KD6GCM welcomes you to
The Mercer Compound
located in
Here I am holding my cat Fatima. In the background you can see
the teeming metropolis of Cloverdale and the mountains southwest
of town.
The Mercer Compound is located atop a strategic hilltop north of town
and affords a spectacular view of the northern Alexander Valley.
We have a clear line of sight to the top of Sonoma Mountain and its
radio repeater site, 41 miles south of the Compound.
We also get excellent reception from the Pine Mountain site northeast
of town and the Sanel Mountain site in Mendocino County.
Radio operators at the Compound regularly intercept and monitor all
radio communications in the tri-county area.
Here I am with my SO (Significant Other) Caroline and the ever-present Fatima.
Barely visible over Caroline's right shoulder is the new Cloverdale Bypass
which Caltrans constructed two years ago to divert Hwy 101 traffic around
Cloverdale.
Cloverdale used to have the dubious distinction of having the first stoplight
on Hwy 101 north of San Francisco.
Traffic used to back up for miles on a busy holiday weekend
when the freeway went through town.
The locals would exacerbate the problem by gathering around the
stoplight on holiday weekends, drinking beer and pressing the "walk"
button over and over again just to further impede traffic and harass the tourists.
Caltrans decided it was easier to build a $40 million bypass than to
take on the locals.
Life has been a lot better here in Cloverdale since the bypass was completed.
Now we can sit on our deck on a warm summer evening, drinking margaritas,
and watch the attractive display of headlights and taillights traveling along
the bypass in the distance. That's about all there is to do here in Cloverdale
these days.
We also like to raise large carnivorous lizards. We recently became the proud
parents of a 2-foot long adolescent Savannah Monitor lizard (varanus exanthematicus).
He likes to chow down on mice and other little creatures. Got Milk?. When he's full grown
he should be over 3-feet long. Then I'll feed him kittens, the "free to good home" variety
given away by children in front of the supermarket. "Oh the're so cute !!, can I have two or three?"
Just kidding.... Caroline would never let me feed him a kitten, at least not while she's home.....
Here are a few monitor photos I swiped from the Web. The first one shows several shots of
a Savannah Monitor. The second shows a larger species of
monitor lizard, probably a water monitor, eating a rat.
