Pacific Northwest cuisine. “Cascadia cuisine” A 2024 James Beard best chef nominee at Mäs in Ashland, Oregon shows the strong influence of Japan in their food and the region. Check out the menu (100 day aged broth!) and also the pics at the link. Gorgeous and creative. http://masashland.com/pics/ #food#Oregon#cascadia#japan#Ashland
Finchy ruckus in treetops! A still dull-yellow #AmericanGoldfinch bouncing about with "potato-chip" flight calls. Streaky pointy dark #PineSiskins interjecting a slurred vreeep! and teeny #LesserGoldfinches doing their sad-kitten fweee... A rosy male #HouseFinch singing an earnest chugging warble capped with a querulous "wheer?" like sarcastic meta-commentary. The siskins and goldfinches combine in a chaos of twittering song from which it's hard to pick out the individuals! #Birding#Oregon
Oregon's has plagued for years by big-money attempts to buy state and local government elections. Since 2007, more than 20 people and entities have given individual campaign donations of $1 million or more.
A new law puts strict limits on political contributions and dark money. Unfortunately it won't take effect until 2027, leaving several more elections in which corporations and the wealthy can do as they like.
Unintended release of Chinook into a river in Oregon, due to a traffic accident. (minor injuries to the driver, and not all the Chinook made it into the river... but the ones that did should survive).
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: "On March 29 near Lookingglass Hatchery in northeast Oregon, a fish tanker truck was involved in an accident while transporting approximately 102,000 spring Chinook smolts for release in the Imnaha River.... The accident occurred alongside Lookingglass Creek, a tributary of the Grande Ronde River. About 77,000 smolts made it into the creek when the tanker overturned"
"Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek on Monday signed into law a bill that recriminalizes the possession of small amounts of drugs, ending a first-in-the-nation experiment with decriminalization that was hobbled by implementation issues."
AP reports: "Measure 110, approved by voters with 58% support in 2020, made the personal use possession of illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine only punishable by a ticket and a maximum fine of $100."
April is National Poetry Month, and this year, I was honored to help Oregon's tenth poet laureate, Anis Mojgani, expand his wonderful Telepoem Poetry Phoneline with new options to explore. Just call (503) 928-7008 any time this month and you'll get a new poem read to you daily, or use the menus to hear a random poem from the archives or choose any day from the last two years of the project.
📣 #OREGON can be dangerously misleading. On the surface it seems blue but much of the state is radically red. Help ensure Democrats hold onto the centerpiece of the West Coast; donate today! #Blue24
I had an amazing weekend, I’m so happy spring is finally here. It’s so freeing to carry everything you need on your back and be completely surrounded by nature. I feel so much safer alone in the middle of the forest than camping along forest roads. I’m considering this spring training while the Cascades are still covered in snow. This trail is ideal for that.
A few more photos and some spring training stats to finish out the trip. Very happy with how this trip turned out. Will probably be back out on this trail soon as I wait for the snow to melt in the Cascades.
40 hour trip
17:35 hours hiking
39.17 miles (63.04 km.)
9,707 feet elevation gain (2,959 m.)
6,239 active calories burned
30ish pound backpack (13.61 kilos)
Oh, what simplistic, paternalistic claptrap: Washington Post looking for a quick, happy ending to a fascist onslaught as we are their imagined Medieval peasants under sway of the sun....
How the eclipse might heal our tattered nation https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/03/31/total-solar-eclipse-america/
final day to provide feedback about the 82nd Ave Major Maintenance Project. #PBOT’s current plans do not include improvements to a majority of sidewalks or any accommodations for people riding #pdxBikes along #SE82nd at all, no #BusLanes for the bus line with the highest ridership in #Oregon??