I can’t remember not being interested in nature. When I was younger I loved hikes in the Iowa woods. At a teen I was drawn to the challenge and thrill of the high ground, be it Colorado fourteeners, then as an adult, glaciated Cascade volcanic peaks. I was always trying to get to the highest ridge or butte around, just for the view, if nothing else.

But now I find myself drawn to the lowlands in between the peaks and ridges, where the water drains and pools and the wildlife gathers. There’s just a lot more going on down there.

This wetland is on Johnson Creek, the stream that drains the north side of Cooper Mountain on it’s way to merging with Beaverton Creek near the Tualatin Hills Nature Park. Beaverton Creek flows west into Rock Creek, which feeds our valley’s namesake, the Tualatin River.

Stompin’ Tom Connors 1936-2013

Vancouver Observer blogger Alan O’Sullivan had this remembrance on his Twitter feed:

Oh wow. RIP Stompin Tom. I was on a plane with him when I was 5 years old�

— Alan O’Sullivan (@RollingPucks) March 7, 2013

�he was wasted and singing and everyone thought he�d put his foot through the bottom of the plane and kill us all.

— Alan O’Sullivan (@RollingPucks) March 7, 2013

Saving a heritage oak at a new trailhead at a neighborhood park. And in contrast…

photo by MiniQQ

The wife and I found ourselves in downtown Portland for breakfast yesterday, and thought we’d hit longtime Portland fave Bijou Cafe. That didn’t work out; the line was out the door (but not around the block like the one for Voodoo Donuts down the street). We could have grabbed a crappy cup of coffee at Stumptown next door so we could sit down at their sidewalk table while waiting for our Bijou table, but we worried we were getting too close to acting out a Portlandia sketch.

Speaking of Voodoo, that place has come to define Portland. A couple walking ahead of us (mid 50s, him with a Harley jean jacket and pressed Levis) stopped a stranger and asked where it was. Pretty soon we noticed every other person on the street was carrying a pink box of donuts.

Also, good luck finding street parking in downtown Portland anymore unless you are parking a fixie bike, a streetcar or a short-term rental car (excuse me, car-sharing car). So we had to walk about 20 blocks to discover that we’re not cool enough for Bijou anymore.

So yeah, hipsters on fixies, ironic donuts and lines out the door for a pretentious over-priced breakfast. And cops cruising around looking for mentally ill people to beat up or shoot. That’s what our Portland has become, apparently (or was it like this all along and we’re just now noticing?).

Walking back to our car we stopped to buy a Street Roots. Had to wait in line for that, too, but only one deep (“It’ll be a good day when the line to buy Street Roots is as long as the line at Voodoo Donuts,” said Nancy).

Then we saw Bagel Bistro on 4th and Stark. Not a customer inside. We got breakfast there, and it was pretty good. Pretty, pretty good. Standard greasy spoon type menu, including genuine hash browns. None of those pompous “home fries” or “cottage potatoes.” Honest-to-goodness hash browns, grated and fried to a crisp golden brown. And the price was right, too.

Jesus, maybe we did end up acting out a Portlandia sketch.

We had our third annual Puppy Bowl Party today. Today’s menu included:

• Cheese Pizza!!
• Chips and Cheesey Poofs!!
• Nachos!!
• Guacamole!!
• Chocolate Fondue!!

I’ve never shared my guacamole recipe with anyone, so if you’re reading this, consider yourself elite. I honed this recipe over many years working produce.

Guacamole

2 large avocados, pitted and skinned DO NOT MASH!
1 tomato, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 onion, chopped
cilantro, chopped
jalape�o, chopped
pinch salt
pinch cumin

Put all ingredients in a glass mixing bowl. With a sharp knife, slice the avos in the bowl while spinning it with your left hand. WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK… hard to describe exactly, but keep doing it till the avos are finely chopped, not mashed. THIS IS MY SECRET. I’VE NEVER TOLD ANYBODY BEFORE. EXCEPT MY WIFE. (Actually, a vegan volunteer at a co-op taught me this trick back in the late 80s. It works better because mashing the avos bruises them.) If you don’t want it too spicy, sub a pinch of chili powder for the jalape�o, or cut the seeds out.

Chocolate Foundue

12 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 oz. heavy cream
1 Tablespoon sugar

Heat the cream in a sauce pan until it barely starts to bubble. Whisk in the chocolate chips and sugar. Transfer to a preheated fondue pot. Thin with milk if it gets too thick.

We just got through a cold snap, with some amazing hoar frost, especially at the higher eleveations. This is at Cooper Mountain Nature Park, at about 800 feet.

Hey PPS: You don’t “balance enrollment” by closing more schools in poor neighborhoods.

How about you start by sending kids to school in their neighborhood? Fucking duh.

It’s the transfer policy, stupid.

I started telling you this five years ago. Did you listen? Board member Ruth Adkins pretended to. In August 2007 she said the board was taking a comprehensive look at the adverse affects of the transfer policy. “Stay tuned!” she said.

Five years later, from outside the district, I’m still tuned in enough to see they haven’t deviated one iota from the Vicki Philips/Bill Gates/Eli Broad model of shafting poor and working class neighborhoods for the benefit of the “better” parts of town. Adkins has had the opportunity to lead, but has shown no inclination.

We know Pam Knowles, Bobbi Regan and Trudy Sargent will never willingly give back a red cent of the funding they’ve stolen from poor kids, but why hasn’t Adkins joined forces with Martin Gonzalez, Matt Morton and Greg Belisle to challenge this elitist, classist status quo? Adkins was one of the most vocal members of the Neighborhood Schools Alliance, the group that rose up in response to exactly this kind of school-closure-in-poor-neighborhoods bullshit. If ever there were a moment for her to show what she’s made of, that moment in now.

But instead it looks like Animal Farm, Portlandia Edition.

Never have I been so glad to have moved my family out of that racist motherfucking city and school district. But there are a whole lot of poor kids who don’t have that option. When I shut down PPS Equity I said “It�s time for…direct action. It�s time to get off the blogs and take to the streets.” That was 2010. Looks like it’s high time to get up in the school board’s face on this shit.

Mt. Hood from Sexton Mountain (Beaverton), Jan. 3, 2013

Mt. Hood from our house, Jan. 3, 2013

Mt. Hood from Sexton Mountain, Jan. 3, 2013

We often think of Pacific Northwest winters as bland, gray and dreary, but in truth, we get some fantastic winter light around here. Not to mention some nice landscapes to have lighted.

Our weather patterns are typically dominated by (relatively) warm, wet Pacific systems, but we also frequently get cold, dry Arctic air masses pushing down through Canada and Washington along the Columbia basin, and then funneled through the Columbia Gorge into the Willamette and Tualatin Valleys. These are cold, dry, windy times.

When the next Pacific system pushes in and slides over the top, we get amazingly variable light, and sometimes legit winter weather (i.e. snow!). (Even without the Arctic systems, the Pacific systems produce snow in the Cascade Mountains, but the snow level can be pretty erratic throughout the winter, with rain as high as the mountain passes and ski areas at times.)

The bottom picture was taken on New Year’s Day, a cold, clear, dry day. Two days later, a Pacific System was muscling in, and I took the top two pics.