Tom McCall: A Better Oregon

The Tom McCall Curriculum has been printed out, saved on a flash drive, stuffed in an envelope, and will be mailed tomorrow to the Oregon Historical Society.  There were points along the way when I thought I would never complete it. In spite of that, this truly has been a labor of love.

A few of my favorite Tom McCall quotes:

• “If the salmon and steelhead are running, then as far as I am concerned, God knows that all is well in His world…the health of the environment is good if the salmon and steelhead are around.  It is that simple.”

• “…Oregon is demure and lovely, and it ought to play a little hard to get.  And I think you’ll be just as sick as I am if you find it is nothing but a hungry hussy , throwing herself at every stinking smokestack that’s offered.” (1982)

• “We want you to visit our State of Excitement often.  Come again and again.  But for heaven’s sake, don’t move here to live.  Or if you do have to move in to live, don’t tell any of your neighbors where you are going.” (1971)

Homeless Count

Yesterday, Sid and I joined some other volunteers to conduct the Yamhill County Homeless Count.  Throughout the country this is the week that people who do not have permanent housing are counted.  Funding to provide services is tied to the count.

In 3 hours we spoke with 4 folks who are homeless.  Ages range from 22 to 55, male and female.  To a person: nice, grateful for what they do have, no chips on their shoulders.  Each one of them thanked us more than once for taking the time to do the count and speaking with them.  Illness, a death in the family, addiction, loss of a job.... all contribute to current circumstance. 

I cannot even imagine what it feels like to not know where I will lay my head at night.  I cannot imagine planning my life around soup kitchen hours.  I cannot imagine how people manage to maintain hope after years on the street.

Another Night Out on The Town

Last night we went to see the Old 97s at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland.  Had a great time!  So the challenge this morning has been, "Can I embed the Old 97's into the blog?"   I think I have done it.  I love this song, and they didn't play it last night.  What's with that?

A Walk In the Woods

 We had thought that perhaps there were pileated woodpeckers (Woody Woodpecker) out in the woods.  About a week ago we  found  fresh evidence of their presence.  

Additional pictures of the walk in the woods.

A Fresh New Week!

Yeah! the week is over and we get to start a brand new one.  I love that that happens every 7 days!  So this morning I started the week with Good Oatmeal: Steel cut oats.  Blueberries.  Toasted walnuts. I always make extra, some for Jackson.  Sid won't touch good oatmeal but will eat that horrible instant stuff.

Gawd, this is a boring blog.  Who the hell cares what I had for breakfast?  It gets worse.  You might as well stop reading right now, because I am going to tell you even more boring things.  Stop.  Go back.  It is not too late.  If you continue reading this, you only have yourself to blame because you were duly warned.

After breakfast I made some "Otis" bread, the dark molasses bread recipe comes from the Otis Cafe, over towards Lincoln City,  then cleaned the coffee maker, affectionately known as R2D2, and then made some honeyed hazelnuts.

But now it is time to work on the infamous "Tom McCall Curriculum" project.

My contract with the Oregon Historical Society calls for me to be finished by February 1, so I have a week left.   The curriculum is written, as are all of the support materials.  All that is left is to organize it so that the tech folks will understand the flow of materials for the website.  I also have a few facts that need checking.

For the project I went to Salem's Riverfront Park and took a bunch of pictures of the Tom McCall statue.  It was easier to go take my own pics rather than track down and get permission to use other photos.   It's a beautiful sculpture!

When the Governor Tom McCall curriculum is up, alive and running on the Oregon Historical Society website, you will hear it here!

Oh my, A Bobcat!

I love this place.  We go from an endangered yellow-billed loon yesterday to a bobcat this morning.  Sid woke me up this morning with "Bobcat......bobcat by the walnut trees."  And what was really weird is that even though we haven't seen any bobcats for a year or so,  yesterday I said, " Sid, it feels like a bobcat day today."  I think I am bobcat psychic.  So here are a couple of pics (of the 60 or so) from last year's bobcat. 

When I first spotted him, he was out by the barn.  I thought he was a big kitty.

By the garden.  His markings are beautiful.

I think he is posing for me.  He certainly knew I was around.

I have lots of pictures of him bathing, but this is the one that I like best.

What a great way to start the day!  A bobcat with my coffee.

Yellow - Billed Loon Came to Visit Today

New, never before seen visitor to the ponds. This yellow-billed loon, which warrants listing under the Endangered Species Act, came to visit the big pond today.  First time that either of us have seen a yellow-billed loon here.  The picture is from the USFWS site, as I was pretty darned sure that if I walked down to the pond to take a picture, it would take off.  However, we were able to watch him for quite awhile.  Very cool!

Yellow-billed Loon. Photo: Ted Swen, USFWS

A Night on the Town

Had dinner with Megan and Spencer last night.  They treated us to dinner at Berney's Bistro on Alberta Street. A nice birthday and anniversary celebration.  I took some pictures but they turned out horrible.  Too dark, too posed, too not right to place pictures like that in a public place.  Acchh!!

So instead of posting pictures of us enjoying a great evening on the town, here are a couple of pictures of Libby and Jackson modeling the scarves that I made out of old felted cashmere sweaters.  Difficult picture taking!  Jackson wanted nothing to do with it, and Libby thought that she and Jackson ought to play "rope-tug" with them.

 Jackson, Macho Male Dog Model of the Year

Libby, Sweet Girl

To Uncle Lee.......

Lee Irving Walster

Lee Irving Walster, 85 of Shelton, WA,  November 1, 1925 - January 8, 2011. 

Tomorrow is our 3rd Anniversary!

Wow!  Three years since we got married!  Almost 7 years since we met!

 

So being a true romantic, my gift to Sid on our anniversary is a new chain saw.  It's the baby version of his grown up Stihl chain saw.  He was really happy.  I think I totally surprised him.

To clear up a couple of previous items:  Our "RV" is one of the Dodge farm trucks that has a canopy on the back of it.  That's right a canopy, not a camper.  It's a great truck and always gets us wherever we want to go and back home again.  And with enough blankets, sleeping bags, and two dogs, we can stay pretty warm.  

The other Dodge farm truck does not have a canopy, and it's the truck that I use to go get all those filbert shells.  I just pull the truck into a shed and Salomon pulls a lever and at least two yards of filbert shells fill up the back of the pickup.  It takes all of two minutes to get the truck loaded, but at least an hour to unload it at home. 

Hazelnut Shells

It warmed up enough today so that I could go get filbert shells (instead of bark dust or something similar)  to much in the rock garden, flower beds, etc.  Even though I don't need the shells until spring time comes, the shelling company will run out of them toward the end of this month.  So if I don't get them now, I lose out. 

Being somewhat of a lazy ass, I didn't tarp my load, so had to come home at about 35 miles per hour.  I just pulled over to let folks behind me get by.  There wasn't much traffic, so it worked out just fine.  Sid helped unload the shells when I got home.  I think that sometimes my slowness/inefficiency drives him crazy.  But it was a nice day to be outside and get it done.

This picture of the blueberry corral with filbert shells around it was taken last spring.  The shells keep the weeds down and keep moisture in the soil during the summer, AND no slivers.

Sid built the blueberry corral from scrap lumber that was out in the barn. (I helped a little bit.) I love it, especially the door.  Hmmm, I need to take a better picture of the door.  It's just a regular old house door and looks so danged cute.

So cold!

As I told Gayle, "Yes, it is fricking cold here, too.  18 degrees the last couple of nights.  I want to go get some filbert shells, but the thought of tying down a cover tarp in this weather would make my balls freeze..... if I had any."

A totally different subject.

Here is a picture that I have promised to share! Last fall Sid and I drove to the Valley of the Giants, a patch of old growth fir in the coastal range, and we found a giant cauliflower mushroom.  So big that we could not pack it all out, we probably left a third of it.  We estimated that the total weight was probably close to 40 pounds.  That's right a 40 pound mushroom.  ONE mushroom, so here are the parts of it that we were able to pack out.

Is that unreal?  We gave a lot of it away, saute'ed and froze the rest of it.  Not only large, but really tasty!

Happy New Year!

We took our trusty RV to Yachats to celebrate my birthday and welcome in the New Year.  Did some beach walking, some exploring, and a whole lot of relaxing.  Libby and Jack went with us.  They love the beach.  As usual, I didn't take any pictures.  So the only picture I have to share is one of   My New Birthday Slippers!

 It was 17 degrees last night and just barely above freezing today.  The ponds are frozen over, and we are keeping a heat lamp on in the pump house.  So new toasty slippers are great!  HAPPY NEW YEARS!  I wish you all warm toes.

One more thing.....our orchid is blooming right now, and when it is done blooming, we need to divide it.  Does anyone want an orchid?  They are much prettier than the picture, and the bloom lasts for about 6 weeks.