What is the WOPR and what can you do to stop it?

Greed, political influence, shortsightedness and fear mongering are on the agenda for the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon. Big timber wants the last surviving stands of Oregon old growth and the bureaucratic systems that are supposed to manage our resources are stonewalling public opinion while our biodiversity circles the drain.
The Bush administration and its [...]

Read Full Post »

Coast Range salmon wilderness odyssey

The trip starts at an anonymous trailhead at the top of a ridge in Oregon’s Coast Range. There are no signs, not even Forest Service signage — which is good, for people trying to keep this place under wraps.
I head out on the trail, my Osprey pack snugly cinched to my hips, duffel full of [...]

Read Full Post »

Work work work… Life on the road

Last week it was Chicago, covering the Data Center Decisions conference. I managed to deliver a keynote speech without incident, do a video about all of the junk companies were giving away at the conference and get chapter three of the data center efficiency book published.
This week it’s Santa Fe, New Mexico for the Uptime Institute’s [...]

Read Full Post »

Oregon Outdoor Journal is back?

My old blog on Blogger was called Oregon Outdoor Journal and I dropped it six months ago to move over to WordPress. WP has cooler templates and tools and better compatibility with my online photo storage Flickr.  And it has been a great move.
But Oregon Outdoor Journal is still kicking ass in the Google Deparment (Maybe because [...]

Read Full Post »

Coast Range black-tail deer continue to evade me

Last weekend, Al and I launched our second annual assault on Oregon’s black-tail deer population. Al pulled up in his truck at 5:30am and we headed to the coast range to slog through the downpour.

I gave Katie a 10% chance of meat — low expectations. According to the stats black-tail deer hunter success rates are [...]

Read Full Post »

Moody pics from yesterday’s Spencer’s Butte hike

I got to lay off the polarizing filter, at least till the sun comes back out. Depressing photos — but the mushrooms are cool.

Read Full Post »

West Eugene Wetlands bike ride — rust and riparian habitat

Yesterday we got a break in the rain long enough for me to go check out the West Eugene Wetlands on my bike. I followed Amazon Creek going west out of town on the Fern Ridge path to see what the fuss was all about. Heading out from my place, around Friendly Street in Eugene, Amazon [...]

Read Full Post »

Pops turns 75

The old man, my good-timing gramps, turns 75 this month. Everybody in my family wrote him a letter for the occasion. I talked about how he’s always been a good time. Since I was a baby. When I was just an infant, he ran a dive bar in Akron, Ohio on a lake. It was the kind [...]

Read Full Post »

Central Oregon photo essay wrap-up

I could spend the rest of the week yapping about the Central Oregon roadtrip, but instead I’m just putting up a photo essay wrap-up.
Saturday night we stayed in the Shaniko Hotel in Shaniko, Oregon. Shaniko is a renovated ghost town with an old-timey hotel and a bunch of shops — and not much else. The nearest town [...]

Read Full Post »

Derrick Cave hike, aka. Skimming Bill Sullivan nearly strands us in the desert

During the Central Oregon Roadtrip, KP and I headed to the Fort Rock, Oregon area. According to Bill Sullivan, there are several “mysteries” nearby, including lava tube caves, a wandering forest of Ponderosa Pines and a giant crack in the ground. I figured, we’re probably not coming this way again for a while, might as [...]

Read Full Post »