Yesterday the new site that I have been working on finally went live. It is called BIG PLASTIC HEAD.
I am not to sorry to say that this blog has come to an end. I just have lost interest in the subject matter. Hopefully you will find something of interest at the new site.
Goodbye.
Nik writes: “Homeboy, wherefor your blogging go?”
Right here!
This blog is wanning. I can feel it. You can feel it. It has been for some time. I could give you numerous reasons why but the most important reason is that of all the things I want to write about right now, Roseburg is not topping the list. So, this blog is on the permanent injured reserve list.
I have been working on a new project that encompasses a helluva lot more than what The Califoregonian was originally intended to cover. It is just not the right place for the many facets of what interests me. But the new venture will have room for that and much more: more art, more photography, more music, more funny (ha-ha) and more funny (FTF!?!), more outdoor stuff, and, of course, more Brown Dog (as well as a couple other things under wraps right now.
So for now I sign off here to re-emerge on the other side of the inter-webs.
Oh…and it snowed here all day yesterday. It was beautiful.
Hey, y’all! Hope you are having a great holiday weekend. K. and I are in lovely Sun City West Arizona visiting my folks for the holiday. Turkey Day itself was nice and quiet which was A-O-K with me, but Friday my folks had an adventure planned for us.
We started off on a drive north and had breakfast at the Cowboy Cafe in Wickenburg who says they still cater to the “real” cowboys. My folks still say that the cowboys will ride in on their horses and tie them up outside while they have their meal inside. There were no horses on Friday but there were tons of signed photos from rodeo pros inside as well as a life-size cardboard cut-out of The Lone Ranger and Tonto. I never really realized that The Lone Ranger wore polyester stretchy-pants. Kinda gross really, for a cowboy. This place was also the type of place that offered “Freedom Toast (formerly “French Toast”)” on the menu as well as “Freedom Fries”. I thought that stuff was kinda made up but there it was, right on the menu. (Sorry, I failed to bring the camera in to breakfast but I hate the one I have right now.) But the meal was tasty and filling. Good choice, dad!
After that, we continued on North. We drove through the Billion Dollar mining town of Jerome. Once a copper mine boomtown, now a “artist community” (*uhg*), Jerome is perched precariously right on the side of a mountain that served at one time one of the richest copper mines ever. They say they pulled a billion dollars of ore out of the mine in its 70 years of operation. At one point, they were grossing over a million dollars a day in copper. And that was in the WAY back. And when I say perched on the mountain, I really mean it. The curvy, switchback-like main street that we drove down was lined with five story brick buildings that looked like they could tumble down the side of the mountain at any time. It was cre-AZY crowded as we drove down, so we didn’t stop (as we had a time table to stick to) but it definitely looked worth exploring on the next trip.
After that it we hit the base of the mountain to catch the Verde Mountain Railroad. This 38-mile line was built in one year back in 1911 and was used to transport copper and other goods from Jerome. Now, it hauls tourist up in to Verde Canyon and back. Its about a four hour round trip and it is really beautiful. Lots of red rock and steep canyons line either side of the railroad as it follows the Verde River to the turnaround point of Perkinsville. Sounds like a town but it really isn’t. Well…it might be but there is nothing there but an old house that you HOPED to god is abandoned. At that point, the engines detach from the passengers cars, travel to the back end of the train, and then hauls us touristos out the way we came. A full bar and snacks makes the trip even that much more enjoyable. Mmmmm…Bloody Mary’s on a train. Good times.
We stayed the night in Cottonwood and the next day drove over to Sedona. I had no idea what to expect but it certainly wasn’t the breathtaking scenery that we saw. Sedona is nestled right below the Colorado Plateau. It is called Red Rock Country for good reason; the walls of the cliff sides are made of brilliant red sandstone and mudstone. If you have seen an old-timey western you have probably seen these banded cliffs as they were used quite often as background scenery. And they really are spectacular. It has that rare top-of-the-line Yosemite/Big Sur beauty in my opinion. The whole time we drove through, I imagined throwing on a backpack, and disappearing into the wilderness. As close as we were to the cliffs and rocks, I only wanted to get closer. It is now on my “come-back-and-do” list. I am sure there is some incredible mountain biking out there as well.
I could definitely see the draw of living in Sedona. It appears that they have some strict building codes in town as well. Everything seemed to blend in pretty good for a community of around 12,000. Every building seemed consciously painted in muted earth tones pulled from the surrounding environment. There were no tall business signs and even the MacDonald’s that we saw had no Golden Arches, only a turquoise ‘M’ on the side of the building. I wonder why they let them in at all, really. But it was nice to see some conscious effort being taken in development in such a spectacular area. This is something that Roseburg doesn’t seem to have any consciousness about. They seem to let any horrendous sign or building go up wherever they please. I could prattle on about some of the recent frightening buildings that have gone in and the horrible blinking signs that distract you as you drive. But I won’t. Not today, anyway. Maybe tomorrow.
I am home sick today. *cough* Waddayagonnado? I guess catch up on my home work.
When K. finally was through with her conference (see previous post), we finally got to explore the area a bit more. We headed back down to Yaquina head and Yaquina Head State Park (Hike #36 in our “100 Hikes on the Oregon Coast” book). The head is the home of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. At 93 feet, it is Oregon’s tallest. For your five dollar entry fee you can climb 96 (I think?) steps to the top to get a gander at the light and lens itself. Some sideways fog rolled in as we pulled up so we didn’t get much of a view from the top but still well worth the effort. A young man at the top of the climb gave us some great info like the little nugget that they keep the lighthouse open late on Halloween allowing the kids to climb the tower at night for treats. When K. asked what costume he wore, he said that there was an old tradition that lighthouse keepers dress up as their wives and vise versa so our bearded friend was in Victorian drag for the night. Nice!
At the top you can stick your head right into the stacked glass prisms that make up the lens of the lighthouse. It has two bulbs just in case one burns out. If you are in the area, I highly recommend a stop and a climb up.
Once down we headed back to the Devil’s Punchbowl area because K. and I had a hankerin’ to pick agates. We did pretty good too. No major nuggets or anything but I gotta say it was very relaxing.
We also stopped in Newport to hit the Rogue Brewery for a pint and expensive lunch. We walked around a bit an had the opportunity to freak The Hurley out by bringing him close to some noisy sea lions that had taken over a dock in the harbor. They barked and he whined. It was pretty funny.
That whole trip made me miss the coast. I was having ankle problems again or I would have brought a surfboard with me as I haven’t surfed since I became a Califore. I am well overdue.
You can see all the photos of this trip here.
K. is at a conference this weekend over on the coast and I decided to take Friday off and go along. While K. is in classes learning about how gross the human body can be, The Hurley and myself are doing a little exploring. Last Sunday, my ankle problem flared up so I am not exploring as much as I would like.
We are staying at the Salishan Lodge (WARNING: annoying web site music) which is pretty shwanky by my standards. Apparently there is a golf course and a putt-putt course but, the way this place sprawls I have yet to see it. And, with the dog, it makes exploring the grounds and facilities not very enticing; The idea of having to pick up a “Hurley Bomb” on the green of number seven does not sound like fun. That would be just about his style too because I don’t think he really cares for golf.
The rooms are very spacious, each with a nice big flat screen TV. Our TV is strangely made by Polaroid (not kidding) which means that to get an image, you have to flap it back and forth in the air for a few minutes just to get a mediocre picture out of it. Since we do not have TV at home, it is always an addicting reminder to me of how bad TV really is. I was up until after twelve last night watching some horrible movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger that at one time I am sure was only a ninety minute film that TNT, with its commercial breaks every five minutes, managed to turn into a three and a half hour extravaganza. I kept thinking it was about to end and - whamo - I was hit with more ads. I never even saw how it ended I got so frustrated. So, if anybody knows how the weird cloning movie with Arnie ends, please feel free to leave it in the comments. Or not. I think I could guess.
But I guess going to the coast is not about sitting in your hotel room watching TV. Yesterday, me and the H-bomb went exploring. The first stop was Devils Punchbowl (hike #35 in our “100 Hikes on the Oregon Coast/Coast Range” book. Not THE Devil’s Punchbowl but A Devil’s Punchbowl. I swear that there must be some law that states that every one hundred miles or so on the Pacific Coast there has to be a spot named Devils Punchbowl. There must be a thousand of them. Anyway, the tide was a bit to high so we couldn’t get into the caves but I let Hurley run around like a crazy animal on Beverly Beach, a long flat stretch of beach that I would assume is normally windy as Hell but for some reason wasn’t. In fact, it was a perfectly beautiful day and today is as well. After living for twelve years on the North Coast, I know for a fact that these days are few and far between so I feel pretty lucky.
The next stop was down to Yaquina Head (Hike #36 “100 Hikes on the Oregon Coast/Coast Range” book). Well, it was going to be but it was a $5 fee area and I only had tens on me and no one was manning the kiosk to give me change so I did a quick drive around and left. I thought that we could leave that for Sunday so K. could see it too.
Today I think we are going to walk around Salishan Spit. I guess there are a whole bunch of fancy houses built right on the spit ready to be taken out by the most mild of Tsunamis so I am going to go down and get some ‘before’ pictures.
Last Sunday was a bee-ootiful day so we abandoned our computers and knitting and took King Hurley on a little hike. We had heard a lot about the Twin Lakes hike (which is hike #9 in our “100 Hikes in Southern Oregon” Book) and decided to try it out.
It was well worth it. You have to drive about an hour and a half up the 138 to get to the trailhead but the trees along the North Umpqua are really starting to show their fall colors making the drive pass quickly.
The hike in is very easy; flat and a little less than one mile to reach the first lake. There was still a bit of snow on the ground from a storm earlier in the week. The colors on the trees were wonderful pretty much the whole way especially on the vine maple. That stuff is going off right now.
As we got to the lake we ran in to three guys who were hunting. This is a pretty well known hiking and backpacking trail so it seemed a bit odd to see them down at the lakes. I always figured hunters tried to find places that are a little more out of the way to kill their animals so it kind of made me a bit uneasy to see them on this trail. Especially since I was wearing dark colors (*Note to self: Go to REI and buy a bright red pull-over*). I talked to them a bit and they said that they came in from a different trailhead but had not seen any deer. They also said they had never been down to the lakes before and, since we were hiking around down there, they were going to head back. They may not have known that it was more of a hiking destination than a hunting site.
The lakes are a wonderful blue-green color and, with that vine maples lining the shore in their fall yellows and reds, it really made for quite the beautiful setting. There are two three-walled shelters, one at each lake, that would make for a great weekend retreat for a large group of friends. I myself feel that it is a little too close to the trailhead for good backpacking and camping. With less than an hour to hike in, it would be more like car camping to me. And I am sure that the sites see more than their fair share of rowdies. But, still a good spot for a quick retreat.
After cruising around both lakes (it really didn’t take long at all even with all the stopping for photos) we decided to hike up to Twin Lakes Mountain, which is not really a mountain but a 300 foot out cropping of rock right between both lakes on their south shores. This too was also a very easy hike but afforded a million dollar view of both lakes, Mount Bailey and Mount Thielsen. Well, we only saw Thielsen’s base due to some clouds but it was still quite a view.
We had some snacks and enjoyed the view for probably a half of an hour or so and then headed back. Hurley discovered chipmunks on the way back, and, if he wasn’t on a leash, he would probably still be out in the woods chasing them.
This hike goes out to our friends Mike and Jen who are going to become Califoregonians next month. Ya-HOO! Can’t wait until they get here!
You can view all my photos from this hike here.
I like my neighbors. I really do. I have no problem with any of them. Sure there are the minor irritations that come with living in any suburban neighborhood where everyone is well aware of what each and every neighbor is up to due to their close proximity to one another; There is the gratuitous barking dog, the blue tarp that has been on the roof for well over a year, the INCREDIBLY loud diesel trucks at five in the morning. One justs ‘deals’ with this kind of thing, right? I am sure even K. and I do things that annoy the neighbors every now and then, even though I really do try to keep that gaarbage to a minimum, ya know? And I can assure you, that we considered these types of minor aggravating things long and hard before buying our home.
But every once in a while, a neighbor pulls such a boner that one must speak out. And that is precisely why I am witting tonight. Aren’t you glad?
We have had a couple of weeks of quite a bit of public art going on around the RoBu. And I am a lazy, lazy man so you get all of the updates at once.
Peace Pole
The first accomplishment was a new Peace Pole was placed right in front of City Hall. Roseburg had an old one but it was located in a place that no one could really see it and, due to the tenacious nature of Oregon’s weather, it was pretty much falling apart. A group of citizens formed a Peace Pole committee last year and began raising funds for a new one. It went spectacularly well and they raised $6500 for the project.
The old pole was basically a 4 X 4 post with the phrases written on white plastic panels. The new one is 700 pounds of beautiful green soap stone with the words, “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in 10 different languages including Chinook jargon (which is a good thing since Native American languages are soon to disappear altogether at its current rate).
And the public is pretty happy about it. Well…most of the sane ones anyway. It is worth going to the News Review to read the comments on the article that they wrote about the Peace Pole including my two favorites:
“Just another goofy left wing idea.”
and
“Do not be fooled! This is a replica of the Tower of Babel. This is a phallic symbol set on a natural stone pentagon in the heart of Satan’s stronghold. Its message is, “Eternal war through the confusion of tongues.” Remember that evil usually apes the good.”
Frightening.
And on the other side of town, Rosebamma has replaced a long since gone statue that used to stand in downtown Roseburg, originally erected to deter people from venturing in to any of the 29 various saloons around Douglas County. I am not sure if that idea worked or not (I am going to guess, not) but we do now have a new replacement statue of Hebe that also serves as a drinking fountain for people as well as for dogs. The original used to have a water trough for horses as well which, sadly, does not exist on the new one.
We were not here when it happened but, when replacing the statue was originally proposed, there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding it’s erection (*tee hee* I said ‘erection’!). And it sparked some completely crackpot letters to the editor. And some downright hebe-larious ones.
We went down to the unveiling last weekend and I was completely bummed that there was not one protester there. But I did find out that, because of the controversy, the City did install a surveillance camera pointed at Hebe 24/7 to deter any pranksters or vandals. I sure wish they would make that a live web cam. Hmmm…I know some folks down there…I say we do it.
Harvest Fest
The Second Annual Harvest Festival was last weekend and it sports a Chalk Walk Salmon Run sidewalk art competition as well as many other highlights. There was a farmers market, a hay bale maze and the Cow Creek tribe was cooking salmon in their traditional way over an open fire pit. Yum!
My favorite event was the Punkin’ Chunkin’ (Which I STILL think should be called Punkin’ CHUCKIN’ just because it makes more sense) where kids off all ages stepped up to these huge slingshot contraptions to shoot large round gourds or cucumbers of some sorts at a couple of old cars to win prizes. They were all having a total blast and everyone cheered when a flung vegetable crashed off a car due to some expert marksmanship or blind luck. Good times!
The Salmon Run Chalk Walk seemed to be a huge success with quite a few folks showing up to colorfully dust up the sidewalks running through Stewart Park. The theme as last year was salmon as this event is held to promote awareness that there is a growing movement in the RoBu of getting some permanent public art works of salmon installed all over town. Groups, families and individuals grabbed some chalk and took to the sidewalks to draw their masterpieces.
I am not sure what cars have to do with a harvest festival but there also was a classic car show featuring some really beautifully restored cars. There were also a few modern electric vehicles presented. I myself want one of these electric scooters. Silent, zero emissions, retro. Perfect for my short little commute and short drives around town. It is a bit expensive for a fortieth B-Day present but…it’s..um…good for the environment…C’MON!! Oh… I also want one of these nifty teardrop trailers with a solar panel. Prety durn cool I must say.
*A warning: There is a bit of profanity in this post. And I am not sorry for it.*
I’m tired. Beat. Only slept for about two hours last night. And I don’t think it was two hours in a row. Yes, last night was not a good night. But I thought I would at least get in the paper for my evening activites. No, not by name, but at least a mention of the events in todays Police Log in the News Review. But I didn’t get that either so allow me write my own police log:
Theft of a MP3 player charger from a car in a carport on the 900 block of Brooklyn Street.
Yes, I suppose that doesn’t really read all that exciting but there is a bit more to it than that. Let’s dramatize it, shall we? We shall.
The Stringdom
