Throwback Thursday: Beaver Creek Run Part 3
Beaver Creek Run Part 3 It was early afternoon but it seemed much later. The sky was dark and the clouds came right down to the pavement in torrents. Water streamed across every flat surface, cold and black and dirty. When we got to Corvallis we stopped at a...
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Throwback Thursday: Beaver Creek Run Part 2
Beaver Creek Run Part 2 Just before Seal Rock, we turned left onto Beaver Creek Road. We rode several miles up into the hills before we came to the farm where the party was. A steep muddy driveway led from the road into 10 acres of wet pasture. You...
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Spotted from the truck
Mike and I were out poking around the forest with my dogs Sunday. We found one good chanterelle, some witches butter and a bunch of soggy mush. Snow level in the Columbia Gorge has dipped below 2000'. We stumbled into some sort of Forest Service study...
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Winter Traction – The Bacon Tour
These videos are part of a series documenting the 2010 Bacon Tour see them all at Adventure Sidecar on Vimeo We spent the weekend driving on ice in the mountains east of Hood River. Mr. Cob had a two wheel drive Ural with machine screws driven into the...
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Throwback Thursday: Beaver Creek Run Part 1
Beaver Creek Run Part 1 Howard and I had spent all winter working on our bikes. They both had fresh paint and new tires. Howard installed a new magneto in his Triumph and hand fashioned stainless steel fender struts and a sissy bar. I had a shop in Portland...
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Footsteps of Winter
I am startled to hear the scurrying footsteps of dried leaves fleeing across the frozen ground before a winter...
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A Dander of Snow
Tiny bits of white fluff float before me driven from the east on the faintest of breezes but never in a straight line they dart and swirl here and there interrupting their descent to rise through their fellows and drop again eventually to dander the heaps and drifts...
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The Puppy-dog Thoughts of a Child
The puppy-dog thoughts of a child So evanescent, changing from moment to moment. So simple, so pure, so fleeting. Adoration, frustration, happy discovery Hunger, satiation, pain, comfort Sleepy, awake! Abandonment, reunion, Comfort, adoration. When did these...
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November Chill
One last leaf stubbornly clinging to the end of a branch fluttering in the cold November wind a memory of summer refusing to acknowledge the season has...
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Imagination
During the day, I walk my imagination on a leash. Sometimes I let it range out ahead. It wags its tail and darts from scent to scent, sometimes pausing if something shiny catches its attention. When a car comes I shorten up and force my imagination to heel. But at...
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Pie Day: Mom’s Pies
Mom bakes all sorts of pies. Two of my favorites are her apple pie and her rhubarb pie. These are pretty straight forward fruit pie recipes, but they are consistently the best pies to be had. Tarting them up would only detract from their wholesome deliciousness. ...
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Hot Toddy
The hot toddy has long been a favorite cold weather libation around my house. Easy, steaming hot, packed with vitamin C, sweet, sour, and alcoholic, its just gotta be good for you! Substitute liquors, try different sweeteners, use any citrus you feel like using; it ...
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Pieday: The Crust
With the holidays upon us, my thoughts naturally turn toward pie. That's not really true. I think about pie all the time, but on holidays and special occasions, my mother's pies are a traditional part of the celebration. Her pies are worthy of celebration in...
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Lamb Kabobs
Lamb Kabobs This recipe pairs the subtle fruitiness of fresh chanterelles with the sweetness of dried apricots. When you arrange the mushrooms on the skewers, sandwich them between a dried apricot and a chunk of lamb, so the mushroom absorbs the flavor of the fruit...
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Flip
Originally common in Colonial taverns and waterfront dives, flip is basically a beer hot toddy. Andy tells me it does nothing to improve the flavor of beer and I haven’t found anyone who actually likes it, but the drink is steeped in history and it is fun to make....
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