but even from the construction still, it's it's
pretty amazing.
It was,
once in a lifetime opportunity. Thank you, John,
for really, I mean Well, thank you for
going. I mean, you you all both of
you have been so good about having me
on and promoting the our project,
which, is extremely important for public awareness.
But
seeing it is a lot different than talking
about it. Yeah. You know, you can read
every book on the planet Earth about that
lighthouse.
And until you actually go out there
Right. It says,
it's well, how how do you describe it?
You can't.
And,
it doesn't get old. I think And you
did have two tours on, this Friday and
Saturday and Sunday. Saturday and Sunday. It was
raining those days. Yeah. And even though it
was raining. Yeah. It wasn't bad. It wasn't
bad. Because you told me it's not the
rain. What do you by the way? Fog
and wind. Fog and wind for the helipads.
Right. So how do people how could people
get a hold of that? How if they
wanna get out of there out there, not
there? Well, we have a,
a number that you can call, which is
707,
2
273-1905
Okay. To ask questions. Say it again.
707,
273-1905.
K.
And then you have the,
our website, which is,
under,
Saint, and it's spelled out s a I
n t,
George, g e o r g e, Reef,
r e e f,
light, l I g h t, at g
mail dot com. And it's all one word
on a lowercase. That's the email. That's the
email. And
and you got, the the same thing except
it's dot org for the website. Thank you.
Okay.
And, then our Facebook page, we we it's
under Saint George Reeves Lighthouse Preservation Society. They
can get,
the latest going on with that. And how
does how does Harlan it's Harlan Watkins? Harlan
Watkins. Yes. W a t k I n
s. I gotta thank him. Yeah.
And and Richard Hoff too. Okay. So it's
(707)
273-1905
if you want to find out more about
it. Tell us about the future. What is
the plan for the future?
Boy, it's gonna take some money to really
return this this beautiful lady to her
her regal
beginnings. Well, we we we consulted,
with a, a firm that specializes
in lighthouse restoration.
What?
There's some
It's called ICC Commonwealth. They, do a lot
of,
restorations
all over the country. And they came out
two years ago, and they did a,
an assessment of our project. Yeah. We wanted
to have have somebody that was in the
business that would give us a blueprint forward
in in order to,
utilize the funds, well and and,
and and to prioritize
the projects.
They came up with a a $10,000,000
figure.
We figured that if we doubled that, that
would be enough money
to account for anything
that we haven't thought about or they haven't
thought about.
And like any other major project like that,
redoing it or restoring it is part of
this,
the, challenge, but it's also maintaining what you
got.
And out there, you cannot leave it just
alone. You have to keep maintaining it. Oh
my god.
So,
it's doable. There are other lighthouses.
Pigeon Point, South of San Francisco,
got a 16 and a half million dollar
grant to work on their lighthouse, and and,
ours is
much more heavily built than that one is.
So,
we we have
ICC Conwell. In fact, I talked to one
of the
consultants today. He, I sent him a picture
of the lighthouse video that I sent you,
and, he called me up and we had
a chat. And then one of the other,
gentlemen that worked for ICC that has his
own consulting business now,
he is interested in, getting involved as well.
There's plenty of work to go around.
So, And you can always use volunteers? Yeah.
We we always can use volunteers shoreside and
out at the lighthouse.
We, you know, we have a we're constantly
working on our,
our,
on,
what's the word I wanna use?
Use another one.
Our Recruitment training.
Our our presence on the Internet. I see.
Oh, online presence on the Internet. Media outlets.
Yeah. Yeah. We we we you know, the
what I'm doing here,
is part of it, but also we have
the,
the Facebook page, Instagram.
I I'm I I I'm I'm the editor
of the newsletter. We can always use help
with that. I'm I'm putting together stories,
giving a lighthouse lectures
Shoreside. And And you gave one that trial.
We we enjoyed that one at Christmas Hill
last year. You've had more of those? There's
lots to do. Well, I haven't talked to
them. You know, they're closed this winter, but
but I suspect they want me to come
out there again. But there's a lot of
different things to do. They'll they'll go into
the Elk's Club or the,
some of the Rotary
Club groups or whatever.
We have articles we write. We have as
you know, the two of you traveled with,
Haley Branson Potts, who was a Yeah. Representative
of the LA Times. Who were there? She
wrote a beautiful article for us. And she
spent the night. She LA LA Times reporter.
Yeah. And she spent the night, and she's
gonna write a or she should be coming
out tomorrow
Oh my god. On the Lighthouse. So LA
Times. So, you know, all of that, there's
you don't have to be
good at at at working on restoration work
out there or repairs. There's plenty of other
things to do.
There's this we have a big tent. We
got lots of room for everybody.
Where's the big tent?
I talked figuratively.
Oh, okay. Gotcha. I'm just gonna say, wow.
Is there a purpose animals in there too?
If people want to start volunteering,
do they go to either of those sites?
Can they call or go to TikTok or
wherever?
And then they there is a little The
707 number, you can
contact us on the Gmail address. You can,
reach out on Facebook.
We monitor all that stuff. So You got
a Facebook president under John Zimmerman too? Yes
or no? I I do. But I we
also have the St. George's View of Loud
House Preservation Society. I think I'm your friend
on that. I think you are. Yeah. Darren,
we're friends. At least I hope you are.
We're friends. Are you are we friends? Yeah.
We're friends. So so, you know, there's a
number of different ways to, to get a
hold of us.
And we are always interested in people to
get involved. Nations too, I'm sure. Right? And
the young people. In fact, I'd like to
give a shout out, to,
here again, the the,
fellows over at the,
Cal Life Flight, a fellow by the name
of Robert Smith that drove all the way
down from Bandon, Oregon. Oh, yes. Right. We
met him. He a tall drink of water.
25 years old. Yeah. Yep.
He
he was, to go out on one of
our tours that got canceled.
And, we called his employer who bought the
ticket for him, but he never heard about
it. So drove all the way down to
go out to the lighthouse,
the tourist council. I felt so bad about
it. I said, hey. How would you like
to be a volunteer?
He said, you bet. So I said, the
next time we fly out there, I will
call you and you'll be invited out on
the work crew.
And,
he's coming to the board meeting next week.
He really he loved it. He had been
there, he had been out there, I think,
since Sunday. So he's been out five days
when we saw him. Yeah. And he was
you know what? It's it's it's obviously cold
out there. There were cots out there. There
was kind of primitive,
it it's still
you guys are hanging on for, an absolute
treasure, a national treasure.
And at least and we know. Everybody knows
that lives near the ocean like we do,
how much maintenance it takes. And if you're
out there
getting pounded by the big waves,
constant.
Right? I mean, it's just a huge undertaking.
You you may be getting a big grant.
Hopefully, you do in the near future. That's
that is necessary and needed. Well, the gentleman
you know is helping us out, with the
with the grants. Mhmm. And, By far. Yeah.
We're working on, several others.
Nick Grill, who you mentioned earlier, he's been
a supporter, which we appreciate, and he's been
and his brother came out to the lighthouse
a couple years ago. Really? How cool is
that? Well,
this this, helicopter,
are they're all pretty small like that that
fly out there? I can't take a big
copier because we did once a Huey. It
was a twin engine job, but, they are
about $3,000
an hour. Woah. Oh my goodness. And,
we used them, back in 2023. We had
a 121
people going out, and our bill for four
days is almost $35,000.
Wow.
And you were charging $3.95 to get people
out there,
if they and you were sold out. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. We we sell out usually
fairly quickly.
When is the next one planned? October. Store
in October? Yeah. The, gentleman,
Eric and his wife, Houston Yeah. Houston are,
they'll be available in October.
We may get a summer session in, but
I'm I'm not,
I'm not counting on that because we we
wanna have enough funds
in the bank before we do this. In
the past, we demanded strictly on the,
on the, ticket sales. And if, the weather
goes south on us or whatever
and we,
we have to the helicopter has come down
from whatever point it is
and it has to go back and they
don't carry us to go paying passenger, we're
usually out 5 or $6,000.
So, you know, it's it's a bit of
a gamble. So we have to have funds.
Right. Now there are boats
or cruises that go close to it. Right.
So that's another option to see the lighthouse
a little closer. But it is unbelievable when
you come from the air looking down. Oh
my gosh. Yep. Yeah. That's truly
is
absolutely
I have never had one person, not one
since I've been involved,
that ever came back and said, I wish
I'd never bought the ticket. It wasn't worth
it. Not one. Yeah. Not one. Every every
last one of them was glad they went
out.
They,
they are very supportive of our project. Some
have even given us additional donations.
Others have signed up to to want to,
get involved.
We have several people who are afraid to
fly. They still wanna be involved with Shoreside
to help us out. Right. And it's not
really we talk a lot about money. It's
not a money making business. It's No. There's
no to keep it. Yeah. To keep the
Saint George Reef Lighthouse going. Right? Yeah. This
is a labor love for all the board
and and and and,
volunteers. There's
there's there's no profit in this at all.
Right. None.
Well, you you got a noble and wonderful
organization, the St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society.
Good luck on all future,
endeavors.
We are there to support you. As you
know, we're here. We will always be your
your,
Advocates. Yeah. Advocates.
And always, keep us abreast of what's going
on
and good luck with it. I hope the
best,
some of these big grants are coming your
way. It has to be. It's such a
just
momentous thing. It's an incredible iconic
it's like having, the Statue Of Liberty in
our own backyard every time I look out
there. Right? It's such a big thing. Mhmm.
John Zimmerman, thank you for coming and Thank
you so much. For having me. Yeah. And
on a short notice too. Yeah. Thank you
for doing that. Really You know me. I
crave the limelight.
Well, I'll be down here pretty soon. Hey,
listen. How do you how do you John,
how do you know if a doctor is
fake?
Because
if they have good handwriting.
I can let them come up. Hey. Wait.
Wait. Wait. What are we doing? We're doing
fun time corner.
Okay. Alrighty.
Let's see. So I have okay. I have
quotes too. Where are you at? But we
Please, yeah. Give us Thank you for John
for jumping in. We had other guests planned.
So my,
quotes are not as happy as the lighthouse.
So
the best way out is always through.
The best way out is always through. Okay.
I like it. I like it. Good. It
does not matter how slowly you go as
long as you do not stop.
That's kind of Zen, right? That's Confucius. Confucius.
Okay. Close enough. Yeah. Okay.
I used to be a lumberjack.
I couldn't hack it, so they gave me
the ax.
What did the one earthquake say to the
other earthquake? What did one earthquake say to
the other earthquake, John? It's not my fault.
No. Wait a minute. Well, that's a problem.
Wait. That reminds me that that,
they're gonna rename the the San Andreas Fault.
Actually, Trump. Trump is gonna come out and
he's gonna rename the San Andreas Fault. You
know what he's gonna rename it? Joe Biden's
fault.
I got him to laugh. Hey, he finally
laughed.
Doctor
Doctor Gigi told me to stop acting like
a flamingo.
I had to put my fat foot down
on that one.
Flat foot? No. I had to put my
foot down on that one. Foot down? Okay.
Alright.
Alright. Give us some more We're all broken.
That's how the light gets in.
Oh, I like it. Now this is for
our guests that were supposed to be here
today, but that's okay. Well, that's what I
preamble We're happy that John came in. Yeah.
We are. So that's why I apologize for
the not so happy. I used to I
used to think I was indecisive,
but now I'm not too sure.
I don't suffer from insanity.
I enjoy every minute of it. John, do
you have a joke?
Yeah. Some days it's not worth chewing through
the restraints.
Nice one. I gotta remember that one. Alright.
Don't let the past steal your present. That
is such a good one.
That is good. Alcohol is a perfect solvent.
It dissolves marriages, families, and careers.
I wake up doctor Gigi every night at
exactly 12:59AM
because that's when we have our one to
one talk.
12:59.
Got it. Got it. Got it. Okay. Got
it the first time around. Turn your face
to the sun and the shadows fall behind
you.
Nice.
Never spell spell
the word p a r t. Never spell
the word park backwards
because it's a trap.
Get it? That's Alcohol when truth needs a
laxative.
Oh, I I got I had a good
one.
Oh, my god. That is a funny one.
Okay. What else? People are shocked when they
find out how bad I am as an
electrician.
Money talks. Mine just says goodbye.
Wait. How did that go with your Visa
got stolen? Oh, yeah. My Visa got stolen.
Now it's everywhere that I wanna be. Yeah.
And And I'm not I'm not worried about
it because the thief, he's he's spending a
lot less than I usually do on it.
Okay. That's a good one. Hey, guess what?
Right. Are we finished? Yes. You have been
listening to the Doc and Jock show on
KCRW
one hundred point seven FM in Brookings, Oregon.
Uh-huh. We sure hope you you have enjoyed
our show as much as we have learning
about John Zimmerman and the St. George's brief
flight hose in listening to him. Again, and
that was a Great report. Yeah. Very welcome.
You keep you you brought my part because
I don't have it pulled up in front
of me.
Mail us if you are or know of
a talented, interesting person that might join us
in our show, docandjock@gmail.com.
Goodbye. Thank you. Everybody.
Some love. Let me go to the next
one. That's Tony Tursoa.