Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. I'll know that you're a true Mount Hood authority if you know where this amazing stained-glass mural is located.

The Blue Ox Bar, inside the incredible Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood is, perhaps, my favorite spot in the whole lodge. Situated on the first floor, in a hidden corner of the historic structure, the Blue Ox Bar was created as an afterthought when someone realized that there was no bar in the lodge. Originally designed to be a firewood storage room, it seems to be hidden as it’s tucked away past the men's restroom in a hall leading to other more utilitarian parts of the lodge. It’s easily missed if you’re not looking for it. Fiberglass Coated High Temperature Air Duct

The room is pretty incredible, and very cozy. There are no windows and its walls are decorated with three large handmade glass mosaics that tell the story of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, the legendary woodsman of American and Canadian folklore, that were made by the talented artist Virginia Darce, a watercolorist and artist in Portland, in 1938 for the Oregon Federal Art Project during the construction of the lodge. The Blue Ox Bar still has the original hand-built furnishings, tables and benches, with some interesting graffiti carved into the tops of them, done back before they were perceived as something special to be preserved. Please don't be tempted to carve your initials into these historic items.

Timberline Lodge was built during the Great Depression between 1936 and 1938 when President Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was created to create jobs for those with no work. It didn't matter if you were young, old, male or female, everyone could have a job.

The WPA took advantage of the skills that many of the workers possessed, and many were first generation immigrants that were master craftsmen in the European countries that they came from. It was also an opportunity for young people to become apprentices to gain trade skills.

Carpenters, stone masons and blacksmiths built and furnished the lodge, while fabric workers wove and sewed together the incredibly beautiful rugs, curtains, bedspreads and other items that finished and decorated the lodge.

Artists were employed as well, as art was valued as essential to the character of the lodge. These artists carved wood, forged iron, wove fabric and created finely painted works of art that fill the lodge today. These stained-glass panels are some of those art pieces.

I loved the story of Paul Bunyan and his pet and companion Babe when I was a little boy, perhaps because of being influenced by visits to the Trees of Mystery in the California Coastal Redwoods where there are large statues of them that greet the public as they arrive.

I also love Timberline Lodge. Some of my earliest memories are of my family visiting there when I was just a little boy.

The Blue Ox Bar has been closed over the last couple years but has been reopened and is welcoming visitors. Remember that the lodge was constructed by craftsmen with basic tools. It was a different age back then for sure.

The lodge and its furnishings are all an assembled work of art. The next time that you’re on Mount Hood visit the lodge and take time to look at it from an aesthetic point of view. While you're there stop to appreciate the history and craftsmanship of the construction and decoration of the lodge.

For newspaper, magazine or blog editors trying to come up with attention-grabbing headlines (as all editors do) for a story about forest health (boring!), using the word “Firmageddon” would be a slam dunk. The Oregonian used the term in a Nov. 25, 2022, article, “Record number of firs dying in Oregon, Washington in what experts call ‘Firmageddon.’” Other newspapers far and wide ran similar headlines, including Esquire, Wired and the U.S. edition of the British newspaper, The Guardian.

Firmageddon, a term based on “armageddon,” was coined by researchers who had compiled data gleaned from aerial surveys of forest conditions in Oregon and Washington. According to The Oregonian, the researchers found that “Fir trees in Oregon and Washington died in record-breaking numbers in 2022,” and it was “the largest die-off ever recorded for fir trees in the two states.”

Note that the die-off of firs does not include Douglas-fir, the most common tree in our area, but so-called “true fir” species grand fir and noble fir, which are common in the northern Cascades, as well as white fir, Shasta fir and red fir, which are common in southern Oregon. Douglas-fir is not a true fir.

In assessing the results of aerial surveys covering about 25 million acres in Oregon, the researchers found that “The fir mortality is widespread and quite severe in some locations. Fir mortality has been detected across Oregon and Washington, but the elevated and more severe fir mortality was observed across the Ochoco, Malheur, Fremont and Winema National Forests from Central Oregon to the California border. More than 1.2 million acres have been impacted with fir mortality across the Pacific Northwest, with (approximately) 1.1 million of those acres all being recorded in Oregon. Nearly double the acres impacted compared to all the previous year's data on fir mortality in Oregon.”

The results of the surveys are summarized in “Forest Health Highlights in Oregon – 2021,” from the Oregon Department of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) (download it at tinyurl.com/3cmna6hc). The USFS offers an informative “story map” that looks at data from Oregon and Washington (tinyurl.com/ywy76erh).

Trees die in our forests every year due to a variety of natural causes, such as wildfire, insect attacks and diseases. In recent years, many trees have been weakened by drought stress, which reduces their ability to defend themselves against insects and diseases. Heat stress, such as during the unusual “heat dome” we all suffered through in 2021, also weakens trees. The graph accompanying this article shows that tree deaths from abiotic factors – drought and heat stress (shown in blue) – were far greater in 2021 than in previous years. This is not surprising, as much of Oregon has seen drought conditions in recent years, “most heavily across Oregon from the center of Oregon around the Ochoco Mountains to the California border,” according to the report.

To me, as a forester, the high mortality in true firs isn’t surprising. In many areas, especially in eastern and southwestern Oregon, true firs have “invaded” forests that had previously been dominated by large, old ponderosa pines and Douglas-firs. In the past, relatively frequent, low-intensity fires killed most of the young true firs before they could become big enough to compete with the larger, older trees. Such fires were caused by lightning or were intentionally lit by Native Americans for centuries before European settlers moved in. Today, the invading true firs have become large enough to compete with larger trees for water and nutrients, and most or all trees in these overcrowded forests are stressed, leaving them more susceptible to insects, diseases, drought, heat waves and especially wildfire.

The USFS, the Oregon Department of Forestry, private landowners and other forest managers have worked for many years to reintroduce low-intensity fire – prescribed fire that is beneficial in ways similar to the fires lit by Native Americans. With so many young trees and dead/down woody debris in these forests, wildfires that otherwise would have been low intensity, leaving the largest trees unscathed, often become high-intensity fires that kill many or all of the large trees. Using prescribed fire in these areas can help clear out the invading firs, but only if the amount of available fuel is reduced beforehand through mechanical or hand thinning.

The “Forest Health Highlights” report makes for interesting reading for foresters and others who are concerned about die-offs in our forests. For a more general look at forests, see “Oregon Forest Facts, 2023-24 Edition,” from the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, or OFRI (a free download at tinyurl.com/ya9w6hwu. Teachers, take note: OFRI will mail you hard copies at no cost).

This 20-page booklet is packed with information. For example:

– Nearly half of Oregon is forestland. Oregon forests vary by species composition and ownership. There are more than 30 distinct forest types, but Douglas-fir dominates in western Oregon, ponderosa pine in eastern Oregon and mixed conifers in southwest Oregon. In terms of ownership, the federal government manages 61 percent of Oregon forests; private owners manage 34 percent; state and county governments manage four percent; and Native American tribes manage two percent.

– Timber harvest levels from public and private forestlands over the past 20 years have remained relatively stable, although the Great Recession (2007-09) and the collapse of the housing market brought a severe contraction in the U.S. demand for lumber. Consequently, Oregon’s timber harvest reached a modern-era low in 2009, the smallest harvest since the Great Depression in 1934. By 2013, the harvest had rebounded to roughly pre-recession levels.

– Oregon has led the nation for many years in producing softwood lumber and plywood typically used for homebuilding. Oregon’s lumber output of 6.1 billion board feet in 2021 accounted for about 16.5 percent of total U.S. production, while Oregon plywood mills accounted for about 28 percent of total U.S. plywood production in 2021.

Oregon also leads the nation in the number of plants that manufacture engineered wood products such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), glue-laminated timber (glulam) and mass plywood panels (MPP). MPP? Think plywood, but huge: Up to 48 feet long, 10 feet wide and a foot thick. The only MPP manufacturer in the world, so far, is Freres Engineered Wood, in Lyons, Oregon.

Have a question about the trees and plants in our forests? Want to know how much of Oregon is forested now compared to, say, in 1600? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Nancy Sullivan, MD, proclaimed as she taught our craniosacral class, “Tell your patients, ‘You're not a coconut head!’”

She was talking about the skull's puzzle-like flat bones and zipper-like connections or “sutures.”

Our anatomy instructor in chiropractic college said that he only occasionally saw fusion in geriatric cadavers but not in the general population of adults. A Sacro-Occipital Technique (SOT) seminar with Dr. Crestione, DC, revealed enlarged photos of microscope slides showing blood vessels and nerve endings going through the cranial sutures.

Our skull bones do not fuse in adulthood; they are dynamic!

They expand and contract with our breath, and the butterfly-shaped sphenoid bone at the base of the skull moves up and down about eleven times per minute in concert with our sacrum bone at the bottom of the spine to circulate cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) around our brain and spinal cord.

Our skulls are not immune to stress and injury. From infanthood, we can experience birth trauma, falls, cute but tight hats and headbands, and sleep preferences creating flat spots.

In childhood, sports and spills and snug helmets stress the skull, and in adulthood, we sleep with the wrong pillows, occasionally bang our heads on cabinets and such, and clench our jaws with stress.

As a result, these structures can become misaligned, creating dysfunction and symptoms of pain, headaches, vertigo, jaw problems, sleep and breathing disorders, latching difficulties in infants, and more.

Movement patterns of the skull and sacrum can change, and our CSF flow can be affected.

I like to picture the neurotransmitters “riding the wave” in the CSF when the system functions correctly. If the sphenoid, sacrum or cranium is distorted, these systems can stop or move with less efficiency.

My favorite way to bring alignment to these structures is through hands-on or “manual” cranial work.

The Sacro Occipital Research Society International (SORSI) teaches chiropractors how to gently restore function the cranial bones to create symmetry and balance in the skull with gentle but precise slow pressure and quick release to restore movement and eliminate tension in restricted areas.

I first became interested in SOT “sutural” work when my husband and I purchased a practice in 2007 from Dr. Shannon Owen, who now teaches chiropractors with her chiropractor husband in Chile.

She sent us to seminars and taught us, with more than a month of shadowing her patient care, what fantastic results you can get by incorporating this treatment.

Understanding the anatomy and movement patterns of the skull is essential when doing this work, as some skull bones overlap, and some sutures are small and sensitive, such as the zygomatic arch or cheekbone, which Dr. Crestione refers to as the “keystone to the cranium.”

I had a migraine patient years ago who came to our Portland clinic for several weeks. She suffered debilitating attacks two or three times per week and could not function. Although her range of motion and muscle tone improved, her migraines remained.

During a cranial session, we were working on her zygomatic arch, which was misaligned and restricted, I performed mild bilateral torsion, and we heard a small “pop!” Her cheekbone shifted into place, the muscles and ligaments loosened up, and she felt the circulation return to the area. She reported, after several weeks, that her migraines had disappeared. She had her life back!

Although it may sound intense, most people fortunately find cranial work, including jaw and neck release, to be relaxing. I often perform cranial work when a patient is face down or “prone” on heat and other therapies, and it feels similar to massage.

After the prone treatment, we remove the heat and therapies, adjust the spine and extremities, and then have the patient lie face up to address the facial bones, anterior and posterior neck muscles and jaw.

Along with manual cranial work, jaw exercises, neck stretches and using a proper pillow can support cranial health.

So, remember, next time you have tension, pain or other issues in your head, neck, or jaw, “You are not a coconut head!”

Find someone who can perform this relaxing and effective treatment for you!

With just two weeks back in Salem, I am reminded how fast things move. Thus, I won't be able to include everything in these pages.

So I will send regular email updates with the most up-to-date, in-depth news and ways you can get involved. Please sign up here: OregonLegislature.gov/Helfrich.

On Jan. 9, the House of Representatives gaveled in the 82nd Legislative Assembly. I, along with 21 newly elected members, took the oath of office. I was lucky to have my family by my side.

This session, I will serve as the vice-chair of the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness. On a statewide level, homelessness is a crisis and is becoming an increasing problem for rural communities.

We must find real solutions to the underlying issues driving homelessness, not just bandaids.

In my last column, I mentioned that transportation would be a big topic in this session. I am serving on the Joint Committee on Transportation, so I will have a first look at some of the policies that will be hotly debated this session, like tolling.

I also serve on the Joint Committee on Semiconductors and the Joint Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Public Safety.

I have already sponsored several bills and look forward to working on more in the coming weeks and months. Here are a few:

– Protecting Second Amendment rights with concealed carry reciprocity (HB 2586).

– Securing funding for the construction of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge (SB 431).

– Expanding parental notification for children's medical care (HB 2582).

So far, there have been nearly 2,000 bills introduced this session. That number undoubtedly will continue to grow.

With all the bills being introduced, your input is essential. Legislators need the voices of our constituents in the process. If you can testify on legislation we are considering, please do.

The process to sign up to testify in committee has changed. Previously, you could show up and sign up to testify at the Capitol.

But now, you must register online in advance to provide verbal testimony during a committee meeting. Registration closes one hour before the scheduled start time of the meeting.

Visit my website for the complete rundown: OregonLegislature.gov/Helfrich.

As your Representative, I want to showcase our district at the Capitol. There are several unique opportunities for your engagement.

At the beginning of each floor session, guests of the Legislature can present an opening ceremony. These are non-political performances of prayer, invocation, poetry reading or a musical piece (typically, the House chamber has a piano for use, but due to construction, it is in a protective covering and is unavailable this session).

If you are interested in presenting an opening ceremony, please email my office the type of performance you'd like to share along with your contact information. We will share the information with the staffer in charge of scheduling opening ceremonies.

– Display your photos in our office

Do you have a beautiful photo of a sunset behind Mount Hood? A funny picture of your dog on the river? A quick shot of a delicious meal on date night? Send it to me!

I want to show off the beauty and charm of our district, and you can be part of it. Email your photos of the district and we'll display them on a rotating digital picture frame in the Capitol.

Is your kid a crayon master? Are you talented at watercolor? Share your art (physical or digital) with my office so we can highlight the artistic talent of House District 52.

As always, you can reach my office at Rep.JeffHelfrich@oregonlegislature.gov and at 503-986-1452.

Jeff Helfrich is the House District 52 Representative.

Have you seen the weather reports out of the Oregon coast lately?

Especially around Cannon Beach, there is an abundance of sea foam. Not the edible sea foam you find at candy shops, but big blobs of drifting foam that come in with the waves and linger on the shore.

Sea foam is concerning to many visitors who believe it is from pollution or an unhealthy ocean, but those suds are actually the opposite: sea foam is an indication the ocean is healthy.

The ocean is like a churning cauldron rolling in on itself creating bubbles – friction in water creates bubbles.

Inside the bubbles are tiny skeletons of phytoplankton which add viscosity into the sea water, creating more air bubbles. These bubbles are sea foam, and the phytoplankton are the microscopic bottom of the food chain eaten by marine life, including whales.

But why is there so much sea foam lately? Storms – big winds and powerful waves churn and swill the waters into sea foam.

Recent windstorms have pounded the Oregon coastline showing us exactly how nature and science come together.

Moreover, any increased bloom of phytoplankton can surge sea foam production. So next time you see coastal sea foam, remember it is a reflection of a healthy organism.

French cooking isn’t complicated, the ingredients are simple and preparation is key. Here are a couple of simple classics perfect to make for your sweethearts.

Special days require special ingredients, I prefer to spatchcock the duck to get the crispiest skin.

Zest and juice of two oranges

Salt and pepper to taste

Coat duck with olive oil and approximately four tablespoons of Kosher salt.

Slice skin all over, coat with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and roast in 400-degree oven for about an hour, turning over once.

Slice onion, sauté in heavy bottom pan (such as Dutch oven) in olive oil, add in salt and pepper, orange zest, juice and cornstarch.

Whisk while cooking over medium heat until cornstarch is dissolved, pour over duck slices.

2 T unsalted butter (plus more for ramekins)

1/4 cup plus 1 T granulated sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter and sugar ramekins.

Melt chocolate with sugar and butter in metal bowl over steaming water. Let cool slightly and add yolks and vanilla.

In separate bowl, whip up egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff. Fold 1/4 of whites into chocolate mixture. Gradually fold in egg whites. Fill ramekins 3/4 full, smooth down top and bake 10 minutes.

‘Tis the season… no not nostalgia for the holidays just passed, but an acknowledgement of the focus that many of us have during the first few months of every year to meet or beat that annual April 15 filing deadline.

And ‘tis not only the season to itemize for taxes but also to consider what to leave to whom in organizing our affairs for our loved ones to divide the belongings that we leave. The recognition of memories and valuables contained in items termed “tangibles” when developing your estate plan.

Itemizing can be a very important part of keeping family harmony intact as your belongings are distributed amongst your family. Often people simply state that their “tangibles” are to be divided in shares of equal value amongst their children as they agree — and that may be sufficient.

However, there can be particular items of value — emotional, sentimental, utilitarian, as well as those having financial worth — that may do you well to specify their distribution to eliminate or reduce the possibility for disagreement, conflict and stalemate.

One very important aspect of this process of itemizing is conversation. The best outcomes for your estate administration in the future are those discussions you have now. Find out who wants what and work out overlaps for family treasures.

You don’t need to itemize every little thing. Itemize those tangibles that are meaningful to someone you are close to or that serve some enduring purpose you want to support as part of your legacy.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

One example of such a seemingly easy distribution lies in the estate of Audrey Hepburn, who left a storage locker in Los Angeles full of her memorabilia to be divided equally between her two sons “as they agree.”

But they could not agree for many years. In 2017, 24 years after her death in 1993 at the age of 63, Hepburn’s two sons settled a two year legal battle over dividing the possessions kept in that storage-locker.

The settlement encompassed those items that each will keep, and those items that they will sell and divide the profits. The famous Christie’s Auction house expected that Hepburn’s photographs from this collection would have prices ranging from $120 to $101,000.

About Ms. Hepburn, these highly prized memorabilia represented this enduring icon of style, grace and beauty, and also of humanity. A remarkable individual in the course of humankind, Hepburn was renown not only as an actress, but also as a philanthropist and UNICEF goodwill ambassador.

Born in Ixelles, Belgium, in 1929, Hepburn was a child of World War II. Of her own recounting, she was “…among those who received food and medical relief right after World War II.”

She knew firsthand the value of UNICEF’s work to aid children worldwide, dedicated to the proposition that, “All children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential – to the benefit of a better world.”

Upon becoming a UNICEF ambassador in 1989 she went on a mission to Ethiopia, a country devastated by famine due to years of civil strife and famine. That was just the start.

She worked tirelessly, to bring attention to the plight of children in many countries, earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 for her work, spending the last years of her life as a UNICEF ambassador though battling cancer.

Dear reader … we welcome your questions on matters related to estate planning. These will provide grist for future articles and enhance the potential for those articles to be of interest and value to you.

Please submit your questions to Garth Guibord, at garth@mountaintimesoregon.com.

Mount Hood has been a recreational attraction since tourism became a part of the people’s lives in the area. In the late 19th Century, after the western migration over the Oregon Trail, the immigrants returned back up the old Barlow Trail to Welches and Government Camp to camp, relax, hike, fish, hunt and to scale the mountain.

In the early 20th century, the activities remained but skiing was added to the mix. Family vacation cabins were common, with the families using them on weekends and holidays. Eventually hotels, lodges and resorts were built to lodge visitors from outside of the area. It’s undeniable. Mount Hood is attractive.

As time progressed the one constant has been how Mount Hood still attracts people who want to relax and recreate. The modern era of computers has completely changed how people stay while they’re visiting. In addition to the typical methods, the phenomenon of owner managed vacation rentals has rapidly spread through the area. This is all facilitated by computers and the ability for potential lodging guests to easily search websites for listings that suit them.

It all seems pretty simple but there are details that will make a listing stand out above others or increase their popularity, and thus the price that they demand. On the internet, people always look first at photos before they choose to read anything. A property listing is no different. A beautifully and skillfully photographed listing will always attract attention first. Having some cell phone photos, even as good as cell phone photos are these days, aren’t typically aesthetically or technically sufficient.

I spend a lot of my time photographing real estate and vacation rentals. I thought that I would give those who would like to photograph their own property a few tips that will help make a difference in helping to make the best photos possible.

Photograph in a horizontal format. Most slideshows on Internet website listings use a landscape orientation. If you use a vertical format, it will reduce the largest dimension of the photo to the smallest dimension of a horizontal photo. It’s better to use a wide-angle lens that will include everything that you want to represent in the photo. Even if only for aesthetic reasons it’s a good policy for the photos to be uniform.

Make sure that your walls are all vertical. The best way to do that is to ensure that your camera is set completely horizontal and level. If it is pointed up or down, even slightly, the walls of the room will distort. If it’s crooked horizontally the walls will lean. The next part of positioning your camera is to make sure that it's at about waist high or no higher than chest level. Then you will have an equal distribution of the floor to ceiling.

Getting the exposure right is imperative. I recommend using a RAW format and to post-process, or develop, your photos in software such as Adobe Photoshop. Make the interior look bright and make sure that you’re able to see through the windows to the outdoors. And remove any cars or distractions that can be seen through them. Today, with modern cameras and software, it’s simple to bracket and blend three or more exposures into one High Dynamic Range (HDR) image that will represent both the darker parts of the interior and the brightest parts of the photos such as the light coming through the windows.

Make sure that you have a proper color balance, or white balance, that will represent the actual colors of the home, especially the interior. The color balance can be set in post processing.

The last thing is to make the home look cozy and comfy. Set out some flowers or a wine bottle with a set of glasses on a counter for instance. Build a fire in the fireplace. Turn on all the lights no matter the time of the day. That will also help you expose the interior properly and make it look brighter and more comfortable.

This can all sound somewhat complicated when we’re just used to pointing our cell phone cameras at something and snapping a photo, but the extra effort will pay off in the end. And if this all sounds beyond your interest or ability I always recommend a professional photographer. Hiring a pro to do your photos will most always pay in the end. If you have any questions or if you’d like to talk to me about photographing your property send me an email. I’m always glad to help.

Gary Randall is a Mountain local professional photographer and can be contacted via email at precisionartists@gmail.com.

Watching the wildlife in our woodsy area is usually a pleasure. Some years ago, when Lara’s father was visiting, we pointed through a window at a trio of deer a few feet from the house. Bill, at the time a resident of a large city in California, was enthralled. He pulled his chair up to the window, slowly, to avoid startling the deer, and watched them until they wandered out of sight.

Lara and I like watching the local deer, too. From the kitchen table we see them grazing the tender tips of a wide range of native plants, flicking their ears, watching the woods for danger. They are such graceful, gentle critters. I sometimes put apples or pears along the trail they often use to cross our property. They leave small black nuggets in return.

The deer are especially fond of apples – and Lara’s hostas, impatiens and other ornamentals. One summer day the plants are healthy and green, and the next morning they’re reduced to inch-tall stubs.

The deer also are quite fond of some of the vegetable plants in my raised-bed garden – green beans, peas, chard, kale, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and other greens. Enclosing each of the beds with plastic mesh netting is the best defense. Products such as Liquid Fence are effective if applied regularly. (Not Tonight, Deer is a similar product – I love the name). Liquid Fence is made with rotten eggs (“Putrescent Whole Egg Solids”) and garlic, and you don’t need to read the label to know that – it’s stinky stuff. Take my advice, don’t apply it to the plants around your deck or patio just before you have an outdoor party.

The deer in our area are black-tailed deer, also known as Columbian black-tailed deer or blacktails. Three other species of deer live in Oregon. The Columbian white-tailed deer is relatively rare and lives in small areas along the lower Columbia River in Oregon and Washington, and in the Umpqua Basin near Roseburg. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Columbian white-tailed deer as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1968; Oregon and Washington also have listed it as threatened. The main threat to these deer is habitat loss and fragmentation due to agricultural and residential development.

White-tailed deer and mule deer live east of the Cascades. Elk also are deer – much larger ones. Rocky Mountain elk are found in eastern Oregon and Roosevelt elk live in western Oregon.

You might be surprised to learn that elk live in or pass through our area, since they are rarely seen here. One winter I followed the tracks of a cow elk and calf heading up the Sandy River east of Zigzag Village. The tracks in the snow were fresh – I wish I had seen the critters that made them, but they no doubt heard me and ran off long before I got close enough.

According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) “Living with Wildlife” web site, deer are naturally afraid of people and will flee when they feel threatened. However, some deer become aggressive and approach or even attack people.

This usually happens when deer become accustomed to being fed by people (OK, I plead guilty) and are sometimes treated almost like pets (no, Lara and I do not let them sleep in the house).

Deer are not pets – they’re wild animals. Sometimes mama deer (does) become aggressive if they think their fawns are threatened, and most reports of aggressive deer tend to happen around fawning areas. Attacks by bucks are rare, but bucks sometimes become aggressive during the “rut,” the mating season that runs from October through December.

The ODFW offers several tips for living with deer, such as:

– Never, under any circumstance, approach a deer.

– Observe deer from a distance, preferably from inside a structure or vehicle.

– Keep pets inside when deer are in your yard. Female deer with fawns may be aggressive with pets, particularly small dogs.

– Invest in a fence to keep deer out of your yard.

I’ve had literal run-ins and close calls with deer. Some years ago, I was driving on Lolo Pass Road when a doe leapt onto the road and collided head first with the side of my Ford Explorer. The Explorer merely suffered a dented fender, but the deer died instantly. That was a blessing, I suppose – I’ve seen deer that were severely injured by cars hitting them or vice versa. In one case I came across a doe with smashed hindquarters. It couldn’t walk and would never recover, so I put it out of its misery.

I felt terrible about the deer on Lolo Pass Road. After the collision I pulled her off of the pavement, but later I went back, loaded her body into my truck – she was much heavier that I had imagined – and hauled her to a peaceful, secluded spot a few miles away. I knew coyotes, a cougar, crows or other critters would benefit from this unfortunate incident, so at least some good came from it.

Coyotes, cougars and humans are deer predators. So are dogs. Many years ago, when I lived in a rural area in the Sierra Nevada in California, a pack of dogs became notorious for chasing down deer and killing them. These weren’t wild dogs – they were well-fed pets who were allowed to roam free, and they joined together in packs to relive their species’ ancient ways, usually at night.

I recall hearing that when state fish and wildlife officers approached dog owners in the area to inform them of the problem and urged them keep their animals leashed or confined, many refused believe that their beloved best doggie friends forever would be capable of killing. But they are capable of killing wildlife and even housecats.

That’s one reason most counties, including Clackamas, have leash laws. In our county, “It is unlawful to permit a dog to be a public nuisance,” and a dog at large  – “a dog that is off or outside the dog owner’s property and not under the immediate control of a person” – is a public nuisance, according to the ordinance.

Back to deer. This spring you may see some of our local blacktails looking shaggy or scruffy. It’s normal. Deer and elk molt twice per year. They shed their winter coat in the spring and their summer coat in late summer. Don’t worry, their hair will grow back. Wish I could say that about mine! In any case, I hope you enjoy watching our blacktails as much as I do.

Have a question about the critters in our forests? Want to share your tips for keeping deer out of your garden and your garden out of the deer? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Discs are the shock absorbers of our spine. They hold space between the bones of the spine, called vertebrae, to allow movement.

If looking at discs from above, they consist of outer cartilaginous rings, called annular fibers, and a soft inner gelatinous “nucleus pulposus,” which moves within the disc with changes in posture. It's kind of like a jelly donut.

When a disk is herniated, there are tears in the annular fibers, allowing the inner material to bulge out. This can irritate nearby nerves and create low back pain. And if a herniated disc affects a nerve, you may feel numbness, tingling, weakness and shooting pain down the leg.

Some think a disc herniation automatically means a trip to the surgeon, but most herniations can heal with conservative care. And studies have shown that those who fail conservative care trials have better surgical outcomes.

When my chiropractor husband and clinic co-owner, Dr. Jason, was 35, he had a gnarly lumbar disc herniation. His low back had suffered years of abuse for a young guy, including an intense high school football program and leaning over vats lifting 50-pound chunks of cheese in his grandpa's string cheese factory.

He had intermittent low back pain throughout our marriage, but our 5,000-mile road trip in 2014 to Wisconsin and back pushed him over the edge. He knew when he put his water bottle behind his back and the “creepy crawlies” went away in his left leg that he probably had a herniation.

We sent him to our friend Dr. Wei for a lumbar MRI, and he was kind enough to call before he sent the results. He said, “I want you to know it’s bad. Jason has one of the biggest disc herniations I've ever seen. So sorry!”

This was devastating news for a family of two chiropractors, one (me) who was about to have her fifth child! We sat down to figure out what we would do, and we said, “OK! I guess we’re going to be a disc clinic!”

We ordered a flexion-distraction table and started him on a conservative trial of care, including flexion-distraction therapy, chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, massage therapy, exercises and nutritional supplements. His results were fantastic!

Flexion-distraction therapy is an effective treatment used for lumbar disc herniations. During this treatment, a patient will lie face down on a table where the legs and feet move up and down, with the table extending and stretching the back and creating a negative pressure where the disc material can be drawn back in.

– Reduce pressure on your spinal nerves and discs.

– Decrease bulging of herniated discs.

– Improve range of motion and mobility.

– Promote good disc health.

– Relieve pain and numbness in the back, buttocks and legs.

A year later, he was rear-ended in a car accident and had a flare-up of his low back pain. We ordered another lumbar MRI and got another call from Dr. Wei. This time it was better news.

He said, “I don't know what you did, but Jason’s herniation has healed so well it is almost completely gone!” He asked if he could use his before and after MRIs in his PowerPoint presentations. We were thrilled!

Now he is the poster child for our clinic. It has been rewarding to help others in this same predicament over the years. And I am grateful that we didn't opt for surgery!

On Jan. 9, I will be sworn in as your state representative. The following week, the 2023 legislative session will begin. I am ready to get to work and be a strong advocate for our communities.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent you again in Salem. It is the honor of a lifetime, and something I take extremely seriously.

I wanted to take this first column to share a little bit about my goals and priorities as your representative this year.

Oregon faces some serious issues. Crime, homelessness, economic stagnation and the cost of living are impacting all of us. I look forward to tackling these important issues.

This election, Oregonians voted for more balance. They broke the Democratic Supermajority in Salem by electing three more Republicans to the legislature – I was lucky to be one of them.

What does that mean for you? It is good news for your pocketbook. Democrats no longer have the 3/5th majority needed to automatically pass tax increases on party lines.

I am hopeful that this will encourage collaboration between the parties to pass real reforms to our biggest issues instead of relying on the tired strategy of ‘tax and spend’ which has dominated the last few years.

In this session, I will be looking to work to support Measure 110 reforms, so those struggling with mental illness and drug addiction on our streets will get the help they need.

As a former Portland Police officer, I do not believe letting people suffer on the side of the road is compassionate.

We must get them into treatment and back into a life of meaning.

On public safety, we need to make it clear to our law enforcement officers that we respect and value them.

We need a tone change in Salem. We must hold prosecutors who do not enforce the law and criminals accountable.

I hope to bring a common-sense voice to these policy discussions as a former law enforcement officer.

With cold weather and snow, comes more power outages. Outgoing Representative Lori Kuechler has already begun to loop me in on some of the work she has been doing to get more cell tower receivers in rural areas to ensure connectivity during power outages.

Many people have reported issues getting connected with emergency services during these outages. I will continue this important work.

Inflation will continue to be a problem for the foreseeable future. But a longer, more persistent problem I fear will be economic stagnation.

The ‘tax and spend’ and ‘regulate first’ policies that have dominated in Oregon will catch up to us. Inflation is creating a perfect storm for that to happen. We are already seeing layoffs and businesses hesitant to hire because of the economic outlook.

To make our state more livable, we need to reform our tax code so we stop taxing the revenue, rather than the profits, of our small businesses and we need to get the government out of the way of developing more affordable housing.

Finally, transportation will be a big topic this year in the legislature. As I write this column, I’m not in office yet, but I’ve already begun having conversations about the staffing shortages affecting the Sandy Department of Motor Vehicles office.

The Oregon Department of Transportation continues to push forward with tolling on I-5 and I-205. For those of you who commute into the valley, this will add extra costs to your drive on top of the already high price of fuel.

I look forward to being an advocate for communities like Welches which sit alongside Hwy. 26. We must continue to make this route safer.

Of course, I can’t be a good representative without your input. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me and my office. Until I’m officially sworn in, you can reach me at RepElect.JeffHelfrich@oregonlegislature.gov.

Beginning on Jan. 9, I can be reached at Rep.JeffHelfrich@oregonlegislature.gov or at 503-986-1452. If you are ever in Salem, please stop by.

Although there is a lot of construction going on at the capitol right now, the building is completely open to the public.

Jeff Helfrich is the House District 52 Representative.

We have all felt it on the Mt. Hood Community College campus: the wind. It can be warm and breezy in the summer, but in the winter, it can pack a punch. So why is it so windy?

Basically, there is a pressure differential caused by the colder moist air over Portland and hot, dry air over the desert to the east of the Cascade Mountains.

When the cold air rushes towards the hot air to equalize that pressure, it creates wind. The gorge acts like a funnel and wind will take the easiest route, which is the Columbia River Gorge.

Because of the narrowing of the gorge and the steep incline of the mountains on both sides of the river, it accelerates the velocity of the wind. This is called mechanical turbulence.

Wind behaves differently in different settings. Imagine a flat plain on an overcast day. The wind speed should be steady unless there are stronger winds aloft.

When a structure is in the plain, the wind accelerates around the structure, sometimes forming whorls and waves in the downstream flow.

Now add water to the equation – wind waves can hover over the water. It’s the reason sail sports are so popular in Hood River!

In the summer, the gorge acts to funnel strong westerly winds that are mechanical and thermal in nature. Thermal turbulence occurs on a windy day when the sun heats a surface and patches of air detach from the surface and rise due to the heat.

Swirl all this together and it’s a blowy day at MHCC and down the Columbia River Gorge.

Don’t forget to “veg out” this January, done with a delicious homemade dressing (ort two)!

1 t each fresh chopped dill and parsley

1/2 t each salt and pepper

Residue, used in our every-day vernacular, is a word that seems to indicate something of little importance, a discard, forgotten, of no value. The definition is, “a small amount of something that remains after the main part has gone or been taken or used.”

But in the world of estate planning this could not be further from the truth. A residual clause is of the utmost importance to include in your estate plan. It is that ‘work horse’ of a clause that handles everything that you have that you have not specifically given to someone or some organization in prior provisions of your plan.

When you create your estate plan you have numerous items of personal property that you specifically want someone you know to benefit by: works of art, family heirlooms and mementos, tools, vehicles, boats, etc. So, you are sure to include a list of these things and the persons they will transfer to.

Then there are specific amounts of financial assets you want to give to certain persons, or for certain programs you support and want to donate to. Perhaps you are transferring a piece of real estate to an individual or organization.

But these represent only a fraction of everything you have in your estate. Whether your estate, its holdings and their value, is represented in your estate plan with a cornerstone document of a Revocable Living Trust, or a Will, you will come to a point where you have the “then everything else” concept. For example, your house, other real estate, your retirement plans, your investment accounts, your bank accounts, etc. How will that be divided and who will receive?

This is the job for that residue clause. It handles all those “residual assets.” Everything that you have not particularly carved out and given away in the initial clauses of your plan will be addressed by the person administering your plan according to this clause, including any gifts that “lapsed,” i.e., the beneficiary died before you.

The residue is the resulting set of assets and the value of which that remain after all expenses of administering your estate have been accounted for and deducted from the total available. It is this clause that divides up the bulk of your estate to those persons that you want to benefit. Often this is the clause that handles giving your children equal shares. Or divides your estate into shares that will go to benefit a charity and those that will benefit members of your family.

So that word, “residue” or “residual,” most often handles the lion’s-share of the wealth you want to transfer and contains in depth details of how to do it. It’s a hefty duty for a word of such seemingly little consequence ordinarily.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

From the United Kingdom comes an account of an interesting residuary estate distribution. The writer relays that his parents received a 23rd each for taking an “old lady,” as well as her sister (who had passed away before her), to church every week for many years. The “old lady” left the other 23rds to various friends and her surviving sister and her sister's daughter.

All beneficiaries received one 23rd, but no more. Though the family contested the will, they lost. The writer conveys that his parents used their shares to buy a new car for the first time in their lives.

Dear reader… we welcome your questions on matters related to estate planning. These will provide grist for future articles and enhance the potential for those articles to be of interest and value to you.

Please submit your questions to Garth Guibord, at garth@mountaintimesoregon.com.

I’m often asked, “Where are you off to next?” I have a reputation for seeking out beautiful places to take landscape photos. Many times, it’s to a place that folks recognize. Places such as Glacier National Park, the California Redwoods or Denali National Park in Alaska.

But capturing the natural beauty of nature isn’t relegated to places that we all recognize. Sometimes a place is on my radar that many may not recognize, so when I was asked recently where my next destination would be I answered that I was headed to Texas to photograph a swamp. My answer was met with a little bit of a blank look of confusion. A swamp? In Texas? Yep.

I just returned from that swamp, and I can say that I had to throw out all of my preconceived ideas about how creepy and icky a swamp was. I pictured a swamp monster climbing out of the fog, muck and the mire, or animals that were out to kill or maim me. Alligators, venomous snakes and insects came to mind instantly. And as for beauty? I’m from the Pacific Northwest where beauty in nature seems obvious, but a swamp was new to me.

I traveled south and east to the border of Texas and Louisiana to a place called Uncertain Texas. Being uncertain why a place would be named Uncertain I researched the history of the name and even those who tell the stories aren’t completely certain about how it got its name. I like the story where the folks who lived there in the late 19th century applied for township. On the form where they were to give the name for their new town was written: “uncertain.” It seems that the name had yet to be completely decided upon but the powers that be approved the name and it stuck. Whatever the truth might be, it's a unique name for a unique place.

Truth be told I had seen a lot of photos that were taken there recently as this place has popped up on the radar of a lot of modern landscape photographers. In this age of social media and digital photography a location can quickly become the next best place to flock to. Photographers seem to migrate from one popular location to the next each season to try to create a photograph that will propel them to the top of the social media hierarchy of exposure.

Caddo Lake is one of those places. Almost completely unheard of no more than a couple of years ago, today photographers are gathering there to photograph the Autumn color of the foliage of the Spanish moss laden submerged bald cypress forests. And I had to join the migration.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to co-lead a photography workshop by a fellow photographer who lives in Texas and is familiar with the area. I jumped at the chance. I arrived at the location a few days ahead of the workshop attendees and spent time to immerse myself in the landscape and the local culture – I have never been called sir so many times in my life. Folks who live on the bayou seem to be completely down to earth and so polite that I felt welcome right away.

Caddo Lake is the largest natural lake in Texas. At 60 square miles it offers varied views, including the lake itself with beautiful reflections of the sunrises and the sunsets. Lining the lake are swampy areas that are home to the largest forest of submerged bald cypress trees. The lake had been flooded naturally at one time by a huge log raft on the Red River, which provided navigable water for steamboats to access towns such as Jackson, whose port rivaled the nearby Shreveport in Louisiana.

Near the turn of the 20th century the Army Corp of Engineers removed the log raft that dammed the river and the lake virtually dried up, which no longer allowed the river boats to access the towns near the lake. In time the Army Corp of Engineers built a dam to reflood the lake and the swamps around it.

The lakebed was once dry enough for the seeds from the bald cypress to establish themselves in the muddy fields, as many of these trees are 200-300 years old. As the water flooded their bases it created what we now know as Caddo Lake. These cypress trees are habitat for an incredible variety of birds such as egrets, blue heron, ibis, owls, eagles and king fishers. The swamp is also home to snakes, frogs, bobcats, river otters, beavers and alligators. The lake is a popular fishing destination and offers the angler crappie, white bass, largemouth bass, catfish, sunfish, carp and bream.

The lake is also home to a throwback to the days of the dinosaurs, the endangered and very unique paddlefish. It’s a large fish with a long snout that looks similar to a paddle, thus its name. Caddo Lake is also home to the Texas Bigfoot, or so I was told.

Sadly, as it seems to be with most places of natural beauty in this modern age, there are challenges to the lake. 44 of Caddo’s native species are either endangered, threatened or rare, so it’s managed closely by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition to the challenges of its wildlife, an invasive non-native species of plant was inadvertently introduced to the lake. The lake is under siege by a fast-growing aquatic plant called Salvinia molesta, also known as giant salvinia. The plant covers a large part of the swamp and will, in time, silt up the lake, lowering the depth of its water and eventually kill the lake.

Photographing the lake can be done from parts of its shore but the best way is to get out into the lake and the swamp with a canoe, kayak or by hiring a local guide with a pontoon boat. Our workshop spent two sunrises and two sunsets in the Big Cypress Bayou.

During our boat rides we rode through passages and areas of swamp whose beauty rivaled most any landscape that I’ve seen. Scenes that included not just the beautiful and colorful autumn cypress, but the birds who make it their home. The photos of the red and orange trees with a touch of white from an egret or families of ibis, another white bird who dwells in the branches of the trees, are striking.

I had heard stories and songs about the bayou country of the American South but experiencing it for myself gave me a completely different understanding of it all, and its people. The culture and history are evident there and is shared by those whose family’s heritage were a part of it through time. I hope that my photos will show those who have never been to such a place the beauty that is so hard to describe with words, and how the stereotypical views of a swamp should be reconsidered. While I was there, I was able to take some of the most beautiful landscape photos that I’ve ever made, and of that I’m completely certain.

When people complain about all the rain we get, I often say, “Great! It’s free water for my well.” It’s water for all of us, whether we have wells or rely on creeks, springs or a city or community water system for our H20 supply. It’s life-sustaining water for all critters great and small in our woods – plants and animals, birds and bees, chanterelles and centipedes, salmon and stoneflies. It’s precipitation of the frozen sort for skiers, snowboarders, snowshoers, ice skaters, snowmobile riders and snowball throwers. It’s floatation for whitewater kayakers and rafters. It’s water for summer iced tea and lemonade, for iced wine coolers (are they still a thing?), for ice chests full of soda pop, beer, energy drinks and other beverages that are mostly water. It’s water for hot coffee and hot cocoa and hot showers at the end of long winter days. It’s water for a rich chicken soup stock or cooking oatmeal or pasta. It’s water for our flower and vegetable gardens and for the bird baths we place in them. It’s water for washing our motor vehicles of dust and pollen and mud (I wash my truck once a year, whether it needs it or not). It’s water for the simple joys of swimming in a mountain lake or sitting by a rushing creek or listening to a spring’s tinkling trickle.

Everyone and every living thing needs water. My dad said he didn’t. He had the front page of a fake newspaper a friend had had printed for him with the headline in huge black letters: “Jack Wilent Orders Water – Bartender Faints.” He preferred his bourbon on the rocks, yet he scoffed at me because I prefer Scotch whisky with a wee drop of water to help it bloom. How would one make bourbon or Scotch without water, or Oregon pinot noir or Mt. Hood Brewing’s excellent Ice Axe India Pale Ale and other brews?

Imagine not having such relatively cheap water that’s as easy to get as it is here on the Mountain. In a recent essay about the war in Ukraine and its impacts on ordinary citizens since Russia has been destroying electric power stations and lines, the reporter, Nicholas Kristof – the might-have-been governor of Oregon – wrote about a 72-year-old man living in a bombed-out apartment building near Kharkiv who hikes to a well half a mile away to fetch water and then hauls it up the stairs to his 10th-floor apartment.

According to the World Health Organization, one in three people globally do not have access to safe drinking water. Our world’s population is now more than eight billion, which means that 2.67 billion of us are water poor.

We on the Mountain are fabulously water wealthy, for better or worse. We get something like 90 inches of rain in a typical year in Welches and Brightwood. Portland gets half of that, and Los Angeles gets less than 12 inches per year. I tell my friends from elsewhere that we measure rain in feet: 7.5 feet per year on average. Of course, this can have a downside. During the 1996-97 wet season, we had approximately 136 inches – more than 11 feet of rain. You may recall the severe flooding and the damage it caused. As in the Christmas Flood of 1964, the 1996–97 flooding was the result of a sub-tropical atmospheric river, which are sometimes called pineapple expresses, that brought a lot of warm rain all at once. That, plus melting low-elevation snow, caused rivers to rise to record levels.

Our indomitable local journalist, Paul Keller – he once worked at the Sandy Post and edited The Mountain before there was The Mountain Times – wrote about the amount of rain an atmospheric river can bring to our area in the August 2022 edition of his free Beneath Wy’East newsletter. You can subscribe with a request by email to paulroykeller@msn.com. If you ask, he might even send you a copy of the August edition.

We had an atmospheric river a few weeks ago that left 3.5 inches in my rain gauge in 24 hours (fortunately, we didn’t have much snow on the ground).

In technical terms, that’s a whole lot of water.

Water is commonly measured in acre-feet. One acre-foot equals enough water to cover one acre of land, one foot deep, or about 326,000 gallons. So that one storm dropped about 95,000 gallons per acre. To put 95,000 gallons into perspective, that’s almost 5,588 showers (according to the Water Research Foundation, the average U.S. shower uses roughly 17 gallons of water and lasts eight minutes).

Atmospheric rivers are relatively rare, but it’s not uncommon to receive an inch of rain in a 24-hour period. If you live on a quarter-acre lot, a common size in our area, that’s 6,788 gallons of water, delivered free of charge.

To put it into perspective, that’s almost 400 showers (hot or cold – your choice). Or almost 4,243 toilet flushes (the standard U.S. toilet uses 1.6 gallons of water per flush). Or about 12,850 half-liter bottles of store-bought bottled water from a typical one-inch rainstorm.

As all woodsmen know, trees drink water, too, mostly though their roots. Leaves (including fir needles) take in carbon dioxide and sunlight to make sugar – food for the tree – via photosynthesis. Oxygen and water then evaporate through the leaves in a process called transpiration.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, a typical healthy 100-foot-tall tree can take 11,000 gallons of water from the soil and release it into the air as oxygen and water vapor during a single growing season.

The trees in our area are anything but typical, since they have more water available than in most other places, so that figure is probably low.

Still want to complain about the rain? Go ahead – knock yourself out. Just remember how much you’d have to complain about if it didn’t rain.

Have a question about water in our forests? Do you remember the before times – before you could buy bottled water in every grocery and convenience store? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Our body reacts quickly to stress so we can respond accordingly. This innate survival tool allows us to jump away from a fast-coming car or fight off a surprise attack.

The adrenal glands, which sit above our kidneys, emit cortisol when activated by chemicals in the brain. We become alert and ready for fast action. Our pupils dilate, our heart races, our muscles tense and our palms sweat. We feel anxious and fearful, sometimes to the point of shaking.

Without this fight-or flight-response, we would be less capable of survival when in imminent danger.

But life is often fast paced, with too many stressors. Unfortunately, these daily stressors can also cause this same fight-or-flight response. Our overstimulated bodies can't tell the difference between an oncoming hungry tiger or our three-year-old who just knocked over our freshly folded laundry, or Bob, who called in sick AGAIN and left you in a lurch.

These high levels of circulating cortisol should signal to the brain to stop the secretion of adrenal signaling hormones. But chronic stress results in our adrenal glands secreting more and more cortisol. Over time, our cells become resistant to cortisol, and the negative feedback system becomes ineffective. Without intervention, the system becomes dysregulated, and cortisol drops and is too low leading to the symptoms of adrenal fatigue. This is what is referred to as “Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome.”

This imbalance can take a toll on our bodies, and we feel worn out. We become less able to handle life's everyday stressors and become reactionary, jumpy, easily stressed, anxious, depressed, overburdened and in need of a vacation! We wake up tired, have trouble concentrating and can get lightheaded when we stand up quickly.

If stress causes adrenal fatigue, going to the source of the problem is the best way to solve it. Taking care of our physical, mental and emotional needs is the long-term cure. What can we do to support our adrenal and overall health?

Eat regularly. Your body doesn't know if you are in a famine or skipping a meal. Eat protein-rich meals, starting with breakfast, for consistent energy throughout the day. Avoid hunger, carbs and sugar, which can create dips and peaks in blood sugar.

Sleep! Approximately eight hours per night at the same time in a quiet, dark “cave.” Avoid screens for one to two hours before bed.

Find healthy ways to destress. Take that vacation! Call a friend, pray or meditate, incorporate a daily walk, paint or color, or bring some friends to karaoke. Hike, ski or swim. Take yoga and do breathing exercises, make a reading corner and use it. Grow and pickle things or macrame and sell or gift your wares! Find the things you enjoy and make time for them.

Supplements and testing can be helpful. Under the direction of your physician, adrenal gland supplements or adaptogenic herbs can give your adrenal glands temporary rest or support and help restore their optimal function. The adrenal salivary test measures circadian rhythm, the cortisol precursor hormones, and cortisol levels. It can tell you where you fall from adrenal fatigue to high adrenal hormones, and follow-up tests can track whether you’re successfully managing your condition.

Cortisol helps us wake up and provides us with energy in the morning. Melatonin brings our bodies down from the day and prepares us for sleep. These hormones work in tandem with our natural circadian rhythm. A proper amount of cortisol in the blood in the morning and early afternoon sets the stage for a healthy melatonin spike at night and, hopefully, a good night's sleep!

Adrenal health is a litmus test for our mind and body's overall health and well-being. Optimizing adrenal health can springboard positive changes in the rest of our lives!

Oregon has multiple species of deer across the state, including mule deer, Columbian whitetail deer, Eastern whitetail deer and black-tailed deer.

Mule deer and Columbian black-tailed deer are generally referred to as black-tailed deer and commonly reside in western Oregon.

Black-tail bucks might stand three feet at the shoulder and weigh approximately 200 pounds, whereas an adult doe might weigh up to 130 pounds. Their tawny coloring blends into many natural landscapes giving them camouflage.

Their namesake tail is black with a white underside and often twitches as a signal to other deer that everything is okay, or danger has passed and others can come out of hiding. If a deer has their tail at half mast, lowered, then repeated to half mast, it is a warning sign of trouble and often accompanied with a rigid stance.

Predators to black-tailed deer include humans, coyotes, cougars and domestic dogs. Deer are often aware of nearby humans, but they aren’t usually intimidated by us.

Their hearing is excellent, and they can hear if you are nearby; moreover, they can spot other animals up to 2,000 feet away, so even if they don’t hear you, they will have seen you.

They communicate with one another through touch, sight, sound and scent.

In the frosty mornings of autumn at Mt. Hood Community College, small groups of black-tailed deer are often seen grazing in grassy patches while watching the students navigate the 212-acre campus which features a pristine wooded area and natural wildlife abundant in the Willamette Valley landscape.

Gifts from the kitchen are homemade gifts that are simply made and enjoyed throughout the year.

You’ll need: cheese cloth (sewn into pockets) with string/ribbon, or small jars.

1 cup assorted flower petals, such as lavender or rose

1 cup Himalayan sea salt crystals

Mix ingredients in large bowl and pour into containers or cheesecloth bundles, then tie with ribbon.

In a large bowl whisk together ingredients. Transfer into a large glass jar.

Attach with a note, instructing to add 1/4 cup oil and 1/2 cup water, then mix until just combined. Then bake in greased loaf pan in 350-degree oven for 35 minutes.

I thought that I would share something that you're unlikely to see, and if you've been here to experience the Green Mask in the remote reaches of Grand Gulch in Utah, we're kin. To be here takes effort that few will exert, and for a purpose that few will understand. This was a colorful Ancient Puebloan (~Anasazi) pictograph that I had to see.

Back when I and my friend Mike would take a yearly trek to solo hike the canyons of Southern Utah we weren’t going for sightseeing adventures. We both had personal reasons for going. Once we were in the desert we would separate, and each go our own way until we’d meet again at the end of the week for the trip back home again.

Back then I was going through a lot of changes that have affected my life completely. In many ways those trips helped me to reform who I was into who I really was. I liked to say that I was hiking to lose myself to find myself. The trips weren’t easy, especially physically, but they tested me. They gave me confidence in a part of my life that I rarely used. Facing situations in the wilderness while alone can pull feelings from inside that were felt more by our primitive ancestors than by most modern humans.

This immersion into the canyons was a wild experience for me but everywhere that I would turn there was evidence of human activity and civilizations from hundreds and, sometimes thousands, of years before me. After spending time in their realm, I found that I was able to relate to a lot of what they dealt with in their lives and the simple needs that were so important to their survival, mainly the need for a reliable source of food, water and shelter.

Prior to spending time in the canyons, my perception of the ancient people and their culture was far from how I perceived them after I had spent several visits there. In time, I started trying to speculate as to why a certain granary or a dwelling was placed in a certain place or in a certain way. I started trying to see their rock art in more of a practical way than an artistic expression, not to separate art from it, but I’m sure that there are times when these rock art pieces were warnings, maps or stories and fables of the past – but it’s all speculation, even for the most learned scholar of the ancient past.

I have seen a lot of Native rock art in my travels. A lot of it here in Oregon and I am always excited to stand in the presence of a panel, but there are times when one will capture my imagination. And prior to my Utah trips I would read books about what to expect.

On this particular trip I read about the rock art panels in Grand Gulch, of which there are many excellent examples, but one in particular grabbed my attention. It was a colorful face painted high on a canyon wall in a side canyon from the main route in Grand Gulch. I saw my quest to find it as a treasure hunt. And when it finally came into view it was even more than I had expected. In a canyon where there are a lot of petroglyphs hammered or carved into the canyon walls and pictographs of red ochre, this colorful face staring at me from the ancient past stopped me instantly in my tracks.

I believe that there's, obviously, a lot of symbolism in the ancient people’s rock art. Disregarding the depth of meaning, or even the practical purpose that the artist had for this amazing face, which I wouldn't dare try to interpret myself, its artistic beauty alone was exceptional, but why was it there? Does its meaning have anything at all to do with my own modern life?

Probably not, and so I was left to try to imagine a time in this place where a painted face, or perhaps a ceremonial mask, meant something to the artist as well as their contemporaries that would view it. And even then, who knows if it meant anything to anyone but the one who created it?

Realizing these things allowed me to use my own imagination to try to give meaning to it. My meaning encompassed my own reason for being and the journey to get there. Its reason was a part of my journey, both in the canyon and in my life. I’m not sure if the artist had any awareness of how his painting would touch someone on a personal level after such a vast amount of time but my presence there was certainly a consequence of the time that he took to paint this green mask.

In the end, my visit with this painted representation of a human face has become symbolic of the superficial layer that I wore over my own face as I walked through my life trying to please the world. It was my quest to shed my own mask, and finding this mask was an important part of that process.

I owe a lot to that one native human who spent their time creating the Green Mask. The bridge of time collapses as it’s crossed, but this single face bridged the collapse and touched me through time.

I’m writing this on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Oct. 10. This is not a federal holiday, though it falls on Columbus Day, which is a holiday. On Oct. 8, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation recognizing the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In this month’s column I’ll describe a serendipitous series of encounters and connections with a Native American tribe and their history in the Pacific Northwest.

I had been on the road (and in the air) for most of the last two weeks, mostly for business. I visited the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation in south-central Washington State to observe their forestry work. The Yakama harvest timber from the 640,000 acres of forest on its 1,130,000-acre reservation. The logs go to Yakama Forest Products, which operates two mills on the reservation that employ more than 130 members of the tribe.

In my view, the Yakama are managing their lands extremely well: they don’t look at their lands with a mere long-term view, but a forever view. In other words, sustainable forest management, in perpetuity.

After visiting the Yakama Nation, Lara and I spent a few days on vacation in Sunriver on the banks of the 252-mile-long Deschutes River, a major tributary of the Columbia River, which is the fourth-largest river in the U.S. by volume. The headwaters of the 1,200-mile-long Columbia River are in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia.

In French, “deschutes” means waterfalls or rapids. The river was so named for Celilo Falls, a large waterfall on the Columbia just downstream from the mouth of the Deschutes. In 1957, Celilo Falls was inundated after the construction of The Dalles Lock and Dam, forming Celilo Lake, which extends upstream for 24 miles. Congress authorized the construction of the dam and lock for power generation and navigation under the 1950 Flood Control Act.

The dam, which is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has 22 turbine units and a total generating capacity of 2,080 megawatts. Also, the lock is the second of eight locks encountered in the Columbia-Snake Inland Waterway, a 465-mile river highway that allows barge transport of wheat and other commodities between Lewiston, Idaho, and the Pacific Ocean. The Dalles lock passes up to 10 million tons of cargo annually. The dam has two fish ladders – one on each shore – to provide a passage route for upstream-migrating fish, including adult salmon and steelhead, lamprey, sturgeon, shad and others.

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, which coordinates fisheries management for the Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla and Nez Perce tribes, explains that the falls were of supreme importance to Native Americans in the region:

“For centuries Indians caught the giant chinook and other food salmon that struggled to make their way upstream through the rocky barrier of tumbling waters and swift, narrow channels of the Columbia River known as Celilo Falls, or Wy-am. During the spring flooding, ten times more water passed over this spectacular waterfall than passes over Niagara Falls today. The ancient ones left a record of their lives in the ashes of campfires and buried sanctuaries of their dead. They left tools and weapons, items of adornment, and samples of their art. Their record of habitation proves Wy-am to be one of the longest occupied sites on the continent.”

“For thousands of years, Wy-am was one of history’s great market places. A half-dozen tribes had permanent villages between the falls and where the city of The Dalles now stands. As many as 5,000 people would gather to trade, feast, and participate in games and religious ceremonies.”

According to the Oregon Encyclopedia:

“Archeological records date human occupation of village sites along the falls to at least 11,000 years ago. The first written population records come from the journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who estimated in 1805-1806 that 7,200 to 10,400 Indian people were present between the Cascade Rapids and The Dalles. Abundant fish runs drew Indigenous people to permanent settlements in the area, and village populations fluctuated with seasonal movement. During the post-contact period, the numbers of people declined as a result of diseases that dramatically reduced native populations.”

Although their numbers were much reduced, the region’s tribes continued to fish, trade and live at Wy-am at the falls. Today, about 100 members of the Yakama and other tribes live in Celilo Village, which is on a sliver of land between a rocky cliff and the busy Interstate 84; Celilo Lake is just to the north across the highway. Celilo Village is said to be Oregon’s oldest continuously inhabited town.

Some tribes and environmental groups say that The Dalles Dam and others in the Columbia River system ought to be removed, to restore the free-flowing river and salmon runs. But I think The Dalles Dam is here to stay – it’s hard to imagine the U.S. government approving the dam’s removal and forgoing its clean hydropower and the river’s use as a navigable waterway.

I was struck by serendipity of these connections and interactions with the Yakama Nation, the Deschutes and Columbia Rivers, and Celilo Falls, all just ahead of Indigenous Peoples’ Day – it was almost as if it had all been prearranged. But there was yet another connection: at Vancouver (B.C.) Vancouver International Airport, between flights in early October, I viewed several interesting displays of Indigenous history and culture.

One of them was The Rivers Monument, which includes “two innovative glass-etched poles are a monument to the Columbia River and Fraser River, which carried a wealth of ancient names from the Indigenous Nations that fished and managed them. Each pole is a cut through of the river system, with the top of the column representing the surface and the bottom the riverbed. Each pole portrays a different history, with pictograph-like images of humans, fish, wildlife and water. Perched atop both poles are carved and painted red cedar eagles acting as witnesses.”

A plaque on the Columbia River pole mentions Celilo Falls and The Dalles Dam.

Our local library has items in its collection about the falls, such as “Death of Celilo Falls,” a book by Katrine Barber; and “Celilo Falls and the remaking of the Columbia River,” a DVD.

Want to learn more? You might visit the Yakama Nation Museum & Cultural Center (yakamamuseum.com) in Toppenish, Wash.; the Museum at Warm Springs, on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation; and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles.

Have a question about Native Americans in our area? Want to know which famous U.S. vice-president spoke at the dedication of The Dalles Dam? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

We are all feeling the weather shifting these past couple of weeks. This decrease in sunlight and warmth causes extra strain on our bodies as we adapt to the changing seasons. Many people will notice that symptoms of pain, mental sluggishness, fatigue and depression will appear or increase at this time. It feels more appealing to pull the blankets over your head, stay in bed, eat comfort foods, escape from the world and hibernate.

This extra strain and tendency toward negative symptoms make fall a great time to boost your body and mind with a healthy cleanse.

There are a plethora of different cleanses that you can do for various reasons. Some are so intense that you will have to have a bathroom nearby at all times. Some are gentler and focus on giving your body a break from toxins and inflammatory foods, restoring healthy gut and liver function, and infusing your body with nutrients so it can thrive. The second kind of cleanse is what I recommend patients do twice yearly during the changing seasons. Being strict about what you put into your body for 10-14 days gives your body a needed reset but also can create healthy habits that will last through the year.

The reason our body needs a reset is evident from what we are exposed to daily. Our foods are heavily processed, and pesticides and genetic modification of foods have made some of the everyday food staples unrecognizable to our bodies. The overuse of sugar has put a strain on our organ systems and has increased obesity in our society. The air in our home and work environments is laden with chemicals and molds that accumulate in our bodies and can cause disease. Our body products contain carcinogenic ingredients that maximize shelf life and visual appeal.

So how do we cleanse? I have two favorites from the Biotics Research and Standard Process supplement companies. Both focus on eliminating inflammatory foods, increasing hydration and healthy food choices, cleansing the liver and gastrointestinal (GI) systems and reintroducing beneficial bacteria into the gut. Both come with user-friendly booklets, shopping lists, recipe ideas, lists of foods to avoid and protein powders and whole food supplements to aid in liver detoxification and replenishing healthy gut bacteria.

Why does the liver need support? The liver's main job is to remove toxins from our body, but over time our liver can get overwhelmed by the volume of toxins it has to process. When the toxic load in your body becomes too high, think of your liver as an almost full cup, any extra toxins that enter your system and need to be processed will instead spill over into your body. You will feel adverse effects in your muscles, tissues and brain – everywhere in your body from the toxins that should have been eliminated as waste.

What is a GI cleanse? Think of your gut as a grassy lawn. Over time the beneficial bacteria that naturally occur in our gut get overridden by harmful bacteria, or “weeds,” that prevent normal digestion of foods. You can't just throw grass seed on a weedy lawn and expect good results. It's best to remove it all and start fresh. Similarly, a GI cleanse will kill the good and bad bacteria in the gut and reintroduce healthy strains to reset the normal gut flora and allow for healthy digestion and absorption of nutrients.

Get ahead of the winter doldrums! Consider a cleanse to jumpstart your body for a healthy and energetic rain, snow and ski season. Consider doing it with a friend, spouse or your whole family, as you can support each other along the way. Having a healthcare provider on board will help you choose the right cleanse for your health needs and will help support you through the process. Adding seasonal cleansing will not only increase your mood and energy, but it will also increase your overall health and encourage healthy eating choices.

Fall is a fabulous time for mushroom hunting around Mount Hood! The return of the rain means that mushrooms will be popping up in forests and clearings.

Here are just a few of the edible mushrooms that may be found in the area:

King bolete (Boletus edulis): this is a large mushroom, often more than six inches in diameter. It looks something like a brown bread roll or bun on a thick white stalk; the underside of the cap is white or yellow and has many fine, sponge-like pores. Look on the stalk for a brown net-like pattern; it grows directly out of the soil.

Pacific golden chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus): one of several chanterelle species, this one is a bright golden yellow. The cap often has a wavy edge and the false gills underneath the cap are thicker than the gills found on many mushrooms (they also often split into forks closer to the edge of the cap). These only grow on soil, so don’t pick any look-alikes on rotting wood.

Lobster mushroom (Hypomyces lactifluorum): this is actually one fungus parasitizing another! Look for a bright orange to red mushroom that is white inside when cut; the outside often also has a “crusty” texture. Grows on soil, often near conifer trees.

Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus spp.): There are a couple of oyster mushroom species found in the area. Look for disc-shaped, white to light gray mushrooms with white gills, growing in clusters out of hardwood trees like alder. Some also smell like licorice!

Check with your local ranger station before foraging on National Forest land, you may need a permit and there may be a limit on how many mushrooms you can take. The rangers may also have suggestions on good places to look.

Rebecca Lexa is a Master Naturalist, nature educator, tour guide and writer living on the Long Beach Peninsula. More about her work may be found at RebeccaLexa.com.

The best thing to make on Thanksgiving are plans, so here’s some tasty side dishes and a simple scrumptious dessert you can take with you.

There are no strict rules for Thanksgiving dinner: cake or pie, squash or sweet potatoes, turkey or not. The main ingredient in Thanksgiving is the thanks.

French apple cake with custard sauce

4 large apples any kind, peeled, cored, sliced thin

1 cup sugar plus 1 T sugar

1 egg plus 2 egg yolks separated

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put together spring form pan, wrapping bottom with aluminum foil. Peel, core and slice apples thin, then sprinkle with 1 t lemon juice to prevent browning.

In a smaller bowl whisk together 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, salt and baking soda. In a large bowl whisk together vanilla, one egg, one cup sugar and oil.

Add the wet and dry ingredients until moistened. Reserve one cup of this mix. To the large batter, whisk in the egg yolks and fold in apples. Pour mixture into pan.

Add remaining 2 T flour to reserved batter, then pour over the apple mixture and sprinkle 2T sugar over the top. Bake for one hour and let cool.

Heat cream and milk over medium heat until steam forms. Whisk sugar and egg yolks for five minutes until lightened and thick, then stir in with warm milk, one spoonful at a time. Return mixture to medium heat and whisk constantly, adding in salt and vanilla. Cool until steaming and sauce coats back of spoon, then cover sauce and refrigerate.

Acorn squash stuffed with wild rice

This is a two-in-one dish, portable and freezer friendly. It’s squash season!

2 large squashes sliced down the middle, seeded

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place cut squash, cut side down onto pan sprinkled with I T olive oil and bake for 45 minutes, until fork tender. Cool and invert.

In large pan over medium heat, add 2T olive oil and then add in the veggies and cook, stirring occasionally until softened.

Add in herbs and salt, then the rice and cranberries. Turn off heat and stir in breadcrumbs.

Scoop mixture into halved squash and sprinkle with remaining 1T olive oil. Roast uncovered for 20 minutes and then sprinkle with seeds.

Estate taxes are those taxes that the government, whether federal or state, levies on estates of a person who dies with an estate value over the amount established by the legislature – referred to as the estate tax exemption amount. At $12.92 million per person and $25.84 million per couple federal exemption amounts, few of us will concern ourselves with federal estate taxes upon our passings.

However, at an estate tax exemption amount strictly of $1 million, whether it be a single person or a couple, many of us face the reality of our estates incurring estate taxes owing to the state of Oregon.

Oregon estate taxes are calculated for the amount that is in excess of the state’s estate tax exemption amount. Thus, up to $1 million passes free of state estate taxes, but the amount over that threshold is taxed at a graduated rate of 10 percent to 16 percent depending on the amount over.

The fact that Oregon’s estate tax exemption amount is assessed as a single figure, not like the federal exemption, gives some valuable estate planning opportunities to maximize the potential for state estate tax reduction.

With some well-developed strategies during estate planning, a couple can effectively achieve a $2 million shelter. Some of these opportunities, for couples, come in the form of credit shelter trusts.

Credit shelter trusts, of which there are a variety, can place a specified amount of the decedent’s assets, up to the exemption amount, in a separate trust.

Such trusts can give the surviving spouse the benefit of using the assets and the income from those assets. Then upon the surviving spouse’s death, their estate is reduced in its exposure to estate taxes, or such taxes are eliminated.

And the assets remaining in the credit shelter trust can be distributed free of estate taxes. In effect this allows up to $1 million in estate tax exemption for the first to pass, and again another $1 million exemption at the passing of the surviving spouse.

Creating these types of estate tax planning strategies are best done through an estate planning approach based on establishing a revocable living trust that has the relevant provisions for creating a credit shelter trust when needed.

These provisions and the amount to be directed to the credit shelter can be controlled by formulas included in the living trust. Alternatively, such determinations can be built-in to be decided when the time comes.

An effective estate planning strategy, establishing credit shelter trusts is best done in concert with and under the guidance of an estate planning attorney.

If you are considering that “it’s about time” to act on your intentions to create an estate plan for the benefit of those important to you, this may be your motivating factor to put that intent into action.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

From “rags-to-riches,” literally.

From the annals of strange and fascinating inheritance stories it is reported that two brothers, homeless and so poor that they lived in a cave outside Budapest, Hungary, selling any scrap they may find of some value for pennies, inherited $6 to $7 billion from their maternal grandmother who had recently died in Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany.

The brothers learned of the inheritance from homelessness charity workers in Hungary who had been contacted by the lawyers handling their maternal grandmother’s estate.

Under German law, direct descendants are entitled to their share of an estate that would pass to them if their mother had died.

The brothers said that they knew their mother had come from a wealthy family, but had no idea how rich.

Their mother had severed ties with her birth family and had abandoned her boys who had no contact with her or their father until the mother died.

I’ve noticed that I seem to live my life in eras. I can look back at my life and it seems like it goes through some sort of significant change at a common frequency. I can even say that seems to happen about every 15 years or so.

It also seems to coincide with the life of the dogs that I’ve had. I can remember events in my life and tell you what dog that I had at the time. It seems that I have come to the end of an era and the start of a new one.

I recently lost my dog, Betty. Betty lived to be 15 just like my dog Sadie before her. Betty was certainly present for most of the photos that I made during the last 15 years. I’m fortunate, and my dogs are fortunate, that I can have them with me almost all the time. I spend a lot of time outdoors, hiking and camping and my dog always comes along.

Because I’m so used to having one at my side when I’m in the field I felt like something was missing. I ended up filling that void, like I usually do, by bringing in a successor. None of my dogs have had a replacement, but they’ve had successors. Each dog has been a little different. They have personalities, and I never judge my newest one by the standard set by my previous ones.

And so, into our lives came Hazel. Hazel, short for Princess Hazelnut Pupcake. She has taken over and is in training to be my next canine hiking partner. Hazel is another Australian Cattle Dog. She’s a Red Heeler. She’s the fourth heeler that I have had and, for me and my life, are a great breed. Hazel is 12 weeks old and is in her “terrible twos.” We’re going through Puppy Bootcamp right now and she has learned so much in the two weeks since she’s left her litter mates. Right now it’s the basics, but I plan to teach her to stand and stay for me long enough to allow me to take her photo, something that Betty never learned.

My last two dogs, Sadie and Betty, came to me at the end of the puppy stage and so I missed out on their baby times, but everything is new to Hazel. As a photographer this is great. I’ve been taking some cute photos of her.

My last dog, Betty, had an aversion to the camera. Every time that I pointed a camera toward her, she would drop her head and flatten her ears before walking away. I would have to sneak my photos of her.

Hazel, on the other hand, is totally uninhibited in front of the lens. She has no clue and just doesn’t even care. I can’t wait to teach her to strike a pose for a photo while we’re someplace beautiful. I know that I’ll be able to eventually.

If you are planning to photograph your pet, I can give you some simple tips that will help you to get some cute photos of your fluffy friend, and this might also help you to photograph your human child as well.

Get down low. Get down to their level. In the case of Hazel, I literally have to get down on the ground. That point of view shows their face and makes the viewer feel like they’re there, playing with the puppy. If you’re standing while you take the photo their back will be most prominent.

Fill the frame. Make your subject large. There’s always a case where a small subject tells a story but in portraiture you will want to make your subject stand out. Use a longer focal length lens. This gives you the advantage of standing further away from your subject and allows you to zoom in to your subject.

Narrow your depth of field. If you’re using a camera where you can adjust your aperture, open it up wide. This will do two things. It will let in more light which can give you a faster shutter speed, helping to eliminate motion blur, and it will also help to create a soft, out of focus background which will help your in-focus subject stand out.

Focus on their eyes. It’s not as important to have their nose in focus but it is their eyes, and in many cases the nose will be in focus if the eyes are.

Have an assistant. If you’re working with an animal, especially a puppy, it helps if you can have an extra pair of hands. For instance, I like to have someone hold the puppy until I’m ready and then I’ll have them run the dog toward me so I can get some photos from the front. Also, if they can hold the leash and walk the dog around then I can get some photos in different poses.

And, speaking of poses, be patient with your pet. It may take several sessions with her until she understands what you’re wanting her to do. Take time to train her to sit and stay. It’s always more of a challenge photographing a pet if they’re out of control.

And finally take a lot of photos. Even a professional photographer takes a lot of photos and then picks out the best ones. Set your camera on a constant shutter and take a series of photos then choose the best. It adds a little bit of work in the end, but you’ll be glad that you did.

One night at my brother’s place north of Lincoln City, I bedded down outside, rather than in the house. Sleeping under the stars is such a pleasure. Sleeping under the stars with raccoons in the area can be maddening.

My brother had several acres bordering the Siuslaw National Forest, an area rich in wildlife. A herd of elk routinely grazed on the half-acre of meadow around the house, and we often saw deer, bear, coyotes and other critters in the forest nearby. On the Night of the Raccoon, I had placed my sleeping bag on the lawn about 30 yards from the garage, just far enough from the forest to have a clear view of the sky. After stargazing for a while, I drifted off to sleep, only to be rudely awakened some time later by what sounded like someone hitting a garbage can with a stick. It wasn’t a stick.

My flashlight revealed a large raccoon on top of my brother’s plastic garbage can, which was just outside the garage, pulling at the bungee cord that my brother had installed to keep raccoons out of the can. The bungee cord was a great idea, but it didn’t stop this one from trying. Did you know that raccoon paws are a lot like hands, with five fingers? The big raccoon would grab the bungee cord and pull up with all its might, and when it slipped through his fingers it slapped down on the can lid. Whap! Stretch…. Whap! Repeat. The raccoon snarled in frustration. After listening to all this five or six times, I yelled at the raccoon to stop. It didn’t. I threw a stick to scare it off. It glared at me, annoyed, hopped down, and left. I was asleep again in minutes.

But the raccoon came back. Did you know that raccoons are persistent (but cute) little monsters?

Another stick – no effect. Curses – no effect. I got up, grabbed a larger stick and walked toward the can. The little monster stopped, gave me a “Really?” look, then hopped down and ambled off. But not far. I could see its eyes glowing in the dark. A short while later it was back on the can. Whap! Whap!

Eventually I set a large chuck of firewood on top of the can. That solved the raccoon problem, at least for the rest of the night. (Why didn’t my brother put the can in the garage? Because he always left the garage door partially open so his semi-feral cats could come in and eat the food he left for them. The raccoons happily ate the cat food, too. It didn’t seem to bother my brother.)

Raccoons are omnivores. They’ll eat almost anything – even banana slugs, or so I’ve heard. They don’t seem to like the ones on my property, unfortunately.

Raccoons live here in our area, as well as throughout North and Central America. They’re usually nocturnal, but they sometimes appear during the day.

Cougars, bobcats, coyotes and large domestic dogs are raccoon predators; large owls and eagles are known to prey on young raccoons. People prey on them, too, for meat and fur. “Coon hunting” is most common in the rural Midwest and the southern U.S., often with the aid of specially bred dogs called coonhounds.

Raccoons, aka urban bandits, also can survive and thrive in cities, as shown in “Raccoon Nation,” a 2012 episode of the PBS program, “Nature” (it’s available on DVD from our local library). The episode looks at whether “human beings’ efforts to outwit raccoons are actually making the animals smarter.” Wonderful.

An adult raccoon, which averages 24 to 38 inches in length and can weigh between 14 to 23 pounds or more, is more than a match for most small or medium-size domestic dogs. Cats, too. My mother-in-law, who lives in Ashland, lost a cat to a raccoon a few years ago.

The “Living with Wildlife” section of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s web site offers these tips for living with raccoons:

– Don’t leave pet food outside. Feed your pet indoors or pick up the dish after they finish. Fasten garbage can lids with a rubber strap (unless you plan on trying to sleep while a raccoons tries to get the strap off). Don’t place meat products or other attractive foods in uncovered compost piles.

– Keep surplus bird food cleaned up around feeders. Place bird feeders out of reach of raccoons.

– Close openings to animal cages and pens.

– Close garage, storage buildings, basement and attic doors and windows, especially at night.

– Close off all vents or open spaces under buildings with metal, hardware wire or boards, but be careful not to seal animals inside. If an animal is present, close off all of the area except for one small 12-inch by 12-inch opening. Wait until after dark, and then close it off. If the animal is still inside, repeat the process.

– If raccoons or skunks are using the site, be sure not to lock the young inside. Raccoons and skunks leave their young in the nest for three to seven weeks. You should wait until they are old enough to travel with the parents.

– Prevent raccoon access to chimneys by securely fastening a commercial cap of sheet metal and heavy screen over top of the chimney. Consider fire safety first.

– Prune all large overhanging tree limbs that animals may use to gain access to building roof or upper floor windows and vents. If trees cannot be pruned, tack a metal band, 16-24 inches wide, around the tree trunk below first limbs but four to eight feet above the ground.

I was surprised to learn from the web site that the relocation of raccoons is illegal in Oregon. “Raccoons are protected under state law and relocation of these animals is illegal.

Raccoons may be trapped with a permit from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, but they must be released at the same site or euthanized.”

My brother laughed when I told him about my battle with the raccoon outside his house. I think maybe he planned it, that he was getting me back for something I had done to him many years ago.

He and I were camping in the redwoods along the California coast. We had seen a gang of raccoons in the campground and, being all too experienced with the critters, locked all of our food and trash away for the night. We settled into our sleeping bags and watched the moon and stars above move across the sky.

After my brother fell asleep, I scattered a couple of handfuls of potato chips on and around his sleeping bag, then settled in to watch. A short time later, my brother was startled awake by several raccoons walking on him and crunching the chips.

Did you know that raccoons tend to chew with their mouths open? I thought it was hilarious. As you can imagine, he didn’t.

Have a question about raccoons? Want to adopt one as a pet? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

We ran into friends at Wildwood Park for the second time a few weeks ago. When I said, “Fancy seeing you here again,” they asserted that walks in nature were a part of their healthcare plan. Brilliant! If only more people would think this way! No “magic pill” exists for good health, but nature cures! Time in nature is also preventative medicine.

As part of nature, we have a deep sense of connection to the outdoors. But modern living has taken us inside, and our senses lack stimulation from the outside world. Most of us know the difference a 20-minute walk in the woods can make for our body, mind and spirit.

Popularized in the 1980s in Japan, shinrin-yoku, or “forest-bathing,” is a practice of immersion in nature for physical and mental well-being.

The idea is to go to a forested area, leave your phone and worries behind, meander, enjoy wildlife and connect to what is around you. Enjoying the sights and sounds and inhaling the smells of the forest rejuvenates our body and resets our psyche.

Science can help us to understand this phenomenon. And we can look to the air for answers. Trees and plants have natural essential oils containing volatile organic compounds called phytoncides to protect them from bacteria and fungi and from being eaten by animals and insects. Trees release more phytoncides in warm weather and exist in the highest levels in cedars, conifers, spruces, pine and oak trees. These trees emit a field of protection around themselves which changes the air we breathe in the forest.

Trees also use these compounds to communicate with each other. They can release more phytoncides when attacked, warning other trees to secrete more into their bark to make it less appetizing. Scientists have discovered that these same compounds hold many health benefits for humans.

Inhaling phytoncides is known to increase the number of natural killer (NK) cells in the body's circulatory system. NK cells are part of the body's immune defenses. Part of their job is to seek and destroy tumor and virus-ridden cells. A 2005 study concluded that three days and two nights in the woods can translate to a measurable increase of NK cells in the blood for more than 30 days!

There are thousands of phytoncides with names like sabinene and camphene, and they have many health benefits. The benefits are vast and varied, from anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective to immune boosting and anti-depressive. Time in nature increases mood, decreases stress, decreases blood pressure and increases mental clarity, concentration, focus, creativity and energy.

Consider adopting shinrin-yoku as part of your healthcare plan. As Hippocrates said, “Nature itself is the best physician.”

Did you know there a miles and miles of walking trails at Mt. Hood Community College’s (MHCC) Gresham campus? It’s true! These paved trails offer walkers a visually stimulating and safe opportunity to get their steps in. With 18 different trail combinations, found on the MHCC website, residents, faculty and students can find time for a fresh-air stroll throughout the day.

The Perimeter Trail spans the outer boundaries of the campus for three miles, taking you past the fishery, the aquatic center, the pond and both ball diamonds. Walking these trails gives the walker an occasion to see everything MHCC has to offer like the Visual Arts Theater and Gallery, the Early Childhood Center, Applied Technologies, the G.E. Building, The Yoshida Event Center, Head Start and even greenhouses. And if you feel inclined, you could always walk or run the Earl L. Klapstein Stadium track.

In August, volunteers spent more than ten hours in a clean-up and enrollment campaign to further beautify the campus. If you’ve never been on campus, stop by. You’ll be amazed at the beauty of the campus, complete with majestic Mount Hood standing sentinel in the distance. There’s a special feeling on campus with students walking to classes and saying hello to friends as they pass by. Faculty and staff enjoy their walks too.

Just beyond MHCC is College Nature Park at Beaver Creek. Bordered by Southeast Stark Street, South Troutdale Road and MHCC, this 62-acre site features an open green area with an historic tree, picnic area, walking paths and an interpretive sign showcasing the ecology of Beaver Creek.

For more information and to view 18 different trail maps, visit: www.mhcc.edu/GreshamCampusMaps/.

I find each state has its specialty. Chat up the locals, they will know the very best places to find local specialties.

When in Florida, we love the key lime pie and of course, the seafood is top notch and while you can substitute clams for the conch fritters, but please try the real thing when you can.

Mojo pork is a staple here and the ingredients are easy to find. I hope you enjoy this taste of the Keys.

(Double marinade recipe and reserve in freezer if you’d like)

1/4 cup plus 2 T olive oil

Juice and zest of 1 lime

1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes

1 T cornstarch mixed with 1T water

Pierce pork roast all over with fork. Combine all ingredients except pork, two tablespoons of olive oil and cornstarch slurry in large bowl. Add to pork and marinade for four hours, turning once. When done, pat dry and reserve marinade.

In large cast iron skillet add remaining oil over medium heat. Then add roast and sear on each side. Heat oven to 300.

Add marinade back to skillet with enough water to come 1/2 way up sides of roast. Tent roast with aluminum foil and roast in oven 2.5 hours or until meat pulls apart with fork.

Add cornstarch slurry to marinade and whisk over medium heat until mixture thickens.

My version is lighter and requires no cooking. This pie was originally designed to cure scurvy on ships, and key limes make all of the difference.

2 14-ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk

2 large eggs, divide the yolks and whites into separate bowls

3/4 cup fresh squeezed key lime juice

1 cup heavy whipping cream divided

Whip 1 cup whipped cream with 1 T powdered sugar until stiff peaks and set aside. Beat egg whites and salt until stiff and set aside.

Beat yolks until light in color, then whisk in condensed milk, vanilla, juice, zest and sour cream. Next fold in 1/2 of the whipped cream and all of the egg whites.

Pour filling into crust, place in fridge for four hours and decorate with remaining whipped cream and lime slices.

1 cup conch/clam meat, diced

1/4 t each salt and pepper

1/4 cup each minced celery, red bell pepper and onion

In a large bowl mix together egg, flour, spices and milk, then add in chopped vegetables and conch or clam meat.

Heat oil in heavy bottomed medium pot over medium-high heat. Drop in about 1/4 cup of the mixture into hot oil one or two at a time, turning once until golden brown on each side. Transfer onto paper towels and enjoy with a tartar sauce or key lime infused mustard sauce like what is served on the island.

Key lime mustard sauce: whisk together 1 cup Mayo, 5 T Dijon, 1 T honey, 1/2 t each sea salt and pepper, 1/4 cup key lime juice, 1/2 t key lime zest.

Landscape photography has a reputation for requiring travel to epic corners of the Earth to bring back photos of places that are rarely seen by most people. Or places that we’ve seen in a National Geographic magazine or a TV documentary.

But from my point of view landscape photography as an art form should include the photographer’s personal creative touch. It should be separate from documentary photography or marketing photos that are seen in magazines. It shouldn’t always need to depend on a location to send a message. I think that a beautiful artistic landscape photo can be taken along most any roadway if we learn how to read the details of the landscape.

A photographer can consider that landscape photography could be reduced to two basic types: grand landscapes and intimate landscapes. A grand landscape typically is a territorial view, or one where there’s a view off into the distance that includes a lot within its frame, whereas an intimate landscape is typically one that’s a smaller part of a larger scene.

A grand landscape is more apt to include a recognizable location, is more likely to be location dependent and in a lot of cases also weather dependent, such as if it’s raining and the clouds obscure the view.

In many cases the composition of such a grand landscape is basic and simple to find.

I feel that a landscape photographer really spreads their wings when they embrace intimate landscapes. The photographer isn’t necessarily looking at an obvious photo. Many times, it requires imagination and a little time analyzing the scene to be able to look past the obvious to recognize what is typically overlooked. Be creative in choosing your subjects and be creative in how you compose and photograph them.

Intimate landscapes typically include a small part of or a detail within a grander scene such as a small segment of a creek instead of the whole forest or maybe a section of the scene that is affected by some atmospheric conditions, think fog and sunlight as it filters through the trees or maybe sunlight illuminating a curtain of moss that is draped across tree limbs.

I also look for designs and patterns within the scene, such as patterns or colors on rocks. An intimate landscape can include a part of the scene that, when extracted from the larger view and seen separate from the context of the larger scene, stands alone and on its own merits. Put the wide-angle lens away and use your zoom lens. Get closer to the scene.

It’s said, in painting as well as photography, that it’s not what’s included within the frame but what’s excluded that strengthens a composition. And this is very true in simplifying complex or, at first glance, generally unappealing scenery.

Analyzing a scene and trying to find an interesting composition for a photo allows us to look deeper into the scene and to recognize what more that it has to offer. The first glance at a scene is like looking at a book’s cover. Looking further into a scene is like reading the book.

I tell my students that as artists we shouldn’t take the scenery at its first impression. In most cases we will take all it has to offer all at once.

Instead take some time to stop and analyze the components of the scene and separate these smaller scenes and abstracts.

Be creative and I’m confident that you will be able to stop along most any side road and find a photograph within sight of your car. No longer will a destination be a requirement to make a beautiful photo. You will be able to make a beautiful photo in between your forays to far off lands. Mastering composition of intimate scenes will also help to strengthen the compositions of your grand landscapes.

And so, take your camera out and start looking deeper into the scenery that you photograph.

You might be pleasantly surprised by what you will find.

By now you’ve probably heard that the wildfire risk map I wrote about last month has been rescinded. A new state law had required Oregon State University (OSU) to create the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer by June 30, and it did so in partnership with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and other stakeholders. Public criticism prompted the partners to withdraw the map and go back to the drawing board.

“While we met the bill’s initial deadline for delivering on the map, there wasn’t enough time to allow for the type of local outreach and engagement that people wanted, needed and deserved,” said Cal Mukumoto, Oregon State Forester and ODF Director, in a statement issued on Aug. 4.

ODF and OSU plan to refine the map then seek additional public comments. In the meantime, any appeals of the risk classifications in the old map are moot.

“Once this round of refinements is complete, we are planning to bring a draft of the updated map to communities for discussion and input. After another round of revisions based on local input, the map will be finalized,” Mukumoto said. “We will then post an updated map on the Oregon Explorer and issue new notices to property owners in the extreme and high risk classifications, which will start a new appeal period. We are in the process of developing a plan and timeline to complete these activities, including public engagement and outreach opportunities. We will share that publicly as soon as it is complete.”

A list of public meetings regarding the map revisions is posted at tinyurl.com/5626mdu2. I had hoped that one would be held in Welches, but the closest are in Clackamas (Tuesday, Sept. 6) and Hood River (Monday, Sept. 12); a meeting was held in Madras on Aug. 18.

ODF, OSU and partners will face some of the same criticisms I’ve heard: on the old map, adjacent lots with similar forest cover had different risk ratings, and the risk ratings did not account for work property owners had already done to create defensible space around their homes. What’s more, the law allows property owners in the High and Extreme Risk categories to be fined for failing to create defensible space.

As I wrote last month, you ought to act now to create defensible space that helps your home survive a wildfire, regardless of the state’s risk map. Hoodland Fire District’s web site is a good place to start. Go to hoodlandfire.us and click on the “How to Prepare Your Home for Wildfires” link. A video there, “How to Make Your Home and Property Fire-Safe,” is well worth watching.

As is the note that, “Fire science suggests that the first 5 feet around structures should be free from all combustible material, including flammable vegetation and bark mulch.”

And the layer of fir needles that accumulates around many of our homes. As first steps in creating defensible space, removing that flammable material and placing gravel around your house, plus keeping your roof and gutters clean, will go far toward protecting your home.

And now for something completely different….

Mention forest products and most people think of lumber, paper and other traditional products such as furniture, firewood and even mass timber buildings. However, there are a range of products that come from wood but look nothing like wood.

Take rayon, for example, a fiber made (usually) from wood cellulose fibers. Rayon was invented in the mid-1800s and was manufactured as a fabric in the U.S. starting in 1911. It was called “artificial silk” until 1924, when the name rayon was adopted. Today, rayon and similar fibers are often used to make clothing.

The cellulose fibers used to make rayon are produced in a process similar to those used to make paper. Hardwood or softwood logs are debarked and chipped and the chips are broken down mechanically or chemically to separate out the cellulose fibers.

In addition to cellulose, wood also contains hemicellulose, a minor ingredient in paper, as well as in waxes, oleoresins and ethanol; and lignin, which is used for making glues, biofuels and other chemicals. Together, these three elements of wood are called lignocellulose, or lignocellulosic biomass, which is the most the most abundant organic substance on Earth.

In recent years, scientists have discovered some interesting uses for cellulose, especially when the fibers are broken down to much smaller particles, called nanocellullose or cellulose nanomaterials (CNs).

Research by the USFS Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), Purdue University and Oregon State University has shown that the addition of CNs to cement makes concrete stronger. This can have a positive climate impact: because less concrete is required to provide the same strength, less carbon dioxide is emitted during the production of cement, which accounts for roughly eight percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Another promising use of CNs is in producing flexible transparent films that serve as a platform for electronic circuits – flexible electronics. According to FPL scientists, CNs can be made into a base for recyclable electronic circuits, circuits that can be used in flexible cell phones and displays, for example, and in solar panels that can bend.

Stora Enso, a Finnish forest products company, and battery producer Northvolt are working to use lignin in batteries “for applications from mobility to stationary energy storage” that will have a lower carbon footprint (and a lower overall eco-footprint) than traditional batteries. And according to “Scientific American,” very smart people have developed a method for making “a new disposable battery [that] is made of paper and other sustainable materials and is activated with a few drops of water.” Amazing!

CNs have a wide range of other applications, from car parts to more-efficient fertilizers.

Researchers at Stockholm University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences have developed a way of producing textiles and biofuels from fast-growing poplars (cousins to our native black cottonwoods).

By making these products from poplars grown on marginal land in northern latitudes such as in Scandinavia and Canada, the demand for cotton can be reduced. Consequently, large areas of productive agricultural land could be converted from growing cotton and ethanol fuel feedstocks to producing food crops to help feed a hungry world.

Whether it’s lumber, paper, clothing or futuristic products made from CNs, all of these products are made from a sustainable, renewable forest resource: wood. Have a question about cellulose? Need some rayon fashion advice? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

School is back in session and many parents will get back to preparing school lunches for their kids. The local universal free lunch program ending in the public schools gives us another incentive to prepare lunches at home.

Lunches prepared at home can be fresher and healthier, and there are some creative ways to make them fun and tasty. They are also faster.

My kids always complain that they don’t have enough time to eat at school. Without standing in line for food, they have more time to enjoy and hopefully finish their meal.

In general, we want our kids to eat their palm size of lean protein, lots of veggies, some fruit and limited healthy carbohydrates and fats. Limiting refined sugars and processed foods and sticking to fresh ingredients can be challenging, but even without the ability to reheat, there are some great protein options for cold lunch.

Teachers will thank you if you don’t send snacks and foods loaded with sugar. Sugar highs and crashes are responsible for more behavioral and attention problems than some parents realize!

– Cowboy caviar (a mix of black beans, black-eyed peas, corn and other fresh vegetables) with corn chips.

– Salmon or tuna spread on crackers.

– Cheese and meat with crackers .

– Natural nut butter and jelly on multigrain bread.*

– Homemade soup in a thermos.

*Please check your peanut butter labels and choose wisely. The common ones add fully hydrogenated vegetable oils and sugar – even some of the “natural” nut butters. Adam’s is a favorite brand in our household because it stays creamy and spreadable, and you can buy big ones at Costco.

And younger kids will need a healthy choice for snack time and sides for their lunch. Here are some of our favorites:

– Baby carrots and hummus.

– Whole banana with peanut butter.

– Nuts and dried fruit.

– Fresh berries or fruit .

– Greek yogurt (watch sugar content!).

– Celery or snap peas and nut butter.

– Cottage cheese and crackers.

– Guacamole and veggies or tortilla chips.

Prepare on the weekends or evenings to make your mornings easier and try to prep a few days or a school week at a time. Or you can make up all sides for the week and add the main course daily. Small reusable containers or bags are easy to fill and store in the corner of your fridge or pantry.

Hydration is crucial to keep your child energetic and bright during the day. Be sure to send a full water bottle in the mornings that they can refill during the day. Add a lemon or some fruit to make it fun and tasty.

And don’t forget to start with a healthy breakfast. Avoid sugar cereals – granola is a good alternative. The Naked granolas have some fun flavors.

Smoothies are a great option, as is oatmeal with apples and cinnamon. Freshly cooked eggs with a side of fruit is quick and easy. Greek yogurt parfaits with granola and fruit are always a hit.

Sit down with your kids and make a list of all the foods that they like. Include them in the meal prep. Your kids will feel better, be healthier and succeed more in school. Healthy eating habits created for your child will benefit your family for generations!

Over the past several years, wildfires in the Pacific Northwest have been getting larger and hotter, and fire season has started earlier. This means that forests on both sides of the Cascades are seeing bigger, more frequent burns.

These ecosystems are fire-adapted, meaning that through millions of years of evolution they have developed ways to survive in spite of these natural disasters. Historically, periodic low-level fires caused by lightning strikes or intentionally set by indigenous people would clean out dead plants and other debris before they could build up to dangerous levels.

With the arrival of industrial timber companies, any fire was now put out as quickly as possible to avoid damaging the trees (and profits).

This allowed debris to build up into ladder fuels that allowed fires to climb higher up toward the tree canopies. Even the thick bark on tree trunks couldn’t protect the flammable branches above.

Climate change, hotter summers and increased drought in recent decades has dried out plants in our forests even more, making them more susceptible to burns. The earlier the rains stop, the sooner wildfires can get started.

Hotter temperatures also lead to more trees dying from heat-induced stress or parasites. While dead trees are a normal part of a healthy forest, the increase in finer fuel like twigs and dead plants creates all too effective kindling. So, what can we do? Prescribed burns clear out ladder fuels before they can feed a wildfire.

We can also avoid salvage logging in burned areas that just leaves behind piles of fine fuels that increase the chance of reburn.

And by supporting technology and legislation that combat climate change and support resilient forests and other habitats, we can work toward long-term solutions that include reducing wildfire risk.

Author Rebecca Lexa is a Master Naturalist, nature educator, tour guide, and writer living on the Long Beach Peninsula. More about her work may be found at RebeccaLexa.com.

I’m sure my grammar teacher would agree “lunchsackables” should be a word in our vocabulary and this stuffed bun recipe certainly is where to start.

1 pkg frozen bread dough rolls (I used Rhodes), thawed

1 eight-ounce package of thin, sliced steak

1/2 t each salt and pepper

Egg wash and sesame seeds (optional)

Oil a large baking sheet, thaw and proof 12 rolls. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Over medium-high heat add oil, steak, salt and pepper cook three to four minutes, while turning. Add in onion, garlic, onion powder and Worcestershire, cooking until onions are translucent and meat is done. Set aside to cool.

Stretch out dough in your palm adding a scant two tablespoons of meat mixture and one tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese into center. Fold dough all around and seal with wet fingers. Shape into ball, brush with egg wash and top with sesame seeds if using.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, until tops are golden. Serve warm with condiments.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and sliced in half

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a square eight-inch baking pan with parchment.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together cherries, cornstarch and lemon juice.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together melted butter and sugar. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and stir with a fork until the mixture resembles crumbs. Reserve 3/4 cup of mixture.

Press remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of prepared pan. Spread cherry filling over the crust. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over cherries, then sprinkle sugar over crumb topping.

Bake for 25 minutes and cool completely.

There are many reasons why you may decide not to include a family member or relative to benefit from your will or trust (for this article referred to generically as “will”). Among them may be that that person does not need the inheritance, and another that for circumstances considered important to you they do not deserve an inheritance.

For example, considering children, one child may have a lucrative profession and another may have chosen of life dedicated to working with low paying charities in service to certain causes and people in need.

Another example being undeserving, the person may have an addiction or may not match your values for work ethic. There are many reasons underlying such a decision.

There are people that you can disinherit and people, given particular conditions, that you may not be able to disinherit. These include your spouse, minor children and sometimes adult children.

In Oregon a spouse has the right to up to 33 percent of your probatable and non probatable estate after expenses for estate administration are calculated in, depending on a number of factors. Minor children (children under 18 years of age) have a right to receive the amount they would have received if you had died intestate.

Adult children may succeed in an attempt to challenge a will if they can successfully prove to the court that your leaving them out of your will was the result of undue influence, or that you lacked testamentary capacity at the time you drafted and signed the will, or that the will was improperly executed. Not necessarily easy claims on which to prevail, yet there are numerous cases in the court records of attempts and successes.

The parameters of effectively disinheriting can be detailed and involved. It is best to seek legal advice where this is your intent in order to determine whether that person may be entitled by the laws of the state to inherit; and to determine to what extent you may be able to disinherit effectively and do so in a manner that will reduce or circumvent entirely the prospect of a court challenge to your will.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

Barbara Piasecka Johnson, “Basia” of the Johnson & Johnson dynasty, had a victory of winning the lion’s share of her deceased husband’s estate in a challenge to his will by his adult children. The U.K.’s Daily Mail describes it as “the largest, costliest, ugliest, most spectacular and most conspicuous probate battles in U.S history.”

Hired as a chambermaid of the second wife of 32 years of J. Seward Johnson, Sr. (“Johnson”), heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, Basia, 34, and Johnson, 76, struck out together in a newly forged relationship within nine months of that hire and eventually married.

In 1983, after twelve years of marriage, Johnson died leaving Basia his entire fortune, estimated at $500 million, in a will executed a mere 39 days before his death, leaving all but one of his adult children from his previous two marriages out.

Johnson’s adult children, all multi-millionaires due to trusts that Johnson had set up for each of them, contested the will under a claim of undue influence, that Basia had bullied her husband, too weak to resist, into making these changes.

A court battle ensued. Three years later and $24 million in legal fees, the court awarded $40 million in total to the six children, $20 million to the oceanographic institute Johnson established that was also party to the suit and $300 million to Basia.

It’s summertime on the Mountain. We, and the wildflowers, have been fortunate to have had a prolonged winter and a mild, wet spring. The wildflowers here and in the hills around us are healthy and still fresh in many places. Because of the late snow there are areas in the higher elevations where the flowers are just starting to bloom.

In my life I get excited about the photos that I can make of wildflowers. Everything from wide landscapes with a foreground adorned with their color, to super close macro photos showing overlooked details as well as images that border on abstract.

For close-up photos using my DSLR camera I love to use my 90mm macro lens, but I will also use my 150-600mm zoom lens. The advantage of the zoom lens is that I can stand back away from my subject, which comes in handy when you’re photographing a butterfly or a bee on a beautiful flower.

There are several methods that can be employed in photographing flowers including a simple 50mm lens and extension tubes to increase the magnification. The good news is that you don’t need a fancy camera with an even fancier lens. Most cell phone cameras will take some pretty incredible close ups as well as beautiful wide-angle views. Photography is accessible to everyone.

The variety of flowers that I’ve been enjoying this season is great. Early in the season came the trilliums, of course. They’re always anxious for spring. Then I always get excited when I start finding orchids, especially the delicate little fairy slippers. Then the forget-me-nots start popping up in our yards as well as along the roads. Then come asters, thistle flowers, thimbleberry blossoms, blackberry blossoms, lupine, columbine, yellow and purple violets, self-heal, honeysuckle, wild strawberry, white anemone, fireweed, wild rose, wood sorrel and more.

As the season progresses, I keep an eye open for lilies. They are always a favorite. I love the tiger lilies as well as the beautiful Mount Hood lilies that grow at the higher elevations – the blankets of white avalanche lilies on alpine hikes and the occasional yellow glacier lily.

A hike up in the alpine elevations can bring an even larger variety, including elephant heads, shooting stars, monkey flowers, Indian paintbrush and heather. Another flower that’s scarce and a delight to find each year are the wild irises. We’re blessed to have rhododendrons all around us as well as the perennial favorite, bear grass.

Even some of the introduced species of plants can make beautiful photos. Foxglove, daisies, buttercups, red clover flowers and the prolific cranesbill geranium with its cute little pink flowers are all photogenic. There are many more that I haven’t mentioned.  An added bonus for some of the close-up photos are the insects that the flowers attract. Bees and butterflies are the most attractive but there are other insects that enjoy the flowers too. When I take my camera out to photograph flowers it’s like a mini safari.

As summer progresses the wildflowers will pass, which is why I try my best to appreciate them while they’re here. Each season my folder of photos fills with all kinds of images of our local wildflowers.

Before I became a photographer I had an appreciation for their beauty, but today because they play such a large part in my life as a photographer, my knowledge about them and appreciation of them has dramatically increased. The coming of spring and summer is now looked forward to more because of the expected beauty of our local wildflowers.

I’ve written in past editions of The Woodsman about the importance of being Firewise, of preparing our homes, families and businesses for surviving a wildfire. That’s because it’s not a matter if we’ll have a wildfire that destroys homes and endangers lives here on The Mountain, it’s when. Wildfire here is inevitable.

Most people hear such warnings, but they take no action. It’s a personal choice to take the risk that you may lose your home. But that may soon change. Under a new law, Oregon is developing “defensible space” regulations that may include penalties for not complying. And complying may require drastic changes to the woods around our homes and businesses.

After devastating wildfires in the state in 2020, Oregon’s legislature passed Senate Bill 762, which provides more than $220 million to help Oregon modernize and improve wildfire preparedness through three key strategies: creating fire-adapted communities, developing safe and effective response to wildfires, and increasing the resiliency of Oregon’s landscapes. To accomplish the goal of creating fire-adapted communities, the bill required Oregon State University (OSU) to create the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer, which it did in partnership with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), the U.S. Forest Service and other stakeholders.

The Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer was made public in June (see tinyurl.com/4fwmch89). The map’s creators determined that 956,496 tax lots – about half of the lots in the state – are within the so-called wildland-urban interface (WUI) zones, or areas with homes and other structures that are at risk from wildfires. Approximately eight percent of those tax lots – 120,276 – are classified as at high or extreme risk, and approximately 80,000 of those lots have homes or other structures on them. As you might expect, many of the lots with homes in our area are at high or extreme risk.

The map from the earlier page shows a view of the Hwy. 26 corridor from Brightwood to Rhododendron. Orange and red are high and extreme risk, respectively. Yellow is moderate risk, light green is low risk and green is no risk.

The online Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer map lets you find any tax lot by typing the street address. The map view then zooms to that lot and lets you download a “homeowner’s report.” (The name of the lot owner is not given.) I located the lot where Lara and I live and found that it’s within a WUI zone and is designated as high risk. I downloaded the report, which states that “there may be required actions to create defensible space and building code requirements. See the resource links below for more information.”

When I clicked on one of the resource links, “ODF Mapping and WUI Information,” it led to a web page with a variety of information, including a link to a helpful list of answers to frequently asked questions. It also noted that tax lots “that are both within the WUI and classified as high or extreme risk will receive written notification from ODF and may be subject to future changes to defensible space and home building codes.”

I received such a notice on July 21, and I hear others have received theirs. Since I already knew my lot’s risk classification, it didn’t provide any new information. It states that Lara and I “may be required to take actions to create defensible space around your home and adhere to changes to building code requirements both of these regulatory processes are still in development.”

According to the Fire Marshal, the Oregon Defensible Space Code will be based on the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code written by the International Code Council. The International Code contains specific requirements for the width of a defensible space: 50 feet in high hazard properties and 100 feet in extreme hazard properties – in other words, 50 or 100 feet between a home and “unmodified fuels.” This is similar to the Firewise recommendations, but does not include the Immediate Zone, zero to five feet around the house, which is the most important for protecting structures. See Firewise.org for more info. The new defensible space regulations are set to be effective in 2023.

Within those defensible space zones, the amount and arrangement of fuels – trees, shrubs and any other vegetation and debris that can burn – must meet the code’s standards. For example, “Trees are allowed within the defensible space, provided that the horizontal distance between crowns of adjacent trees and crowns of trees and structures, overhead electrical facilities or unmodified fuel is not less than 10 feet.”

In my “high risk” case, trees within 50 feet of my house must have at least 10 feet between the crowns – the branches on one tree can’t be touching or close to touching another tree, or overhang the roof of the house or power lines. To meet this requirement, I would have to remove a half-dozen large trees. I’m glad my property isn’t in the extreme risk category, because I’d have to remove many more trees in a 100-foot defensible space zone. The trees in our area naturally grow close together. Under the new code, we may have to change that around our homes. For a half-acre “extreme risk” lot – 50 feet wide by 100 feet deep – as many as one-third of the trees, perhaps more, might have to be removed.

Keep in mind that the state’s regulations may be different than the International Code. I hope so, because a requirement for a minimum of 10 feet of space between tree crowns would be very difficult and expensive to achieve. What’s more, it would have little or no impact on protecting homes during unusually large, wind-driven fires such as the Riverside Fire and other large conflagrations in 2020.

The International Code’s language on ground cover is less than clear. For example: “Deadwood and litter shall be regularly removed from trees.” I think they meant that branches, leaves and other flammable material must be regularly cleared from the ground in the entire defensible space zone. I would add that low-hanging live and dead branches still attached to trees ought to be removed so that these “ladder fuels” don’t let a ground fire climb up into the treetops. I hope the Oregon Defensible Space Code will be much easier to understand. In any case, this is a well-accepted part of creating a defensible space and would be much more effective at protecting homes from smaller, lower intensity wildfires.

Senate Bill 762 requires that risk classes be based on weather, climate, topography and vegetation, and analyses of aerial images was deemed sufficient for determining wildfire risk (for a detailed explanation, see tinyurl.com/5n6d3bcr). This process is sound, as far as it goes, but it does not consider the characteristics of the fuels on individual tax lots. Owners who have done substantial work to create defensible spaces may have the same rating or even a higher one than their immediate neighbors. And having neighbors who haven’t created their own defensible spaces increases the risk to your home.

In any case, there may be penalties for failing to comply with the defensible space code. The text of Senate Bill 762 states that the Fire Marshal “May develop and apply a graduated fee structure for use in assessing penalties on property owners for noncompliance with the requirements.”

Property owners may appeal their risk classification, according to ODF, “if they believe there is an error in the assessment or they have pertinent facts that may justify a change.” Appeals must be received by ODF within 60 days of a property owner’s notification of the risk assignment. See tinyurl.com/2p93ck85. See also tinyurl.com/5626mdu2, where “A list of town hall meeting locations, dates, and agendas is coming soon.” I’d like to attend one of the meetings.

I predict that a huge number of appeals will be filed and that the process of resolving them will be very slow.

Working on an appeal with ODF may turn out to be simple compared to dealing with insurance companies that use the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer as a basis for adjusting premiums, cancelling policies or simply refusing to provide coverage. Even before the wildfire risk map was published, numerous property owners in our area had their policies dropped (including Lara and me) or their premiums increased.

The vast majority of tax lots in our area are classified as having moderate risk, so these defensible space requirements won’t apply to you. However, the risk on many of these lots is actually high or even extreme for many of the lots along Barlow Trail Road and in parts of Timberline Rim, for example, and along Hwy. 26, Welches Road and elsewhere. Don’t be complacent if your lot’s rating is moderate or low.

In any case, whatever your lot’s fire risk rating, you would be wise to take Firewise precautions as soon as possible. A recent Oregon Public Broadcasting radio program featured an interview with Chris Chambers is the wildlife division chief for Ashland Fire & Rescue about the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer.

“The way they looked at fire behavior and the potential for that fire to affect the community is through the length of the flames, which is one very legitimate measure of fire intensity,” Chambers said. “But what the map did not look at is ember travel distance. It is well known … that embers are the major source of home ignitions. So [the map] may significantly underestimate community wildfire exposure.”

Regardless of your property’s risk rating, you don’t need to wait for the state to issue its defensible space regulations. Hoodland Fire District’s web site (hoodlandfire.us) is a good place to start. Go to hoodlandfire.us and click on the “How to Prepare Your Home for Wildfires” link. The text below the link: “Learn how to adapt to living with wildfire and take action NOW to reduce losses in the FUTURE!”

Have a question about wildfire? Want some advice on creating a defensible space for surviving a zombie apocalypse? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

This will be my final Mountain Times column as the State Representative for House District 52. In March, I announced that I would not be running for re-election because of the financial strain my position placed on my family, but that I was committed to continuing my work on behalf of the people or Oregon.

Today, I’m writing you to let you know that I am stepping down from my role as your State Representative, effective Aug. 14, in order to pursue my next step in public service. I have accepted a position as the Executive Director of Oregon’s System of Care Advisory Council, a nonpartisan government organization established by the legislature.

The council is charged with overseeing children’s mental health system planning in Oregon, and helping the state implement the “System of Care” philosophy, which focuses on inter-agency, community-based and culturally and linguistically responsive services for youth who face multiple challenges in receiving quality care. This is closely related to the work I’ve been most excited about doing in the legislature, and indeed a big part of it will include making policy recommendations to legislators… so they haven’t seen the last of me!

It has been the honor of a lifetime serving you in Salem, but I’m looking forward to no longer needing to work multiple part-time jobs in order to pay the bills. I’m also really looking forward to being able to focus all of my attention on a single public position. I will be a much better public servant when I’m able to spend all of my time working on meaningful policy change without having to worry so much about making ends meet.

I’m incredibly proud of everything I’ve gotten done in my time as a legislator. While I’m not always great at self-congratulation, I did want to take some time, in what will be my final column for this paper, to reflect on some of my proudest accomplishments.

First, my main focus has been on improving the lives of abused and neglected children in Oregon. Research tells us that childhood trauma may be the single biggest contributing factor to an adult’s ability to lead a healthy and happy life. By increasing the quality and availability of services for child abuse victims and their families, both in House District 52 and statewide, I will leave office confident that the legislature has vastly improved the future prospects for hundreds, maybe even thousands of kids.

I managed to get millions of dollars in funding to support kids who have faced the trauma of abuse, because healing is an essential step to a happy adulthood. I also got funding for a statewide study on the prevalence of child abuse (which will help our state make more effective child abuse policy in the future), and funding to help schools implement child abuse prevention education curricula.

I passed a significant package of policy and financial assistance to homeless youth in Oregon, who were previously slipping through the cracks on a regular basis. I passed laws to review the rate structures and workloads for some nurses, caseworkers and caregivers who work with kids with medical fragility or intensive behavior challenges… some of Oregon’s most beleaguered human services providers that face the highest rates of turnover.

Outside of the realm of human services, I also passed policies to support search and rescue operations in and around the Columbia Gorge and Mount Hood regions. I made progress on several transportation issues: I secured funding and administrative support for the replacement of the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge, as well as for needed infrastructure repairs in Hood River and Sandy; and I passed a policy that will help ensure rural downtown districts are safer for cyclists and pedestrians. Across four legislative sessions, I was personally responsible for directing well over $30 million in state and federal funding to House District 52 to support its economy, its infrastructure and its most vulnerable populations.

I worked closely with state agencies to create an inventory of public lands that may be available to developers of affordable housing projects, to examine and fund the expansion of specialty courts for families dealing with substance use disorders and to ensure that school districts are able to benefit from agricultural producers in their area through the use of “Farm to School” grants. I’m also incredibly proud, during a time of increased bias crimes and heightened racial tensions, to have passed a bill declaring that every April will be recognized as Arab-American Heritage Month in Oregon.

Of course, I wasn’t successful in all of my efforts, but I’m also very proud of the important conversations I started that may lead to future policy reforms. In 2021, I tried to pass a law that would change the way we sentence survivors of domestic violence who commit crimes at the behest of their abusers… that effort failed in the final weeks of the legislative session, but I still think Oregon needs that change, and a lot of my colleagues who will remain in Salem agree with me. I also led an effort to increase protections for surface-based drinking water streams, which the timber industry opposed every step of the way, and which I hope will find new life as we continue to realize the threat that industry poses to public health.

I could go on, but as I mentioned, I don’t love patting myself on the back quite this much (it’s part of why I’ve always preferred doing the hard work of policymaking over the easier work of grandstanding to score political points!).

In my final month as a state representative, I will keep working to streamline ongoing conversations about important human services programs and other policies I’ve worked on in my two years as the chair of the House Committee on Human Services. So many programs within the state’s social safety net are really complex.

My goal is to help ensure that the next chair of the Human Services Committee, as well as the next representative for House District 52, is up to the challenge of facing a steep learning curve and hitting the ground running at a time when we most need strong, accountable and level-headed leaders.

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

On the western edge of the Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, sits a pond of about five acres, and from Sept. 12 through Oct. 14, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is scheduled to dump approximately 1,000 legal-sized, hatchery rainbow trout into it.

Trout stocking of the pond usually occurs a couple times in the early season and again in the fall, when they also add approximately 50 trophy-sized trout. April through August, the pond allows youth fishing only, for anglers 17 or younger with a juvenile angling license, or for those who have a disabled fishing permit issued by the state. Kids under 12 fish for free.

All other months all-aged anglers are welcome to fish. Because of its small size, easy access and one of the earliest waters to receive fresh rainbows, it’s a perfect pond to fish in the summer with kids, especially after a restocking.

When fishing, you might catch bluegill and crappie on your line – they are a self-sustaining population of the pond. They tend to bite better in the warm waters of summer, and occasionally you might reel in a bullhead catfish. In Oregon, more people fish for trout than any other fish.

Hatchery-raised rainbows might not be as wary as wild trout but be ready to for some quiet moments wondering if you’ll fill your stringer. For anglers, typical tactics for catching hatchery-reared trout will include bait fishing and casting plus retrieving spinners and spoons.

Shelley McFarland is a Public Relations and Marketing Content Specialist  at Mt. Hood Community College.

Who would like to volunteer? In the room full of chiropractic students, eyes were down. Dr. Lester Lamm had just explained the “endonasal technique.” Most students probably thought, “That sounds intense, no way!”

We had just heard the impactful account of how Dr. Lamm's hearing and, subsequently, his academic career were saved from this technique. The story goes that Dr. Lamm was having trouble hearing his teachers in chiropractic school and, despite sitting in the front row, was so unable to understand that in frustration and defeat, he decided to withdraw from the program.

After hearing his reasoning, he was sent to Dr. Appa Anderson in the student health clinic. She performed the endonasal technique on him, and his hearing was restored. Later in his career, he had a clinic where people would come from all over to receive this treatment. When I was a student, he took time out of his duties as the college's academic dean to teach it to us.

I hesitantly raised my hand. It was an excellent opportunity to experience and learn the treatment from one of the best.

I lay on the table in front of a circle of students and opened my mouth as wide as possible. I felt a gloved finger reach into the back of my mouth above my tonsils, sweep my eustachian tube and then out again. I immediately teared up and turned my head back and forth, opening and closing my jaw, plugging my nose and blowing and feeling things moving and my ears popping. It was intense, but under the care of a skillful practitioner, it wasn't too bad!

But why would we perform this technique? Hearing can be impacted by scar tissue or congestion in the eustachian tube, which connects the middle ear to the inside of the mouth and is instrumental in pressure and fluid release of the ear.

The eustachian tube can become partially blocked over time or after an upper respiratory infection. This blockage can cause the hearing to sound muffled like you are underwater (rather than the volume being turned down). It can also cause problems with ears not popping with elevation and pressure changes when flying, driving or swimming.

Over years of practice, I have seen miraculous results from this treatment. One patient brought her elderly mother to the office who had sudden hearing loss after an illness. After this technique, I asked how she was feeling. She said, “Ok,” and her daughter said, “You could hear that!?!” The next time I saw the daughter, she told me that her mom was happy that she could listen to the radio again and that they could walk and talk without having to stop and turn to each other to understand.

Immediately after treatment, another patient exclaimed, “I can hear the ceiling fan and people speaking in the lobby!” I am thankful for doctors like Dr. Appa Anderson and Dr. Lester Lamm, who taught this technique to next-generation doctors. Even though they have both passed, their contributions live on!

Bless my country heart. I can’t stay out of these farmstands, so here are a few ideas if you are like me.

Simple and delicious, a creamy crustless pie type dessert, just add whipped cream on top!

2 cups total fruit (1 cup each cherries and berries)

1/4 cup unsalted butter cut into cubes

Butter and flour a nine-inch pie plate and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk flour, sugar and salt, then set aside.

In another bowl, whisk vanilla, cream, eggs and zest. Then whisk in the dry ingredients.

Pour batter into pie plate and then dot fruit all around batter mixture. Place butter cubes on top and bake for 40-50 minutes until just set. Cool to room temperature before serving.

Melt butter in cast iron skillet and add corn kernels, honey and cream cheese until combined.

Season with salt and pepper to taste

You may be a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc. and you want to leave some of your legacy to a minor child. How do you go about doing that? Children under the age of 18 (the legal age of becoming an adult aka “age of majority”), can receive a very small amount of money outright. For the purposes of this article, we use the term “children” to indicate minor children.

Children can receive stocks, bonds, real estate, CDs (certificates of deposit). They can also be on title, or be a joint owner on a bank account, however they cannot conduct business with these assets or manage these assets or access these assets on their own. They must have an appointed custodian of their financial holdings or real property, and this can be the child’s appointed guardian or a separately appointed person to act as custodian to manage those assets.

Assigning who is to be the child’s guardian is a most important part of your estate planning if you are a parent or currently the guardian of a child. Without such an appointment in your estate plan, it will fall to the court to appoint, and it may not be a person that you would prefer or even know.

As well, court appointment of a guardian, i.e., guardianship proceedings, is costly and time consuming, draining your estate of money you would prefer to be used for the benefit of your child and not of the legal system. As well at such a time the last thing that you want for your child is to be in a state of limbo for any amount of time waiting for the system to determine who will be the equivalent of their parent from that point until they legally become an adult.

Assigning who is to be the custodian of the money left is of concern for anyone leaving an inheritance to a child. Do you trust the guardian to do this? For a number of valid reasons, you may not. Perhaps the guardian is not someone you think has good financial practices or is good at managing money. Legally they may do everything correctly, however they may not be good at accounting for the expenditures for your child. They may not be good at or have the time for investing the money prudently, wisely and managing such investment(s) well. You may know that this is too much of a burden to ask of someone to be both guardian and custodian. Then again, in other cases, it is a natural fit for the guardian to also be the custodian because as guardian they are best in touch with the needs of the child and fulfill the various needs without coordinating with another person which may introduce unnecessary, inconvenient, or challenging delays to meeting the needs of the child.

If you are a parent then, or a current guardian for a child, use your estate plan to appoint the proper succession of persons to fill your shoes if needed. Whether you are a parent or another member of the family, loving friend, a generous soul, who has an interest in providing for the welfare of a child by gifting from your estate, you want to be sure that you consider who you want to be the custodian of the assets that you leave to that child.

Children are a treasure, a gift onto themselves. And gifting to them takes specific accommodations in your estate plan if you want the ease of mind that what you are leaving will go as you intend, managed by whom you intend, for whom you care.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

From Australia comes a story of a teenager named Josh, who inherited a 36-acre island from a grandfather he had met only a few times, because the grandfather disapproved of his daughter’s marriage for religious reasons. Nonetheless, apparently the grandfather had a spot in his heart for his grandson because the story has it that although he had not seen Josh for years prior to his death in 2007, that in his will the grandfather named Josh the heir to his estate. That estate included this island and more than 80 acres of farmland. Also in the will, and here is where the real treasure hunt begins, there was a description of antique jewelry and loose gems the grandfather had kept in a thermos that Josh’s mother was confident was somewhere on the island remembering references her father often made to his “treasure island” when she was a child. I could not find reports confirming that the family found the treasure and I do not know how Australian law handles gifts to minors, but here in the U.S., being 17, Josh could have been on title for the real property but would have to have a court appointed custodian of his inherited wealth including that property and the variety of assets until the age of 18.

I remember when I bought my first digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera. It was after an era of not really being a purposeful photographer.

I suppose that my purpose was really nothing more than capturing icons that represented events and special moments in time, especially once my children were born. For that purpose, the simpler the camera the better – something easy to grab and snap a photo. This is what drives the popularity of today's cellphone cameras.

I started out as a hobby photographer soon after I left high school. At that time, I had the opportunity to buy my first 35mm single lens reflex (SLR) camera and learn how to develop, enlarge and print my photos. I remember how important it was to try to get all the variables, camera adjustments, focus and composition correct before the shutter was clicked. Especially when you were limited by how many rolls of film that you brought with you.

One important realization that I had when I bought my digital SLR camera was just how little I had retained from when I was using a film SLR camera. First, after using the new digital camera, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I wasn’t limited to 12, 24 or 36 photos. A memory card could hold several hundred photos, which allowed me to do a lot of guessing. Photographers call it spraying and praying. Taking a whole bunch of photos and hoping that one, or more if you’re lucky, will turn out.

I remember coming home with a full memory card and sorting out the best one. I would process it in Photoshop and post it online and everyone who looked at it thought that I was a master photographer. In all of those photos there really wasn’t one that really hit the mark, especially technically, on purpose.

As time passed my mindset started to change in my desire to create better photos. I changed my approach to one that was more deliberate. I relearned what I had forgotten when I was using my old 35mm film camera, while adapting the process to my new digital camera.

I found that in its most basic form the adjustments on each are the same: shutter speed, aperture and film speed, or ISO in digital. Add focus and composition and all you have that’s different are the mediums used for capturing the image, film and a digital sensor.

Once I had gotten to a point where I could go out into the field, set up my camera and have a good idea of where my settings should be to at least get me close, my whole approach became completely different. I would get to a scene early and find several potential compositions so that when the light was right and the three minutes of sunrise or sunset was happening, I could take a photo, check my composition, my focus and my exposure and then move on to the next spot that I had scouted earlier. In the past I was more prone to stay in one place through the light while taking many photos of the same composition.

Now that I teach photography, I recognize many other photographers who have the same approach that I had before I was purposeful in how I created my photos. I stress how important it is to master the technical aspects of the equipment so that we can pay less attention to that and more attention to being creative. Removing the guesswork and allowing yourself to be more creative is a lot more relaxing and ultimately much more satisfying and will usually show in the resulting beauty of the image that you capture.

I’ve had a variety of interesting encounters with wildlife over the years.

Once had a close call with a big rattlesnake that slithered between my feet. Woke up one frigid morning in the Ruby Mountains in Nevada to find fresh mountain lion tracks in the snow next to my tent – tracks about as wide as my size 12 boots.

On a visit to Yellowstone a few years ago, Lara and I were driving back to our motel one evening when we went around a curve and suddenly came across a herd of bison on and around the road. We couldn’t go forward, so we stopped the car, turned off the engine and rolled the windows down a bit, and as the big animals slowly wandered around and past the car – some of them just feet away – we listened to them breathing, grunting, chewing and farting. It was a memorable experience.

And the one time I left a full garbage can outside of my shed, a black bear found it. I opened the mudroom door, stepped out onto the porch and there was the bear, maybe 15 feet away, with her paws on the edge of the can. She had taken the lid off (it still has tooth marks) and was licking her chops at the prospect of dining on our gourmet garbage. The bear saw me and hightailed it back to the woods and I hightailed it back into the house.

We’ve seen bears several other times in and around our Zigzag neighborhood. Black bears are common in these parts, and this spring it seemed as if there were more of them around than usual. And more of them are getting into trouble.

I’ve heard tales about bears pulling down bird and squirrel feeders, gobbling up dog food and trashing trash cans. It’s not the bears’ fault – they’re just hungry after a long winter, and some folks don’t know how much bears love human food.

A couple of weeks ago, the people who stayed in one of the nearby short-term rentals for a long weekend dutifully left their garbage in plastic bags along Lolo Pass Road. Of course, the garbage ended up strewn up and down and on the road. Probably a bear got to it, but it could have been crows, raccoons, dogs or other critters.

Years ago, we had a young couple as neighbors who didn’t have a place to secure their garbage can. Naturally, the bears were happy – they’d haul sacks of trash to our side of the road before tearing them open and having a feast, spreading trash far and wide in the process.

Nice couple, but we were happy when they took their trash can and moved away.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) “Living with Wildlife” website has a page devoted to black bears. Among the tips for homeowners:

– Secure garbage cans in a garage, shed or behind a chain link or electric fence.

– Put garbage cans out just before pick-up time, not the night before.

– Purchase bear-proof garbage cans if necessary.

– Keep pet food indoors. Feed pets in the house, garage or enclosed kennel.

– Hang bird feeders from a wire at least ten feet off the ground and six to ten feet from the trunk of a tree [or pole/post or anything else they can climb].

Good advice, except that garbage cans behind a chain link or any other sort of fence aren’t secure. Black bears are excellent climbers.

My mother-in-law in suburban Ashland had a mess on her hands recently after a mama bear and her cubs climbed over a seven-foot wooden fence and got into her garbage can and bird feeders.

This spring a bear scaled the fence around the backyard of one of my Zigzag neighbors and tore down (and destroyed) their bird feeders.

If you don’t have a secure place for your garbage cans, you might consider buying a bear proof can or can enclosure – warning: they aren’t cheap – or building your own enclosure at a much lower cost (Google “build a bear-proof garbage can enclosure”).

Some folks say that sprinkling ammonia or other strong disinfectants such as Pine-Sol on or inside garbage cans helps mask the odor of food. It may be worth a try, but I’d bet that a hungry bear would ignore the scent and go for the food.

According to ODFW, Oregon is home to 25,000 to 30,000 black bears. Oregon is not home to any grizzly bears, which is fine by me. Black bears are “North America’s most common bear species. Generally black in color, they can also be brown, cinnamon or blond. Fast and agile, they are good swimmers and climbers who prefer forests, trails and streams. At home throughout Oregon, black bears are omnivorous and have a diverse diet including berries, fruit, grasses and plants. Although they will consume small mammals, insects and amphibians, these bears are not usually active predators.”

ODFW adds that: “Bears should never be allowed access to human food or garbage; it habituates them to people and increases the chance of conflict. Once habituated to finding food near homes or campgrounds, bears can become a threat to human safety and must often be destroyed.”

I’d hate to see one of our local bears shot because they became a problem bear.

Wild adult male black bears of typically weigh between 125 and 500 pounds, and females usually weigh between 90 and 300 pounds, according to the North American Bear Center (bear.org). Grizzlies are bigger and can be much more dangerous: Males can weigh 330 to 1,150 pounds, females 270 to 770 pounds.

BearWise (bearwise.org) has lots of information about what to do – and not do – if you encounter a black bear. In your yard: from a safe distance, make loud noises, shout or bang pots and pans together to scare away the bear.

When the bear leaves, remove potential attractants such as garbage, bird seed or pet food. Ask neighbors to remove attractants. Check your yard for bears before letting out your dog. In any case, give the bear a clear escape route – they’ll usually take it.

A bear in your house, garage or shed? Leave any doors open as you back slowly away from the bear. Do not lock the bear in a room.

Yes, bears sometimes get into houses, often through open doors and windows (they can easily break though screens). A Rhododendron friend of ours once was awakened at night by what sounded like a robbery downstairs. It turned out that a bear had broken into a screened-in porch to get a box of apples. Fortunately, they frightened the bear off and no one was hurt.

See a bear? Relax. No one is harmed in the vast majority of black bear encounters. In most cases, the bear will see or smell you first and run away. Be BearWise and you’ll be safe. And you may have a chance to see an awesome wild animal.

Have a question about bears? Want to know the difference between a black bear and a woolly bear? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Now that we have some sunshine, some of us are focusing on weight loss goals after this long winter. What is the best way to track your weight at home? There can be a lot of variation in weight throughout the day from hydration, eating, fluid retention, etc. The best time to weigh yourself is in the morning after you go to the bathroom and before breakfast. If you are trying to lose weight, weigh yourself daily and write it down. Ideally, you want to burn about 500 more calories daily than you are consuming and lose approximately one to three pounds per week. Too much too fast is often unsustainable and can create a yoyo effect with loss and gain.

After weighing yourself, look at your Body Mass Index (BMI). You can find online calculators to determine what weight range is healthy for you. Determine your target weight and how many calories you should consume daily. You can find weight loss calculators online to help you set goals. Nutrition apps or a pen and notepad will suffice to help you count calories. Or if all of that counting drives you crazy, try focusing on nutrient-dense foods – mainly protein and vegetables, portion control and hydration, and avoid sugary drinks and foods. Read your labels and stick to the perimeter of the grocery store. Most women need approximately 2,000 calories per day to maintain weight and 1,500 calories to lose one pound per week, and men need approximately 2,500 calories to maintain weight and 2,000 to lose one pound per week, although it varies.

If you aren’t exercising, try to walk or jog half a mile or a mile daily and increase the distance as you become more fit. If you love the gym, go there or make a home workout area. You can keep it simple, lift some weights and do push-ups, planks, crunches and stretching. You don’t have to invest in a Tonal to work out (although they are sweet!). Think of warmups in grade school gym class. Do the basics!

Shedding pounds will help us hike up those switchbacks without getting winded and will take the extra pressure off our joints and cardiovascular systems. Look and feel good and start to live at a healthy weight. The little decisions that we make a lot determine our overall health and fitness. It takes consistency and dedication, but the payoff is enormous. You can do it!

I’m so tired of gun violence. With every breaking news story about a new mass shooting, I feel physically and mentally exhausted. But talking about mass shootings alone discounts the depressingly common individual gun homicides and suicides that the news doesn’t bother to cover anymore, due to the common occurrence of these unnecessary deaths.

Still, even in the face of overwhelming public support for certain kinds of gun safety reforms, lawmakers aren’t brave enough to do what needs to be done to keep school children, church attendees, mall-walkers and the public in general safe from guns in our country. 

As of 2020, guns are the leading cause of child death in the United States.

This fact doesn’t just exhaust me; it makes me angry. This is a choice. Every time state and federal legislators oppose common sense gun regulations, they choose to allow this. Better gun safety policy could have prevented many of the 4,638 child deaths caused by guns in America in 2020 (the last year for which statistics are available).

These were kids with bright futures, kids who should still be alive, playing with friends and enjoying the warm days of summer. Instead, they’re gone. Their families and friends are grieving, and no amount of thoughts and prayers will bring them back.

Oregon has made meaningful efforts toward gun safety policies in the last ten years. In my time in the legislature, the biggest step we took toward gun safety was the passage of the safe storage law, which requires gun owners to store their firearms in a safe or gun room when not in use, or to use a trigger lock to ensure a gun can’t be fired. Prior to my arrival in Salem, Oregon already had universal background checks and extreme risk protection orders, both very effective policies.

Still, there is more we can do. But neither Oregon nor the U.S. will see meaningful efforts to curb gun violence while the gun lobby has such a significant influence on politicians whose campaigns they fund.

I make it a habit never to use this space to discuss politics, because I think it’s more important for elected officials to talk to their constituents about governance and policy – the stuff that really matters. This column is no exception. An overwhelming majority of people agree with me in thinking that we need better gun safety laws. The fact that it has become such a partisan issue is part and parcel of the larger problem: campaign finance.

One of the reasons I’m not running for re-election is the fact that money plays such an outsized role in campaigns. Its role is so significant that I have sometimes been strongly encouraged by political consultants not to vocally support good bills (like the assault weapons ban) due to the fact that I represent a swing district. It’s frustrating to be told that you will likely lose your next election if you vote your conscience, but that was a regular occurrence for me on gun policy.

Clearly, the system needs reforms before we can meaningfully address gun violence. Campaign finance laws and quorum requirements for the legislature are only two of the many barriers to passing more effective gun control statewide. In Congress, similar barriers (NRA cash and the filibuster) lead to the same outcome we’ve seen in Oregon – no meaningful policies to prevent the catastrophic number of preventable gun deaths across our country. Reports of a developing bipartisan gun control bill in the U.S. Senate provides some hope for improvement moving forward. However, a new assault weapons ban (which was extremely effective in curbing gun violence during the decade it was in effect) has never been seriously considered by the Senate.

It doesn’t need to, and shouldn’t, be a partisan issue.

We all want to believe that we’re somehow safe from the scourge of gun violence in our country. We tell ourselves that it only happens in larger cities, or to schools without School Resource Officers, or to other people far away who weren’t careful enough in scanning their environment for safety. It’s time to let go of that fairy tale – nearly everyone I know has had a brush with gun violence in the past five years. Whether they were threatened by someone with an AR-15 style firearm at a protest, had to duck and cover at the local ice cream shop because someone was waving a gun around and shouting or had to shelter in place due to a police chase of a mass shooter at the local mall.

We are ALL less free to pursue happiness as a result, no matter whether we own guns or whether we vote Democrat or Republican.

As we look ahead to elections this fall, I am hopeful that the public call for improved gun safety across our country will lead to the election of candidates on both sides of the aisle who support gun safety policies that will work in their states. Just like my work on preventing child abuse, this issue is one that appeals to most voters, regardless of party. I look forward to seeing more bipartisan gun safety conversations as we move into 2023 and beyond.

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

As a geology instructor at Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC), each spring I take a class field trip to Central Eastern Oregon. This field trip always brings back memories for me as a teacher, but I was also a student at MHCC when I took geology from Dave Korwin. Some things stay the same while some things are drastically different.

When I was a student this field trip was four days long and optional! In those four days we went to Alvord Desert and up through Burns to John Day with the final night at Clyde Holliday State Park along the John Day River. Now, our field trip is only two days long and the furthest east we get is John Day. We stay at a more primitive camp spot along Fields Creek and the trip is mandatory for students.

Many of my students take this class for three terms, so it is a culmination of all the geology they’ve learned. As a student, I remember swimming in Borax Lake and hunting for thundereggs along Pikes Creek.

On our most recent field trip we hunted for brachiopod and ammonite fossils along a road near remote Izee. Have you ever heard of Izee?

Behind Wheeler High School in Fossil, one can find the state fossil of Oregon, the Metasquoia.

As a student, we could find an abundance of fossils everywhere; today, they are much harder to find, sometimes only bits and pieces rather than the slabs of fossils from my youth. Hunting for treasure is still hunting for treasure and still fun, no matter how many years it has been.

There is one gorgeous green Serpentinite outcropping of rock that belongs to the Canyon Mountain Complex just south of Canyon City that has been, and still is, the stopping location for nearly all geology field trips, for other schools, too.

In the mid-80s I don’t think I could imagine a student with disabilities on a field trip with our geology instructor Korwin – he walked so fast he usually left many of us in the dust! This year on our overnight trip, we had Tim, who uses a wheelchair, with us.

I hadn’t thought about this before, but really there was only one or two places where Tim couldn’t go. But accessibility has improved, and those places can be augmented with video capabilities.

Times change and improve, certainly for student accessibility in the field.

Daina Hardisty is a Geology Instructor at Mt. Hood Community College.

Cooking in season is the best way to get peak flavors and nutrition out of produce. Also, in season usually means on sale, so enjoy the flavors of summer with this delicious chutney over lamb or grilled chicken.

Lamb chops with Rhubarb chutney

Juice and zest of one lemon

1 t each salt and pepper

Marinate rack of lamb for four hours or overnight.

Roast with the fat cap turned up at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until brown crust forms. Let meat rest 20 minutes before cutting into chops, then serve with rhubarb chutney.

Juice and zest of one lemon

Cook in medium sized pot over medium-high heat to boiling, stirring often. Reduce and simmer until it is a jam-like consistency, about ten minutes. Let cool in pan, transfer to jar and refrigerate. Lasts for seven days in the fridge.

With spring and early summer comes transitional weather that will cause some amazing photography opportunities. Everything from blue skies with majestic thunderheads, rainbows and lightning. It is lightning that I’m asked about how to capture the most.

A lightning bolt typically lasts about 10 to 50 microseconds (0.000050 sec). That’s a lot faster than your ability to react to it so we will need to discuss methods and conditions that must be understood prior to going out into the field to get that awesome photo of a bolt of lightning, but I must preface the information with a warning about safety.

Standing in the rain with a lightning rod in your hand

Of course, when we're trying to get our lightning photo we’re venturing out into a storm. Be prepared for the weather. Dress appropriately, but also remember that you are standing out in the storm with a tripod and a camera. One can’t help but be reminded of the fellows who are struck by lightning on the 18th hole as they celebrate a great putt with a golf club in their hand.

When the storm is surrounding you, go inside. Do not stand in the middle of a thundering tempest and think that you’ll come away with something more than a quick trip to the hospital, if you’re lucky, to treat you for the effects of a 100-million-volt electrical shock.

Your best photos of lightning will be when the storm is in the distance.

You will want to use a camera that you are able to control manually. Many cameras will allow you to switch to manual mode to allow you to control your shutter speed and the duration of the exposure. You will also want to use a tripod to establish a platform for you to put your camera on. It’s easier than trying to hold your camera while you’re working and a necessity for a longer exposure photograph.

Additional gear which will improve your chances of success are a 10 stop Neutral Density Filter (ND filter). And another piece of gear that can be handy is a lightning trigger. I will cover the use of both of these pieces.

When photographing lightning there are two basic conditions that will require different methods to be successful: daytime with a lot of light and darkness with little or no light.

It’s easier to capture a lightning strike during the night than during the day. At nighttime it’s easy to set your camera to make a long exposure, sometimes as long as 30 seconds. Because the light is dim or even completely dark, your photo won’t be exposed unless there’s a lightning strike during your exposure. I set my camera up on the tripod and point it in the direction of the storm, set my exposure to 30 seconds and click the shutter and wait for a lightning strike while hoping that it will happen in the direction that I have the camera pointed. If, once you’ve captured some lightning, your photo is too bright, make your exposure a little shorter or stop down your aperture (smaller hole, bigger number) and try again. The lightning becomes its own flash bulb.

Daytime is a bit more challenging. It’s much more difficult to set your camera up to make a long exposure when there’s so much light that you will need to use a ND filter. A ND filter is like sunglasses for your camera; it blocks light and allows you to extend (make longer) your shutter speed which will let you to photograph the scene using the same method as at night. Make your exposure as long as possible, click the shutter cross your fingers and wait.

Of course, there’s always the easy way. Technology is your friend when it comes to photographing lightning. Many people are just hobbyists and don’t want to spend a lot of money on a toy that they would rarely use, but there is that option.

A lightning trigger is the solution. It can react to the flash of the lightning and click the shutter in time to capture an image. The mechanism mounts to the hot shoe flash connection on top of your camera.

Although handy a lightning trigger is certainly not required to capture lightning.

Have fun – be safe

The most important part of capturing lightning in a photograph for me is the experience. I love being outside and watching severe weather. To be able to make a beautiful and dramatic photo is a bonus.

I can’t stress enough the safety aspect of doing this. Please be safe and don’t put yourself in any dangerous situation to try to make any kind of photograph. There will always be more opportunities in the future.

Give these methods a try. Good luck and as always, have fun with your photography.

On my friend’s property in Wasco County, east of Mount Hood, the signs of an insect invasion are everywhere: dead ponderosa pine trees. My rough guess is that ten percent of the pines have died in the past decade on the forested parts of the nearly 400-acre ranch, and numerous trees with green needles are as good as dead. Why? A combination of drought and insects, a one – two punch.

As they feast on bark beetles (such as the mountain pine beetle, the most destructive forest pest in the western U.S., according to the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF)), woodpeckers chip away at the bark to get at the beetles and their juicy larvae and pupae. Healthy trees with a few beetles can easily withstand the damage caused be the insects and the small areas of bark removed by woodpeckers. On my friend’s ranch, most of the bark on the lower half of many of the dead trees, as well as some with green needles, has been chipped away by the birds – a sure sign of a severe beetle infestation.

In Wasco County and much of the inland west, ponderosa pines are in trouble. During a five-year drought in California, from 2012 to 2016, an estimated 140 million trees died from moisture stress and subsequent bark beetle attacks – from young trees to old-growth. When I visited the Sierra National Forest during the drought, a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) district ranger told me that ponderosa pines, the most common tree in the western half of the forest, would be largely eliminated from the area, giving way to oaks and shrubs better able to withstand dry conditions.

California is now in the third year of another drought. All 58 counties in the state are now under a drought emergency proclamation, according to California Drought Action, a multi-agency partnership. An estimated 9.5 million trees died in the state in 2021, and my guess is that the total number of trees that have died from drought and insects since 2012 may exceed 200 million by the end of this year. That’s 200 million trees in ten years – and counting. That figure does not include the millions of trees killed by wildfires in recent years.

An outbreak of mountain pine beetle in British Columbia that began in the early 1990s killed the majority of the lodgepole pines across 70,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of Oklahoma. The outbreak became so large because, as the climate warmed, winter temperatures didn’t get cold enough, for long enough, to control the beetles. Prolonged temperatures of minus 40 or lower kills most of the beetles, which in the past has limited the severity and extent of infestations. With warmer, dryer summers and drought-stressed trees, the BC beetles were able to produce an extra generation or two each year. They even have crossed the Rocky Mountains for the first time. Previously, mountain pine beetles were not found in Alberta, home to jack pine, which the beetle is happy to infest. Jack pine is common from the Canadian Rockies east to Nova Scotia.

Bark beetles and other forest insects have always been around, of course. I still have a copy of "Western Forest Insects," a textbook that I used in forestry school. The 650-page book, published in 1977 by the USFS, describes hundreds of insect species. The book explains that the mountain pine beetle lives most of its life under the bark of western pine species, including ponderosa, lodgepole, jack, western white, sugar, limber and whitebark pines. Adult beetles bore into the bark and construct tunnel-like egg galleries in the inner bark. As they excavate, they create small niches where they deposit eggs, which hatch as larvae in a few days. The larvae, which look like small white grubs, do a little excavation of their own before they turn into pupae. The pupae eventually turn into adult bark beetles, which tunnel out of the tree to start the cycle again, usually by flying to an adjacent tree.

We don’t have many ponderosa pines here on the west side of the Cascades, where Douglas-fir is the most common conifer species. However, a cousin of the mountain pine beetle, the Douglas-fir beetle, is common in our area. Both beetles have similar lifecycles. According to the USFS, Douglas-fir beetle adults usually emerge in mid to late spring, when the temperature is 60 degrees Fahrenheit and above; some adults that make early spring attacks can reemerge and make a second attack from late June to August.

A fact sheet from the ODF says that the Douglas-fir beetle typically infests downed trees ten inches in diameter, and then moves to nearby standing trees that are stressed, injured or less vigorous: “At normal population levels, mortality from this pest is scattered on the landscape and often present in stands weakened by root disease, fire, or wind damage. Population outbreaks typically follow storm events that cause blowdown, or defoliation from Douglas-fir tussock moth or western spruce budworm outbreaks.”

Adult beetles are about the size of a grain of rice and their color varies from all black to black with reddish brown. Once they bore into a tree, they produce a fine reddish-orange powder called frass, which is essentially digested bark (poop, in other words). You also may see small streams of white pitch coming from tiny holes in the bark, or pitch combined with frass. Trees use pitch to try to push beetles out. If you see two or three small patches of frass and/or pitch dripping down a tree, it’s likely not a threat to the tree. If you see lots of pitch and/or frass, or accumulations of frass on the ground around the tree, the tree may be dead or dying. In that case, it’s best to consult with a tree service or arborist if the tree is near structures or roads.

Compared to the severity of the impact of drought and insects on east-side forests, the threat from drought and insects is quite low in our area, so far. This year, precipitation in the Sandy River watershed has been above average – 107 percent, as of this writing. But our climate is changing and summers are longer and dryer, which means trees will be increasingly stressed for part of the year. I and my colleagues in forestry are watching carefully for signs that our trees are in trouble.

Have a question about insects in our forests? Want to know the difference between insects and bugs? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

When you are sick and miserable from a cold, your body craves care and attention. Whether it is self-treatment, or a parent fussing over their child, the little things you do to support the body during an illness can make a big difference in how bad it gets and how long it lasts. Along with the coloring books from the grocery store and extra “Sesame Street” time, I appreciated the home remedies that my mom used to soothe my symptoms and speed up my recovery. I have used the warming sock treatment for myself and my kids over the years, and it has been a big help!

Add warming sock treatment to your home care arsenal when you or your child has a cold. This centuries-old hydrotherapy treatment originated in Europe. It is free and easy to do with materials most people have.

Warming sock treatment is known as a heating compress. The body reacts to the cold socks by increasing blood circulation, boosting the immune system and decreasing congestion in the lungs and sinuses. It is a way of waking up the immune system to get ready for battle against whatever is making you sick. If done correctly, this treatment is relaxing and calming. The improved circulation clears the lungs and sinuses, soothes the nervous system, alleviates aches and chills, and sets the stage for restful sleep.

Warming sock treatment can be helpful for sore throat, ear infections, headaches, migraines, upper respiratory infections, coughs, bronchitis, nasal congestion and sinus infections. It should be discussed with your doctor and used with caution in people with Raynaud's syndrome, arterial insufficiency, advanced intermittent claudication or diabetes.

– One pair of cotton socks.

– One pair of wool socks.

– One bowl with ice water.

Step one: soak feet in warm water or take a bath for ten minutes, then towel dry. You can also warm your feet with a heating pad or hot water bottle. Do not skip this step, as starting with cold feet can make treatment less effective or detrimental.

Step two: wet cotton socks in ice water, wring out and place on your feet. You could also run socks under water, wring them out and put them in the freezer for five to ten minutes.

Step three: put dry wool socks over wet cotton socks and go to bed immediately wrapped in blankets and dressed warmly to avoid getting chilled. You will wake up with dry, warm feet.

Your feet will start to warm up within a few minutes and will totally dry within one to four hours. Congestion will begin to improve within approximately 30 minutes. If you find that the socks aren't completely drying in this time frame, you may need to wring them out more before putting them on.

It's best to start this treatment on the first night of an illness and repeat it for three nights. Avoid synthetic socks. Use at least 60 percent wool or cotton if using blends. Do not use tight socks that could impair circulation.

The next time you or a loved one has a cold, give warming sock treatment a try! Along with hydration, nutritious food and rest, it will help you minimize symptoms and get better faster.

Although warming sock treatment sounds intense, it is pretty relaxing. It can work better than a decongestant or antihistamine to relieve congestion and help you get some sleep.

Some of the tasks legislators perform can seem pretty different from the typical constituent services they provide, the policy and budget committees they sit on and the bills they pass.

One aspect of being a State Representative that not many people know about are the dozens of non-legislative boards, commissions, task forces and committees that are legally required to have legislators as members.

Whether it’s the Oregon-China Sister State Committee, the Road User Fee Task Force, the Oregon Transparency Advisory Commission or the Task Force on Resolution of Adverse Health Care Incidents (say that three times fast!), I believe every legislator sits on at least one such group.

Among others, I’ve served on the Interstate Compact for Juveniles State Council, the Labor Trafficking Task Force, the North Central Regional Equity in Recovery Council, the Metro Regional Wildfire Recovery Team and the Oregon Hanford Cleanup Board.

If that last one caught you by surprise, I’m happy to explain.

The Hanford National Monument is located well north of the Oregon border (about a three-hour drive from the farthest northeastern reaches of our legislative district), but Oregon still plays an important role in its oversight.

Here’s a quick overview in case you’re not familiar with Hanford

 Dating back to the 1940s, it served as a key part of the Manhattan Project, manufacturing plutonium for the Trinity Test, the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and many nuclear weapons developed in the Cold War. By the time it stopped production in 1989, Hanford had produced about two thirds of the plutonium used for U.S. nuclear warheads.

Unfortunately, in its haste to produce these weapons, the federal government overlooked some (maybe most) of the environmental and health effects of this massive and dangerous undertaking. More than 55 million gallons of radioactive waste are stored at the site. For perspective, that’s more than 83 Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth.

Unfortunately, most of the storage tanks and other infrastructure were built with materials that may not even last for a century, while the waste they contain will still be dangerous thousands of years from now. Some of the storage has already failed: there have been countless leaks, spills and toxic exposures in the decades since Hanford closed.

We will never know the full impact of this radiation, but cleanup efforts are ongoing, and Oregon plays an important oversight role in that process.

Although Hanford is located over 150 miles up the Columbia River from our district, the river is the key connection between our state and this ongoing cleanup effort. A nuclear plant requires a lot of water and chemicals in order to avoid a meltdown, and the Columbia River provided a perfect site to meet all of Hanford’s water demands.

Because the facilities there are so close to the water, the risk of future leaks of radioactive material poses a potential threat to everyone and everything downstream.

Therefore, Oregon gets a well-deserved voice in how the cleanup is handled.

As with so many things, the only way to approach cleanup perfectly would be to invest about ten times as much as the huge amount the federal government is already spending at Hanford (which is the largest and most expensive environmental remediation plan in the world).

I’ll avoid digging into the dry details of nuclear chemistry that I’ve had to learn as a member of this board, and instead make a broader point about serving in this role. It has made clear to me that the risk of environmental disaster should matter to people well beyond the immediate surroundings of a pollution source.

Whether it’s a data center 30 miles from my house, a nuclear site 150 miles upstream or a coal plant halfway across the country, Oregon has a duty to take responsibility and contribute to minimizing the risk of catastrophe.

I have vocally supported legislation to limit carbon emissions in our state, I have strived to keep our waterways safe for humans and animals alike, and I have been proud to have a voice in the conversation about Hanford’s ongoing, long-term cleanup plans.

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

Even if you live in a city, you have probably seen a coyote. For some people, this can be alarming – many residents post online photos of coyotes boldly walking in neighborhoods. But should you be concerned?

Seeing coyotes in daytime is not uncommon; many people assume that coyotes are nocturnal, but that isn’t entirely true. Coyotes tend to be nocturnal when living near humans, but will hunt any time, especially with pups to feed.

Yes, small pets are often prey for coyotes, but rodents are their predominant source of food. They generally hunt alone eating birds, insects, fruit, human garbage and pet food.

Christine Anderson, a biology instructor at Mt. Hood Community College, explained that eliminating a coyote from its habitat could have unintended effects.

“When you remove coyotes from their home, the population immediately reduces but those remaining in the population will reproduce more often and litter sizes can increase; the population will become larger,” Anderson said. “Plus, there is a restructuring within their group when coyotes are removed which can be chaotic when they are trying to find a new territory or pack. This can push coyotes into more frequent human interactions when they are looking for new food sources. It actually works against us,”

Coyote attacks to humans are rare and typically result in scratches, nips or bites. There have only been two documented human deaths attributed to coyotes.

One case in 1970 involved the death of a three-year-old child whose parents regularly fed the coyote.

The other incident happened in 2008 when coyotes killed a woman hiking in Canada; experts were surprised by this attack and consider it very unusual behavior.

Coyotes are generally monogamous with only one pair in a group producing one litter a year. For the most part, coyotes shy from humans and stay hidden, but are habituated in urban settings and will venture out to find food, especially during puppy season.

Anderson further explained that eliminating any food sources, including free-roaming pets, will dissuade a coyote from your space. Providing coyotes with a food source encourages their return and bold behavior. Anderson noted that hazing works particularly well to reestablish boundaries for coyotes.

“When people can start a program like hazing, like putting coins in a pop can and shaking it when a coyote is near, it will help make the coyote more fearful of the human population without hurting them. If they are cruising through, that’s normal behavior, but if they are stalking pets, then hazing is warranted,” Anderson said. “We are putting houses in their habitat and it’s forcing them to be out in the open more. We are building faster than they can find new habitat.”

Shelley McFarland is a public relations and content specialist at Mt. Hood Community College.

It’s a delicious month for fresh berry recipes, black, blue, straw or raspberry.

Berries are center stage in these recipes:

1/2 cup unsweetened full fat Greek yogurt

Mix together vanilla, oil, egg, sugar, milk and yogurt in medium bowl, set aside.

Whisk dry ingredients together and pour over wet ingredients, then whisk together until just combined. Fold in chopped strawberries.

Scoop into lined muffin tin (eight large or 12 medium). Bake for 20 minutes at 350 F.

Whisk together dry ingredients in medium sized bowl, set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar on high for two to three minutes, then add vanilla, egg and mix two minutes more.

Mix in dry ingredients for one minute, then fold in blueberries.

Drop onto cookie sheet in one tablespoon portions of dough.

Safe deposit boxes are often used to keep valuable tangible items and sometimes even cash. What are the implications of this for reporting on your taxable estate and for distributing your assets according to your estate plan - trust or will?

The contents of a safe deposit box are part of your estate, therefore the value of these must be accounted for in reporting on the total value of your estate for estate tax purposes. Keep an inventory of the contents of the box for your trustee or personal representative, aka ‘executor,’ to assist them in accounting for the content and value that those contents contribute to your estate.

It is important to understand that you are the renter of the box, and the owner of the contents. You do not own the box, the institution does. The contents of the box, if you are the sole lessee will pass, or be distributed, according to the provisions in your estate plan.

Establishing joint ownership of the box to avoid probate could trigger unintended consequences such as the surviving joint owner taking all the contents for themselves, regardless of your intended distributions per your estate plan.

The moral of the story is to carefully consider the handling of the tangibles that you place in a safe deposit box as part of your estate planning and managing your assets for distribution to your intended recipients.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

In 2014, the use of a safe-deposit box for storing tangibles of the decedent came into play with a rather unique and interesting twist. A court ordered that the Nobel Peace Prize medal awarded in 1964 and the travel Bible of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. be placed in a safe deposit box in an ‘undisclosed location’ that only the court could open, while the suit between King’s daughter Bernice King and her brothers was decided.

Ms. King was not the executor of King’s estate but the self-appointed gatekeeper of many of the estate’s tangibles. The brothers wanted to sell those memorabilia to a private bidder.

Ms. King, who was in possession of those items at the time, said she would not allow the sale of that property of her father. In 2015 with former President Jimmy Carter acting as a mediator, the court ruled that the Bible was a possession of the estate, and not the inheritance of any one of the heirs, but that the status of the Peace Prize would go to trial for decision.

In August of 2016, the three sparring children agreed to end the lawsuit and the court signed an order releasing both items to Martin Luther King III who served his siblings as director of their father’s estate. I presume the court then removed those items from the safe deposit box, wherever it was located.

Being unique is the best way to stand out in a crowd. It applies to many things including the art that we create. I remember the first time that I was told that my photos were immediately recognizable from the many other photos that are posted and viewed online in photography forums. I was flattered and it was a confidence builder. It has been in the back of my mind since I started taking landscape photography seriously that I need to try to purposely create a certain style that would set my work apart but had no idea how. Today if I were asked, I think that I’d have some advice to give.

Although my advice comes from the perspective of a photographer, it can apply to anyone who’s creating art in this age of social media and the seemingly endless flow of masterful work that’s being done by other artists. It’s easy to think that the effort to become as good as those that we admire is beyond our ability, but it’s not something that you develop all at once. It’s like a skill that needs to be practiced to master. Music comes to mind as it’s an obvious example of how a skill is developed with practice. And so first be willing to practice.

Love what you do no matter your skill level. You must enjoy what you do to be able to want to spend the time creating your art until you are proud of it, so do it for the love of it.

I’ve been considered someone who has mastered my art, yet I feel that mastering my art is an always moving goal line. The more that I learn the more that I realize what I need to learn. I also feel that if one feels as if they’ve crossed that goal line and have mastered their art they stifle their progress, because no matter the art form, more can be learned or skills can be honed that will develop into a personal style. If one stops trying to improve or stretch the boundaries of their art, they won't fully develop as an artist.

In the beginning it’s natural to find someone whose style is what you perceive that you’d like to emulate. Learn their techniques but consider that the beginning of your journey. I see a lot of photographers who have learned a notable photographer’s style and techniques so well that it’s difficult to tell the difference between the two. The internet is flooded with amazing photographs that emulate popular techniques and styles, but they don’t stand out as being unique.

Learn from more than one artist and mix the techniques.

Before you develop your own techniques mix and mash together techniques learned from different artists. Stretch the effects that the techniques create beyond what they did when you learned them. Don’t be afraid to experiment. I tell students that they can’t break anything by trying something new. Just go for it. If it fails you won’t do it again, but if it works for you, you’ll incorporate it into your workflow.

Be patient because no skill happens overnight. It’s true that some artists are more adept at their art than others but doing what you love shouldn’t have an urgency that creates a feeling of stress. The feeling that you should be somewhere else other than where you are creates disappointment and discouragement. You are where you are because there’s a lesson to be learned, and once it’s learned you move forward to the next one.

If all of this could be reduced to a single word, it would be to practice. Just keep practicing. You will have no choice but to improve and with the experience that practicing gives you, you will also, no doubt, create your own unique style.

Every season has its downsides, except for fall, the perfect season. In summer, it’s the heat. For me, anything over 85 degrees is too hot. I was not a happy camper during last year’s record-setting heat wave. Winter is okay, except that even I sometimes get tired of the rain. Spring, with warmer (but usually not hot) days and bright green new growth on trees and plants, can be pleasant — unless you have allergies to pollen. I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m not allergic to pollen at all. But for many of my friends and neighbors who are, spring is a dreaded season.

Pollen is produced by many plants as part of their reproduction process. Although individual pollen grains are tiny, they often are produced in such numbers that they can collectively affect human health when they get into peoples’ eyes, noses and lungs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov), roughly 60 million people per year in the U.S. suffer from pollen-related allergies. The symptoms of allergic rhinitis, which is sometimes called hay fever, include sneezing, runny nose, eye irritation, nasal congestion and fatigue. Antihistamines, decongestants and other medications may offer some relief, but for many pollen allergy sufferers, the only cure is enduring until pollen season passes.

The Mayo Clinic web site (mayoclinic.org), one of my go-to sources of medical information, notes that there are three main sources of pollen: trees, which typically produce pollen in early spring; grasses, in late spring and summer; and ragweed, most often in fall. According to Pollen.com, there are 17 widely-distributed species of ragweed in North America, including Oregon, and the pollen season may last from spring through fall.

In Hoodland, Douglas-fir is not only the most common tree species in our area, but it’s also a prolific pollen producer. Beginning in April or May, Doug-fir pollen coats our cars, roofs, patios and other surfaces with a dusting of yellow pollen grains, and sometimes you may see swirling clouds of pollen stirred by a breeze or a passing car.

Doug-fir trees are monoecious, meaning that each tree has both male and female cones — reproductive organs. These small cones, which are a half-inch long or so, are borne in clusters near the end of the branch, where you’ll also see similar-looking needle buds that open in spring to reveal light green new growth. The male cones open in spring and release pollen to fertilize the female cones on the same or neighboring trees. After the Doug-fir pollination season, you’ll find numerous spent pollen cones on the ground around the trees. Once fertilized, the female cones eventually grow into seed cones that slowly mature and release seeds the following year (just ask any of our pesky Douglas squirrels).

As irritating as that pollen may be to us humans, we wouldn’t have Doug-fir forests without it.

Black cottonwood trees also produce pollen, as well as huge amounts of the “fluff” for which the trees are named. The fluff is composed of tiny seeds and strands of white cottony fibers that catch the wind and help spread the seeds. Cottonwood production varies by year, and in heavy years we Mountain folk see clouds of fluff seemingly everywhere.

Black cottonwood is dioecious: trees have either male or female flowers, but not both. For a cottonwood to reproduce, a male tree must be near enough to a female tree so that pollen can be transferred, either by the wind or by pollinators, to flowers on the female tree. The fertilized flowers soon produce seeds that drift down or are carried away by a breeze.

Don’t blame your allergies on cottonwood fluff or seeds — it’s the pollen from the male flowers that’s the culprit.

Doug-fir and cottonwood aren’t the only sources of pollen in our neck of the woods. Alder, bigleaf and vine maple, grand fir, western hemlock and western redcedar are pollen producers. Some native flowering plants such as fireweed and willows can be problems for allergy sufferers, as can some of the non-native trees and plants that people plant in their yards — chrysanthemums and daisies, for example. And of our many invasive, non-native plants, Scotch broom is a significant source of pollen. One more reason to root it out!

East of the Cascades, lodgepole and ponderosa pines, western juniper, sagebrush, rabbitbrush and other trees and plants are the bane of allergy sufferers.

Flowering plants that spread their pollen primarily by insects, such as rhododendrons and roses, and fruit trees such as cherry and pear, usually do not cause allergic reactions in people.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA, aafa.org), a not-for-profit organization founded in 1953, has compiled an Allergy Capitals report that looks at the top 100 most challenging U.S. cities for seasonal pollen allergies. All of the top ten worst cities are in the eastern (more or less) half of the continental U.S. The top three worst cities are Scranton, Pa., Witchita, Kan., and McAllen, Texas. Portland, San Francisco and Seattle are amongst the least challenging cities, ranking 96, 98, and 100, respectively.

The report is interesting, but it doesn’t mention Brightwood, Welches, Zigzag, Rhododendron or Government Camp. Hmmm, must have been an oversight.

For pollen allergy sufferers, here’s a bit of good news: The masks you use to protect yourself against COVID-19 are very effective at preventing pollen allergy symptoms.

“Masks may stop allergens in the air from getting into your nose, throat, and lungs,” according to the AAFA. “If allergens like pollen, mold, and animal dander cause you to have allergy and asthma symptoms, you may get some relief from wearing a face mask. They can be especially helpful when pollen and mold counts are high, or on public transportation, such as planes, where animals may be present. In fact, some studies have shown that people had fewer allergic rhinitis symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic because of wearing masks.”

UCLA Health, an arm of the University of California, Los Angeles, citing a recent study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, reports that study participants who wore a surgical or N95 mask consistently over a period of two weeks saw improvement in nasal allergy symptoms: “Pollen particles (a common cause of seasonal allergies) range from 10 to 100 micrometers in size, depending on the type of pollen. A standard surgical mask can block particles as small as 3 micrometers. Medical masks, such as N95 masks, are even more effective, catching particles only 0.04 micrometers in size. Even cloth masks with multiple layers will protect you from most pollen.”

Planning a spring hike or picnic in the woods? Better pack your mask.

Have a question about how trees reproduce? Want to buy some pine pollen? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Modern luxuries have made our bodies weaker. Our jobs and hobbies are becoming more stagnant and our food is unhealthy and abundant. We are pushing the button on the microwave instead of pulling weeds in our garden, where we would be getting fresh air, sunshine and physical activity. We live in a society of overstimulation of the mind and under-stimulation of the body. In turn, we must intentionally create routines to support a healthy existence. Our bodies aren’t delicate figurines that should be sitting up on a shelf. We need to move, walk, lift and sweat to stay in good condition. When our bodies feel good, our spirit is more vibrant, and we can live our lives more abundantly, from birth to old age.

Sauna bathing is a relaxing routine that can bring more health and longevity to your life. Mimicking moderate aerobic exercise, sauna bathing increases heart rate and body temperature and causes you to sweat. Frequent sauna use increases brain function and decreases the risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s and stroke. Even though exercise is king, sauna use can improve cardiorespiratory fitness in those who exercise and those who don’t. Along with the health benefits, most people find saunas relaxing. In the quiet heat, you can shed your cares of the day and come out refreshed and rejuvenated.

We rarely think of stress as a positive thing, but eustress (or positive stress) helps us push through challenges and grow. It helps us complete our term paper last minute or the final reps of a challenging workout. Nietzsche said, “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” On a cellular level, this is true. Sauna bathing activates heat shock proteins (HSPs) present in all cells that respond to stress by activating antistress pathways. Weightlifting, fasting and cold showers also stimulate HSPs since they all cause a certain amount of stress or injury to the body.

The body responds to these “injuries” by creating cellular responses that are good for the body. HSPs repair and assemble protein complexes, prevent aggregation and plaque formation in the body, and support immune function. When abundant in the body, they improve our overall health. After a sauna, they stay elevated for about 48 hours, cleaning up and repairing the cells in your body. Sweat, in general, helps the body release environmental toxins such as the heavy metals aluminum and cadmium.

Sauna benefits are “dose-dependent,” so the frequency of use matters. The sweet spot seems to be about four times per week or more, for around 20 minutes, at 174 degrees or above (lower for infrared) at 10-20 percent humidity. A Finnish study showed a 20 percent decreased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease with sauna bathing two to three times per week, but a 66 percent reduced risk with four to seven times per week. It showed decreased hypertension by 24 percent with two to three times per week and 46 percent with four to seven times per week. Similarly striking was the 24 percent decrease in all-cause mortality with two to three times per week and 40 percent decrease in all-cause mortality with four to seven times per week.

Hot baths and jacuzzies have some similar benefits if you don’t have regular access to a sauna. Stay submerged for about 20 minutes with your shoulders down in 104-degree water. Saunas are healthy for most people. If you have heart-related or other health concerns, talk to your doctor before adding saunas to your routine. Pregnant women, infants and young children should avoid sauna use.

In caring for our bodies, we unlock our life’s potential. Add sauna bathing to exercise, good sleep and a nutritious diet. The healthy routines we create empower us to live fully and be an asset to our families and community!

Have you seen mason bees around lately? Depending on weather conditions, they are active in Oregon between March and June. Excellent pollinators for early crops, they are fun to watch and are non-aggressive which makes it easy to nurture mason bees in your own yard.

To get started, you can plant native species and avoid pesticides while they are in bloom. Here’s what you will need to know about these industrious bees.

Amazing native pollinators, scientifically named Osmia lignaria, these hardworking and gentle bees have pollinated our local plants long before the European honeybee was introduced to our continent in the 17th century.

They are also much more effective pollinators; in fact, according to certain studies, each mason bee provides as much pollination as 200 honeybees! They fly in colder, wetter conditions than honeybees, and do not require over winter care.

Your blueberries, garden and fruit trees will greatly benefit from them with very little effort from you.

The mason bee is a solitary bee, which means they do not form hives, nor do they make honey. For this reason, they are gentle and non-aggressive and get their name from their lifestyle.

Each female emerges, mates with a male, then goes about securing the next generation. To do so, she finds a suitable nesting site. This site may be a hollow reed, hole in bark, or they are delighted to accept the help of humans who provide suitable nesting tubes.

They do not make their own holes, so they will not drill into your masonry or house causing damage.

Once a nesting site is located, mason bees search for and obtain pollen, this is where the pollination effect takes place for the plants.

They are messy and inefficient and that is what makes them great pollinators. They return with the pollen and make a ball in the nesting tube. Once enough pollen has been accumulated, the queen lays an egg. She then goes in search of clay mud and transfers enough of this back to the nesting tube to form a wall, creating a chamber for the egg she has just laid. This is where the term “mason” bee originated. She then repeats the process until the tube is filled. She then searches for another nesting tube and repeats the process.

I hope to provide more information on mason bees in another article soon. In the meantime, you can find more information available from the OSU Extension, Xerces Society or CrownBees.com.

Susan Spencer is a science instructor at Mt. Hood Community College.

I’ve written here before about how serving in the legislature is not the part-time job it appears to be. A frequent response I’ve gotten to that point is that the legislature is only in session for seven months out of every twenty-four: a six-month session during odd-numbered years and a 35-day session during even-numbered years. But the beginning and end of a legislative session don’t mark the beginning and end of a legislator’s obligations to the people of Oregon. One of the things we do outside of those seven months of being ‘in session’ is “Legislative Days.”

During the year between sessions, the legislature gathers periodically in Salem (or, since COVID-19 came on the scene, remotely by video conference) to hold hearings on topics that may require legislative attention during the next session.

Even though I’m an outgoing member of the House, I am still the Chair of the House Committee on Human Services, and will proudly keep that position until the Speaker of the House appoints my successor. As Chair, it’s my responsibility to invite guest speakers to address our committee about Human Services-related topics.

Sometimes, service providers want to tell us how recently passed bills have impacted their work and the people they serve. Sometimes, everyday Oregonians want to tell us how future bills may be needed to help address problems confronting them. Often, quite simply, it’s good for legislators to invite state agency officials to explain what they do and how they do it, and to answer questions about whether they’re doing it well enough.

Members of the public, of course, are encouraged to tune into these hearings. Public testimony isn’t usually heard during Legislative Days. Instead, these interim conversations are generally used as a time for the committee to learn about existing programs, hear reports on ongoing problems and interact with providers and executive agency officials. These hearings are different from committee meetings during a session about specific bills, where public testimony is a necessary part of the lawmaking process. But neither type of hearing is less important than the other, since they’re both aimed toward the same goal: making sure that the legislature is responsive to the needs of the people who depend on us.

If you would like to watch these hearings on June 1- 3, you can email my office at Rep.AnnaWilliams@oregonlegislature.gov and my staff will happily point you in the right direction. Although I don’t know yet what each committee’s agenda will cover, there are certain to be interesting and important topics discussed.

Tracking these sorts of hearings is a good way to keep in touch with what your government is doing, and whether they could use your input to focus on something you think is more important. As I write here often: our government works best when the people it represents are well-informed about the challenges confronting our communities, in touch with what the government is doing to fix them and telling their representatives how to do better. Please let me know how I can help!

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

I’ve seen this technique quite a bit lately and it promises a juicy steak. Bring meat to room temperature while preheating oven. I finished with fresh rosemary and basted with unsalted butter.

2 large ribeye steaks, about 1 lb. each

Place an oven rack over a baking sheet and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle steaks with olive oil and coat with seasoning on both sides, let rest to room temperature. Place steaks on rack over baking sheet in oven for 15 minutes. Add a little more oil to a skillet (cast iron is best), then sear steak for two minutes on one side. Flip and add butter and herbs to pan, coating steak with herb butter, and for cook another 2 mins. Remove from pan, allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing.

White cake using reverse creaming method

I’ve seen this technique lately and my mind was screaming during the process. I appreciate how easy it is: no creaming butter and sugar, no whipping egg whites. I made two batches to make a very tall cake, while I used another simple and easy buttercream recipe. Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature before you begin.

You’ll need electric mixer, two cake pans sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, floured with parchment round in the bottom.

In large bowl whisk dry ingredients:

Add in 2/3 cup shortening and 1/4 cup unsalted butter. Mix with electric mixer until crumbly.

In another large bowl whisk:

Add half of egg whites mixture to the dry ingredients mixture, and mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the egg whites mixture and mix for 10 seconds. Scoop into pans and bake for 35 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.

2 cups unsalted butter room temperature

Using electric mixer, whip butter until light and fluffy. Add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, then add other ingredients. Whip for about 10 minutes total, until very light in color.

The issue of fairness is one that runs deep when it comes to inheritance and tangibles, those items of personal property given to family and friends are often at the core of that. Fairness for some is the monetary value calculated when all is given out, tangibles and other items including real estate and finances. “Did we all get an equivalent financial share?” Fairness for others is receiving what was most dear to them, something that held emotional ties and memories, something they want to pass along to their children, something that has a sense of tradition and roots and connection. Fairness for others is a combination of these benchmarks. A complex formula for a sense of worth derived from a mix of emotional ties and what the (more or less objective) financial estimate tells.

Your task then in creating your estate plan is to determine whether tangibles will be distributed in a manner that equates to a financial balance sheet and/or whether you will try to factor in the meaning of an item to someone in determining to whom you will leave it. These core ideas then become a substantial portion of your written estate plan.

Financial evaluation: if this is important to you and you know it will be important to your family, establish in your plan the process to be followed to valuate items when your estate is administered and items distributed. Items of significant financial value should be appraised. If you already have had them appraised keep those appraisals with your estate records for your trustee/executor to work with (i.e., jewelry, art, antiques, etc.). If they have not been appraised or recently appraised and their value may have changed, include instructions in your estate plan to have those certain items appraised. For the household items that may not warrant an individual appraisal fee you may want to instruct hiring a home interior appraiser. Further you may want to instruct that the value of each item chosen is calculated as part of the recipient’s total inheritance so that when all is distributed the total value of inheritance is the same for each person. Or you may simply want to ensure that the tangibles are divided up as evenly as possible in consideration of their monetary value, though this can be difficult to achieve.

Emotional and sentimental evaluation: the difficulty referred to is in part based on the other standard of fairness, the value in the meaning an item has to one or more persons. The value of an item may have nothing to do with its marketable worth to each person involved. And when more than one person has their sights set on the same thing … well … that is “where the fun begins.” While you may not anticipate every potential battle point, there are some commonly shared practices that you can employ in your estate plan that can minimize the potential, level the playing field and reduce or eliminate conflict.

Here are a few – one approach is to ask your family or whoever is close to you that you are considering leaving something to what is dear to them. Use their answers to create a list of what is going to who as you have these conversations. For some items that you know or learn have particular value to more than one person, you may leave a letter with your estate plan that explains how you chose between them and confirm your value and appreciation of each of them whether they received the desired item or not. Another approach is to be very careful in your commitments. Do not give an item casually to more than one person, agreeing in separate conversations at different times who receives what. Remember, a casual conversation will be remembered and could be the seed for conflict where you do not explicitly arrange in your estate plan for the transfer.

Identify a tie breaker – in your estate plan give your trustee/executor or an independent person the role of tie breaker when the inheritors themselves cannot come to conclusion on the contested item. Set a timeframe in which a decision must be made. If that timeframe does not result in a decision the tie breaker is authorized to make the decision. Help the tie breaker out with suggested options. These are numerous and can be creative such as having a lottery, or pick a number, or sell the item(s) and distribute the proceeds equally, and so on.

Give your trustee/executor your strong support – be sure that your estate plan establishes that your trustee/executor has no liability for choices they may make or may not make in distributing tangible items. Seems like an obvious point, but one that is necessary to state clearly, in writing.

Good advice: one source describes the objective in giving your tangible personal property to family and friends as “leaving a legacy of relationships rather than a legacy of conflict.”

Stories of the Stars… If Only

Robin Williams’ widow and the grandfather clock: apparently inheritance disputes are not the exclusive domain of the celebrities themselves though such disputes may still occur over property that was once theirs. Robin Williams’ widow gave verbal commitment to one of his sons ten years prior to her passing in 2015, in response to his request for the grandfather clock because it “has always been kind of special.” But six months before she passed away his daughter requested the clock and his widow agreed to that as well. As the story has it, a mere three days after Robin Williams’ widow’s death, as the son was wheeling the grandfather clock out of her house, he was met by Robin Williams’ daughter claiming the clock was hers. The end result was a confrontation, a fist fight, a broken grandfather clock, and a shattered relationship between the two children.

I saw my first trillium of the year today. I always celebrate the first signs of spring, but I don’t really trust that it has arrived until I see my first trillium. Trilliums are a favorite native wildflower to a lot of us who live here on the Mountain for the same reason, but also for their beauty.

Trilliums (Trillium ovatum), sometimes called Wake Robins, are a member of the lily family. They grow from rhizomes on a single stalk. Their parts are divided into thirds, thus the prefix “tri” of the word trillium, meaning three.

The flower’s petals are white but they will typically turn purple as they age. They aren’t known to be fragrant and can smell bad or not at all. They love coniferous forests that are mixed with deciduous trees such as the maples in the forests around us. They burst through decaying leaves left on the forest floor the previous autumn at the first sign of spring. The only flower that beats the trillium to the punch is the small, often-ignored pendulous white flowers of the Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis) bush.

Because trilliums grow and spread from rhizomes, if left undisturbed they will grow into a colony of many that can spread to create a beautiful carpet of flowers on a forest floor, or in your yard if the conditions are favorable. I’m not a gardener, but I’ve been told that trilliums can be transplanted, and you can divide the rhizomes to create more trilliums.

Trilliums can be propagated from seeds but take up to seven years to bloom. In nature the trillium has a trick for spreading their seeds with the help of ants and other insects. The seeds have a protein-rich part that is especially appealing to ants. The ants take the seed to their nests where they eat the desirable part and then leave the seed underground to grow into a new plant.

Contrary to what is sometimes believed, the trillium is not the Oregon state flower. That honor goes to the Oregon grape, a plant that also grows in abundance around us. The Oregon grape has leaves that resemble holly with small yellow flowers that bloom closer to summer and produce little purple berries. Trilliums like to hide among the Oregon grape.

One of the reasons that I get excited when I see my first trillium of the season is because it’s the start of wildflower season, and I love taking photos of flowers. Everything from a wide-angle photo of a vast field of balsamroot in the Columbia River Gorge or a macro photo of details of large flowers or a closeup of some of the smallest flowers that are more likely to be overlooked. They are all fair game when I’m being creative with photography.

Photography can be an excellent escape from the pressures of life. Creating art with a camera is fulfilling to me and many of my friends. I recommend spending time with some of our local wildflowers this coming season. And do what I do. Start with a beautiful photo of a trillium.

Lara and I have always had one or more hummingbird feeders outside our house. In our 28-plus years on The Mountain, rufous hummingbirds have been regular guests, and welcome ones, from spring through fall. Their aerial acrobatics, fearlessness and tenacity in defending their territory are admirable – the National Audubon Society says the species is “notably pugnacious.” These tiny birds can travel nearly 4,000 miles from their summer breeding grounds as far north as Alaska and northwest Canada to wintering sites in Mexico.

Each year at least one pair raises a family in our woods, so we keep a ready supply of sugar for making nectar. Two summers ago, our rufous hummers were joined by a pair of Anna’s hummingbirds, a slightly larger species. The two species seemed to get along well enough – they shared our two feeders and generally ignored each other. That fall, both species left for warmer climes and returned as usual in the spring. But last fall the Anna’s hummers stayed on after their cousins headed south – and stayed all winter. I’ve heard of Anna’s hummers overwintering on The Mountain in recent years. A decade ago or so, friends who live in Timberline Rim reported that Anna’s came to their feeders year-round. Now they’ve moved up about 500 feet in elevation to our home near Lolo Pass Road.

This winter “our” Anna’s hummers survived the cold spells – we had many nights in the teens and twenties, with a low of 13 degrees one night. Several times a day I would warm the feeders before the nectar froze and brought the feeders in each night. When I put the feeders our in the mornings just after dawn, one or more Anna’s would begin feeding even as I was hanging the feeder. A couple of times I simply held the feeder while one fed, which gave me a superb view of these colorful, courageous birds.

An Anna’s typically weighs one- or two-tenths of an ounce. How do they make it through a week of sub-freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall, let alone a winter with no flowers to feed from? Or insects to prey on? Amazing.

Yes, they eat insects of various kinds, from fruit flies to moths and even bees, which provide a vital source of protein during the breeding season.

By the way, the bird was reportedly named for Anna Masséna, Duchess of Rivoli (1802–87), a French duchess who was married to François Victor Masséna, second Duke of Rivoli, who was an amateur ornithologist.

Anna’s hummers, year-round residents along the Pacific coast, from British Columbia to Mexico, are expanding their range – with the help of us humans, though the expansion of urban and suburban areas, climate change and our willingness to provide free meals. In a 2017 study published in the “Proceedings of the Royal Society B,” a renowned journal of the biological sciences, two researchers focused on Anna’s hummers, noting that the “climate-tempering effect of urbanization” – the so-called heat island effect – along with the general warming trend in our region and the increased availability of food throughout the winter, have had a significant impact on the species’ range.

“We found that Anna’s hummingbirds have colonized colder locations over time, were more likely to colonize sites with higher housing density, and were more likely to visit feeders in the expanded range compared to the historical range,” they wrote. “Additionally, their range expansion mirrored a corresponding increase over time in the tendency of people to provide nectar feeders in the expanded range. This work illustrates how humans may alter the distribution and potentially the migratory behavior of species through landscape and resource modification.”

Climate change also has had an impact on the rufous hummers. According to Audubon, the species is “still widespread and very common, but surveys show continuing declines in numbers during recent decades. Because it relies on finding the right conditions in so many different habitats at just the right seasons during the year, it could be especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change.” Many rufous hummers now winter along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

There is no doubt that humanity has influenced the world’s climate. We’ve also had an impact on our local climate: as cities and subdivisions expand and become warmer, wildlife habitat changes. I’m reading a recently published book that offers a detailed look at this subject: “The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities,” by Peter Alagona. I may write about this book in the future.

People tend to think of feeding birds and other wildlife as harmless, as beneficial to the wild critters we love, but our well-intended actions are not entirely benign. In areas like ours, rufous hummers may face increased competition from Anna’s hummers for food during the mating season. Those Anna’s hummers might not be here if we didn’t feed them year-round, even giving them warm nectar on icy days. Perhaps we are unwittingly contributing to the decline of rufous hummers. And if we are, should we stop?

It is highly unlikely that hummingbird lovers will stop feeding the birds they love. And even if we did, would it have an appreciable effect, given the other far more powerful changes now occurring and to come that will have an impact on hummers?

I don’t know. Answering these questions is way above my pay grade. I’ll continue to provide nectar to any hungry hummer, and I’ll plant shrubs and flowers that they feed on and that attract bees and other beneficial insects.

Sometimes, when a feeder is empty, a hummer will come to the kitchen window or office and buzz there for a few moments. I can imagine them saying, “Hey, I’m hungry! Fill the feeder!”

Have a question about Anna’s or rufous humming birds? Want to know how to attract insects for them to feast on? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Most people grew up eating mushrooms on pizza or in pasta sauce and calling the mushrooms that sprouted in their backyard “toadstools.” While you don’t want to pick and eat random mushrooms, foraging for wild, edible mushrooms is a fun challenge. The Pacific Northwest (PNW), particularly west of the Cascades, is a wonderful place to find mushrooms.

Mushroom hunting is usually considered an autumn activity, but here in the Pacific Northwest, mild winters and plenty of rain mean that mushrooms can be found in the spring as well. Many trees have mycorrhizal relationships with fungus. “Myco” means fungus and “rhizo” means root, and in mycorrhizal partnerships the fungus and the tree share nutrients via the tree's roots.

Proper Identification is a Must

Before eating wild mushrooms, it’s crucial you learn to identify edible, inedible and poisonous mushrooms. Inedible mushrooms might give you a stomachache, but some poisonous mushrooms are deadly.

Field guides are a must: David Arora's “All That the Rain Promises and More” is a classic for good reason, and neatly fits in a back pocket. It’s smart to cross reference with mushroom identification websites and blogs.

Phone apps like iNaturalist can provide suggested identifications from photos of your finds. You can contact your local ranger station as well. If no one on site has a good idea of what you've found, they can likely direct you to someone who can help.

You can also take a mushroom identification class at a local community college.

You can pick or cut mushrooms you find; neither practice will significantly affect the fungus as a whole. Get comfortable identifying the cap, gills, ring, stem and cup of different kinds of mushrooms. Learning how to distinguish chanterelles from false chanterelles and morels from elfin saddles is not only crucial for your health and safety, but also a lot of fun.

What Mushrooms Grow in the Spring?

Spring promises mushrooms for the intrepid forager, most famously morels (Morchella spp.). Several species of morel can be found in the Pacific Northwest, and they are among the most highly prized edible mushrooms. Often growing in places that have burned in recent years, they resemble conical honeycombs on short stalks, and may be anywhere from yellowish-brown to almost black. Be sure to familiarize yourself with inedible lookalikes like false morels (Gyromitra escolenta) and elfin saddles (Helvella lacunosa).

Most local boletes fruit in fall, but the spring king (Boletus rex-veris) is a vernal favorite. This hefty brown mushroom with a thick stalk is more likely to be found from May onward.

Although chanterelles (Cantharellus spp.) and yellowfoot mushrooms (Craterellus tubaeformis) commonly fruit in summer and fall, they may be found in smaller amounts in the spring. Keep an eye out for the yellow color of these distinctive mushrooms.

I love teaching people how to identify mushrooms and edible plants. Being able to identify the plants, trees and mushrooms that surrounds us here in the Pacific Northwest develops a unique appreciation of nature.

This is the second of three columns about foraging for wild, edible plants and mushrooms. I’ll cover foraging for autumn mushrooms later in the year.

Rebecca Lexa is an Oregon Master Naturalist. She teaches how to forage for edible plants and mushrooms, birdwatching and nature identification, through Community Education at Mt. Hood Community College. Find more information and register for a foraging class at: learn.mhcc.edu.

I became interested in chiropractic due to my stepmom's experience. She had been seeing a neurologist for numbness in her right leg. After three MRIs and several tests, she had no answers. Her neurologist gave her two options, exploratory surgery or chiropractic.

She visited a chiropractor who x-rayed her standing up and found the problem, which did not appear when she was lying down. She had feeling back in her leg after three adjustments, and after a course of treatments, her symptoms completely resolved.

After this miraculous recovery, the whole family started seeing Dr. Sandstrom. We all benefited in different ways from our treatments. In my hometown in the 1990s, there was a stigma attached to visiting a chiropractor. At the time, most MDs would not recommend chiropractic. I'm so glad her neurologist did!

What is a chiropractor? Some people think that chiropractors just "crack backs," but that couldn't be further from the truth. Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) specialize in diagnosing and managing disorders of the neuromusculoskeletal system (NMS) (nerves, muscles and bones). DCs are considered portals of entry into the healthcare system, trained to diagnose whatever ails a patient and treat them if indicated or refer them to an appropriate specialist.

DCs screen for fractures, cancer, digestive problems and more. When needed, chiropractors will order MRIs, X-rays, special imaging and tests, and blood and urine labs. DCs can perform minor surgery and deliver babies.

The time that medical doctors spend studying pharmacology, chiropractors spend on going more in-depth into the NMS system and learning how to adjust the body's joints. Other aspects of our education are very similar. Some chiropractors work in hospital and clinic systems. However, most chiropractors work in private practice.

Medical and chiropractic professionals work together to the benefit of their patients. Oregon Health & Science University has hosted CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) panels to educate its doctors about the benefits of alternative medicine. Chiropractors are becoming more respected for the evidence-based care they provide for complex NMS disorders.

The days are fading where medical doctors and chiropractors compete with and undermine each other, and I am thankful. Patients benefit when we work together, which is the whole point of medicine!

I get a produce box once a week, and I chose the surprise option and try to use whatever they send. This helps me try new ingredients that I maybe wouldn’t choose for myself.

To my delight this week I had a few pounds of purple sweet potatoes!

So, I had to make a purple sweet potato pie...

I was expecting something similar to pumpkin pie, but this is actually a little different, smoother and a little richer – and don’t forget the whipped cream!

2 lbs. purple (or regular sweet potatoes or yams) roasted in 400-degree oven for 45 minutes until very tender, cooled and peeled.

1 t each: cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract

Place pie filling ingredients in mixer and mix on medium for two minutes until well incorporated.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

Once you’ve mastered pastry cream you can make a chocolate cream, coconut cream or this crowd pleaser, banana cream pie. The vanilla wafer crust is a must.

In large bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale, then add in cornstarch, salt and vanilla.

In small/medium heavy bottom sauce pan heat half & half until steaming, ladle one cup of steaming cream into egg yolk mixture whisking to temper.

Add another cup and whisk, then pour egg/ cream mixture back into pan whisk continuously until thickened.

Add butter, cover with plastic and cool then refrigerate at least two hours pour over sliced bananas on cooled crust.

2 cups vanilla wafer cookie crumbs

Press into bottom of pie pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Nestled at the base of Mount Hood, and home to countless hiking and biking trails, and a plethora of outdoor recreational activities as the gateway to Mount Hood and Central Oregon, the City of Sandy has become one of the fastest growing communities in Oregon. This rapid growth in size along with the well documented troubles in the city of Portland just 25 miles away and the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have left communities like Sandy reeling from a growth in crime.

Whether it’s the expansion of our state’s homeless crisis from our downtown urban cores into our more suburban and rural communities, to policies that have come recently out of the state legislature tying the hands of our law enforcement officers, the day-to-day strains and obstacles are becoming much harder for our officers to deal with.

At our Sandy City Council retreat, our police chief Ernie Roberts provided an update on crime to our council. The findings were not good. Whether it was the volume of calls to the police emergency line, arrests or crimes being committed – the numbers were up across the board. The unfortunate truth is that these numbers are up throughout the state.

We have always taken public safety seriously in our community. Shortly after being elected mayor, we learned that our police department was left nearly a million dollars in debt. We immediately went to work and made hard budget decisions in order to help back fill our budget and today, not only did we fill that deficit, we have more officers on the streets than when we began. In fact, with the swearing in of Sandy’s newest officer this past month we became one of the only departments across the state to have a fully staffed department.

Having more officers on the streets will help but we must continue to do more. Our council formed a Homeless Task Force committee that has been working over the past year to develop recommendations to our city leaders and law enforcement agencies on how to both update our practices to become more effective as well as to strengthen our laws to provide our officers with the tools they need to be successful. This next month the task force will be providing their recommendations to our council. Already one of the items that have come from the taskforce is the creation of a fund to pay to dispose of these “zombie RVs” that are left abandoned throughout town. In Sandy, we refuse to sit idle while our community suffers. We must take action.

Taking action also comes with an increased need for transparency and accountability. That’s why in the support of our officers we have paid to outfit all of them and their vehicles with cameras. Increased transparency is good for our officers and our community and helps keep all of us safe.

From our leadership team on city council to our great staff at city hall to our police force – the city of Sandy is committed to providing a safe community to our neighbors; it’s the most important service we provide. We must remain vigilant in supporting our law enforcement officers who represent the very best among us and are a crucial part of keeping Sandy wonderful.

Stan Pulliam is the Mayor of the City of Sandy.

Many have an instant and default concept of tangibles as those things that make up the family traditions, are handed down through the generations, are the collections of art, or jewelry, etc. These are relatively straightforward to identify and transfer to the intended recipient.

However, there are categories of tangibles that require much consideration for the Trustee or Personal Representative to handle according to the law governing the possession, transportation and transfer of those items. In this article we will take a look at a few.

Among the items that belong to this category of possessions whose transfer is our focus are, firearms (likely no surprise there), alcohol, artifacts from endangered species (the heirloom ivory), aircraft, boats, animal companions (aka “pets”) and livestock including horses.

There are strict controls at the federal, state and local levels on who may be in possession of a firearm and the type of firearm they may possess, as well as the transportation and transfer of those. As well certain firearms must be registered. There are a number of federal acts governing varying types of firearms.

A Trustee or Personal Representative should consult the local firearms dealer for assistance locating and taking possession of firearms in the estate they are administering, making certain that they have the right forms and follow the most recent regulations in handling these tangible assets.

The transfer of alcohol is governed by state law, and it is possible that the transfer of some collections of liquor or a prized wine collection could require a license.

Now we come to ‘many things animal’ from the remains or parts of an animal, to the live and breathing creature. Endangered species: Federal law and international treaties restrict trade in items derived from endangered species. Some products carry with them the potential for huge fines for possession and/or sale or transfer of certain items.

While the 2016 U.S. ivory ban does allow residents to keep or transfer inherited items of ivory, the sale of such may be a different matter and Asian versus African ivory have different regulations – very complex. If you have the documents of ownership and origins of ivory heirlooms you own, make this part of your organized documents for your Trustee or Personal Representative.

Your treasured furry, winged, or finned animal companions (“pets”) are considered tangibles. They require your special attention in providing for their care after your passing.

Some people create pet trusts to manage an amount of funds for the care of their loved companions. Others set aside money for persons they have designated to provide the home and care their pets will need. Others simply name a family member who they know will be willing to take their ‘furry-purrers’ without question. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, be sure to include those non human members of your family in your estate plan so that the well being of this “tangible” is not left strictly to fate.

Continuing with animal tangibles, livestock includes horses by legal definition. For their welfare, your estate plan should contain provisions for the proper care and management of these tangibles that can take immediate effect upon your passing. This requires the development of a thorough plan established well in advance that assures their transfer to and by knowledgeable persons with the expertise and experience to manage such a transfer.

Another category of tangible, the final for this article, but not by any means the limit of those many, varied and unique items that come into the fold of “tangible”, are airplanes and boats. Transfer and ownership of these come under the regulations of various federal and/or state agencies. Planning for these may include considering liability protection as well.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

Have you heard the one about the multi-millionaire hen? No, not a bar room joke. But a real-life case of planning for your favorite “pet.” And this one inheritance is not ‘chicken-feed’ – idiom defined as a ‘paltry sum,’ or is that a ‘poultry sum’?

Well… British publishing magnate, Miles Blackwell, who passed away in 2002, at the age of 56, just three weeks after his wife who was 46, made his favorite pet Gigoo a multi-millionaire hen, leaving $15 million (₤10 million) for her care.

Dear Reader … We welcome your questions on matters related to estate planning. These will provide grist for future articles and enhance the potential for those articles to be of interest and value to you.

Submit your questions to Garth Guibord, at garth@mountaintimesoregon.com.

I took a drive the other day. It’s a drive that I’ve probably taken hundreds of times and is most likely my favorite place to go and play.

It was an impromptu trip with no preparation other than grabbing a water bottle and my camera, but those days seem to be numbered, at least during peak season in the gorge.

The Historic Columbia River Highway, with its lush forests, waterfalls and epic hiking trails, has always felt like home to me. After a lifetime of spending time there I feel so familiar with it that I feel like I have a share in ownership and feel a sense of responsibility for its care.

Before I lived on the Mountain, I and my young family lived for a while in the little town of Bridal Veil, in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge. Like the Mountain, the Columbia River Gorge is home to me.

Those of us who live up here on the Mountain can relate to the increase of visitors to our area that is also affecting the Gorge. The increase in automobile traffic on the old Historic Columbia River Highway has gotten so bad during peak season, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, that the old road has been experiencing gridlock, especially at the iconic Multnomah Falls. I experienced a 20-minute delay there while a traffic jam was untangled one beautiful summer day.

This is a situation that seems to have been exasperated by the coronavirus crisis. There was an immediate surge in outdoor activities, especially hiking, after the pandemic hit.

Parking at popular trailheads overflowed onto the edges of the roads and highways.

The increased amount of foot traffic on trails has increased the wear and tear on existing trails and has caused new side trails to be worn through areas where a trail shouldn’t be.

With this increased amount of traffic, litter and vandalism has increased as well.

The responsibility for addressing these problems falls on the backs of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). New rules and regulations are being considered including permits systems for the most heavily visited places.

It’s unfortunate but a permit system is the only way that the USFS has to try to regulate the crowds to these sensitive places. Although new rules have yet to be put in place here in the Mount Hood National Forest, new regulations are actively being issued in the Columbia River Gorge, primarily for the Historic Columbia River Highway waterfall corridor between Vista House and Ainsworth State Park.

Starting May 24 through to Sept. 5, travelers on the old road will be required to purchase a timed vehicle permit, available online prior to a visit, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The permits available will be limited each day. This is only during peak season and peak hours.

According to my experience in the gorge, most of the hikes that I’ve been on are pretty peaceful until mid-morning when the crowds arrive - they’re usually coming in as I’m headed back out again.

This permit system seems like the most practical way to address the overcrowding on the old highway especially. It’s quite obvious to me, a frequent visitor to the gorge, that something must be done to avoid good people loving these places to death, or bad people vandalizing them to a point of destruction.

It’s the job of the USFS to manage and maintain these places and these new regulations seem to be the only practical method for doing that considering the monumental task that they’re confronted with.

In my business as a professional guide, with permits to conduct business in the gorge, I can live with the new rules. I’m glad to plan ahead and apply for a permit ahead of time, or to go early enough to avoid the permits, and the crowds.

I always think “Earth First” when I use these public lands.

This seems like a small price to pay to help protect these special places.

I don’t know about you, but a few days of sunny, “warm” weather has me thinking of my vegetable garden. But it’s been in the low 30s at night and there are still big ridges of snow under the eaves on my house. Crazy, right? But I try to be optimistic.

I have nine raised beds of various sizes for herbs, tomatoes, green beans, kale, chard, lettuce, summer squash and other veggies. March is too early to plant most veggies here, as I’ve learned the hard way. But our native plants – Indian plum, red elderberry, red-flowering currant – usually bloom in March, and other trees and shrubs will soon follow. More sunshine and truly warm days aren’t far away. It’s time to prepare the garden for planting season.

To prepare the soil to receive seeds and veggie starts, I like to add fertilizers with strains of beneficial soil microbes and mycorrhizae, such as the Dr. Earth brand. I also till in a bit of ash from my woodstove, because ash is an excellent fertilizer. And since I have a woodstove, it’s free.

Ashes? Yes. Wood ash contains significant amounts of potassium, one of the three essential fertilizers. The N-P-K on commercial fertilizer containers stand for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Wood ash is also high in calcium and has small amounts of phosphorus, magnesium and other nutrients, but no nitrogen.

As a fertilizer, potassium is also known as potash, a word that, according to Wikipedia, comes from the Middle Dutch potaschen, or “pot ashes.” Centuries ago, potassium carbonate fertilizer was made by burning wood, mixing the ashes with water and then boiling the solution in large iron pots, which leaves a white residue, or “pot ash.”

Potash in its natural crystalline form is mined in huge qualities around the world for use as fertilizer. Canada is by far the world’s leader in potash mining, followed by Russia, Belarus and China. The political turmoil in and around Russia and Belarus, along with the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, have led to a worldwide shortage of potash and other fertilizers. Of course, that translates to higher prices for the potash and, ultimately, food.

Fortunately, if you burn wood in a wood stove or fireplace, you have a ready source of potassium – and you don’t need to boil ashes in a huge pot to get it. Just work some ash into your garden soil. It won’t take much to supply your garden with ample potassium, but you’ll need to be careful not to overdo it. The Oregon State University Extension Service cautions against using too much ash: “As with all things… the dose makes the poison.” Too much ash can increase the soil pH to levels that interfere with plant growth. Here are OSU’s recommendations:

– Limit ash applications to no more than 10 pounds per 100 square feet per year.

– Apply about 2 weeks before you plant. Don’t apply during the winter, as the potassium and phosphorus, which is highly soluble, may leach away before there are growing plants to take it up.

– If you use wood ash on an annual basis, be sure to check the pH of the soil before applying it.

To figure out how much ash to use in my raised beds, I used a postal scale to weigh some cool ash from my woodstove and found that one gallon weighs about four pounds. When my three-gallon steel bucket is full, it holds about 12 pounds of ash, an amount that would be too much for three of my four-by-eight garden beds, or 96 square feet. Spreading that bucketful over all nine of my beds, with a total of 250 square feet, would be fine. In any case, the wise gardener will test their soil before adding any fertilizer. An inexpensive soil test kit or meter will show the levels of nutrients in the soil as well as its pH (acidity or alkalinity). OSU explains why testing the pH is important (see tinyurl.com/2p99ppk4):

“When wood burns, nitrogen and sulfur are lost as gas, but calcium, potassium, magnesium and other trace elements remain. The carbonates and oxides in the ash are valuable liming agents that can raise pH and help neutralize acid soils. Where soils are acidic and low in potassium, wood ash is useful to most garden plants. Do not use ash if your soil pH is alkaline (more than 7.0). Do not apply wood ash to acid-loving plants such as blueberries, rhododendrons, and azaleas. Lawns that need lime and potassium also can benefit from wood ash. Apply no more than 10 to 15 pounds of ash per 1,000 square feet of lawn.”

Most native soils in our area are acidic, so raising the soil pH will be beneficial. For most vegetable plants, a soil pH of 6.0 to 7.0 (slightly acidic to neutral) is ideal.

The OSU Extension Service and some other sources suggest sifting ash before applying it, to remove chunks of unburned wood. However, these black bits are a form of biochar, which can help retain nutrients and water in soil. I suggest leaving the chunks in – and adding more. You can increase the amount of biochar in your woodstove or fireplace ash by covering a bed of coals with a think layer of fine ash. The blanket of ash smothers the red-hot coals, allowing them to cool before completely burning. Your veggie and landscaping plants will appreciate the extra biochar.

Some gardeners pay big bucks for biochar in bags from garden centers or online retailers. I bought a 10-pound bag years ago and mixed it with the soil in several of my raised beds. It’s still there, because biochar doesn’t break down – it’s a “forever” soil amendment.

And because biochar is mostly carbon taken up by trees as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it’s a “climate friendly” soil amendment: biochar not only locks carbon in the soil, it also absorbs and slowly releases fertilizers. In other words, instead of leaching away, the potassium and other nutrients in ash are available to plants for a longer time than without biochar. I may write about biochar in a future column.

I have a fire going in my woodstove from October through May, except for brief periods when I sweep the chimney and clean out the ash. At a guess, I produce 50 or 60 pounds of ash per year — far too much for my small garden. I usually scatter the excess in the woods around my house, using a garden trowel to fling it amongst the trees while avoiding the rhodies. Wood ash is beneficial for our forests. After wildfires, the ash provides a big shot of nutrients to the soil, except for nitrogen, most of which is vaporized.

So, to sum up: is wood ash good for your soil? You bet your ash it is.

Have a question about wood ash? Want to learn how to make more biochar than your woodstove will produce? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com

Many people get excited when their favorite vegetables and fruit are in season in the grocery store, but did you know you can forage for fresh produce too?

When the days lengthen and the first hints of warming set the stage for spring, it’s the perfect time to get outside and start exploring what wild edible plants are available to add to your table. Here are a few of my favorites.

Forage for Wild Salad Greens

Easiest to find are spring greens. The leaves of young edible plants are most tender. Look for non-native weeds like common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) or broadleaf plantain (Plantago major). Search for native greens like miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) and stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).

Springtime Berries Make a Sweet Treat

Berries usually don't show up until summer. Salmonberries (Rubus spectabilis) are the exception to the rule. They resemble blackberries but they are bright orange or red. Salmonberries grow on bushes that are often found in riparian zones by rivers and other fresh water. Be cautious when picking salmonberries in more rural areas, as black bears also love these sweet treats. Make some noise as you forage so you don't accidentally startle your ursine neighbors!

No Additives, All the Nutrients

Foraging for wild foods has health benefits. Most edible plants are full of vitamins and nutrients, as well as plenty of fiber. Like other whole foods, foraged edible plants don't have a bunch of salt, artificial sweeteners or additives. Unless you have an allergy or sensitivity to a particular edible plant, you shouldn't have any problems eating it.

How to Forage Edible Plants Safely

Always try a small amount of any new plant first, and make sure you’ve researched to confirm:

– All or only part of the plant is edible.

– If this species needs to be cooked before it can be safely eaten.

– You have correctly identified the plant, and it is in fact, edible.

There are many resources to help you safely forage for edible plants. Check multiple sources like field guides, reputable websites and other foragers.

It gives me joy to teach people about edible plants. Many people are surprised by how many delicious plants are right outside their front door.

Author Rebecca Lexa is an Oregon Master Naturalist. She teaches how to forage for edible plants and mushrooms, as well as birdwatching and nature identification, through Community Education at Mt. Hood Community College. Find more information and register for a foraging class at: Learn.mhcc.edu.

With all of the options for footwear and orthotics, it is hard to know what to buy. When in chiropractic school and more conscious than ever to make good decisions for my joints and muscles, I splurged on a pair of trendy but orthopedic clogs. I had previously worked as a certified nursing assistant in a hospital, and I noticed that the nurses always wore them, so I assumed they would be the best. Unfortunately, I was wrong!

As humans, we tend to overengineer even the simplest things, including shoes. What is the purpose of footwear? It protects our feet from hot, cold and sharp things. It should not change the way that the foot was designed to work. I haven't met anyone yet who was born with shoes! The goal should be to protect the feet, not change how they function.

Most feet thrive in flat and flexible shoes that are wide in the toe box with minimal or no arch support and no toe spring (described below). Unfortunately, this does not represent most shoes. Our poor feet have been squeezed, deconditioned and deformed by our footwear, and pain and dysfunction follow. How can we move in a better direction?

Many of you have heard of the minimalist foot movement that is happening. Let's break it down:

Flat shoes – this is the most obvious one. We all know high heels are a poor choice because we can feel it! And for those who don't wear heels, we can see the pain in others when they kick them off at the end of the day, rubbing their feet in pain. We should also avoid slight heels and reverse heels. Toe spring, where the front of the shoe is up from the ground, is also a common problem.

Flexible soles – when you bend your shoe, it should move easily. You will find rigid soles in clogs, dress shoes, and some boots and tennis shoes. Flexibility is paramount, as it allows the foot to move naturally as it hits the ground. We don't want to be walking on two-by-fours or teeter-totters.

Wide toe box – Most shoes are too narrow in the front, which squishes our toes together and permanently changes them. If you look at babies' feet or cultures that don't wear shoes, you will see spaces between each toe. That is what we want! Suppose your toes have been squished over time. You will lose that spacing, contributing to pain, dysfunction, bunion formation and lower arches.

No or minimal arch support – Wait, WHAT! When you wear arch support, your foot is supported, which can feel good in the short term, but that negative space is supposed to be there when we walk. If you continuously wear arch support, you will weaken the muscles of the foot, including the tibialis anterior. This important muscle comes around like a stirrup and pulls up the arch. The muscle belly is in the lower leg. Too much arch support will turn this muscle into a wet noodle, and your arch will collapse.

Most minimalist shoes hit the points above. Here are some tips when shoe shopping or evaluating your shoe collection.

Remove the shoe's insole and stand on it. If your foot spills over the edge, the shoe is too narrow.

Inspect the arch of the shoe. Sometimes you can remove the insole. If it has arch support, leave it out or replace it with a flat insole for comfort or shock absorption.

If your shoes are just a little too narrow in the front, you can make two one-inch cuts in a tennis shoe above the first lace, pointing out at a 45-degree angle to widen the toe box. You can use a shoe stretcher or put a bag of water in the shoe and put it in the freezer, where it will expand and stretch the shoe. If you look at your shoe from the side and the toe is springing upward, fold your shoe in half the other way and stick it under your sofa for the day. It may reduce the toe spring.

Go barefoot or wear slippers, crocs or flip-flops when you can. A prominent Portland podiatrist ran the Portland Marathon in crocs! Wear toe socks or shoes and use silicone toe spacers to spread the toes over time. My favorite are Correct Toes (CorrectToes.com). Start slowly and increase wearing time for a gradual change.

If you have hammertoes, where your toes are playing the piano, put a metatarsal pad directly under the toes on the part that sticks out and see if it flattens the toes. If so, you can wear them in your shoes. Size and placement are essential. Consult with your doctor if you have questions.

Look at your feet in the mirror and notice your arches. How many nickels can you stack under there? Are they the same from side to side? If one is flatter than the other, a chiropractic adjustment can help restore the fallen arch.

After an ankle sprain, the heel bone gets pushed back and cannot realign on its own due to the bony anatomy. At Mountain Life Clinic, we have a specific adjustment to restore the arch, which is usually an immediate and lasting improvement unless you re-sprain the foot. Toe spreading and short-foot exercises can help strengthen the feet and restore the space between the toes.

Toe Spreading: Look down at the feet, spread the toes as far as possible, hold for ten seconds and repeat five times. Perform several times throughout the day.

Short Foot Arch Exercise: Put a hand towel on the floor and put your heel at the edge of the long end. Use your toes to scrunch the towel up under your foot. Repeat five to ten times.

As gravity-dependent creatures, all the joints of our bodies are affected from the ground up. Foot problems can be a big problem on their own but can also create knee, hip, back and even neck problems. Keep these principles in mind and create better health for your whole skeletal system!

Melanie Brown is a Chiropractic Physician with the Mountain Life Clinic.

I start a lot of columns this way because of how quickly things move in the legislature, but: as of the time I’m writing this (Feb. 24), I’m not sure what major headlines will have come out of this legislative session. But I do know that one small bill that relates directly to our lovely mountain communities will have passed, because it passed the day before I wrote this column.

Senate Bill 1509 will rename Route 35, which runs from Government Camp to Hood River, the Oregon Nisei Veterans World War II Memorial Highway. This is a simple act to commemorate the contributions of those brave veterans, but it deserves to be highlighted, just as they do.

To provide some context: Feb. 20 was the 80th anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s executive order that caused the unjust internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In addition to being a shameful act on its own, that incarceration led to permanent repercussions for many Americans, including in our own communities.

Before the war, many Japanese immigrants settled in the Hood River Valley and became farmers. In February 1942, those Japanese farmers and their families were removed from their lands and sent to internment camps.

Many Oregonians who were incarcerated as a result were confined at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming. I grew up in the shadow of Heart Mountain. I went on to become a social worker, where I learned that it was primarily social workers who facilitated and administered the mass incarceration of so many Japanese Americans.

In short, the issue of Japanese-American internment is personal to me, even though it took place 40 years before I was born. In Hood River, where I live, we have our own sad history around this issue: Japanese Americans from the area, despite the fact that their families were locked up at home, bravely fought for our nation overseas. When the war ended, many in the Mt. Hood area sought to prevent them from returning to the area because of their country of origin. When the local American Legion post erected a war memorial that listed the names of more than 1,600 residents serving their country, the post then removed the names of sixteen Japanese American servicemen from the memorial.

But the contributions of those patriotic Oregonians did not go unseen. There were those in our communities who stood by their neighbors following internment, who returned those lands to some of the families that were forced to vacate them, who shopped for them in stores that put up signs excluding people of Japanese descent.

Thank goodness those families found support in the midst of so much discrimination. Our communities around the mountain have been home to countless Japanese Americans that have helped us become the vibrant community that we are today. Many of them had family members that served in the war: the famous Nisei veterans. I won’t walk you through all the battalions those veterans served in, or the many acts of heroism credited to them, or the immense value they provided the U.S. during the war; fighting in every major battle on the Pacific front, translating intercepted documents and interrogating Japanese prisoners of war.

I’d encourage you all to read up on this history if you aren’t already familiar, or at least to watch the excellent, thorough and inspirational testimony presented at both public hearings on this bill. (Email me at Rep.AnnaWilliams@oregonlegislature.gov and I’ll happily share links to that testimony!) Instead, I will simply note that the Nisei Veterans served a nation that imprisoned them based on their heritage, and they did so with great honor.

So yes, Senate Bill 1509 is an acknowledgment of a shameful time in our history, and it’s important that we address that. But more importantly, it is a recognition of an under-appreciated part of Oregon’s wartime history, a commemoration of the sacrifices one group of veterans made, and a celebration of the way that some people’s belief in American ideals can overcome the deeply painful parts of American history.

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

We may be two months into the year, but we’re at the halfway point of this City Council’s term. We’ve faced challenges and successes together. We approved a budget that included support of our local police through the funding of body and vehicle cameras for our law enforcement officers. We adopted our Transit and Transportation Systems Plans and a new Parks Master Plan. And we implemented the covered structures program to assist our local small business owners through the final leg of the pandemic and beyond.

At this halfway point, it is important for our Council to gather and review the successes of the past year, as well as to plan and provide our city staff with the direction of the year ahead. With this in mind, our Sandy City Council will meet for a goal setting and planning retreat the first week of March. This continues to be a critical time for our community with major projects still ahead, and I’m looking forward to addressing these challenges as a team.

One of the first items we will be discussing at our retreat is the Sandy Community Campus. As many are aware, the City of Sandy purchased the old Cedar Ridge Middle School, the surrounding properties as well as the Aquatic Center, a little more than 10 years ago for a little more than $3 million. Since that time, the pool has been closed as a result of much needed prolonged maintenance and repairs in the upwards of tens of millions of dollars and was running at a loss of over half a million dollars per year in operating expenses.

Obviously, the closure of the pool has been a great hole left in our community that we have been working hard to fill. For the past year a group of community members, along with Sandy City Councilors Don Hokanson, Carl Exner and Kathleen Walker, have worked to analyze the current conditions of both the property and the pool, as well as recommend to the council paths forward. Several months ago, our council approved the committee to continue work with a private consulting firm to develop these proposed paths forward along with anticipated cost parameters. We look forward to reviewing and discussing these possible path’s forwards at the retreat.

Additionally, we need to determine the future of our proposed local bypass project. One of my biggest agenda items when I first ran for Mayor was advocating for a feasibility study for a local bypass for our community. It had been nearly two decades since our leaders looked at the viability of such a project. When you consider the current strains on our local roads from our rapid growth in size juxtaposed with the growth of the Mount Hood recreational area and explosion of tourism in central Oregon, along with the many years it takes from beginning to end for a project of this size – starting this process was immensely important. One of my first accomplishments after being elected mayor was negotiating a joint study with the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).

A couple of months ago, ODOT presented the findings of the study and it was found to be much less expensive than we originally expected. That said, there are many steps and many years before such a project can begin construction. In fact, even in its fastest terms this project would not happen until the year 2040. Think about how much further we will be behind if we don’t even begin that process now.

As a result, at our retreat our council will be discussing the next steps we can take to both adopt these findings into our transportation planning efforts, as well as what steps we can take now to coordinate with both regional and state partners.

As I’ve mentioned, this is a pivotal time for Sandy. These projects and others will heavily dictate our identity for generations into the future. Your engagement in this process is not just important for you, but your children and grandchildren. Please continue to join us for upcoming community meetings and happenings by signing up for our newsletter and finding other resources available on our city website www.ci.sandy.or.us as well as our city social media pages. It is imperative that all of our neighbors to get engaged and help us reach our overarching goal to keep Sandy wonderful.

Stan Pulliam is the Mayor of the City of Sandy

It’s March Madness time, try these recipes as you cheer on your favorite team!

1/4 cup each diced red and green bell pepper

1/2 chopped jalapeño, seeds removed

1 t each salt and pepper

Add wings and rub ingredients into a large zipper bag – toss to coat.

Heat oven to 400 F and sauté peppers and garlic with avocado oil in a skillet over medium heat until tender. Add in chili sauce.

Bake wings on a large baking sheet sprayed with olive oil, turning over after 20 minutes. Bake additional ten minutes, until crispy. Toss with pepper mixture. Serve over rice or on their own.

1 4-ounce can diced green chilies

1 t each garlic powder, onion powder

1/2 t each salt, pepper, chili powder

1 cup half-and-half mixed with 1 T cornstarch

Add all ingredients to medium size pot. Cook over medium heat, whisk until smooth and bubbly. Serve hot.

Tangibles require attention not necessarily called for with real property and financials. You may need a degree of flexibility in describing and assigning such things because over time you may acquire new items, dispose of others and the person you initially thought would want to receive an item does not want or need it.

One way to accommodate the need for flexibility is to use a separate list rather than, or in addition to, identifying certain items in the body of the trust or will.Often referred to as a personal property memorandum, this is a list that the trust or will incorporates by reference. Hence, it must be referred to in the trust or will.

This list can be changed by you over time as you acquire new items or understand better who should receive particular item(s).

The list must contain a clear, precise description of the tangible(s) to be transferred and clearly identify each recipient. You must date and sign the list. Overtime, you may choose to replace the list or change an item on the list. Each change or replacement must be dated and signed by you so that the person administering your trust or will has clear direction for your intention according to the most recent version of your list.

Clarity can be had through initiating discussions. Discussions now for giving later can initiate valuable conversations that can greatly benefit you in your planning for giving later.

You may think you know what a family member or friend would like and in discussing it with them find that it is not at all what they want or need and would prefer something else.

You may decide to consider giving now. Depending on your situation, you may want to give certain items away now which could give you the pleasure of seeing the gift received and appreciated.

Where the gift has significance for the family history, this may also give an opportunity to your family members to ask questions and for you to share the stories that attach to it. These may be stories that only you know. As well, discussions now can identify and allow you to address areas that could be sources of family squabbles and give you the opportunity to address them before they develop over what you intended as a loving bequest.

Discussing your ideas for who receives certain of your personal belongings now may reveal things that you did not realize could be sources of contention; areas where family members might be surprised at how and what you choose to distribute and to whom. You can, if you wish, take action now to explain why you are making certain decisions.

Recognize that discussions now do not deprive you of making different decisions later. They simply provide you with information that may be of use to you and those dear to you.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

About the value of discussions, from the University of Minnesota Extension Service “Who Gets Grandma's Yellow Pie Plate?,” one woman recounts that when discussing with her family her ideas for giving to them those items with sentimental value and family history, she was surprised to learn that three of her seven adult children each wanted a Christmas ornament purchased for a mere 25 cents when they were kids. It had held special sentimental value for each of them.

She concluded that she had not yet decided what to do, but that without having had the discussion she would never have known that this item held such important value – period – never mind that it would have such value to a number of her children.

In last month’s The View Finder I shared some of my favorite views of Mount Hood. This month I want to share more of my favorite views but this time I thought that I would share my favorite vistas of the Columbia River Gorge.

I have always thought that all of the areas that the Mount Hood Loop Highway passes through to be Mount Hood territory. “The Loop” is a great way to spend a Sunday drive with a camera in hand. All along the way there are views of Mount Hood, but from different directions. As the crow flies, the Columbia River Gorge is only 21 miles from the peak of Mount Hood.

The incredible Columbia River Gorge is known first for its epic waterfalls, creeks and forests but my list will concentrate on sweeping vistas and views and not on waterfalls. My recommendation for anyone who wants to experience the waterfalls of “The Gorge” is to simply spend a day driving along the Historic Columbia River Highway and stop at the waterfalls along the way. Most are Oregon State Parks and are great places for a picnic on a beautiful day.

My list will include a couple of spots on the Washington side of the Columbia River. Washington State Hwy. 14, along the north side of the Columbia River, is sometimes forgotten because most people visit the spots on the Oregon side, mostly due to the waterfalls.

The Woman’s Forum at Chanticleer Point – Chanticleer Point is an east facing promontory that overlooks the Columbia River Gorge and Crown Point, topped by the iconic Vista House. Further into the distance is Beacon Rock and the overlapping hills and bluffs of the gorge. This is a great place to visit for a sunrise.

Viento – Viento is a great place to get a view of the gorge at river level. There’s an Oregon State Park there and easy access to the river’s edge. From the river you can get a view of either east or west, so this is a great spot for both a sunrise and a sunset.

Rowena Crest – Rowena is another elevated view of the gorge from the top of the bluffs of the east end of The Gorge. Rowena is situated between the towns of Mosier and The Dalles. The climate there is dryer than in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge. There are fewer trees to obstruct views, with trails to a variety of places that will provide a view in either direction, but the main parking area has views toward the north and to the east. Rowena is a great place for wildflowers in the springtime. The Tom McCall Preserve has trails through fields of wildflowers.

Cape Horn – When I’m in the gorge there are many times when I will spend a day on the Washington side of the river. A drive along Hwy. 14 is a great way to get views of the Columbia River with views toward the Oregon side. Cape Horn is directly across the river from the historic Oregon town of Bridal Veil. Cape Horn is a massive wall of basalt that dives directly into the waters of the river. The view from Cape Horn Lookout is beautiful toward the east. I love this view any time but a sunrise from there is epic.

Underwood – While in Washington a great view of Mount Hood and the town of Hood River can be seen from the bluffs above the Columbia River at the little town of Underwood. From Hwy. 14 take the Cook-Underwood Road and follow it approximately three miles until you see a pull off on the south side of the road. This view is incredible and includes a great view of Mount Hood.

Lara gave me a dandy present for Christmas in 2021: “American Axe: The Tool That Shaped a Continent,” by Brett McLeod. What else would The Woodsman want? I already have a half-dozen chain saws (some of which run), a peavey (a tool for rolling logs), three splitting mauls, three or four splitting wedges, a handful of felling wedges and, naturally, and several axes. Plus a couple of hatchets. And a Pulaski, the famed wildland firefighting tool, which is a combination axe and grubbing tool.

Lara might have bought me a new axe, but that’s such a personal choice. I mean, I would never buy her blue jeans, shoes or a jacket. Sure, it’s the thought that counts, but the odds of me buying something she likes and that fits are longer than winning the Powerball jackpot.

By now you may be thinking, what’s the big deal about axes? You want to chop wood, get an axe. Who cares where or how it was made, as long as it’s sharp, right?

Wrong. Just ask McLeod, who owns more than 200 axes — he’s been collecting them since he was five years old and is always looking for more.

And it’s axe with a “e” — ax is an inferior variant.

“The American landscape has been altered more by the axe than by any other tool,” he writes in “American Axe.” “Because the axe is such a simple tool — it’s essentially a wedge with an edge — it was affordable to produce and acquire, enabling early settlers to carve out an agrarian existence from the forest. The axe was their ticket to a strong shelter, open ground for cultivation, a heat source, and even personal protection.”

Wedges with edges — and handles, of course — were used to fell timber on more than 300 million acres prior to the advent of the chainsaw in the mid-1920s, McLeod writes, and to split uncounted millions of cords of firewood and to cut and shape fence posts, logs for cabins and sheds, timbers for bridges and sailing vessels, and anything else that could be made from wood.

“Over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries there were more than 1,000 different North American axe makers who engaged in a fiercely competitive market selling axes to lumberjacks, homesteaders, farmers, and foresters.

What resulted from this lumberjack fever was a seemingly endless array of axe designs with impressive names such as The Wood Slasher, Champion, Best Axe, Legitimus, Keen Kutter, Northern King, and the True Temper Perfect Axe. Owners of these tools would proudly polish their axes to a mirror shine and argue the superiority of their chosen maker,” writes McLeod.

I’m ashamed that my axes shown in the photograph accompanying this article aren’t polished to a mirror shine, but they do their jobs. The boy’s axe has a keen edge, though it is marred by a nick from when I hit a nail many years ago. Boy’s axes are fairly light and have shorter handles than felling axes. I use mine mostly for splitting kindling and small logs, and as a hammer for setting felling wedges and driving the occasional tent peg.

The throwing axe is designed specifically for the sport of axe throwing, and the edges aren’t as sharp as the boy’s axe, since the keen-ness of the edge doesn’t have much to do with getting it to stick in a target. In fact, a relatively dull edge sticks better. And according to McLeod, playing with a dull axe is safer than using a sharp one. I have thrown many axes at targets, which are usually made with a heavy round cut from a log and painted with rings and a bull’s-eye.

As a forestry student many years ago, I participated in an axe-throwing contest at Humboldt State University in a conclave of forestry students from around the western U.S. Instead of painted bull’s-eyes, the centers of the targets were holes just the right size for holding cans of beer. The cans were shaken up before being placed in the targets, so a bullseye hit made a fine spray of foam. Alas, I didn’t do very well in the contest.

Double-bitted throwing axes look similar to the double-bitted axes used by loggers back in the day when they felled timber by hand. The latter have a different shaped head and longer handles. I have a photo on the wall in my office of three lumberjacks standing in front of a huge Sitka spruce in the Oregon Coast Range a century ago or so, with a double-bitted axe stuck in the tree. The tree is wider than the three men together. The men aren’t smiling, probably because they knew they were about to spend hours chopping — before moving on to the next tree.

“American Axe” offers six chapters: Ancient Axes That Spawned an American Industry, Axes for the Art of Homesteading, Axes From the Golden Age of Axe-Making, Modern Axes, Restoring Vintage Axes and Playing With Sharp Objects. The book contains hundreds of photos and drawings of axes and people making, using and restoring them.

In Chapter 1, McLeod notes that axes made of stone were used more than a million years ago. In 1991, when the body of Ötzi, the so-called Iceman, was discovered frozen in a glacier in the Alps between Austria and Italy, an axe was among his belongings. Ötzi, who lived about 5,300 years ago, carried an axe with a head fashioned from copper, a metal soft enough to be sharpened with a stone.

The chapter on the golden age of axe-making provides a wealth of photos of restored axes, including a Lincoln Axe, along with its manufacturing history, beginning in 1893, and its intricate etched logo. It wasn’t an axe used by Abraham Lincoln, but its makers wanted customers to know that the axe was as trustworthy and authentic as Honest Abe himself. “To many,” writes McLeod, “the Lincoln Axe is considered the holy grail of axe collecting.”

The book includes a quote from ol’ Abe: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Seems like good advice for doing lots of things.

McLeod is chair of the forestry department at Paul Smith’s College, a private college in upstate New York. His essay, “The Evolution of the North American Axe,” is an excellent companion to “American Axe.” It’s available for free at tinyurl.com/yckpdw5z, which has a link to the publisher’s web page for the book and purchasing options ($24.95 in hardback at the usual online bookstores, $9.99 to $13.99 for e-book versions).

Thinking about restoring that old axe in your shed? And maybe collecting more old axes? When I emailed McLeod to offer praise for “American Axe,” he added this to his reply: “Be warned, picking up an axe here and there has a way of spiraling out of control.”

Have a question about axes? Want to buy a high-quality axe made in Oregon? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

It has been refreshing to get some winter sunshine on the mountain lately! But what can we do when the days are dark, gloomy and cold and the winter doldrums take hold. The Danes have a lifestyle concept called “hygge” (hyoo-guh). And despite their cold and dark winters, they are generally happier than other countries.

According to recent United Nations Happiness Reports, Nordic countries ranked highest in all six areas of life satisfaction regularly. This report, which started in 2012, was inspired by the King of Bhutan in the Himalayas. He coined the phrase “Gross National Happiness” in contrast with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1972. So how can WE tap into this Danish concept to improve our quality of life, especially in the winter months?

First is the attempt to define and understand hygge. You will get different answers if you ask different folks, but the general idea is a quiet happiness or stillness. It is being satisfied with how one’s life is going and taking small steps to insert comfort and coziness into your daily routine.

You can find objects and practices that are hyggelig or “hygge-like.” You can also have a hyggelig mentality. What hygge is not: being on your phone all day, being hard on yourself for past mistakes, trying to be perfect, staying indoors all winter, harsh chemicals, fluorescent lighting, having strict rules, clutter, excessive spending and purchasing products to be on-trend.

Although countries with higher GDP are generally happier, a LACK of wealth causes unhappiness. Once our basic needs are met, the correlation stops, and the smiles don’t follow the dollar signs. Oliver Enne of Denmark said, “If you have no money, you worry about money, but if you have money, you worry about other stuff!”

Hygge is the opposite of living outside our means. With all the keeping up with the Jones’s, we can create more chaos and the need for more work in our lives. Instead of focusing on more and more money, the focus is on life balance. Overachievers are often hailed in the U.S., but in Nordic countries, they may look at you sideways and wonder what’s wrong with you. Life balance is the goal – not to be best. To be average is considered good, and more hyggelig.

A large part of hygge is the art of creating a pleasant atmosphere. How do we achieve this comfort and coziness? You cannot talk about hygge without talking about lighting. The warmer, the better. Candles and salt lamps give us a warm glow.

With closed rooms, stick with unscented or naturally scented candles and air the room regularly. Good food, books, fireplaces, music, cozy drinks, small indulgences, the smell of soup cooking on the stove, wool socks, cozy sweaters are all very hygge! Take some time to hygge your home or pick a spot and make a hyggekrog or hygge corner. Tidy your space for a clear mind. You don’t have to go to the extremes of Marie Kondo. There is no need to get rid of everything, but see that it has a purpose, even if you just love to look at it.

Nature is essential. You can bring wood and natural fibers, plants and cut flowers into your home – anything to bring the outside in. Also, going outside is very hygge! There is a sense that we must accept the weather rather than hide from it. Get the gear on and meander quietly in nature every day. Move along slowly and try to spot the small details. Inhale the fresh scent of pine needles and listen to the soothing sounds of the forest. After meals is a great time to take a walk as it also aids in digestion! Time in nature reduces anxiety, promotes wellbeing and is generally inspiring.

Here is an excellent hygge concept: have a lazy day, and instead of feeling guilty about it, feel good! Be gentle with yourself. Don’t ruminate about past occurrences, and don’t put yourself down. Be happy with who you are and with the accomplishments you have made. Work hard when you need to, but also rest and honor and nurture your body and mind.

Nightly dinner is a great place to start your hygge practice. Eat together, encourage everyone to participate in the conversation, light a candle, set the table nicely and leave the phones in the other room. Or enjoy the sights and flavors of a purposefully set table if you dine alone. Take a walk after dinner, come back and light a fire, pray or meditate, call a friend or read a book with a cozy blanket.

Even though these may seem like small things, naming them and recognizing them gives them power. L.T. Baits summed it up nicely when she said, “Hygge is about having less, enjoying more: the pleasure of simply being. It is generous and celebratory, a way to remember the importance of the simple act of living itself.”

Melanie Brown is a Chiropractic Physician with the Mountain Life Clinic.

The best geology textbook on Earth is… the Earth! That’s what I tell my students at Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC). As one recent student said at the end of a rainy field trip to Mount St. Helens, “You cannot get this same experience just in the classroom.”

Field trips are a necessary part of geology science, for students, scientists and professional geologists. To learn about the Earth and to study the Earth, one needs to look at the Earth. Virtual field trips are an option. However, I find that they are most useful when you already know something about geology or about the area. There is no substitute for the real thing! Field trips help geology students:

– Develop general field skills.

– Improve rock and mineral identification.

– Learn to look at the Earth in a different way.

This year field trips are planned for 200 level geology classes. In the winter we are going to Silver Falls State Park and the northern Oregon coast, where we will be staying in yurts. I also lead field trips throughout the rest of the year to Mount St. Helens, the southside of the Columbia River Gorge, the John Day Fossil Beds and the Newberry Volcano, where we camp inside the caldera.

I like using the Earth to teach geology because of the impact a field trip can make on a student’s comprehension. When I was a student at MHCC, way back in the 1980s, my favorite part of geology class was going on field trips. I still remember those trips! I remembered them better than any other part of the course.

Using these amazing places to illustrate, discuss and experience geology is beneficial to learning. For some students, it’s a once in a lifetime experience. Even students who have visited these locations before learn a lot because they see these amazing places through the eyes of a geologist. I often say in my classes, “you’ll never look at the Earth the same again.”

Daina Hardisty is a Geology Instructor at MHCC.

If you are reading this column, that probably means it is February, and the 2022 Regular Legislative Session is underway. Sessions aren’t such a rare thing these days... we’ve had six of them since COVID-19 first reached Oregon, where normally we would only have had one in that same timespan. Still, a regular session is a much larger event than the mostly single-day special sessions that have brought me to Salem so many times over the last two years.

As I write this, there is a flurry of activity in preparation for the session: legislators and community members alike are hustling to get the final changes to bills ready to go. I personally am working on five different concepts: two of my personal bills and three for the committee I chair. These are difficult conversations due to a variety of factors: communication lapses due to the pandemic, a decentralized process as so many people continue to work from home rather than coming together in the Capitol and changing priorities while many crises (health care, workforce, housing and more) continue to evolve every day.

The legislature alternates the length of its regular sessions every other year: in odd-numbered years, a session is six months long. In even-numbered years like this one, we only get five to six weeks to finish our work. This compressed timeline means that every bill needs to be in its final form, ready to pass and free from any unintended consequences before the session even starts. That makes the last week of January (the week in which I am writing) especially intense!

Among the bills I’m working on are a few very complex issues. One, for example, deals with residential treatment facilities for children with psychiatric and other therapeutic needs. Another deals with victims of domestic violence who need access to police reports about the crimes committed against them. As you can imagine, when you’re dealing with such weighty subjects, there are a lot of people with a lot of different perspectives and opinions who need to be consulted. As session draws closer, no matter how much advanced planning a legislator has done, there seem to always be last-minute issues, disagreements, objections and changes to these sorts of bills. (One of my bills will likely be rewritten entirely in the next five days!)

There’s an old saying, that “a camel is a horse designed by a committee.” In other words, when you try to accomplish something simple, the inclusion of too many conflicting perspectives and creative solutions can result in something that only barely resembles what you were originally trying to create. That’s a good summary of the legislative process, too.

But, in stressful periods like these while I’m working hard to find compromise, to take stakeholder and expert voices into account, and to create something that will actually work without causing unintended harm, I try to remind myself that every addition, subtraction and change to a bill is potentially important, and every complicating factor (and the headaches that each one may cause) is worth examining as fully as possible.

After all, every strange trait that a camel possesses serves a purpose. Without humps to retain fat for energy, without wide and spreadable feet to walk on sand and without long eyelashes and thin nostrils to keep them safe from blowing sand, a horse wouldn’t stand a chance in the desert. It’s my hope that every complicated, minute and sometimes stress-inducing adaptation to each legislative bill makes it uniquely suited to meeting Oregon’s needs.

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

For the last 25+ years, I have refused to miss a single Sandy Mountain Festival. With that said, I’m proud to announce that after a two-year hiatus, the Sandy Mountain Festival will return for it’s 60th year anniversary celebration on its traditional weekend following the Fourth of July.

After two long years of missing out on so many special events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandy Mountain Festival weekend will be back in all its glory. From the parade on Thursday night to the carnival at its traditional spot along Hwy. 26, to vendors and music in the park and long lines for elephant ears, corn dogs and noodles. Our neighbors and visitors alike will again rub shoulders in the park while looking at crafts or over a beer at the Music, Fair & Feast.

There will again be a kids parade with brothers, sisters and cousins. Teenagers will catch up on stories from their summer vacation while sitting on a carnival ride. Adults will again enjoy a barbeque or sitting down at one of our wonderful main street businesses before meeting up with the rest of our neighbors in Centennial Plaza. There will inevitably be the best music at Ria’s, long lines and great people watching at No Place and someone is going to drive their Harley into the Gateway. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We owe such a debt of gratitude to the army of volunteers and public servants that put on this special event each year, not to mention the grit and determination displayed to revive it after this hiatus. This event is a full community effort. The Sandy Mountain Festival Board of Directors is composed of all volunteers who put in hundreds of hours of work preparing for, conducting and cleaning up each year. Additionally, our team members at the city really go the extra mile on Mountain Festival weekend. From our law enforcement officers keeping us safe, to our transit and public works staff, library services, parks and recreation, planning and city hall, everyone puts in the extra time and helps make the weekend what it is. That’s not to forget the volunteers of all the community, civic and athletic organizations that turn out for the events and work the incredible food and beverage vendor booths.

The Sandy Mountain Festival is one of the largest festival events in Oregon and attracts thousands of people to town each year. According to the festival's website, its purpose is to enhance Sandy's business climate by showcasing products, allowing local nonprofit organizations to raise funds, providing artists a forum for their talents and promoting community pride and participation.

Basically, the Sandy Mountain Festival provides citizens opportunities and allows our city to put its best foot forward. This is only the first step in our efforts to create the best possible Mountain Festival experience for both our neighbors here in Sandy, as well as our visitors.

We want both our neighbors and visitors to have an experience when interacting with our community that leaves them wanting more and coming back to support our community and our local business owners. The Sandy Mountain Festival is a unique and outstanding opportunity to do just that.

The Sandy Mountain Festival is back! What a crucial piece to reaching our overarching goal – To Keep Sandy Wonderful!

Stan Pulliam is the Mayor of the City of Sandy.

Why are tangibles called out in their own section in your estate plan? As stated in the December 2021 article, what means more may not always have high financial value. Such is the case for those items referred to as “tangibles.” But also, tangibles may in fact have high financial value. All of this takes careful planning on your part and requires that your estate plan cover certain aspects of this planning specifically. Considerations follow for you as you plan out which of your personal belongings go to a particular person.

Include a specific definition of tangibles in your estate plan: to set a proper understanding for your own planning and for the execution of your estate plan after your passing, your estate plan should contain a definition of what constitutes ‘tangible items,’ identifying what is included in that category.

Terms for the division of tangibles are unique to that category: some of the terms for the division and distribution of financial assets may not, likely will not, be well suited to tangibles. For instance, the common phrase specifying that assets are to be divided equally, or in shares of substantially equal value, among the beneficiaries, is not as easily accomplished with tangibles as it is with a mathematical calculation of financial assets. Tangibles are of disparate financial value, but how they are valued by any of the family members may exceed any financial worth.

Fairness is an important consideration: per my opening paragraph, the value of a tangible may be in the mind and heart of the beholder, not worth that can be objectively appraised. And even when the latter is the case, that may not determine the desirableness of that item to several family members. Then again, an item of high financial value may leave others feeling that they were given less than someone else when considering overall the financial worth each received. Distribution of tangibles is a sensitive pursuit that requires your understanding and attention to your family dynamics if you want to do now what you can to avoid family member conflicts in the future.

Tangibles are called out and handled specifically and separately from your real property or your remaining financial assets, those being intangibles, in large part because their very nature is a complex mixture of financial value and emotional attachment, wherein lies a potential challenge in specifying precisely the item(s) that merit specific distribution, addressing who receives them and the potential for family conflict where several members have a desire for a particular item. We will continue to develop this area of estate planning in subsequent articles.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

We are all Stars… we all share common dynamics of family relationships, and such is the case when it comes to the actions and reactions when deciding who receives personal belongings after the death of loved ones. The following is a link to a video published by the University of Minnesota Extension Service to help families make good decisions for distributing personal belongings that have sometimes financial value and sometimes personal and sentimental value, with a sensitivity to their family’s particular and unique circumstances, “Who Gets Grandma's Yellow Pie Plate?” It is an excellent guide in planning for distributing your personal belongings with understanding and sensitivity to avoid conflicts over your well intended inheritance. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3NNoVRQpI8.

Here in the Mount Hood community, we’re closer to Mount Hood than it seems. Being located within a valley our views of the peak are blocked by Zigzag Ridge. As the crow flies, it’s only 13 miles directly from the town of Welches to the peak of Mount Hood.

For being so close to the mountain we have few places to stand to view it. Because of that I thought that I would list some of my favorite places to photograph Mount Hood that don’t require a hike to get to.

Timberline Lodge – Timberline Lodge is at 6,000-feet of elevation on Mount Hood. Timberline Lodge can give some of the most epic views on Mount Hood’s south face. A bonus is being able to stand inside of the historic Timberline Lodge while looking out the massive windows that face the mountain, sipping a warm cup of your favorite beverage.

Lolo Pass Road – Lower Lolo Pass Road has an epic view of Mount Hood’s west face. This is the most iconic side as it faces Portland. Lolo Pass Road is not plowed in the Winter so be cautious, but at the lower end of Lolo Pass Road one can usually drive up for a view without worrying about snow. In the summer months it’s a great drive from Zigzag to Hood River Valley. It’s a great route to visit Lost Lake, which has its own iconic view of the mountain as well.

White River – White River West Sno-park is a great place to view Mount Hood’s east side. The White River passes by a large parking area with access to some excellent hiking or snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter. Be cautious if you wander down into the floodplain where the river winds its way down the mountain, creating varying river routes depending on the level of water. The whole area can be susceptible to flash floods, especially in the springtime when the mountain begins to thaw. Although it's not a frequent occurrence I’m always cautious when I’m near the river. Don’t let that deter you as there are plenty of safe places to stand for a photograph of Mount Hood with the river in the foreground.

Jonsrud Viewpoint – Jonsrud Viewpoint is one of my (and a great many photographers) favorite view. It’s a location that folks from all parts of the country, and many times around the world, come to photograph, especially at sunrise. Jonsrud Viewpoint is located on Bluff Road just past the high school. There’s a small park and limited parking there so get there early if you want to photograph a sunrise. The view at the overlook spreads out in front of you with the Sandy River below as it flows west from Mount Hood in the distance.

Trillium Lake – of course a list like this can’t exclude Trillium Lake. Trillium Lake is another view that photographers from all around the world come to photograph. And it’s easy to understand why. Trillium Lake was created in 1960 when wetlands were dammed creating the reflective lake that we call Trillium today. On the best windless days at Trillium Lake Mount Hood is reflected as if it were in a mirror. Because the mountain is so near, it is prominent in the photograph. It’s easily one of Oregon’s top iconic locations for a beautiful photograph.

Cloud Cap Inn – Cloud Cap Inn is on the north face of Mount Hood and is only accessible in the summer when the winding dirt road is clear of snow. I added Cloud Cap Inn for a couple of reasons. First is the view of Mount Hood’s north face from there. And Cloud Cap Inn is Mount Hood’s oldest building. Built in 1889 the hand-hewn log structure was once an inn for hearty souls that wanted to enjoy the hiking and snowshoeing that the area around the inn provides but is now maintained and preserved as a clubhouse for the Crag Rats climbing club. The inn is located at the 6,000-foot level, the same as Timberline on the south side, and gives you a short route to access above the tree line views of the mountain.

This is a short list, but I think that these are the best views that are accessible without much of a hike. Once one hits a few of the trails that we have available to us, a whole new world of epic views can be found.

I hate to start out the new year by writing about love – hate relationships, but that’s what comes to mind when I think of certain invasive plants. I love the way English ivy looks on the walls of university buildings, churches and other buildings, but I hate ivy when I see it in the forests in our area. I love picking and eating the delicious fruit of the Himalayan blackberry, aka Armenian blackberry, but I hate the dense mats of it in old pastures or other formerly open areas and along roadsides, streams, and trails. I love the glorious masses of yellow blossoms of Scotch broom in the springtime, but I hate the way it outcompetes native plants and takes over natural habitats.

These three plants were imported for what seemed like good reasons at the time, but now they are major problems.

According to the Oregon State Extension Service, English ivy is “a major invasive villain in the Pacific Northwest, from British Columbia to California.” It also is a baddie along the eastern seaboard from Georgia to New York. The Inavsive.org website explains that European colonists introduced English ivy as early as 1727 and since then it has been widely planted for its evergreen foliage and dependability as a year-round “carefree” groundcover. I’m ashamed to admit that in the two nursery operations classes I took on my way to a degree in forestry, I and my fellow students potted hundreds of ivy starts and sold them to raise funds for maintaining the greenhouse. We knew not what we were doing. This ivy has many forms: there are more than 400 varieties, or cultivars, that are grown in home gardens and even indoors. You may find ivy in retail nurseries, despite its reputation as an invasive plant.

“As a vine, it can completely engulf shrubs and encircles tree trunks of all sizes, leaving nothing uncovered,” wrote OSU Extension Service horticulturist Linda McMahan. “Shrubs shrouded in ivy may eventually die because light can’t reach their leaves. The sheer weight of the extra vegetation also weakens the plant it grows on, making it more susceptible to disease and blowdown. Trees usually survive ivy invasion, even though weakened by retaining a ‘broccoli head’ of foliage at the very top.”

Not only does English ivy blanket large portions of Portland’s 5,000-acre Forest Park, it also occupies beachheads in our area, such as along Barlow Trail Road just east and west of Brightwood Bridge Road. Please don’t plant English ivy in your yard, and if you do have it, don’t throw cuttings onto your compost pile or toss them into the woods or streams – these bits and pieces are likely to take root and then take over. Burn any trimmings, or seal them in plastic garbage bags and leave them in the sun for a few weeks. The same goes for ivy grown as houseplants. I once found an ivy plant growing in the woods along a road in Rhododendron — a variety with small, variegated leaves, that is often grown indoors. There were no other ivy plants nearby. Perhaps someone threw out some cuttings from a potted plant and a sprig fell off of the garbage truck and took root. That’s all it would take to start a new infestation of ivy.

Like ivy, our non-native Himalayan blackberry easily takes over any native vegetation wherever it gains a foothold. It was introduced into the U.S. by Luther Burbank, the famed American botanist, horticulturist and pioneer in agricultural science. In the 1880s, Burbank was working to improve berry taste and color by cross-pollinating different varieties. He imported the seeds of what he would call Himalayan blackberry from Eurasia and found that they produced vigorous plants and large crops of fruit. Unfortunately, birds found the berries tasty and spread the seeds far and wide though their droppings.

Today the thorny vines are found throughout most of the COW states – California, Oregon and Washington – as well as in isolated (so far) areas across the nation.

Himalayan blackberry tends to form monocultures that are difficult to eradicate. The plants can produce up to 13,000 seeds per square meter, and seeds can remain viable in the soil for several years. The sturdy canes and sharp thorns make the blackberry difficult to remove – I have the scars to prove it – and any bits of root left in the soil are likely to resprout. Mt. Hood Community College and the Metro regional government have been battling Himalayan blackberry on the campus and adjacent greenspace for years, and repeated mowing, followed by the application of herbicides when spouts emerge, seem to be keeping the plant at bay. They’re also battling garlic mustard, another nasty invasive, but that’s another story.

Scotch broom, too, competes with native plants and forms dense stands that are difficult to remove. A mature plant can produce up to 20,000 seeds per year, and those seeds can remain viable in the ground for as long as 60 to 80 years, allowing Scotch broom to quickly re-occupy a site after trees or native plants and grasses are removed.

Scotch broom, which is native to northern Africa and parts of Europe, was planted as an ornamental in the US starting in the 1850s and was later used the Pacific Northwest for dune stabilization, erosion control and as an ornamental along highway corridors. According to OSU Extension, it is now well established throughout western Oregon and is the state’s most extensive forest weed species. It also is a significant source of the pollen that effects allergy sufferers.

To remove Scotch broom, OSU Extension recommends digging up mature plants, including the root crown, or cutting them close to the ground each year before they produce seed pods, and in the spring pulling up any sprouts, roots and all, while they are small. Small Scotch broom plants that grow from seed can easily be pulled by hand; those springing from mature root systems usually break off, leaving the roots intact.

English ivy, Himalayan blackberry and Scotch broom are all noxious non-native weeds. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines noxious as physically harmful or destructive to living beings. We have enough noxious-ness in the world today, so how about making a New Year’s resolution to do something about these weeds when and where we can?

Have a question about invasive plants? Want to know how removing them can improve your mental health? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Plants are experts at responding to their surroundings. They may not be able to fly away from blustery conditions or sleep through the winter blues as many birds and mammals do, but plants react to the cold in other spectacular ways.

Some plants respond to dropping temperatures by:

– Hoarding sugars, making cells less prone to freezing. One example is the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), the plant that gives us maple syrup.

– Bulking up on fats and lipids, but instead of insulating themselves as we do, plant fats are used to alter the fluidity of cell membranes in an effort to prevent frost damage.

– Producing antifreeze proteins that bind to developing ice crystals, stalling ice growth before major damage can be done.

– Dying back to below ground hideouts, waiting until the weather warms to reemerge.

– Dropping their leaves, a process known as abscission. The word abscission comes from combining the Latin words "to cut” and “off.” It has the same root as the word “scissors.” Plants that lose their leaves are making the calculated decision to abandon the organs that are most likely to cause them winter harm.

Plants that shed their leaves are referred to as deciduous. The leaves they drop are often thin, flat and wide, much like pieces of paper. Thin flat leaves have a greater surface area to volume ratio than thick round leaves do. This makes them better at picking up sunlight for photosynthesis, which is the process plants use to make food.

Thin flat leaves are more likely to sustain freeze damage. Leaves are also the site of respiration and water loss. In areas with freezing winter temperatures, plants experience a time of drought because the water in the environment is frozen and unavailable. If a plant were to keep its leaves attached through winter, it could become deathly dehydrated while surrounded by snow.

The process of dropping leaves means a plant can retain water and avoid frostbite during the dry winter months, even if it means making do with less food.

Next time you look at your wintery garden or take a frosty hike through the woods, take a moment to reflect on the amazing survival skills of the plants that share our communities and wilderness with us.

Catherine Creech is a Biology Instructor at Mt. Hood Community College.

I won’t mince words: as a rural Democrat, I am no stranger to the fact that rural Oregonians’ interests sometimes get lost in the shuffle of statewide policy conversations. That’s why I was thrilled that the legislature, convening last month in a special session, passed a $100 million drought relief package with overwhelming bipartisan support.

In addition to Clackamas County’s Mountain communities, I represent all of Hood River County, where eight percent of privately owned land is dedicated to agriculture, and well over 75 percent of the irrigated cropland consists of pear and apple orchards. The majority of those orchards are family-owned, and they produce the bulk of our state’s 200,000 tons of pears each year (almost 300 pears per Oregonian!). Because this industry is such a major part of our shared regional economy, I have worked hard to ensure legislation we pass works to support the growers and farmworkers in the Mount Hood and Columbia Gorge regions.

Expanding my focus to the entire state, I am dismayed we don’t talk enough about Oregon’s role as an agricultural powerhouse. Over a quarter of our state by acreage is dedicated to agriculture, and these farms generate over $2.5 billion in annual exports from our state – 13 percent of the state’s gross product. Over 600,000 jobs in the state are ag- and food-related, paying about $30 billion in annual household wages.

But the future of agriculture in the Hood River Valley, Oregon and throughout the American West is uncertain, as 92 percent of our state is now facing severe drought. Back at home in Hood River, over 90 percent of the land is facing severe drought, and about ten percent of that land is classified as facing “extreme drought,” meaning even reservoirs and lakes are low. Clackamas County doesn’t fare much better, with 100 percent of the county rated “moderate drought” or worse. This points to potential trouble in 2022 for Oregon’s pear crops, not to mention the cherry and caneberry crops that are even more sensitive to heat and drought (and which suffered historically low harvests last year due to the heat dome).

As we confront climate change, Oregon is on the precipice of an agricultural emergency. Growers of major international commodities like corn and soy – crops primarily grown in central states – have the luxury of relying on federal subsidies to get them through spare years. Oregon’s specialty crops can’t fall back on any such relief. They need their state government to see them through, and I’m so happy that we answered their call.

This drought relief package includes $10 million in direct payments to farmworkers who have to miss work due to extreme heat or wildfire smoke – both of which are unfortunately likely to occur during the 2022 growing season. It also includes $40 million for an agricultural forgivable disaster loan program, in addition to other targeted investments in drought relief and resiliency our state so desperately needs.

When we protect the security of small farms in our state, we also protect the reliable jobs and incomes of almost 200,000 farmworkers. As we continue important and difficult conversations about historic injustices and the challenging work of correcting them, let’s not cause new problems for the farmworker community by allowing family farms to go under because of drought.

I’m proud that much-needed drought relief was among the few pressing priorities that were addressed by the legislature in this special session.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me at Rep.AnnaWilliams@oregonlegislature.gov.

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

When talking to neighbors in Sandy, it usually doesn’t take very long for the issue of traffic to come up. In fact, when I first announced my candidacy for mayor three years ago, I ran on a platform of addressing our communities’ transportations system and building new roads. As one of the fastest growing communities in Oregon, Sandy is at a critical juncture with our transportation system.

With the drastic growth in popularity of Central Oregon and the Mount Hood recreational area, what was once seasonal winter traffic, is now a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year thoroughfare right through heart of our community.

As a result, I challenged our local leaders to think both long term and big. Having worked in the state senate in the early 2000s, I was keenly aware of how long large infrastructure projects take to come to fruition. Back in 2005 we were in the middle of planning the Newberg-Dundee bypass. In 2016 only phase 1 of that project was completed with no plans to start the second phase.

Knowing this, I proposed that Sandy begin our process of looking at our own bypass options. We just couldn’t wait to begin our planning any longer. A community of our size needs to start early and be strategic in such a project. In my first term as mayor, I succeeded in negotiating a joint venture between the city and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to conduct a feasibility study.

Getting this study is a huge development for our community. It’s been more than a decade since there’s been any research, and never a full study, on the viability of an alternate route to alleviate traffic congestion. City leaders have been left in the dark on the potential cost, location, impact on local businesses or even public opinion on such a project. This study will allow us to finally begin to develop a long-term plan for our transportations system, while also taking important steps to enhance the commute through our town in the immediate future.

That study came back and was presented to our City Council in December. The results are incredibly hopeful. It found that not only is a bypass possible, but it’s much more affordable than originally expected. Additionally, the study found that if the bypass is not completed, certain intersections in Sandy on Hwy. 26 would exceed mobility targets, even with local street improvements.

According to the study, the target date for such a project would be 2040 and would include four lanes (two eastbound and two westbound) and would intersect with Hwy. 26 at Orient Rd and Shorty’s corner.

In today's dollars, the cost is estimated at approximately $250 million and nearly a $1 billion in 2040 dollars.

Additionally, the report found that currently 30 percent of traffic that goes through Sandy never stops in our town. The bypass would divert approximately 40 percent of commuters leaving a much more shopper-friendly and walkable downtown for both our neighbors and visitors alike.

To put the impact this project could have on future residents in perspective, it only takes a couple of minutes to dive through Sandy today. This study projects it would take nearly 12 minutes on average to get through Sandy in the year 2040. While 20 years feels like a long time now, imagine how long it will take if we wait 20 years from now to begin the process.

Infrastructure projects for streets, roads and bridges take a significant amount of planning and can often take years, if not decades, to complete. Leaders must develop a plan that is supported by local residents, business owners and local stakeholders, and then advocate on behalf of that plan to other elected leaders at the state and national level to secure financing, as well as land for such projects.

This is the first step in that process. Sandy needs to take our destiny into our own hands and look out for our future, which is currently headed towards worsening gridlock. Building a bypass will make Sandy an even more attractive destination, not just a passthrough.

Our city is committed to moving forward and addressing our major traffic congestion needs. We will carefully review the presented data and take action in the near future. We must, as it is always our overarching goal to keep Sandy wonderful now and long into the future.

Stan Pulliam is the Mayor of the City of Sandy.

Have you ever made stock? Made from scratch, it is delicious as a base to a soup or sauce, or just sip and savor in a mug.

Stock in a pot or a crock is perfect for a winter day.

2 lbs. soup bones with marrow

3 large stalks of celery, chopped

1 T olive or avocado oil

Sear bones on each side with oil in large stock pot, then add garlic, onions, peppercorns and salt. Cook about five minutes and then add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook at least four hours.  Strain and let cool, spooning off excess fat. Cool completely, freeze flat in large container.

1 lb. chuck roast cut into chunks

1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1 lb. cooked pappardelle pasta reserve 1 cup pasta water

I thinly sliced small onion

Brown beef on all sides in olive oil with salt and pepper on medium-high heat, then add remaining ingredients, except cheese, parsley and pasta water.

Reduce heat to low and simmer two hours. Pull meat from mixture, shred and place back in pot, then add pasta, cheese, parsley and toss and a few tablespoons of the pasta water if needed to moisten.

Ever since my teen years painting roads, I notice the stripes as I travel. I never really saw them before. Never thought about how they got there. I didn't notice whether a re-trace was done well or if the bead coat still had its luster.

Similarly, being a chiropractor, I am in a constant state of gait and posture analysis, drastically changing my people-watching habits. I consistently observe a predominance of poor head posture in patients and the general population, specifically, an anterior head carriage. Like roads that need re-striping, I see necks that need rehabilitation.

Why is this such a common occurrence? What is causing this poor posture pandemic? Our neck vertebrae have a lot "stacked" against them:

– A bowling ball-sized head that needs support

– Phone use creating flexed positions for long periods

– A high incidence of whiplash injuries from sports and auto injuries

What can we do? We can start by looking at our posture. We tend to elevate our shoulders and jut our heads forward, creating a slumped position. When we are stressed, we wear our shoulders as earrings. Some of us were taught to have a ballet or military posture with the upper back arched backward, which can jam the upper back. There is a better way to create a neutral stance in the body:

– Start with a neutral pelvis.

– Activate your abdominal and low back muscles slightly to hold a good lower body posture.

– Bring your shoulders down like you are carrying heavy grocery bags, and then bring your chin and forehead back evenly, retracting the head.

– Picture a string on top of your head pulling up, stretching and elongating the spine, then wiggle a little to relax into that stance.

We can work on our posture when on our phones. A new phrase called "tech neck" describes what is happening to us. A ten-pound head turns into a 50-pounder with a four-inch forward lean, causing the muscles designed to move your body to become stabilizers. This creates an imbalance in the neck and upper back muscles. Try to bring your phone up when looking at it to save your neck and try to be on your phone less. Your neck AND your brain will thank you!

I was giving a talk to about 50 people and I asked how many had been in a car accident. Only one had not and most had been in more than one. Our bodies were not made to withstand these auto impacts and our neck is usually the weakest link. If you were one of the unlucky ones in the demolition derby that was Timberline Road on the 20th, you might be feeling the effects of whiplash.

The neck's sudden back and forth movement even at low speeds can cause neck pain and stiffness, shoulder pain and headaches. Without proper treatment and exercise, the damaged muscles and ligaments can lead to imbalances that result in a straightening of the cervical lordotic curve that should bring the head back on top of the body.

Chiropractic adjustments as you heal will help restore your alignment, mobility and function. In Oregon, your auto insurance pays for your treatments after an injury. Many people do not know that and miss the care they need.

Be sure to be evaluated by a chiropractor after an accident for damage "under the hood." We often remember to fix our cars and neglect to fix our bodies. If you do not get these injuries appropriately addressed, it can lead to long-term pain, degeneration and dysfunction.

Sleep and work positions are important to look at for a healthy neck. When sleeping on your back, make sure you have cervical support. I like the memory foam contour pillows, but really anything that fits you well and pushes into the dead space to support the neck curve works - even a rolled-up towel. See what feels good to you.

When side sleeping, your head should be neutral and your nose should align with your navel. Avoid raising your arm above your head when side sleeping. Instead, keep your arms in front, hugging a pillow (or your sweetie) or in a prayer position. Check your work ergonomics and use a sit-stand desk with frequent breaks to move and stretch if stationary. If your post-pandemic job situation finds you at home, make sure you aren't spending the day on the couch with your laptop. You can make a laptop ergonomic with a wireless mouse, keyboard and thick books to prop up the computer. Eyes should be about even with the top of the screen.

Stretching and strengthening the neck feels good and can make a significant difference if done consistently. Avoid bouncing when stretching. Go into the stretch slowly and then hold for 10-20 seconds while breathing.

Starting in a standing or seated position, bring your ear to your shoulder each way, next look to the right over your shoulder and then to the left. You can end with gentle slow neck circles both ways.

Lie on your back with your chin tucked and lift your head slightly from the pillow to strengthen the neck. Hold. Increase holding time as your neck becomes stronger. You feel good when you are more upright, but you also look and feel more confident.

As I people-watch in our mountain community this month, I hope to see some taller, straighter spines. Happy New Year, everyone!

As we settle into winter, it is much more appealing to stay under the covers in the cold mornings as we start to feel those aches and pains and mental sluggishness. One thing that is often forgotten to ease this transition, and improve your overall health, is hydration.

We often think of thirst as our only indicator of dehydration. But 75 percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated, and in 37 percent, the thirst sensation is so impaired that they might mistake thirst for feelings of hunger. The elderly start to lose their thirst sensation and may drink less than in their younger years, decreasing strength and memory function. Kids are dependent on their parents to make sure they are consistently drinking enough water to feel their best and function well in life and school.

For you aquaphiles out there, good for you! For the many people who don’t inherently crave water, it is more important to strategize about your daily consumption. I’m not sure if it’s the salty well water I grew up with or the fact that I’m “too busy” to pee all the time, but I have never enjoyed drinking water regularly. Being health-conscious, I try to focus on the “whys” to keep me motivated.

For starters, we can change the old adage to say, “An ounce of water is worth a pound of pills.” You can decrease your risk factors for disease by staying hydrated. Water is a cleansing agent that helps the kidneys to eliminate toxins from the body via the bladder. Water also helps with constipation. “The solution to pollution is dilution.” You should not have a book in the bathroom (unless you are hiding from your kids).

And if you eat every day, you should poop every day! Water helps the fiber clean the intestines like a broom. My great-grandpa lived to be 100 years old. I believe it was because he drank adequate water and ate oatmeal every morning, cleansing his body regularly of disease-causing toxins. In a study with 20,000 participants, consuming only five glasses of water per day decreased the risk of cardiovascular disease by 46 percent in men and 59 percent in women. A significant reduction in breast and bladder cancers was also shown. Hydration prevents headaches, can improve mood and energy. Water is a natural Botox alternative. You will turn from a raisin into a grape with smoother, more glowing skin!

Now to put this hydration plan into action, where to start? First, when people offer you water, always say YES! Fill your bottles in the morning or have a favorite water bottle that you fill a few times per day. Drink a little a lot, don’t flood your body all at once. I set my timer to squawk at me every hour from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. to help me get a jump-start on changing my habit. My kids enjoyed hearing the alarm and bringing me my water. Start the day with a glass of warm lemon water. Not only will you be hydrating, but you will be supporting your liver and digestive systems too!

You can’t talk about hydration without discussing water quality, so let’s dive into that for a minute. So, the H2O has arrived at your sink, but what came with it? It is essential to know your water because not all water is the same. Depending on your location, there could be prescription drugs, radon, arsenic, aluminum, mercury, asbestos, coliform bacteria, nitrates/nitrites, lead or other contaminants. But hold on, we want to hydrate to detoxify here, not to increase our toxic exposure! With the state of our world and, subsequently, our environment, we must try our best not to contaminate our bodies as we hydrate them!

Most of our water comes from lakes, rivers, reservoirs and from groundwater. If you have city water, water then flows from intake points to a treatment plant, a storage tank and then to our houses through various pipe systems. Water reports are available to the public for your review. If you get your water from a private well, there is no “treatment plant” - you handle maintenance, testing and operation. Wells should be checked and tested annually for mechanical problems, cleanliness and the presence of contaminants. Whole house filters need to be changed regularly.

There are many ways to purify water beyond what comes from our city or from our well. The most common are fridge filters, for which you can upgrade your cartridge. There are pitcher-style purifiers, reverse osmosis filtration systems for under your sink and various other methods. Find what works best for you to get closer to pure H2O.

If you have perfected your home filtration system, take water on the go instead of investing in expensive bottled water. Most bottled water comes in bottles made of plastic #1, deemed the safest by the FDA. Still, some contain #7, which may contain BPA, the most dangerous form of plastic which is banned in many countries. Reusable water bottles can be made of these plastics, so check the codes stamped on the bottom. Some metal water bottles have BPA lining, so be diligent. My favorite water bottle is my glass bottle with a felt cover with a carrying clip. Works great for me since my hands are always full, and no plastic or metal aftertaste!

The hydration challenge comes with a reward. Whether you are drinking half your body’s weight in ounces, or eight glasses per day, just get it in there! You will feel more energized, and you will receive endless health benefits. It’s simple, it’s free and your body will thank you!

You know what is tangible and intangible… or do you?

As conveyed in the prior article, assets are defined as either real property or personal property.

Tangibles are those items classified by law as ‘personal property’ that can be felt or touched and are moveable, i.e., can be physically relocated. Further these items have intrinsic value, rather than representative value.

Intangibles are defined as personal property, in comparison, as those assets that cannot be directly felt or touched e.g., stocks, bonds, bank accounts etc. regardless that they may have a paper embodiment, i.e., representative value.

“I’ve got it,” you say. But there are items that are not so immediately discernable that can leave the administrator of your estate looking to the legal definitions, or the counsel of an attorney, to determine how to account for, report on and distribute certain items.

Items like the grandfather clock, the wedding ring, the furniture in the home and the jewelry are obvious contenders as tangibles. But others may not be so clear cut.

Where do items like cash, coins, gold bullion and gold bars fall? The cash and coins used for currency or normal legal tender belong in the category of intangibles, along with the value of your bank accounts, stocks etc. But what about that coin collection? In general, that is often considered a ‘tangible’ asset. And what about gold bullion and gold bars. These are not used for normal legal tender. You cannot go to the local grocery store and present them to the teller to pay at the checkout stand. Nonetheless, at times these are considered tangible items, and at others intangible. By example, if the gold bullion is part of a coin collection, they may be considered tangible items. However, in one ruling the IRS declared that South African Krugerrands, one of the best-known types of gold bullion coin, are more akin to money than the coins of a coin collection. So, the money in the cookie jar, the dollar bills stashed under the bed or stuffed in the mattress and the bills and change in the deceased’s wallet are all intangible personal property to be accounted for and distributed according to the terms of the residuary estate generally speaking. The other assets mentioned in the paragraph can be handled either as tangible or intangible assets in developing the estate plan according to more complex determinations.

And here is another interesting one to contemplate. What about that front door to the homestead home, hand carved by your grandfather? As mentioned, real property, realty, is distinct from personal property, personally. Realty is defined as real estate and as property that is attached or fixed to real estate. Could the door be bequeathed as a ‘tangible item’ to a member of the family, because of the family value it holds? Bearing in mind that laws governing real property and therefore the definitions of such are dependent on the jurisdiction in which they are located, it is possible. The door is attached to the house; therefore, one could say it is realty. However, it might come under the definition of ‘fixture,’ i.e., that which can be removed without damaging the building to which it is attached. Therefore, it could be possible to designate the transfer of the homestead under the realty distributions of your estate plan, and designate the door as a separate transfer to a great-grand-nephew who would value having the door for his own home, under the tangibles distributions of your plan.

Interesting to consider and to know that tangibles hold more in the considerations of your estate planning than might meet the eye.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

Thinking about the reference to the ‘old school practice’ of stashing cash and coins in hidden places, here are a few interesting accounts in response to a journalist’s research on the topic conducted by the Chicago Tribune:

One police chief reported that his mother kept cash and valuables in an empty ice cream container in the freezer.

This intrigued the chief so much that he conducted his own straw poll of the department’s staff and found most everyone had a story. One officer's grandmother tucked $100 bills inside sweatbands of old hats; others had relatives who stashed sums in a plastic container in the bottom of a dog food canister, phony outlets or toilet tanks.

Another person reported his 83-year-old mother had $13,000 in an envelope taped to the back of an antique bedroom mirror.

And then there was the person whose father had “a wad of emergency cash” stashed inside his central air-conditioning system.

All those intangible assets sequestered away in what the Chicago Tribune dubbed “inheritance hide and seek.”

It’s that time of the year here in Oregon when the days are short and the cloud-covered skies block the light from the sun that’s filtered through the tall trees. Temperatures drop and the rain comes. If you don’t walk the dog before 5 p.m. you’re walking in the darkness.

I accept it and don’t usually complain until around the end of March. I acknowledge that the cool rainy season that we get is what provides the beauty in the forest that surrounds us here around Mount Hood, but that doesn’t keep me from trying to plan an escape to open roads and open skies. In my mind spring and fall are the best times for road trips. Summer is too hot and winter too cold, but spring and fall provide temperate weather with spring flowers and fall leaves an added gift.

My natural inclination when I want to find open space and solitude is to head to the desert. I have spent a lot of time solo hiking in the deserts of Eastern Oregon, Southern Utah and Arizona including a trip down the rugged Tanner Canyon to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I think that living in the forests of Oregon most of my life has made me appreciate the dryness and openness of the desert. Conditions that are completely opposite of the Mount Hood National Forest.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Bruce and I carpooled to Utah to spend some time camping in the desert. We explored some unique places and created some beautiful desert landscape photos. As fulfilling as creating beautiful photos at beautiful places is, spending time with a good friend with a common interest is even better.

Bruce and I are philosophically similar but politically dissimilar, which makes some interesting conversation while travelling 80 MPH down a road that stretches from one horizon to the other, but we respect each other and through conversations that last for miles and miles, have found that we’re not that far from common ground than the world that we escape on these trips wants to make us believe.

Day one started at daybreak in Bend at Bruce’s home and by sunset we were camped at a Bureau of Land Management campground in the no-where land of Nevada called Illipah Creek Reservoir. As we sat there around our propane fueled campfire, we could see a herd of wild horse grazing and drinking down by the shore of the reservoir while we were being serenaded by coyotes in the near distance. The next morning was frosty. We hit the road right away for our next stop, Hanksville, Utah.

Hanksville is an incredible place. It lies in the red rock country near Capitol Reef National Park, an amazing place full of canyons, cliffs, domes and natural bridges. Capitol Reef is a huge “wrinkle” in the earth that extends almost 100 miles.

Geologically it’s both breathtakingly beautiful and fascinating at the same time. The landscapes that have been weathered by time have no moss or forests to cover them. The erosion exposes layers of sediment of different colors and textures. When the sun rises or sets it casts a horizontal light across the land revealing the textures and patterns of the desert.

Our campsite was pretty epic as it sat on the edge of a 400-foot cliff that gave us a view of a landscape reminiscent of the moon. It was a stark contrast to the red rocks as it was primarily grey in color. Canyons and arroyos formed by thousands of years of scant rain created a scene that was simply beautiful to just sit on the edge of the cliff and observe as the light passed over it. During the daytime the sky was dappled with cotton ball clouds which made beautiful patches of shadow that moved through the scene.

The next morning, we were able to fly our drones around Factory Butte at sunrise which provided some incredible aerial landscape photos. After which we took an off-highway trip on primitive roads through Capitol Reef.

Through the grapevine several other landscape photographers that we know, who were in the area, stopped by camp to say hello. After some good conversation and a cold beverage or two, we ended the day with a sunset before getting ready to travel to Bryce Canyon National Park the next morning.

Ever since I was a boy looking through my View-Master at the incredible orange layers and towering spires I've wanted to visit Bryce Canyon. After spending a day and a half there, including photographing the canyon by moonlight, I’m planning my return to spend a week hiking the trails that wind through a geology fantasy land.

After a sunrise at the appropriately named Sunrise Viewpoint we headed back into Nevada and stopped by an incredible place that I had never heard of; Cathedral Gorge State Park, an interesting Bentonite mud formation weathered by time into amazing castellated formations and slot canyons that one can explore. This place showed me that there’s a lot more out there to see than just National Parks for those who take the time to explore the less travelled roads.

We ended our trip with a stop for lunch at Fields Station near the rugged Steens Mountain and the Alvord Desert, and by nightfall we were back in Bend. In all we spent a week making a loop seeing some beautiful desert scenery.

I must say this though, once I was back home here on the Mountain the damp, moist air and the beautiful conifer forests were welcomed. I think that I’m prepared now for winter.

Ask me again how that’s going come March.

As we settle into winter, it is much more appealing to stay under the covers in the cold mornings as we start to feel those aches and pains and mental sluggishness. One thing that is often forgotten to ease this transition, and improve your overall health, is hydration.

We often think of thirst as our only indicator of dehydration. But 75 percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated, and in 37 percent, the thirst sensation is so impaired that they might mistake thirst for feelings of hunger. The elderly start to lose their thirst sensation and may drink less than in their younger years, decreasing strength and memory function. Kids are dependent on their parents to make sure they are consistently drinking enough water to feel their best and function well in life and school.

For you aquaphiles out there, good for you! For the many people who don’t inherently crave water, it is more important to strategize about your daily consumption. I’m not sure if it’s the salty well water I grew up with or the fact that I’m “too busy” to pee all the time, but I have never enjoyed drinking water regularly. Being health-conscious, I try to focus on the “whys” to keep me motivated.

For starters, we can change the old adage to say, “An ounce of water is worth a pound of pills.” You can decrease your risk factors for disease by staying hydrated. Water is a cleansing agent that helps the kidneys to eliminate toxins from the body via the bladder. Water also helps with constipation. “The solution to pollution is dilution.” You should not have a book in the bathroom (unless you are hiding from your kids).

And if you eat every day, you should poop every day! Water helps the fiber clean the intestines like a broom. My great-grandpa lived to be 100 years old. I believe it was because he drank adequate water and ate oatmeal every morning, cleansing his body regularly of disease-causing toxins. In a study with 20,000 participants, consuming only five glasses of water per day decreased the risk of cardiovascular disease by 46 percent in men and 59 percent in women. A significant reduction in breast and bladder cancers was also shown. Hydration prevents headaches, can improve mood and energy. Water is a natural Botox alternative. You will turn from a raisin into a grape with smoother, more glowing skin!

Now to put this hydration plan into action, where to start? First, when people offer you water, always say YES! Fill your bottles in the morning or have a favorite water bottle that you fill a few times per day. Drink a little a lot, don’t flood your body all at once. I set my timer to squawk at me every hour from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. to help me get a jump-start on changing my habit. My kids enjoyed hearing the alarm and bringing me my water. Start the day with a glass of warm lemon water. Not only will you be hydrating, but you will be supporting your liver and digestive systems too!

You can’t talk about hydration without discussing water quality, so let’s dive into that for a minute. So, the H2O has arrived at your sink, but what came with it? It is essential to know your water because not all water is the same. Depending on your location, there could be prescription drugs, radon, arsenic, aluminum, mercury, asbestos, coliform bacteria, nitrates/nitrites, lead or other contaminants. But hold on, we want to hydrate to detoxify here, not to increase our toxic exposure! With the state of our world and, subsequently, our environment, we must try our best not to contaminate our bodies as we hydrate them!

Most of our water comes from lakes, rivers, reservoirs and from groundwater. If you have city water, water then flows from intake points to a treatment plant, a storage tank and then to our houses through various pipe systems. Water reports are available to the public for your review. If you get your water from a private well, there is no “treatment plant” - you handle maintenance, testing and operation. Wells should be checked and tested annually for mechanical problems, cleanliness and the presence of contaminants. Whole house filters need to be changed regularly.

There are many ways to purify water beyond what comes from our city or from our well. The most common are fridge filters, for which you can upgrade your cartridge. There are pitcher-style purifiers, reverse osmosis filtration systems for under your sink and various other methods. Find what works best for you to get closer to pure H2O.

If you have perfected your home filtration system, take water on the go instead of investing in expensive bottled water. Most bottled water comes in bottles made of plastic #1, deemed the safest by the FDA. Still, some contain #7, which may contain BPA, the most dangerous form of plastic which is banned in many countries. Reusable water bottles can be made of these plastics, so check the codes stamped on the bottom. Some metal water bottles have BPA lining, so be diligent. My favorite water bottle is my glass bottle with a felt cover with a carrying clip. Works great for me since my hands are always full, and no plastic or metal aftertaste!

The hydration challenge comes with a reward. Whether you are drinking half your body’s weight in ounces, or eight glasses per day, just get it in there! You will feel more energized, and you will receive endless health benefits. It’s simple, it’s free and your body will thank you!

Do you think we had enough rain in mid-November? The atmospheric river that flowed across our region from Nov. 10-13 dropped 6.25 inches of liquid Oregon sunshine in my Mountain rain gauge (a flat-bottomed bucket), and another 1.5 inches from Nov. 15-16. That’s about two-thirds of the 12 inches Bend gets in an entire year. When I tell folks from outside of the wet side of the Pacific Northwest about how much rain we get, I mention the 10+ feet of rain we got in the winter of 1996-97. They ask how I can stand living in a rainforest. I love the rain, I say, because it’s free water for my well and it keeps the moss on my back green and luxuriant.

Mosses are everywhere in our area – on trees and shrubs, on the ground, on bare rock, on roofs and automobiles and in the cracks between paving stones and bricks. In winter, while the oxalis and bracken are in the midst of their winter slumber, the mosses keep the forest floor green and vibrant.

Not only mosses, but liverworts and hornworts, too, all of which are bryophytes. And which are not to be confused with lichens, some of which are commonly called mosses. The long light-green old man’s beard or Methuselah’s beard that we see hanging in long tendrils from tree branches are not “Spanish moss,” but types of lichen. Lichens are not plants, but a symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, fungi and algae.

Estimates of the number of bryophyte species in the world range from 18,000 to 25,000. They live almost everywhere on Earth, including Antarctica. A publication by the U.S. Geological Survey, “Bryophytes and lichens: Small but indispensable forest dwellers,” explains that bryophytes are small green plants that, compared to flowering trees and plants, “have primitive tissues for conducting food and water, and they lack a protective outer surface to maintain water balance. Most bryophytes, because they lack tissues such as roots, obtain their water through direct surface contact with their environment. During dry weather they have the capacity to withstand complete dehydration. Bryophytes that are dry may appear dead but will regain normal function when moisture is available. Instead of producing seeds, bryophytes can either reproduce sexually by means of spores, or asexually when small pieces break off and grow into new individuals” (see tinyurl.com/dvw48ecx).

A book I’ve recommended in previous columns, “Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast,” by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon, has sections devoted to mosses, liverworts and lichens. The iNaturalist web site has a wealth of photographs of mosses and liverworts and the locations where people have found them (tinyurl.com/3k6vhs4x). Honestly, I can’t tell the difference between mosses, liverworts and hornworts – to the untrained eye, they’re very similar in appearance.

“Living with Mosses,” an online publication produced by Oregon State University students and faculty (Go Beavs!), notes that mosses have important uses:

“Unknown to most of us, mosses actually have many uses, from ecological to medical with a suite of common household uses in between. One of the better known ecological uses of moss is as bioindicators of air pollution, such as those caused by factory emissions. They are very good indicators of acid rain damage to an ecosystem as well. Mosses are also used as erosion control agents as they aid in moisture control and stabilization of soil that would either be wind blown or washed away by water. Mosses occupy an important ecological niche in arctic and subarctic ecosystems where moss symbionts provide most nitrogen fixation in these ecosystems, as compared to the leguminous associations that are responsible for this job in temperate regions. Mosses can also be used as bioindicators of water pollution and treatment of wastewater. Throughout history mosses have been used in horticulture because they are beneficial to the soil. Mosses increase the amount of water soil can store and improve soil’s nutrient holding capacity.”

The publication also has information about controlling mosses where people don’t want them, such as on roofs and in lawns, as well as how to encourage mosses where people do want them, such as in residential gardens and formal moss gardens. The Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, Wash., has a moss garden with 40 species.

One thing I love about bryophytes are that many of them have interesting names. For example, crisped pincushion moss, goblin’s gold moss and hanging millipede liverwort. Lichens, do, too: bloody beard, pimpled kidney, punctured rocktripe and questionable rock-frog. No, I did not make up those names.

Go outside and look around you, even get down on your hands and knees sometime when it’s not so wet, and take a close-up look at the world of the bryophytes. These underappreciated plants are as beautiful and varied, if not more so, as the forests around and above them.

A follow-up to last month’s column on forest resilience and climate change. I love the headline of this Nov. 5 article in the Sacramento Bee: “Beetles have more sex when it’s hot – and it’s killing pine trees in CA, study finds” (see tinyurl.com/yt5fffff). The article explains that “Hot temperatures usually make people tired and lazy, but for the western bark beetle, the heat just makes them want to have a lot of sex – and that’s bad news for giant pine trees scattered across the West Coast.” It’s actually the western pine beetle, which is one of many bark beetles.

Do beetles that prefer Douglas-fir also get randy when it’s hot? I don’t know, but if it turns out that they do, I’ll want to use “Beetles having more sex in Mountain trees!” as a headline in a Woodsman column.

Have a question about bryophytes? Want to know how to safely remove moss from your back? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

In government, it’s important to strike a balance between responding to current crises and making policies that will avoid future ones. I think of these as “reactive policies” and “proactive policies,” and in a perfect and predictable world, we would only have to worry about the latter. Of course, this world is far from perfect, and it’s even less predictable.

As a result, a lot of decisions the people make (whether by electing legislators or by voting directly on ballot measures) are between reactive and proactive policies. Oregon’s housing crisis provides a good example: in order to address homelessness, we are working reactively to find temporary shelter for unhoused people with no better option than to camp outdoors. At the same time, we are establishing better services and economic support for people who may potentially face homelessness in the future, so we can avoid the need for even more emergency shelter.

It’s a tough decision, though, because for every dollar we spend on preventing future homelessness, we have one less dollar to put toward immediate shelter funding to address the current crisis. In so many cases, this one-to-one balance is the best we can do: to fix issues we’re confronting now, we have to turn a blind eye to the prevention of future ones, and vice versa. But what if we could do both at once?

Adult homelessness is complicated. There are a lot of factors that can lead to a person’s inability to find or maintain affordable housing: medical expenses, loss of employment, domestic violence, lack of access to mental health care, extensive debt or any of hundreds of other things. Above all else, though, the number one factor that leads to adult homelessness is youth homelessness. Deprived of the safety and security of a roof over their heads and stable family relationships, kids who experience homelessness are more likely than not to experience homelessness as adults.

In 2021, I was proud to support a bill that made significant investments to address youth homelessness. That bill provided $4.4 million to the Oregon Department of Human Services to award grants to service providers for homeless youth, as well as “host homes,” which provide unaccompanied homeless minors with safe housing without involving them in the already strained foster care system. Still, though, these resources aren’t nearly enough to address the full scope of the problem. The limited resources that were provided will be focused in areas with established service providers and host home networks, meaning homeless youth who live outside of major population centers may literally be left out in the cold.

For 2022, I have proposed a follow-up bill to direct funding specifically to parts of the state where few or no service providers for homeless youth exist. This new bill will also take existing support that’s available to foster youth, such as tuition support and funding for independent housing, and extend those same supports to homeless youth as well. Finally, it will establish an eviction prevention program within the Department of Education, to help school districts provide housing support to students experiencing homelessness or families that are about to lose their housing. A similar program that was recently piloted in Portland was able to keep 113 students housed with an investment of only $20,000. Directing funding for a similar program to areas with cheaper housing markets will go even further toward improving stability for students on the edge of homelessness.

These sound like small fixes, but they will have huge impacts. Every homeless child who is able to get a roof over their head is a child whose lower stress might lead to better educational outcomes, who can have a stable social life, who can grow up into a successful and self-reliant adult. It could make the difference in whether they get involved with the criminal justice system. It will reduce the likelihood they will struggle with drug abuse. This is the purpose of proactive policy: that small investments now can avoid bigger costs in the future. If that sort of proactive policy also has the direct and immediate result of getting a homeless child off of the streets, then that’s a win-win for Oregon.

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

Every year I look the most forward to this annual December holiday season column. The holiday season in Sandy is always my favorite time of the year. From our city’s annual tree lighting to our charitable giving traditions, the holiday season is where Sandy really shines as the wonderful community we are.

Thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic, many of our most cherished traditions have been drastically impacted over the last couple of years. While some of this year’s activities are of a “hybrid” nature, allowing for individuals to choose what works best for their personal comfort level, I am proud to say that our holiday traditions are back and for the most part will feel as special as ever.

Considering our current national supply chain logistics issues and the fact that many of our local businesses are still recovering from the pandemic, it has never been a better and more convenient time to both shop and dine local. It is said that a single dollar spent locally gets spent four additional times here in our community. Whether it be shopping for your gifts or a gift card at a local store or grabbing some food on your way to get the tree, Sandy has everything you need to spread holiday cheer.

Perhaps the most popular holiday tradition in Sandy is the annual Sandy Community Christmas Basket Program sponsored by the Sandy Kiwanis Club. Planning is already underway for their 66th anniversary of the program! Last year 350 families were able to be assisted. The Sandy High School Key Club is back up and going and will have their traditional canned food drives this year as well. To help the Kiwanis purchase food or to donate, please send checks to Sandy Community Christmas Baskets, P.O. Box 1261, Sandy, OR 97055 or find them online at sandykiwanis.org/ChristmasBasket.html.

This year each basket will have the same items as in the past for a holiday meal: a ham and all the sides to go with it.

Our annual Holiday Tree Lighting will be in person this year with a hybrid drive-through option as well. This year’s event will be held from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3. The lighting will also be a live streamed event with holiday messages from well-known community members. Please visit the event Facebook page for the latest details for this incredibly special event.

Sandy’s Helping Hands is doing their annual “Christmas in the Community” program, where they provide Christmas dinner and gifts to local families in need. If you’re interested in helping, please visit the Sandy’s Helping Hands Facebook page to purchase gifts off of their Amazon list. This year, they’re hoping to give the gift of Christmas to nearly 25 families.

While the past couple of years has brought its share of challenges, sometimes we need these moments in our lives to remind us of how truly special this place we live truly is. Whether it’s our community gatherings, charitable opportunities or just wishing each other “Merry Christmas” while passing each other at the grocery store – this time of year reminds us why it’s so important to have our eye on our united mission, to always keep Sandy wonderful.

Stan Pulliam is the Mayor of the City of Sandy.

Standing on the summit of Mount St. Helens, my long-time friend and climbing partner beside me, I looked down into the horseshoe-shaped crater caused by the eruption in 1980. From our vantage point, we could see Mount Rainier to the north and Mount Hood to the south.

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend New Year’s Day 2014. Summitting the mountain felt like the most memorable chapter of the day. Soon a scream for help would prove me wrong.

We started our descent from the 8,365-foot peak on schedule, with plenty of daylight left. Crampons strapped to our feet and ice picks in hand, we worked our way down the rugged snow and ice-covered route to the seismic station at 6,200 feet. There we removed our crampons and chatted about the weather with a man and woman heading up the mountain. They continue up and we began hiking down. A few minutes later, a cry for help rang out.

Wilderness Responder Training Kicks In

I am a Wilderness First Responder instructor. I teach people how to respond to emergency medical issues in remote settings where help is not readily available and perform evacuations.

When my friend and I reached the couple, the woman was sitting on the ground holding her leg. They had not donned their crampons yet, and during her ascent, she had stepped on an icy patch, twisted her left leg and fell. I quickly assessed her to make sure she did not have any life-threatening injuries.

Her left leg was unstable and any movement caused agony. I took stock of the materials we had on hand: one pair of trekking poles, ice axes, a small first aid kit, a tarp and some duct tape. Using trekking poles and straps from our backpacks I created a sandwich splint. Once the splint was in place, it relieved some of her pain.

Even with the splint on, any abrupt movement of her legs caused pain. The trailhead was three miles away, three miles of snow and ice.

911 is no Guarantee in the Wilderness

Many people assume 911 can come to the rescue, that wherever they are help is a phone call away. Aside from the risk of no cell phone service, most people don't realize that much of the Pacific Northwest’s rural areas have greatly reduced access to lifesaving medical care. If someone is severely injured in a rural area, their chance of dying is three to four times higher than in an urban area.

We did have cell coverage and called 911. The news was not good. Search and rescue would take at least six hours to reach us. Hypothermia was a serious risk if we waited for the rescue team on the cold barren mountainside. With the assistance of a large group of climbers who were on their way down the mountain, we decided to evacuate her ourselves and meet the rescue team during the descent.

We created an improvised litter/stretcher using the tarp and some trekking poles to carry the injured woman. This type of litter allows six to eight people to carry it at the same time. Due to icy uneven terrain, it took us five hours to descend 2,500 feet to the top of Chocolate Falls, a 40-foot frozen and snow-covered waterfall hanging above Swift Creek. The sun was setting, stealing the last of our light.

In the growing darkness, I explained a method that allows rescuers to carry a litter up or down steep terrain. We carefully lowered the litter down the falls. Most of the group had been awake and climbing for more than 16 hours, but spirits were high after making it past this final obstacle.

We rounded a corner and met the search and rescue team and mountain paramedics. We learned that she sustained two fractures of her tibia, one just below the knee and the other above the ankle. Thankfully she made a full recovery and did not have any lasting injuries.

After a long and challenging day, I was grateful for my training and knowledge. I encourage everyone who ventures outside to take a course in wilderness medicine. As part of my course at MHCC, I teach all the life-saving techniques I used in this evacuation and many other wilderness medical skills. I always hope my students never have to use the training, but if they need it, I know they will be thankful for it.

Mt. Hood Community College offers a Wilderness First Responder course during the winter term. Contact Josh Stratman at 503-491-7201 or josh.stratman@mhcc.edu for more information. Find a full list of Community Education classes at learn.mhcc.edu.

By Josh Stratman/For the Mountain Times

Grease a 9x9-inch square baking dish

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat combine granulated sugar with one cup water. Cook swirling pan often until candy thermometer reaches 245 degrees and set aside.

In a stand mixer add the 1/2 cup water and gelatin. Let proof 10 minutes with whisk attachment. Slowly pour sugar syrup into gelatin mixture. Whip on medium high about 6 minutes, add salt and vanilla  and then whip until thickened. Spread out in greased pan.

Whisk together powdered sugar and cornstarch, sprinkle 1/2 on top (you can add sprinkles at this time if you’d like) leave out on counter overnight to cure – cut in squares, toss with cornstarch mixture.

The idea is to melt one into a mug of hot milk. Gift a few in a nice mug with a few homemade marshmallows!

Over double boiler melt: 2 cups dark chocolate with 1 T coconut oil.

Pour half of mixture into bottom of greased loaf pan lined with parchment paper, allow to set for at least 45 minutes, then spread with cooled milk chocolate ganache:

Stir together over a double broiler until melted: 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, 1/2 t vanilla extract and 1/4 cup evaporated milk until smooth.

Set until thickened in fridge.

Heat and pour other half of chocolate on top, top with sprinkles, peppermint candies, mini chocolate chips, etc. Let set and cut with sharp knife into rectangular shapes.

Heat 8 oz milk and drop in a chocolate bar, stir until melted!

What means more may not always have high financial value…

When sitting down with clients for an estate planning session I often find that discussing their plans for 'tangibles' can bring out questioning looks at first but, in the end, may occupy the conversation more than higher valued assets like their home or their financial accounts. Your assets, property that comprises your wealth, those things that you will gift at your passing, consist of two broad categories, real property and personal property. Personal property is divided into tangible and intangible property.

Estate planning is filled with arcane terms, persistent remnants of our legal roots in English common law, as in, common to the king's courts throughout England. This system of law, hailing from the time of the Norman Conquest circa 1066, gives us such terms as “tangibles” and “chattels,” the latter included in the first.

In general, tangibles are personal property that can be felt or touched, and are moveable, i.e., can be physically relocated. These as opposed to intangibles, those assets that cannot be directly felt or touched e.g., stocks, bonds, bank accounts etc. regardless that they may have a paper embodiment.

Per Oregon law, the term tangibles includes, but is not limited to, all chattels and movables. The term chattel is a catch-all phrase in law that includes all movable assets that are not real estate and not attached to real estate. Tangibles can include everything from furniture, collectibles and personal effects in a home; boats, movable machinery, manufactured homes and vehicles; to living creatures such as livestock and our treasured animal companions, i.e., pets.

Frequently the planning for distributing tangibles consists of discussing many common every day objects in our lives such as clothing, jewelry, art, musical instruments, writings, furnishings, tools and other household goods. Very often a client's focus is on those items that are of relatively little monetary value, but of great sentimental worth. At times the discussion of this type of personal property eclipses discussing the transfer of financial assets. That favorite painting or antique chest, the tea set handed down from grandmother or that may have come with her from another country in emigrating to the U.S. The core value contained in these are many true-to-heart connections that bear intense consideration for their care and their passage

Stories of the Stars… If Only

In this case an item of sincere sentimental and nostalgic value collides with real monetary value as is discovered.

Not a celebrity story but a story of family and real life for the many of us. A BBC article offered a collection of people’s experiences of “being remembered” with a gift from a dear one upon their passing, and the unexpected turns such gifts can take - one person wrote that a small, seemingly insignificant item “almost caused a war within the family.” The grandmother left to the person writing to the BBC a cruet that she had kept on her dining table the many years. She left that cruet to the writer specifically because as a teenager the writer had told her grandmother that when they came to visit, seeing that cruet was the sign that they were “at Grandmas House.” This innocent comment made for no other particular purpose than its straightforward message resulted in the gift. The issue arose because, as it turned out unbeknown to the writer, the cruet was a valuable antique. The writer's uncle, who collected such things, knew its value and wanted it. Apparently, the writer's tenacious desire to keep the memento won the day. The writer closed with the comment that that cruet is still on her dining table “to this day.”

Who’s to know what you set in motion with those tangibles that you leave to someone that appear to have little in monetary value but are great in sentimental connection?

Preparing for a trip, even a simple day trip, should be pretty basic when it comes to packing your camera gear, or so it would seem. It’s easy to throw your gear in the backpack, grab it and go.

You must know that photographers take their backpacks pretty serious. For those who aren’t aware, I should explain that a photography backpack is very much like a typical rucksack, but they have little padded dividers that are fastened with Velcro in an arrangement decided upon by the owner of the backpack to hold their various camera bodies, lenses and other assorted accoutrement.

With these dividers it’s easy to take a quick inventory of your gear prior to heading out into the field. Zip open a panel, look inside and zip the panel back up and off you go.

Taking quick inventory in this way is typically straight forward. It’s easy to see if you have your camera and your lenses, but there are always those little details that will trip you up as this little story will show.

After taking my quick inventory on one day, I grabbed my gear for a hike to a waterfall that I had been meaning to photograph for a while.

The hike was going to be about a five-mile trip in, ten miles altogether. A good day hike but still a bit more laborious due to my backpack full of gear.

It’s usually like me to pull my camera from my backpack at the trailhead and carry it separately and take snaps along the way, but on this day the hike was familiar and I figured that I would just wait until I arrived at the spot that I had in mind. Besides, it would make the hike easier without carrying something in my hands.

I hiked with certain urgency as I was on a mission. I walked the five miles with no break for rest as I knew that where I was going would be a great spot to snack on the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the apple that I had brought along with me.

How perfect. A beautiful waterfall to photograph and a nice little picnic all at the same time.

After the morning hike I arrived at my destination. The spot that I had in mind for the photograph that I had imagined since my last hike there. I walked to the creekside, peeled off my backpack, set up my tripod, unpacked my camera, set it up on the tripod and turned it on to check my settings.

As I look at the digital display, which shows me everything that I need to know to adjust my camera, I notice the available exposure count. It reads 0. Zero??? What?

As I stood there looking at the display, the cold realization hit that I forgot to check that I had put the memory cards back in after I had pulled them out to reformat and clear them to prepare for more photos of this trip. I was literally standing there with a camera without “film” in it.

All at once I felt emotions welling up inside. I’m not sure if they were feelings of frustration, anger or dismay or a combination of them all. It really didn’t matter as they weren’t good.

I dug through my pack to see if I had stashed a spare card, but found nothing. I felt pretty dumb. Without much more than a thought or two about what more that I could do, I packed my gear back into the backpack and sat down to eat my sandwich.

As I sat there, I lectured myself. I berated myself for forgetting to reinstall the card, and again for not checking when I packed the backpack, but in time I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to take a single photograph, and that I was in an incredibly amazingly beautiful place in a terrible state of mind and that I just needed to realize how my priorities were out of order.

I had to ask myself how taking the photo became more important than the experience of being there and experiencing the tangible part of the hike that a photo can never capture.

At that moment I closed my eyes and paid attention to those non-visual components of this beautiful location that make the experience complete.

I listened to the water as it tumbled over rocks. I listened to the breeze in the trees above my head. I felt the moss under me.

Once I did this, I started to pay attention to things that I may have ignored. I heard birds singing and squirrels quarreling. I smelled the fresh fragrance of a forest in the morning. I felt the mist from the falls on my face.

I could feel the stress leave as I concentrated. My feeling of frustration changed to resignation and then to a feeling of satisfaction as I realized the complete beauty of my surroundings.

In time I stood back up, grabbed my backpack and started back down the trail with the thought in my mind about lessons learned. Practical thoughts about how to prevent forgetting memory cards or batteries, but even more the thoughts and wonder if I would have taken the time to enjoy the experience of the waterfall if I had remembered to bring them.

To this day when I head out to hike to a waterfall, I will check everything, including the details. I haven’t left a card or a battery at home since, but more importantly after this experience, the first thing that I do when I arrive at a location is to close my eyes and experience everything that being there has to offer, and I think that it shows through the photos that I take afterward.

I was happy to hear from several readers that they found my October column on Douglas squirrels informative. However, the International Douglas Squirrel Appreciation Society was not amused. In an unsigned email, they said that these squirrels are certainly not evil, are absolutely adorable and would never throw fir cones at people or their houses. Obviously, these well-intentioned folks don’t know the crafty critters as well as they think.

One reader responded to my September column on the likely effects of climate change on natural resources in our area with an excellent question: What did I mean when I wrote that, “foresters and fishery and wildlife managers will need to focus on increasing the resilience of these natural resources to ensure their health and survival.”

As you may recall, I wrote that, “With higher temperatures, more heat waves, and drier summers, our native trees and shrubs will be under more stress. Trees and plants that are weakened by drought and high temperatures are more susceptible to insect attack, so we may see more of them dying. Fish and wildlife will be affected, too. The earlier arrival of spring conditions and warmer, drier summers and early autumns may change the timing of salmon and steelhead migration and reproduction, for example.”

How can forests be made more resilient to higher temperatures, more heat waves and drier summers?

Imagine an acre of forest that has 50 conifer trees, most of which are 100 years old or more, with an understory of salal and sword fern – typical for our area. Over the last century, these trees and shrubs have thrived with relatively steady amounts of rain and snow during the fall, winter and spring, with little rain during the summer.

How will they respond to getting about the same amount of annual rainfall, but more of it coming in winter, with warmer, dryer summers that last a month or two longer than in the past? They may do fine during the wet season, but during the dry season the trees and shrubs will increasingly compete with each other for water. In nature, the strong survive: the trees and shrubs with root systems able to draw in enough water will survive, and others may not. At first, the weaker trees will have less energy to expend on defending themselves from insects and disease, and they may weaken and eventually die.

As summers continue to become longer, dryer and hotter, even the largest, most robust trees may struggle to survive, and a drought they might otherwise have survived could kill some or all of them.

That’s what happened in California over the past decade. An estimated 163 million trees – many of them well over 100 years old – died during a drought and subsequent bark beetle infestations. This figure does not include the millions of trees killed in recent years by wildfire. I visited the central Sierras in 2016 and saw huge numbers of dead ponderosa pines and sugar pines on the Sierra National Forest and Sequoia National Park, and the beginnings of a die-off in Yosemite National Park.

Trees in Oregon, too, are dying, as “The Oregonian” reported in a Sept. 17 article, “Climate change and hot, dry summers mean big trouble for Oregon’s trees.”

In California, the die-off began suddenly and progressed so quickly that little could be done but to remove the dead trees that posed the greatest threat to homes, businesses, power lines and so on.

What can be done here, other than waiting for a few or many of our trees to die?

On the example acre, removing some of the 50 trees would reduce the stress on the remaining trees. It wouldn’t guarantee their survival, but it would give them a better chance at living through the coming longer, dryer summers, as well as the occasional extraordinary heat wave, like the one we had this summer. In other words, it would help the trees become more resilient to the changes ahead. Landowners also might consider planting Douglas-fir trees grown from seed from trees in southern Oregon or Northern California, where summers are now similar to future summers here. Even now, some landowners in northwest Oregon are thinking about planting ponderosa pines, Oregon white oaks or other species accustomed to long, dry summers.

I am not saying that you ought to start thinning trees on your Hoodland property, at least not yet. I’m not planning to thin the trees on my Rhododendron land, other than to remove one or two that have a root disease, but I’m keeping a close eye on them and watching for advice from respected sources of information such as Oregon State University and the Oregon Forest Resources Institute.

East of the Cascades, I’ve observed many ponderosa pines at lower elevations that are dying or dead. Drive Dufur Valley Road between Dufur and Camp Baldwin and you’ll see lots of ponderosas that are fading or are already dead. If I had property in that area, I would consider cutting some of the remaining pines and thinning the Oregon white oaks and grand fir, which would reduce moisture stress on the remaining trees.

As for wildlife in our area, there will be winners and losers in the coming decades. Woodpeckers and other insect-eating birds may thrive, as more trees are infested by bark beetles and other insects, but frogs and other amphibians may struggle as the timing of their mating and reproduction seasons change and as springs and wetlands dry up. Working to help forests adapt to the changes ahead would assure that forest-dwelling animals have resilient habitat. Active forest management can be done with an eye toward improving habitat, such as by creating openings in the forest canopy that offer food, shelter, and other benefits to wildlife.

Enhancing habitat for our native fish will be important, too. The U.S. Forest Service, the Sandy River Basin Watershed Council and other organizations have worked for years to improve fish habitat by reopening old side channels and adding large logs and root wads to steams, which has several benefits to fish, such as creating deep pools that provide refuges during heat waves. This work is now more important than ever.

Oregon’s climate, along with the world’s, will continue to change for decades, regardless of what humanity does to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Here in Hoodland, we can either stand by hope that our forests remain healthy, or prepare to take measured, science-based action to increase forest health and resilience before we have a mass die-off like California’s.

Have a question about forest health and resilience? Want to know how forests promote human health and resilience? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Every fall, students in the Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) Fisheries Technology Program conduct spawning surveys in Beaver Creek. During these surveys, students often discover pre-spawn mortality – salmon that have died from exposure to pollution before they could lay their eggs. The MHCC Salmon Safe Clean Water Retrofit aims to change that trend.

In 2016, MHCC became the first community college in the U.S. to be certified Salmon Safe. The Salmon Safe Clean Water Retrofit decreases the college campus’ impact on salmon and improves water quality downstream.

For thousands of years, salmon have been a crucial part of the ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest, spending part of their lives far up rivers, mountain streams and even creeks that now flow by residential and commercial areas like Beaver Creek, which passes through the MHCC campus.

Much of the campus was constructed in the 1960s and expanded as the college grew. Large parking lots are a necessity for students and staff, but runoff from these lots and roofs drive pollution into nearby creeks. Once the college discovered this impact on the environment, leadership explored ways to decrease the pollution.

The Salmon Safe Clean Water Retrofit captures runoff before it reaches the creeks through drywells, rain gardens and naturescapes that cool runoff and naturally filter pollutants. These changes capture 95 percent of pollution in retrofitted parking lots. MHCC is committed to being a steward of the environment, as well as a good neighbor.

Beaver Creek is a crucial part of our local ecosystem. Four to nine percent of Sandy River coho salmon pass through Beaver Creek each year. The Beaver Creek watershed is home to salamanders, herons, eagles, otters and lamprey. Beaver Creek starts as a spring near Dodge Park Blvd., flows through farms and nurseries and empties into the Sandy River near Glenn Otto Park.

The retrofit is just one part of a larger effort to restore the creek through a partnership between Sandy River Watershed Council, City of Gresham, East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, Metro and MHCC. Learn more and discover volunteer opportunities at Sandyriver.org/beavercreek.

Jenny Furniss is the public relations and marketing content strategist at MHCC.

One of the main things that short legislative sessions, which take place during even-numbered years, tend to focus on is unfinished business from previous sessions. The main piece of unfinished business that I hope to complete in the 2022 session is the last remaining piece of a three-part child abuse prevention and response bill that I sponsored in my first year as a State Representative. (When I commit to getting something done, I don’t give up!)

Since then, I have successfully convinced the Legislature to dedicate $3 million per year to Children’s Advocacy Centers, which provide victim services and collaborate with law enforcement to help kids recover from abuse and help ensure abusers in our communities face accountability (that was part one of my bill). I have also successfully directed and funded the Department of Education to hire additional staff who can help Oregon schools teach child abuse prevention curriculum to K-12 students (that’s part two). With these two policy wins, Oregon children will now be better equipped to identify, report and escape abuse. They will also be better supported if they are subjected to abuse in their households or communities.

The missing piece of this puzzle, though, is a lack of information about how big the problem of child abuse in Oregon truly is. The third part of my child abuse agenda would change that. Our state’s response to child abuse depends on understanding where and when abuse is taking place. During the pandemic, we saw a huge decrease in abuse reports because the majority of those reports come from mandatory reporters who encounter kids in a school setting. Those mandatory reports, however, are only filed when a teacher, counselor or other mandatory reporter comes across evidence that a child is suffering abuse. Many child abuse survivors are experts at hiding their abuse - for their own safety. Reporting specific abusive behavior, after all, could lead to even worse abuse. This leads to a situation where our data on the prevalence of child abuse shows potentially far fewer instances of abuse than what is actually taking place in Oregon. We need a better way of talking directly to kids who are experiencing abuse, and we need to be able to anonymously collect information in case some victims and survivors are afraid to identify their abusers.

Within the University of Oregon, a research team has developed and tested a new way of gathering data on child abuse. The Oregon Child Abuse Prevalence Study has already been conducted in Lane County, but my bill would expand it statewide. This study gives us a trauma-informed way to go talk to high school students in Oregon classrooms and learn whether they have experienced any abuse during their childhood years.

As an important part of the process, the research team also performs a post-survey debrief with students to acknowledge and help process any feelings they may have about the questions they’ve been asked. This discussion also helps us gather students’ thoughts on how the survey could be improved or how abuse issues could better be addressed or discussed, whether in classrooms or through state policy.

This survey would provide much-needed improvement in the child abuse data Oregon collects, which will help us provide appropriate prevention and response services. It would also empower Oregon’s kids to talk about a challenging (and potentially life-saving) topic that too often gets swept under the rug because it makes us all deeply uncomfortable. This final piece of my child abuse prevention and response agenda could dramatically change the ways we work to prevent and end child abuse in our state.

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

Sandy is well known for our great pioneering spirit as that final stop for so many of our courageous ancestors who traveled across the west on the Oregon Trail. It’s this pioneering spirit that has seen our community continually lead the way. From our national leading high speed broadband internet service with SandyNet, world class transit system in Sandy Area Metro or our community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic – Sandy is a place where neighbors come together, dare to innovate, dream big and lead the way.

During the course of the pandemic, we have watched as our city government, sports leagues and charitable and civic organizations forged ahead with a can-do attitude that allowed us to continue on with many of our traditions and sense of community. Whether it was the city's drive-by Christmas tree lighting to last year's Sandy Chamber drive-by trick or treat trail, our community members showed tremendous leadership over the course of these past two years.

I’m excited to say that this tradition in Sandy of a pioneering spirit continues going into this year's holiday season. From the traditional Trick or Treat Trail with the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce to the return of Sandy Helping Hands iconic Sandy Camo Con and the Sandy Community Center’s Thanksgiving Morning Tickle Trot, Sandy is finally starting to feel normal again and get back to the wonderful place we cherish so much.

I cannot begin to express my gratitude to the community leaders who are working diligently behind the scenes to make these events happen. It is always amazing to see neighbors roll up their sleeves to put on these great events, and to forge ahead in the times we currently live is truly inspiring.

In addition to the benefits these events bring to the culture and vibrancy of our great city, these events also allow these organizations to do a tremendous amount of good throughout the year.

The Camo Con pub crawl for example has traditionally helped pay for the Christmas in the Community program that Sandy Helping Hands puts on each holiday season. The annual Tickle Trot Trail helps pay for many of the resources the Sandy Action Center offers to some of our most disadvantaged and vulnerable neighbors.

Below is additional information on these upcoming events. The holiday season is always a special time in Sandy, watching as community members place a premium on our traditions and special way of life is quite special. It’s amazing to live at a place where so many people work so hard to keep Sandy wonderful.

What: Sandy Helping Hands Camo Con ‘21.

When: 7 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, Nov. 20.

For more info, visit http://sandyshelpinghands.com/camo-con/.

What: Sandy Community Action Center Tickle Trot

When: 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 25, in the Sandy Fred Meyer parking lot, 16625 SE 362nd Drive in Sandy.

For more information, search for the Sandy Tickle Trot on Facebook.

Stan Pulliam is the Mayor of the City of Sandy.

Time to get cozy with the sights, smells and especially the flavors of fall.

As far as Thanksgiving goes, do what I do and get invited to another home for dinner.

May I suggest bringing one of these fall-inspired recipes as a hostess gift?

1/4 cup puréed butternut squash

1/4 cup diced butternut squash, roasted

1 lb. cooked pasta with 1 cup of the pasta water reserved (I used ravioli)

1/2 cup diced bacon, cooked tender crisp

1/2 t salt and fresh-cracked pepper

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (or 1 t dried)

Put pasta, bacon, shallot and diced squash in large pot. Mix other ingredients in separate bowl. Gently toss sauce mixture into pot with pasta, cook over medium heat tossing constantly with two wooden spoons until sauce thickens.

This cake is dense, moist, bejeweled with fresh fruit and crowned with a simple icing.

2 large Fuyu persimmons peeled, cored and chopped

1/2 t each salt, baking soda and baking powder

2 sticks (1/2 cup) softened unsalted butter (I use European or Irish)

Grease and flour large Bundt pan (I had extra batter and made cupcakes) and heat oven to 375.

In a large electric mixer bowl cream butter, then slowly add the sugar and then eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the extract.

Whisk dry ingredients in another bowl, then add mixture by thirds to the batter, alternating eaach time with the buttermilk.

Fold in persimmon chunks and bake for 50 minutes or until large toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

I have a new camera. It’s become my favorite camera. If not my favorite, it is certainly the one that I’ve been using the most. It even makes phone calls.

If you haven’t figured it out already, I have reached the annual and inevitable point of obsolescence of my cell phone. I fight the thought of this being a ploy to sell me a new phone every four years, but if I’m being honest, it’s something that I always look forward to. It’s not because the manufacturers have improved reception or call quality on the phone. Both aspects seem to be no different than they were four years prior when I upgraded to my previous phone. What I always look forward to is how the latest camera upgrades perform.

I’ve owned a cell phone for practically their whole existence. I used a Motorola brick at work in the early 1990s and then progressed through the flip phone era to the modern-day smartphones. I remember when the first camera came out as a feature in the better flip phones. It was a terrible little camera that took very small, out of focus and grainy photos. It was impractical and more of a novelty than a practical camera. At that time, point and shoot cameras were popular for taking snapshots. Today very few people have or need a point and shoot camera as our phones have easily replaced them.

My first cell phone camera created an image that was 484 pixels x 364 pixels, 14 KB file which yielded a 1 ¼-inch x 1 5/8-inch photo. My newest cell phone has a 9,000 x 12,000-pixel, 14 MB image that will print a 30-inch x 40-inch photo. The device features a 108 megapixel (MP) primary camera, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera, two 10MP telephoto cameras (3X and 10X optical zoom) and a 40MP selfie camera that makes use of multiple lenses. This means that if you zoom in the image will be made using a lens to magnify the scene and not digitally, which tends to break the image apart. This particular cell phone that I’m using has three lenses.

Another feature that cell phones have these days is the ability to use what’s called Pro Mode. Pro Mode will allow you to switch the phone camera to manual which gives you the ability to adjust all of the settings – primarily shutter speed and ISO, and to save the file in a raw format. When set on automatic, the camera will take the photo and process it according to presets that are programmed into your camera. When it’s set to manual you can create and process your photo in the method that gives you the look that you want. After which there are programs/applications that you can use on your camera to process and save the photo.

You might ask why you would need a camera if a cell phone can take such incredible photos? The answer is that it’s about sensor size and not about megapixels. The pixel size on the cell phone is .8 micrometers while the pixel size on my professional camera is 4.35 micrometers. Why is this important? It’s important in dim lighting. Larger pixels gather more light. A cell phone will do fine for photos in optimal light but once the lighting becomes a challenge the camera will be challenged. As a matter of fact, when the cell phone camera is in night or low light mode it will use what's called binning to merge nine pixels into one, effectively making it a 12 MP sensor. And furthermore, a larger sensor will be able to gather more information which will make a sharper and clearer image. The simple answer is that it’s not realistic to expect a sensor the size of 8mm to perform as well as a camera with a 35mm.

I haven’t mentioned the video capability of the cell phone. It could be a whole separate article. It boasts the ability to record 8K video. It can record 3840 x 2160 at 30p but can also record 1920 x 1080 at up to 120p which can give you the ability to record super slow motion.

I’m finally excited about the camera on my cell phone. I have been having fun with it. In the past I would try but the image quality when I was through was discouraging. I relegated the cell phone to snap shots of friends and family and snaps of times that I wanted reminders of. Because the photos and the video from this camera are so good, I’m more willing to try to be creative with it. Will it replace my professional camera? Not at all, but it will allow me to get rid of all of the point and shoot cameras as well as all of the various video cameras that I have accumulated over the last few years. Cell phone cameras are starting to stand on their own as a viable option for quality imagery.

I’d like to say that the Douglas squirrels that inhabit our Mountain woods are friendly little critters, but they’re not. I think they’re evil. I can’t tell you how many times Lara and I have been startled awake at dawn on September and October mornings by the sound of green fir cones hitting our metal roof. A gang of the dern squirrels scrambles up to the tops of several big Douglas-fir trees near our house, harvesting green cones for the winter. They nip the stem and let the cones fall – or throw them so they hit the roof – to be later gathered up and stripped of their nutritious seeds.

You wouldn’t think a little fir cone could make such noise – BAM! – but they do – BAM! BAM! The cones are green and solid as rocks – though not quite so hard as the gluten-free biscuits I made. Once. The cones fall (or are thrown) well over 100 feet from our 150-foot trees, and you can almost hear them hissing in the air, as when you when you’re a batter standing at the plate facing a pitcher throwing a baseball at 100 miles per hour. Hisssss – POP into the catcher’s mitt. At least the batter is supposedly awake. A fir cone hitting a metal roof while one is sound asleep much louder, especially just before sunrise, which is the squirrels’ prime time.

I’ve told Lara that I can hear the little monsters up there giggling as they aim for the roof, that I imagine them holding their bellies because they laugh so hard when they hear my cursing. Of course, curses only encourage the little devils. Lara, who says she can’t hear them giggling, has words for them that are not so mild as “dern” and that are unprintable in a family newspaper.

An aside: “dern,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is as a variant of “darn,” which is a polite substitute for “damn,” but dern also can mean crafty or underhanded – all of which apply when speaking of Douglas squirrels. “Dern” was used eloquently by Captain Augustus “Gus” McCrae, as played by Robert Duvall, in Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove.” I ask you: Has there ever been a better American actor? But I digress.

The Douglas squirrel, aka chickaree or pine squirrel, measures 11 to 14 inches in length, including its tail, according to Tamara Eder’s excellent book, “Mammals of Washington and Oregon.” Its upper parts are reddish- or brownish-gray, and its underparts are orange-ish to yellowish. These pesky rodents are native to the Pacific Northwest coast, from British Columbia to northern California, including the Cascades. They eat mainly conifer seeds, but I’ve seen them eat vine maple and bigleaf maple seeds when Doug-fir seeds are scarce. At least maple trees don’t have cones. Their seeds are samaras, meaning they have wings that help them helicopter to the ground. Most conifer seeds have such wings, too, which lets the wind help disperse them after the cones open when they are ripe. I wouldn’t mind at all if the squirrels let the Doug-fir seeds loose from high in the trees – they’d spin slowly down and land without a sound. But no, that wouldn’t be much fun for the varmints, would it?

According to Oregon State University, in addition to seeds, including the seeds in bird feeders, chickarees will also devour berries, leaves, twigs, fungi, insects and even bird eggs and nestlings – I have seen evidence that they will chew their way into bird houses to get them. These squirrels are “known for their highly vocal (noisy) sputterings and scoldings.” OSU says they use distinctive calls during courtship, when defending their territory and as an alarm. Great. Couldn’t they raise an alarm before bombing my house? Douglas squirrels are prey for raptors, coyotes, bobcats. Well, good. Those critters need to eat, too, right? Domestic cats and dogs will eat them, too.

Eder’s books says chickarees have one litter per year, averaging four per litter – and as many of eight of the little rapscallions – but some references say they can have two litters per year, in early spring or summer and in August or September. They build their nests from moss, leaves, shredded western redcedar bark, bits of cloth or cardboard, wads of fiberglass house insulation or anything else that they can get their greedy little paws on. The nests are round or oblong and can be as large as a soccer ball or football, and they’re hollow inside, making a nice, cozy home. Chickarees have built nests in nooks and crannies in my well shed and woodpiles. I’ve explained to them that they aren’t welcome and even tried placing “No Squirrels!” signs, but that, too, seems only to egg them on.

You may have noticed that the squirrel and the tree share the name “Douglas.” That’s because both were “discovered” by David Douglas, the Scotsman who explored the Pacific Northwest in 1825 and 1826, studying trees and plants and collecting seeds and cuttings for England’s Horticultural Society. I may have mentioned a book about Douglas in a previous Woodsman column, “The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest.” Of course, the plants and animals of the Pacific Northwest were discovered by humans more than 14,000 years ago, long before there was anything like an England or a Horticultural Society.

Another aside: if this ancient history interests you, read “The Search for America’s Atlantis: Did People First Come to this Continent by Land or By Sea?” recently published in “The Atlantic” (see tinyurl.com/2mj9wx9p). Oregon is mentioned as the location of some of the earliest evidence that these Paleoindian people lived in the western U.S. about 14,300 years ago. Me, I think they came by land and sea.

Back to those dern squirrels…

If you don’t live directly under a big Doug-fir, you may think “cute” when you see a Douglas squirrel sitting on a branch and chewing its way through a cone, leaving piles of bracts, scales and stems below. A mature Douglas-fir tree can bear thousands of cones, but fortunately they usually do so only every five to seven years. Judging by the sagging branches on our trees, this is one of those years. The squirrels are rejoicing. I’m not.

Have a question about forest wildlife? Need a sure-fire way to get Douglas squirrels out of your shed or attic? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Long before COVID-19, Oregon was already suffering from an epidemic: according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, one in ten Oregonians struggles with substance use disorder. And, since the War on Drugs led to increased drug penalty laws in the early 1980s, Oregon has had laws on the books that could make criminals of 10 percent of its residents.

In November 2020, Oregonians overwhelmingly voted to pass Ballot Measure 110, which changed possession of drugs for personal use from a crime to a violation. In other words, a person will no longer be arrested if they are found to have small quantities of drugs. They will instead face a fine of no more than $100, which can be waived if they agree to complete a health assessment with an addiction treatment provider. This is a creative solution to the addiction crisis in our state, but it will require us to make major investments in social services and behavioral health care.

People in many parts of Oregon have very little access to addiction recovery services, even though our state has the fourth-highest addiction rate in the nation. This lack of access to treatment has caused our state’s houselessness crisis to grow out of control, straining our ability to provide housing assistance to people when evictions are spiking. Measure 110 was a clear demand from Oregon’s voters for new strategies to intervene with the addiction crisis, so the state legislature had to find a way to make Measure 110 a reality.

That’s where Senate Bill (SB) 755 comes in.

SB 755, which passed during the 2021 session and is now in the process of being implemented, is a massive bill (both in terms of its page count and in terms of what it does!). It creates a way to ensure – and require – that all 36 counties will have addiction recovery, harm reduction and other services. It funds these services to the tune of $100 million per year, which seems like a hefty price tag until you compare it to the long-term savings we will see as we stop funneling people with substance use disorders into expensive jails and prisons, treating overdoses in emergency rooms and struggling to keep people housed when their underlying problem is substance use disorder.

SB 755 also removes youth from adult courts for drug-related cases, meaning they can get targeted help from experts in juvenile development and treatment.

The law requires adult courts to refer adults to behavioral health and addiction screenings that will help identify their treatment needs. Courts will also establish a streamlined process for confirming those adults have fulfilled their addiction assessments, meaning fewer people will slip through the cracks of our overburdened justice system. Finally, the state will collect data to help us better understand how each county and city in Oregon can improve its response to the addiction epidemic in its own communities (rather than having the same statewide solution applied to every community regardless of each town’s unique strengths and struggles).

It’s worth noting that neither Measure 110 nor SB 755 legalized any drugs. Illegal drugs are (of course!) still illegal, and the resources we pour into law enforcement will now be focused on those who manufacture and sell those drugs, which is a more efficient and effective use of those limited resources. It will also not soften the penalties for crimes related to drug use, such as theft or driving under the influence of an intoxicant.

As a former social worker, I was proud to be able to use my background and expertise to counsel my colleagues on how this bill should be implemented. Readers won’t be surprised to learn that I was one of its most vocal supporters during the last legislative session.

I am thrilled to see our state finally prioritizing treatment over punishment, expanding access to recovery resources and moving away from the extremely harsh drug possession penalties to which we have been subjecting people with addictions for decades.

While this policy will require oversight and adjustment as time passes, I am confident that we have taken a meaningful (and massive) first step toward building a responsive service delivery model for treating Oregonians with substance use disorder. I am excited to help continue developing these systems and I look forward to hearing your ideas on how we can best do that.

Anna Williams is the House District 52 Representative.

Years ago, homelessness was a mostly “downtown” issue. The cost of homelessness was concentrated in the city centers, which meant that service providers could concentrate their efforts in a relatively small area.

Today, homelessness is a crisis that plagues every corner of our state. From our community of Sandy to Ontario to Coos Bay, from Portland to Ashland, just about every community in our state has a homeless problem. Ten years ago, 40 percent of the homeless lived downtown. Today, it’s only 20 percent. Many homeless individuals have left the downtowns for the outskirts, residential areas and parks and natural areas.

The spread of homeless camps throughout the state has taken a toll on many of the natural wonders that Oregonians treasure. Locally in Sandy we’ve watched as camps have begun to show up in our more cherished locations like Tickle Creek Trail, the Sandy Community Campus and Meinig Memorial Park. And while not coming close to the crisis in neighboring communities, we have begun to see more homeless walking our sidewalks.

It’s easy to see this destruction and blight as a failure of federal, state and local governments to provide basic public safety and health services. It’s easy to see it as a breakdown in social norms that value private property and public welfare. We need policies to focus on restoring community livability and safety by moving the homeless off the streets and out of the parks to more sustainable and humane housing.

At the same time, homelessness is a deeply personal crisis for those experiencing it. Everyone who loses housing has his or her own unique circumstances: job loss, mental illness, physical disability, substance abuse, domestic violence, rising rent or eviction. Close to two-thirds of those who are homeless have mental health or substance abuse issues.

In many ways, homelessness is a breakdown in the social safety net. We need policies to help our homeless population find and obtain affordable housing and stay housed.

Addressing homelessness is not an either/or proposition. Homelessness presents a personal crisis, but a large and growing homeless population imposes incredible financial and quality-of-life costs on the community at large. While many unsheltered people would like nothing more than to be housed, there are also many who have little interest in their own – or their community’s – well-being. In Sandy, we’re striving to find policies that reach out to those who want help, be firm with those who don’t, and create an environment where residents can feel safe.

First, we need to help those who want it. Recently our Sandy City Council established the Sandy Social Services Taskforce. The taskforce and its leader, Maggie Holm, are tasked with surveying our community on the types of services needed and then to develop a strategic plan on how to work with private, public and local nonprofit organizations to address such needs. In the long-term, it is our hope that this taskforce allows our existing organizations such as the Sandy Community Action Center, Ant Farm and others to be more effective in their delivering of services through a strategic and holistic plan.

Second, we need to be firm with those who don’t want help. Sandy City Councilors Laurie Smallwood and Richard Sheldon are leading our newly formed homelessness taskforce. One of the immediate recommendations coming out of that group is strengthening our city ordinances to provide more tools to our police officers when working with our homeless population. While we should continue to be compassionate and willing to assist, we must also proceed with conviction as to what are acceptable and unacceptable camping and living conditions for our community.

Finally, we must create an environment where residents can feel safe. Our city council has done a lot in recent years to bolster the resources of our local police department. This has gone a long way in keeping our community safe. That said, we need the continued help of all of you – our neighbors. Last month, city councilor Kathleen Walker and I joined several other Sandy residents in a camp cleanup at the Sandy Community Campus. It’s an incredible feeling to see the difference one can make after just a couple of hours of work. We are all affected by the homeless issue, and it will take all of us taking action to fix it.

People are often taken aback when I say that I’m encouraged by our homeless problem. The reason I’m encouraged is the problem has risen to a level in our community where people must take notice but is not to a point where we can’t do anything about it. Now is the time for our local leaders and community members to raise our level of commitment to addressing our homelessness issue and taking it head on. It’s what will keep Sandy wonderful.

Stan Pulliam is the Mayor of the City of Sandy.

It’s time, you can do this. Beef Wellington only looks complex, this is what we’ve been practicing for.

2 lbs tenderloin tails (1 lb each), at room temperature

1 egg beaten with 1 t water

2 T minced shallot (use onion if no shallot)

1/4 cup red wine (or beef stock)

1/2 t each of salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder, all mixed together

Heat oven to 400 F and thaw pastry until mailable.

Heat large skillet over medium-high, and rub spices all over tenderloin tails. Sear meat for one to two minutes on each side, then set aside.

Add the butter, mushrooms, shallot and garlic and cook, stirring often, until mushrooms are tender and shallot is carmelized.

De-glaze the pan by pouring the wine  in (be careful of alcohol flare up), scraping the bottom and cook on low until most liquid is evaporated. Set aside.

Cut pastry in half. Spread mushroom mixture around tenderloin and then roll dough around tenderloin/mushroom mixture. Seal and brush with egg wash.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

The adage “You are never too old…” has a reverse corollary in Estate Planning: “You are never too young.”

And in some circumstances better young than old. With many families sending their college bound children off this fall – finally rounding the corner to college in person, not just Zoom. Or maybe, finally, your child is off to explore parts known and unknown using this as a “gap year” before college or in between college semesters, this is a very timely topic. A topic that surprises many, if not most parents.

Turning 18, your child is legally an adult. This imposes legal requirements you’ve likely not yet considered. Although still their parents, and even perhaps they still live at home, you no longer have legal access to your 18-year old’s medical records or information about their medical condition; nor can you transact business on their behalf should they need you to do so.

This becomes especially relevant as your child heads for college, or that gap year of travel between high school and entering college; or otherwise ventures forth, independent and ready to be so, but, in emergencies, still looking to you for support and help.

Four documents each emerging young adult should have, are: 1) Healthcare Power of Attorney; 2) HIPAA Authorization; 3) Advance Directive; and 4) Durable Power of Attorney.

With these instruments in place, whomever the young adult appoints in those instruments can intervene on their behalf in cases of medical emergency, can support them with medical care, can have access to medical records as needed, can make life and death decisions and can manage financial affairs as needed.

Without these, even though you are paying the medical bills, you may not be able to speak with medical staff about medical conditions, prescriptions, handle insurance claims etc.

While the parent may be the best person to appoint in many cases, the young adult may appoint another trusted adult, aunt, uncle or older sibling instead of or in addition to a parent. It is advisable to appoint alternates in case the first choice is unable or unwilling to serve.

How long do these four documents remain in effect? Two answers to that. First, each document is ‘durable,’ meaning that they remain in effect during a time of incapacity. Second, the appointment lasts as long as the young adult wants.

They can revoke or amend the documents at any time appointing other persons to serve as their agent as they move into other stages of their lives and relationships, such as marriage.

Not only for medical events, having these proxy authorities in place can be useful in a variety of situations as your child ventures forth, perhaps travels overseas for a gap year or study, such as your ability to wire money from child’s bank account, contact the local embassy, sign a legal document for your child in their absence such as their lease, sign tax returns and pay bills. As well, a young adult may not want their parents to have access to certain information. They can stipulate not to disclose information they want to keep private.

Where forms may be state specific, it is advisable to prepare the forms for the state in which you live as well as those for the state of the school attended, and the school’s forms if they have their own. Once executed, scan and save the documents so that they are readily available on a computer or by smartphone.

Attending to these documents is a good investment; part of your back-to-school or next-stage-of-life support. This can give peace of mind to your child as well as you as they venture forth, that in those fledgling years between childhood and fully independent adulthood, you can still be there for them if they need you.

Alaska is a special place for my wife Darlene and me. We return as often as possible. We recently had the opportunity to return to spend five days with a small group of photographers to show them the beauty of the state.

We visited the Kenai Peninsula in our search for wildlife, especially bears, and we spent time at the Kenai and the Russian Rivers. We saw huge red-sided Coho salmon making their way upriver to spawn. We also photographed loons at Skilak Lake. We were disappointed that we saw no bears, but it was a day full of adventure and breathtaking scenery. The Chugach Mountains, Kenai Mountains and the scenic Turnagain Arm dominated the scenery that we enjoyed as we travelled the Seward Highway.

On our second day we took an excursion boat out of the coastal town of Seward. We cruised through Resurrection Bay into the ocean. It was drizzling with some fog, but it didn’t keep us from standing out in the clean ocean air photographing dreamscape-like images of the rugged, forested Alaska shoreline and the Kenai Fjord's towering, rocky Chiswell Islands. We saw wildlife including sea lions and a myriad of sea birds, puffins and bald eagles. We even had a humpback whale surface right next to our boat, raising its tail above the water. We then travelled to the face of the Aialik Glacier to watch the calving of the ice into the sea, while harbor seals floated on the dislodged chunks of ancient ice in an attempt to avoid being eaten by orca whales.

On day three we travelled north into the massive Talkeetna Mountains with their jagged peaks and glacial scoured valleys, green with tundra and decorated by the scattered late season wildflowers. We explored Hatcher Pass and the dilapidated Independence Mines. As we travelled through, we photographed sweeping vistas and aqua blue-green glacier fed rivers.

We eventually met the Parks Highway and turned north to our second lodge located in Talkeetna, an eclectic little tourist town south of our ultimate destination, Denali National Park and Preserve.

As we drove north, we passed through Broad Pass with forests stunted from the harsh winter conditions that they must endure to survive. The incredible scenery was dotted with beaver ponds that mirrored the foothills of the Alaska Range on their still surfaces.

On our last day we arrived at Denali National Park and Preserve early to another wet, drizzly day. We boarded the park bus and started our journey through the park, enjoying some of the most majestic scenery in the world in spite of the clouds and fog that came and went through our journey. We saw and photographed ptarmigan, caribou and grizzly bears in the distance along the way. We eventually made it to the Eielson Visitor Center deep in the park where we watched two grizzlies grazing on the tundra in the fog on a high ridge above us. When we left the visitor center the bears had made their way down the ridge to a hillside very near the road. Our bus stopped and we photographed them until they crossed over the hillside and out of our view. We were able to take some incredible Denali grizzly bear photos.

After an uneventful but scenic ride back to the park entrance we left the bus and then went to have a warm meal. As we ate, we talked about the two things that the group wanted to photograph but wasn't able to, a moose and the massive Denali, the third most prominent peak in the world.

We finished dinner and made our way south on the Parks Highway toward our lodge in Talkeetna. We had gone approximately ten miles when we came across a bull moose near the side of the highway, munching on the vegetation. We pulled over and carefully positioned ourselves to get the moose photos that the group had hoped for. We didn’t mind that it was along the side of the road.

The weather had been mostly clouds, drizzle and some rain throughout the week. Not enough rain to spoil our fun but enough to obscure the view of "The High One," Denali. We all went to bed on the last night of the workshop feeling satisfied for the amazing week, but a bit disappointed in not being able to see the mountain, our last piece of the puzzle.

The next morning was one of reflection on the week that we had just spent. Tired but satisfied. We packed our luggage in the van and proceeded to leave our lodge and make our way back to Anchorage. We left under a clear blue sky that morning. We drove up the road to a viewpoint with a clear view toward the Alaska Range, the home of the elusive Denali. We stood in front of a majestic crystal-clear view of a pure white snow-covered Alaska Range and standing head and shoulders over its neighboring peaks we finally saw Denali.

Our Alaska adventure was complete. My friends could hardly believe the week that we had. They left for home on their flights filled with memories that will last a lifetime and camera memory cards full of reminders.

In last month’s column I wrote about the June heat wave that scorched many trees and plants in our area and posed health risks to people and pets. We’re in the midst of another hot spell as I write this, though not so severe as the June event. I don’t know anyone who enjoys heat like this. On the other hand, my tomato plants are thrilled. In previous years I was lucky to get a few ripe cherry tomatoes by September, sometimes even one or two medium-size tomatoes, but I’ve never had a large one ripen. I’ve learned that there are lots of ways to cook green tomatoes.

This year I picked the first ripe cherry tomatoes and a medium-size one in late July, and a fat three-inch tomato will be ready to pick in a day or two. Beans, squash, basil and peppers are thriving, though lettuces, mustards and other delicate greens are not faring so well. Growing any vegetables at all in a small clearing in the middle of a western Oregon rainforest – a quarter-acre clearcut! – is difficult at best. Or at least it has been until recently. Maybe there is a silver lining to climate change.

You’ve probably read about the recent report from the International Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, a United Nations organization that analyzes research on climate change and periodically issues Assessment Reports on the topic. “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis,” released last month, is part of IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report. Three other parts are due in 2022: “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability;” “Mitigation of Climate Change;” and a “Synthesis Report.”

The Physical Science Basis report “provides a high-level summary of the understanding of the current state of the climate, including how it is changing and the role of human influence, the state of knowledge about possible climate futures, climate information relevant to regions and sectors, and limiting human-induced climate change.” The report was produced by 234 authors from 65 countries, who collectively assessed about 14,000 scientific publications.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the report is a “code red for humanity.” In my opinion, that’s overly sensational. More on that later, but here’s a brief look at some of the key findings from the Physical Science Basis and the potential impacts on our area:

– “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred.”

– “The scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole and the present state of many aspects of the climate system are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years.”

– “Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heat waves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since AR5 [the Fifth Assessment Report, issued in 2014].”

I don’t disagree with these statements. On Aug. 13, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that July 2021 was “the world’s hottest month ever recorded.”

What about our region? The Physical Science Basis report gives some information about the changes ahead at the broad regional level, but not the state or county level. In Western North America – essentially the western third of the continental U.S. – the report says we’ll see:

– Higher average temperatures and more extreme high temperatures (heat waves).

– Increases in drought and fire weather (hot, dry, windy conditions like we had during last September’s wildfires).

– More extreme precipitation events.

Note that higher temperatures and more heat waves doesn’t necessarily mean extreme fire danger. During the mid-August heat wave, winds in our area were relatively light and humidity was fairly high. According to my home weather station, relative humidity ranged from 30 percent during the day to 65 percent at night. With that much moisture in the air, fir needles, small branches, and other fine fuels – the main carrier of wildfire – quickly absorb moisture from the air. During this humid period, fine fuels certainly would have burned if ignited, but relatively slowly – a large, destructive wildfire was unlikely, especially absent high winds. During the September 2020 wildfires, relative humidity was much lower – single digits at times – so fuels caught fire easily and burned quickly.

Whether the Sandy River basin sees more flooding remains to be seen. According to the Physical Science Basis report, our area of the western US is likely to have an overall increase in precipitation, but with drier summers and wetter winters with less snow. Most of the severe flood events in our area are caused by rain falling on substantial amounts of low-elevation snow. In my reading of the IPCC’s projections, this scenario may be less likely in the future.

With higher temperatures, more heat waves and drier summers, our native trees and shrubs will be under more stress. Trees and plants weakened by drought and high temperatures are more susceptible to insect attack, so we may see more of them dying. Fish and wildlife will be affected, too. The earlier arrival of spring conditions and warmer, drier summers and early autumns may change the timing of salmon and steelhead migration and reproduction, for example.

A caveat to the IPCC’s projections: the authors of the Physical Science Basis report used models of several different scenarios of the future, based on various levels of greenhouse gas emissions and other factors. This is a reasonable approach. However, the authors relied heavily on what has been shown to be a highly unlikely worst-case scenario. Modeling such a scenario is worthwhile, of course, but many news articles have focused on the worst-case scenario without putting it into context though comparisons to likely and even best-case scenarios.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s “code red for humanity” may have been sincere, but wasn’t helpful, in my opinion. Either way, foresters and fishery and wildlife managers will need to focus on increasing the resilience of these natural resources to ensure their health and survival.

Have a question about forests and climate change? Want a recipe for green tomato pico de gallo? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

At the college, we teach several courses that deal specifically with the causes and consequences of climate change. A common question from students is “how do we know [insert most recent extreme weather event – hurricane, heat wave, flood] is the result of climate change?”

The answer is relatively straightforward, though slightly re-directed. This heat wave, drought-fueled fire, hurricane or flood is not the direct result of a warmer planet. But the frequency and intensity are a direct outcome of more energy in a closed system.

We can illustrate this on our own stove top — turn the dial up on a pot of water and the boil increases, eventually bubbling and splashing and, if starch is involved, spilling over onto the range. For climate change, the simple science is this: a hotter atmosphere from increased carbon pollution is like turning up the dial.

There is more energy moving more hot air around the earth. More moisture is sucked out of the ground in one place and dropped in another. More heat means more lightning strikes in a storm (and more fire starts on the ground). More energy means changes in established weather patterns so rare events become commonplace.

Another useful comparison for sports fans is looking at a drug-enhanced athlete. This particular home run is not the result of steroid use, but the pattern is. The increased power and frequency of the hits would not have happened without the extra juice.

The second most common question of students also has a straightforward answer. “Is it too late to do anything about it?” The accurate reply is, “No, not yet!” As the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) details, alongside the dire warnings there is a message of hope.

The humans of earth have our collective hands on the dial of the atmospheric stove. We can stop turning the dial up and we can even start turning it down. We can stop the pot from boiling over, but we must act quickly and decisively and together.

At this point in the class discussion, there is often a noticeable hush in the room. It’s sobering to recognize that we have entered a time of climate chaos. This reality must be acknowledged, but we also point out that we are lucky to be alive right now.

Our actions matter more than ever. What we do as individuals, communities, companies and countries in the next few years will determine whether we experience the current level of chaos, or it gets truly bad. There have been only a few times in history where we could so clearly see the need for, and the results of, our actions. It’s never been truer that what we do today and tomorrow will determine the future for our children and their children.

So, like so many things, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that the science is certain that the path of “business as usual” is toward an inhospitable world. The good news is that we can say with more certainty than ever that achieving net zero CO2 will end further warming, that our actions will make a difference.

It’s not yes or no, but rather how bad. The choice is ours. And if hope is the antidote to despair, then action is the path to hope. Now is not the time for indifference. Now is the time for action.

Walter M. Shringer, PhD, is an instructor of biology at Mt. Hood Community College.

We’re all too aware what a challenging past couple of years it’s been for our local Main Street small businesses. Countless lockdowns, problems with stimulus and unemployment checks for our most vulnerable neighbors and now a workforce sluggish to return in many ways thanks to the unprecedented amount of federal money being funneled into a system that encourages many to not return to work.

Since the beginning of this pandemic, Sandy has been committed to taking bold and decisive action to help our neighbors and local small businesses in their greatest time of need. In the early months of the pandemic shutdowns, we implemented two rounds of our small business relief program which provided grants of $3,000 to several local businesses in need. We acted quickly and boldly utilizing Urban Renewal Funds to get the money into the hands of our small business owners almost immediately. After Congress passed and President Trump signed the CARES act to provide relief to those impacted by the pandemic, we learned we would be able to use those dollars to provide additional grants but also to reimburse our urban renewal fund for the funds we had already distributed. That ended up being an important lesson for us.

With this new knowledge, I worked with our economic development manager and our planning department to introduce a new program that became our Covered Structures Grant Program. This program allowed business owners to apply for a grant with the city to build beautiful “Sandy Style” outdoor structures at their business location to allow for additional capacity to serve patrons during a lockdown scenario and in the future. Under the program, the city’s Urban Renewal Fund would provide 80 percent of the investment, with the business owner being responsible for the remaining 20 percent upon completion of the project.

Recognizing that times are hard and that cash flow could be an issue, the city provided an option of a three-year, interest-free installment program. We moved quickly to implement this program because we knew our local businesses could not wait. The first round of covered structures is almost complete with many already being enjoyed by neighbors during the summer months. At our next city council and Urban Renewal Board meeting in September, we will be discussing the possibility of funding a second round of outdoor structures.

While our community has a lot to be proud of in our efforts to prop up our local Main Street – there is still much more left to do.

In 2020 we heard that it was direct financial assistance that was needed to help Main Street small businesses survive. We then heard that businesses needed help with re-investments to become more resilient against both the current and possible future pandemic shutdowns so we created our first of its kind Covered Structure Program. We now hear that the demand for business is growing, that our Main Street small businesses are ready to hit the ground running but simply cannot find employees who are readily available to return to work or are making far too much money on unemployment insurance and other government subsidies to be adequately incentivized to do so.

As a result, I am working with our city staff to create a Main Street Employee Incentive Program that I like to call, “Let’s get back to work.” While still in its early stages, we will look to incentivize employees to return to work through a signing bonus program for our Sandy businesses. By being the first to offer such a program for our community, we can provide local businesses with the opportunity to grab prospective talent from surrounding communities before other cities offer a similar incentive.

We are additionally discussing what can be offered as a tool for local businesses to onboard new employees in addition to a signing bonus. Perhaps assistance with paid childcare or even free access to SandyNet could provide good incentive to help our Main Street small business owners get employees to help share the workload.

Since our founding, Sandy has always had great pride in our pioneering spirit of boldness and innovation. We have continued this tradition with our response to this pandemic and lifting fellow neighbors and Main Street small businesses in the process. All part of our overarching goal to always keep Sandy wonderful.

Stan Pulliam is the Mayor of the City of Sandy.

Fast, delicious recipes that need only a few minutes and readymade ingredients. Viola!

1 can biscuit dough (I use Annie’s Organic)

In heavy bottomed saucepan, add all ingredients except biscuits and peaches. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often until thickened. Spread peaches out into 9” baking dish, cover with sugar syrup mixture and then place biscuits on top. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes until biscuits are done and peaches are soft. Serve warm with whipped cream.

In large pot, cover rotisserie chicken with water and add in 1 T kosher salt. Put on a lid, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer chicken for 45 minutes, then take out chicken. Let cool a little, shred and set aside. Strain cooking liquid into large bowl and set aside.

In same pot add butter and onions, then whisk cornstarch into cooking liquid with chicken granules. Add cornstarch mixture and shredded chicken to pot, and bring to boil stirring constantly until the gravy is thick. Add salt and pepper to taste, serve over rice.

So, it’s done. Finally. After the many years you’ve had it in your mind to create that will or trust as the gift it’s meant to be to help your family take care of your affairs as cleanly and simply as possible after you’ve passed, you’ve done it. There now. Nothing more to do with it! Right? Well… not so fast.

One thing for certain, life doesn’t stand still. Your family, your circumstances and don’t forget the government are constantly on the move, growing, changing and imposing new laws respectively.

Too often people tuck their estate plan away and 20 years or more later, when the time comes to rely on the plan, it is discovered inadequate or inflexible to their current needs. Their life’s circumstances changed and the plan in many places is no longer relevant, or worse, undermines their intentions. While your estate plan may not be your favorite bedtime story every evening, as a practical matter for your benefit, it is best to review the plan you have in place every three to five years. Some circumstances that should trigger a review on that boundary or before, potentially as circumstances arise, follow:

– Moving to another state. Estate planning laws vary state to state; for example some states have an inheritance tax and/or an estate tax, others do not. The requirements for advance directives and durable powers of attorney vary, as another example.

– Births, those new family members: you may have a place in your heart that you want reflected in your estate plan.

– The three D’s: death, divorce and disinheritance. Major shifts in life that alter the way you originally intended to distribute your wealth and belongings impose a need to review and revise.

– Marriage: your own or one of your beneficiaries can impact your plan.

– Charitable giving: there is a cause you want to support that did not have your attention when you first created your plan.

– Your executor or successor trustee may need to be changed. They are no longer able or willing to serve in that capacity, or they are no longer a good fit for your life’s circumstances.

– Children reach the age of majority: i.e., they turn eighteen.

– Changes in the law: tax law and laws that govern aspects of your estate plan, like laws governing the durable power of attorney or advance directive.

This is just a sampling of the events that should trigger you to review your estate plan. Some of these, like changes in the law, you may not be aware of, which is why it is a good practice to review your estate plan regularly; every three to five years review your plan with your estate planner so that you can identify impacts - the obvious and the not so obvious.

Stories of the Stars… If Only

Robin Williams, comedian extraordinaire, with his estate planning and revamping of that plan likely reduced the battle between his third wife and his children from becoming a wildfire out of control, to a mediated settlement that concluded in a relatively short amount of time by creating a prenuptial agreement with his third wife and then updating his revocable living trust in line with that agreement.

Paul Walker, The Fast & The Furious, in contrast to Williams stands as an example of missed opportunities by leaving his estate plan untouched for twelve years, omitting to review and revise. With forward thinking he created a revocable living trust to provide for his three-year old daughter, Meadow. Kudos. But in the twelve years intervening between that event and his untimely death, many of the life changes mentioned in this article occurred that went unattended to in his plan. At the time he created his plan his career was just taking off. He amassed significant wealth, an estate estimated to be in excess of $25 million at his death. And then there was his seven-year relationship with the person that many thought was destined to be his future spouse. None of these significant life changes were incorporated. Much to speculate on that could have better served his estate and his intentions for those that he provided for or may have wanted to provide for had he reviewed and revised his estate plan.

I remember a quote that I read when I was a boy that has stayed with me my whole life. Robert Baden-Powell is quoted as saying, “Try and leave this world a little better than you found it…” He was referring to being a good human, but in this day and age of increased recreational use of the outdoors, it is being used more as a way to increase the awareness of the proper care and use of our public lands. “Leave it better than you found it” is the new “Leave No Trace.” Those of us who care must do more than leave no trace. We need to try to offset the effects of those who won’t.

When the coronavirus came it changed almost every aspect of our lives. People started working from home. The travel restrictions cancelled a lot of people’s vacation plans. Cruise ship and air travel became impractical, as did hotel and resort stays. Even movie theaters and public places such as restaurants saw a dramatic decrease in business or were closed completely.

With these restrictions came a new form of vacation trend, visiting the open outdoors. Everyone, including many who had never spent time in nature, headed out to hike and camp, seeking something other than sitting inside until the coast is clear.

Hiking and camping have seen a huge surge. Lawrence Lujan, the United States Forest Service (USFS) public affairs specialist said, “The visitation that we typically saw on the weekend, we were seeing during the week. And the visitation that we typically saw during a holiday weekend, like the Fourth of July, we were seeing on weekends.”

What once was a weekend activity became one that was being done any day of the week.

The inevitable problems that come with the increased use of recreational lands are mostly wear and tear, but there are those who aren’t familiar with how to care for the outdoors, or just don’t care, that create other problems. Off trail hiking in sensitive terrain, off road driving or parking in restricted areas, trampling vegetation, illegal or abandoned campfires, vandalism and leaving trash behind have all increased.

The increase of visitation to the outdoors isn’t all bad news. With more people coming out to these beautiful natural places comes the appreciation of these places by more people. Typically, when someone visits a special place, one that they connect with and fall in love with, they are more apt to put forth an effort to preserve it. Volunteerism has increased with the increase in visitation, but it’s not enough to offset the effects of the public loving these places to death. Everyone needs to accept the responsibility to help care for the land that we use as we use it.

So how can we leave these places better? Many times, it’s just a matter of carrying a trash bag in your pack to gather trash and litter others leave behind. Volunteering with organizations that help to develop and maintain these places is becoming essential and popular. If you’re unable to volunteer, donating to these organizations helps them greatly – I support groups such as Trailkeepers of Oregon. We need to teach our children by setting an example for them to follow. Also raising the awareness of those that you associate with to adopt the “Leave It Better” principle of outdoor use.

Ultimately, it’s our responsibility to care for these special places. It’s up to us to assume that responsibility and apply it to how we use our shared public lands.

The seven Leave No Trace Principles

2. Travel and camp on durable surfaces.

7. Be considerate of other visitors.

So, was it hot enough for you during the June heat wave? Just kidding. It was way too hot, even for the folks I know who relish our typical warm summer weather. And it’s no joking matter. More than 100 people died in Oregon from the heat and its complications. No wonder. The record high in our northwest corner of the state was 116 degrees Fahrenheit in the Portland metro area on June 29, a temperature we usually associate with places like Phoenix, Ariz. or Death Valley National Park, Calif. On July 9, the temperature at the park’s Furnace Creek Visitor Center hit 130 degrees Fahrenheit, a new world record.

The highest temperature at our place in Rhododendron was “only” 105 on June 29. Lara and I have never been so grateful for the shade of the tall conifers around our house. But still, 105! 100 degrees warmer than the lowest temperature we’ve had here in the last 30 years, five degrees. We’ve hit the 100-degree mark once or twice in recent memory. I sure hope our new record is an outlier.

For most people, the heat wave caused discomfort at best. For some of our trees and plants, the heat caused significant stress. You’ve probably seen brown needles on western hemlock, Douglas-fir and western redcedar, usually on the side of the tree facing the afternoon sun. I’ve heard from forestry colleagues that they’ve seen such browning throughout the region.

It wasn’t just trees that were damaged. On our property, some of the leaves on rhododendron, sword fern, false Solomon’s seal, Oregon grape and other shrubs and plants also were scorched. It appears that the heat of direct sunlight was enough to cook all or parts of leaves. But some trees and shrubs seem to have been unaffected. The vine maple, bigleaf maple and golden chinquapin seem to have weathered the heat, as did my non-native cherry trees. However, in areas where these trees and shrubs were exposed to greater heat and more sunlight, these, too, may exhibit signs of damage.

The good news is that most of these trees and plants will survive. The conifers are already shedding the newly killed needles. Next year, with new green growth in the spring, they’ll look much better, despite a few bare branches. I’ve seen similar damage caused to conifers by very cold temperatures, low humidity and strong winds. About 20 years ago, a handful of Douglas-fir trees on the campus of Mt. Hood Community College, exposed to a very cold, dry east wind that whipped down the Columbia River Gorge, lost significant numbers of needles on the side of the trees facing the wind. However, most of the affected trees survived and today look undamaged.

Why did the heat and sunlight kill all those leaves? Trees need water to cool their leaf surfaces, and on a very hot day, a tree may not be able to move and evaporate enough water to keep its leaves cool, resulting in leaf stress and damage. And when the blazing sun hits stressed leaves, it can be scorched. See this The Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service web page for more information: tinyurl.com/p7jzje83.

Another OSU Extension page, tinyurl.com/2536aytr, explains that, “Mature trees are generally resilient. A loss of some foliage is a setback, but not typically fatal. Once they leaf out again next year, they should probably look much the same as before. But we will have to wait for some time to see the actual effects of the heat to leaves, and maybe buds. It is certainly possible that some individual branches or branch tips might be lost, without it being a danger to the tree.”

The bigger question is the severity of the current drought and how long it lasts. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (tinyurl.com/zf39tj7u), most of Clackamas County is experiencing severe drought, a category halfway between no drought and exceptional drought. Much of central Oregon, including the area where the Bootleg Fire is burning, is currently in extreme or exceptional drought.

Droughts have always occurred in Oregon, but as the global climate gradually warms, it is expected that our state may experience more of them, and that they may be more severe, on average, than they have been in the past.

What about heat waves in the future? Will they be as severe as our recent one? No one knows the answer with certainty, but it seems likely that they will.

In paper published in mid-July, “Rapid Attribution Analysis of the Extraordinary Heat Wave on the Pacific Coast of the US and Canada, June 2021,” a group of 27 scientists from around the world concluded that:

“Looking into the future, in a world with 2°C of global warming (0.8°C warmer than today which at current emission levels would be reached as early as the 2040s), this event would have been another degree hotter. An event like this – currently estimated to occur only once every 1,000 years, would occur roughly every 5 to 10 years in that future world with 2°C of global warming. In summary, an event such as the Pacific Northwest 2021 heat wave is still rare or extremely rare in today’s climate, yet would be virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. As warming continues, it will become a lot less rare.”

The paper is available for free at tinyurl.com/bz92br6h.

How will our beloved Pacific Northwest forests fare in this potential future? That topic will have to wait for a future edition of this column.

Have a question about forests and drought? Want to know how to conduct a successful rain dance? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.

Some of the best writing advice I ever got turned out to also be some of the best life advice: learn the names of the plants and animals around you. Don’t write “tree” when you can write “Douglas fir;” don’t write “bird” when you can write “black-capped chickadee” or “sandhill crane.”

My poetry teacher was wrong about a lot of the things (her suggestions that I was too young to write certain kinds of poems, or that writing about my life as a young woman wasn’t interesting, for example, are both instances of very bad advice) but she was right about how important it was to learn the names of the landscape around me.

I realized this also had practical implications when I was driving to pick my son up from his elementary school, down a long-wooded road in southwest lower Michigan. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, something fell out of the trees above the road and directly onto the hood of my car. I pulled over, expecting to see a giant boulder, tree limb or very large mammal and was confused when I saw a strange, bald-necked bird slide off my hood, shake itself off and waddle into the woods.

When I got to work at the college where I was teaching and walked into my first English class, I was still rattled and told my students what had happened. After struggling to describe what I’d seen, one of the boys started laughing – “Rivara,” he said, “that was a wild turkey!” He seemed shocked and aghast that not only did I not know how to identify a wild turkey, but I had no idea they even existed outside of the frozen turkeys at the grocery store.

I was raised in the sprawling suburbs outside of Chicago. I didn’t know how to identify almost any of the world around me that wasn’t in a strip mall. Whatever the “wilderness” was, it was somewhere else, not in Deerfield, Ill., where all of the lawns were manicured and antiseptic, or, I thought later, in Michigan where there were more trees, but they were just trees, right? What’s the difference between one or another?

But in my late 20s, I started learning. “Dude, if you know where to look for turkeys, you’ll see a bunch of them, they’re everywhere,” my student told me. He was right: once I started looking, there they were. As were grouse and woodcocks, white tailed deer and sandhill cranes, and there too, were beech-maple forests and marram grass along the Lake Michigan dunes. It turned out, there was a whole universe of living things I had never seen before. I had never cared to look.

Now, years and thousands of miles later, I find myself repeating the names I have learned on my walks through my neighborhood in northeast Portland, around the campus of Mt. Hood Community College, and on hikes with my family: western red cedar, Douglas fir, salal, sword fern, evergreen huckleberry. Vine maples grow near the kitchen window, the cotton from black cottonwoods dots the riverbank and I am greeted every morning by the song of the Swainson’s thrush, by Steller’s jays arguing and the regular thrumming of a sapsucker high in a snag above my head. Bushtits and house finches flock to the birdfeeders. They aren’t yet old friends – I’ve only been here eight years – but being able to call them by name, to recognize a few bars of birdsong, the waxy leaves of salal, salmonberry along the trail – helps to root me in my new home-place. That poetry teacher got a lot of things wrong, but she and my student definitely got this right: the world got a lot bigger, and wilder, once I committed myself to looking – and learning.

Sara Rivara is the Dean of Humanities and Social Science at Mt. Hood Community College.

There are a lot of things I could talk about in this column now that the 2021 legislative session has ended: historic funding for wildfire preparation, racial equity, education reform and more. I’ll certainly be using this space to discuss some of those topics in the months to come, but this month I’d like to discuss some of the work that was nearest and dearest to my heart: the groundbreaking investments our state has made in behavioral health.

Oregon has been deep in a behavioral health crisis since before the pandemic and COVID-19 has only made it worse. Whether people are waiting for beds in the Oregon State Hospital, in the State Hospital and waiting for care opportunities to open up elsewhere or homeless and unable to access services at all, countless Oregonians are struggling in our current behavioral health system.

As a result, we continue to face unprecedented rates of substance abuse, overdose deaths and suicide. It was already well past time for the state to take action when, at the end of the 2021 legislative session, my colleagues and I approved more than $500 million in funding for substance use disorder treatment and other behavioral health investments and reforms. I’m immensely proud of what we put forward, and I’m excited to tell you about some of the details.

Approximately $200 million will go toward implementing Ballot Measure 110, passed by voters last November. While the big news about Measure 110 was that it decriminalized the possession of small amounts of controlled substances under state law, the other changes it made were much more difficult (and much more expensive) to implement. This is an unprecedented investment into a first-in-the-nation system that prioritizes treatment over prosecution, and it could revolutionize how other states respond to the national addiction crisis.

Senate Bill 755, the bill that implements Measure 110, establishes that each county will have a “Behavioral Health Resource Network” (BHRN), which can be made up of one or several treatment-focused organizations. These BHRNs will fulfill screening, assessment and recovery needs for the people who receive citations for drug possession. With the significant funding we have provided, BHRNs will help with harm reduction, addiction counseling, peer support, mobile outreach and even transitional or supportive housing for those who need it. The thing I love about this program is that it acknowledges how intertwined addiction, mental health and housing are... again, this is a new approach and long overdue.

Military Green Air Conditioning Insulation Duct In addition to that funding for substance use disorder treatment and associated services, we invest