WAAAM Fly-In 2025
My friend Russ Noe suggested I help him ferry people around the air show with our sidecars, so I did. We had a lot of fun, met some great people and saw a bunch of interesting machinery. Here is a photo dump. I may add captions later, when I have more time. ...
A Day In the Woods
We had been hearing rumors of boletes being found at higher elevations, so Amy loaded Michael, Walter and me into the CrossTrek and we headed north of Trout Lake. ...
Good Afternoon
8/29/25 85f (29.4c) 3:00 Clear sky with a few mosquitoes. Mike, Walter and I made an excursion into the woods to escape the heat and look for mushrooms. It felt a good ten degrees cooler in the forest. ...
Good Afternoon
Amy's Uncle Joe and Aunt Judy are visiting from back east. I collected their autographs, then we spent the rest of the day wandering downtown Hood River. ...
Good Afternoon
8/11/25 3:00 105f (40.5c) Clear sky, no wind in town. I had been cooped up in the house with this cold for eleven days. Walter had been cooped up here with me. We were both going stir crazy. I was feeling better, enough...
Good Morning
8/4/26 6:30 50F (10C) A windless, smokey morning. The air quality index is 160. It is abrasive to the throat and eyes. The Grasshopper fire is approaching 35,000 acres and is 17% contained. It has not gotten any closer. Smoke has settled in the canyon. The sky...
Good Morning
8/3/26 6:45 50F (10C) No wind on the ground. The sun has topped the ridge, a red ember glowing through the haze, smearing the canyon with bilious light. The Grasshopper fire is at 31,000 acres. The prevailing wind is expected to be light today, but it has...
Good Morning
8/2/26 6:15 51F (10.5C) Partially cloudy with a whisper of a breeze. Birds are cheeping on either side of me. They sound like a pair of microwave alarms, nagging me to come get my tea. But I have my tea. It's right here. Good morning. ...
Good Morning
8/1/26 6:30 61F (16C) Calm, partly cloudy. The moon has set, the sun is still below the ridge. The Grasshopper fire has grown to above 26,000 acres with zero containment reported. It's probably 15 miles south of here. I haven't seen any activity, maybe they...
Good Morning
7/31/26 5:00 55F (12.7C) Calm, clear. The moon, just past full, floats behind the birches. A half-hour later the moon has set and the sky has brightened. There is a slight haze and a tinge of pink around the edges. Yesterday I bought a mower at a yard sale and...
Asparagus and Morels
Several years ago, a local timber company locked down the woods behind my house due to fire danger. One of their fallers set fire to the ridge the very next day. It burned for a week. The following spring, we went up there and harvested morels from the scorched...
Potato Stuffed Morels
Several years ago, my brothers and I went out in the woods to camp. It had been raining, but that weekend the weather was fair. It being springtime, we determined to hunt for morels. We were successful enough to enjoy the delectable mushroom with every meal,...
Rabbit Roulade
We've hosted the Easter Bunny BBQ the day before Easter for decades. Friends and family show up at Bunny Hump Ranch to listen to music, drink beer and eat rabbit. Some times the bonfire burns all night long. The party was canceled this year due to The Contagion. ...
Social Distance Monday
They didn't need me at work Monday, so I did the responsible thing and stayed home and messed with my dugout canoe project. I am just at the beginning stages of burning out the cottonwood log. Using birch bark, pine pitch, dried grass and a ferro rod, I got a fire...
Barley Camp Stew
Barley makes a hearty, thick base for a stew. It scorches easily, so stir frequently and cook over moderate heat. At camp, we hung the stew pot from a tripod and raised it high above the flames. If you use a Dutch oven, put more coals on top, fewer underneath. Rotate...
