‘Oregon’Category

Oregon
10
Mar 10

Old house vs. earthquakes

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I’ve been thinking of “The Big One.” Long before earthquakes devastated Haiti and then Chile, I wanted to have our 1920s Craftsman house bolted to its foundation with steel plates. That’s enough protection to qualify for earthquake insurance.

The work begins tomorrow, ten months after I arranged for an estimate. Waiting until my wife and I could afford the work was a gamble, considering that scientists believe an earthquake of up to 9.0 magnitude off the Oregon Coast is inevitable within the next 50 years.

The last such quake in the Cascadia Fault, 310 years ago when the indigenous people sparsely populated the region, triggered widespread devastation. There are also three faults beneath Portland — one only a few blocks from our house — capable of delivering quakes of 6.5 magnitude or greater. Talk about Ground Zero.

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Observed, Oregon
31
May 09

Sacrificing scenery

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Until the last few days, I hadn’t traveled through the Columbia River Gorge and seen the new price of protecting the planet. For several miles east of The Dalles, the bare ridge lines that for eons had starkly demarcated earth from sky now are scarred with wind turbines. Aligned like robotic sentries, they look like a science fiction future set in the prehistoric past.

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Observed, Oregon
30
May 09

Alone

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South of the tiny hamlet of Pilot Rock along a lonely road, I saw an ancient barn. One end had collapsed. No one lives close enough in the desolate hills to have heard it. The rest of the building looked ready to fall in the next big wind. I ventured inside. Sunlight poured through holes in the roof. Dried cow dung littered the dirt floor. From a darkened corner came a noise. A deer stared at me then scrambled through a gap in the rear wall, hooves clattering on fallen planks. I was alone.

collapsing-barn

Oregon, Outrages, Writing
23
Mar 09

Sealing Up the Gold Mine

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Posting a comment on Facebook has landed me a radio show interview tomorrow. Topic: the implications of severe cutbacks at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library, where I spent much of the last two years researching this book.

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Oregon, Portland
20
Mar 09

Humane Efficiency

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Humane Efficiency

Feel like the country is overrun with greed and inefficiency? Hard not to these days. So these numbers sprang off a whiteboard at the Oregon Humane Society today:

Animals adopted last year: 3,810 dogs, 5,197 cats, and 999 other (rabbits, hamsters, and similar small animals).
Adoption rates, respectively: 99, 95, and 92 percent. Only medical and behavioral issues prevented a 100 percent score.

    Maybe the Humane Society should run Wall Street.

    Oregon, Recommended books
    10
    Jan 09

    Thrill of Authorship

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    Thrill of Authorship

    I worked on a book about a world-famous rodeo for 18 months with another writer, Ann Terry Hill. I also did extensive digging for old photographs. Recreating events from decades ago based on historical research was exhilarating. Nothing motivates me like the thrill of the hunt for hard-to-unearth information.

    At the outset, most of what I knew about rodeos I learned from TV as a kid. The deeper into the project I went, the more I was moved by the triumphs and travails of cowboys, cowgirls, and Indians — notably those in the early part of the last century.

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    Oregon, Web
    04
    Dec 08

    Revealing Word Search

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    Revealing Word Search

    What Google search term do Oregon residents use more often than people in other states? That’s what I wondered as I tried out a search application that ranks popularity of queries by state.

    Rainfall immediately came to mind, but Oregon ranks third behind Hawaii and New Mexico. Bicycles is a sure winner, I thought. Nope, second behind Colorado. Sustainability? Second to Vermont.

    No way any other state’s residents are more interested in all things organic. Damn that Vermont! Oregon finishes second again. Same goes for marijuana. Vermont also finishes atop all states for peace, climate change, hippies, granola, recycle, and farm. You get the picture.

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