I’m a professional artist now

Actually, I don’t know if I’ve sold anything yet, but I’ve joined an artist’s co-op/gallery/market in the Fishtown section of Philly. A lot of the artists there use retro graphics or repurpose things like vinyl records into bowls or bottle caps into earrings (oh wait, that’s me).

Be sure to check out my new artist’s webpage: http://piranhabettys.com/marleybice.html and come to Piranha Betty’s Christmas Eve Eve party Wednesday. You can also find me at some of the Sunday afternoon arts and crafts group meetings and free tarot card readings.

Remember, upcycle, recycle, and support your local artists!

Cross Country Chronicles: Part III

Now for the most boring section of my trip.

Day 5: Independence, MO to Dayton, OH
Another night of falling asleep infront of the TV and a crappy continental breakfast and we're on the road again. We got to St. Louis faster than I had expected but unfortunately it was bucketing rain on us, so we just drove around the arch and took pictures.

We then headed across the murky Mississippi and were momentarily on Old Route 66. I think I slept through most of Illinois and Indiana thanks to a yummy lunch at the St. Louis Bread Co. (actually it is a Panera but with a different name... weird) and a new road surface made of old rubber tires. Smooth sailing...

Welcome to Dayton, Ohio, home of weird-smelling hotel rooms and over-priced pizza (but their Wal-Mart did have a good plastic doggy gumball machine).

Day 6: Dayton, OH to Philadelphia, PA
So, guess who woke me up at 4 am to get on the road and beat the beastly traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike? That's right. The one and only. But it was my idea that she lie to her husband all day to make him think that we were stuck in traffic in western Pennsyvlania when we were actually already home. Typical shenanagins. "But, honey, I'm looking at the Google traffic map right now and it is all green." "Well, they're not here are they? Maybe I should call and tell them they are wrong." She is such a good liar. Scary.

See there's really not much to tell about the mid-west, but boy were we glad to be back in Philly!

The Cross Country Chronicles: Part II

Day 3: Brigham City, UT to Denver, CO
We woke up to find that the motel we had arrived at in the dark of night, was actually right in the shadow of a huge reddish rock outcrop - a pleasant surprise. After breakfast at a lovely truck stop, we headed south towards the shimmering Great Salt Lake on the horizon. We watched the looming Wassatch Range to the east warily but our highway ended up winding through a low point in the Range. And you know what else was in the low point? A wind farm. We were looking across at enormous wind turbines as we followed Interstate 70 towards Colorado. I couldn't help but feel like Don Quixote as I was hypnotized by the seemingly slow-moving blades.

The distance between the Wassatch Range and Colorado was relatively bare but we were excited (yet dissappointed that we couldn't visit them all) when we saw signs for Moab, UT; the home and/or gateway to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, and Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.


As we were reminiscing on past Four Corners vacations, we recognized an upcoming town on the Colorado map; a little town called Fruita. My mom thought she could remember a sandwich shop there that we had eaten at a decade ago (although she couldn't remember if it was any good) - so we took that exit. We think we did find the elusive cafe in a building with a painted cut-out dinosaur welcoming us, although it was closed on Sundays. But other highlights of Fruita include a giant T-Rex eating the Grinch and a giant bicycle.



From there we continued on towards the snow-topped Rockies - a trek my little 110-horsepower hybrid was not too happy about - and she didn't keep her unhappiness quiet either. Despite my worries about never having heard my car work that hard before, she got us safely over the monoliths of Western North America and landed us safely in a sprawling Denver suburb for the night.

We headed out on the town for German food and ended up seeing many more bunny rabbits roaming the streets than we had seen anywhere else in recent memory - go figure.

Day 4: Denver, CO to Independence, MO
Now, you may think this would be the most boring stretch of the entire trip, but I'm pretty sure it was the second most boring. There were two things in particular that made eastern Colorado and Kansas interesting: wind turbines and hawks! We saw a massive wind farm in central Kansas and did an analysis of hawk density per linear mile of I-70. We came up with an average of 2.0 hawks per mile and a maximum of 3.6 hawks per mile. Oh, and the tumble weeds. Counting the number of tumble weeds that hit us (one) or that we hit (two) also kept us from going crazy.

Chronicles to be continued...

The Cross Country Chronicles: Part I

Day 1: Charleston, OR to Trout Lake, WA
I got up early and headed north. But first I had to do the hardest thing, say goodbye to my doggie friend in Oregon. I said goodbye to Lily at my house and Raven at Heather's house and for the first time felt a little choked up. I had to put in the mix CD from Heather and Tyler and get a chai latte with soy milk to make it out of town without losing it.

It poured rain on me almost the entire trip so I am glad I had already seen the I-5 scenery many, many times before. But 84 through the Columbia Gorge was gorgeous despite the rain...yellow cottonwoods, green pine trees, brown rocks, dark water...

Once we were all gathered at the MAC, we were buzzing with well wishes and hugs. After filling out a large stack of paperwork we headed to Hood River for a wine tasting at the Naked Winery and dinner on the River at the Hood River Inn. Back in Trout Lake we had champagne by the fire with dogs at the Trout Lake Inn. A few us headed back to the Commons for a slumber party with When Harry Met Sally.

Day 2: Trout Lake, WA to Brigham City, UT
I woke up the next morning to an inch of snow on my car but with a little help from my friends [hehe] I got out of the MAC and on the road. I took the northern/Washington route to The Dalles and took these great shots of the early morning Gorge.
My drive continued west along the Gorge and past a big wind farm under construction. Along this route I also saw three individual wind turbine blades on trucks. They are each about 150 feet long - quite a sight to see. I made it up and over the Blue Mountains and into Idaho where I picked up my mom in Boise.
Southern Idaho was quite the adventure of the senses. For miles and miles we wondered what smelled so bad when we came upon a quite disgusting cow feedlot. It was a shame that it got so dark so early, I'm sure there was a lot more going for southern Idaho and northern Utah besides the lovely smells.

Chronicles to be continued...

Farewell Oregon!

I feel like my yearbook quote for the Mount Adams Center sums up how I feel right now:

---

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,

committed people can change the world.
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
~Margaret Mead

That was the quote I chose to represent why I became an AmeriCorps volunteer on that freezing cold Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Day trip to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. Little did I know how much we would change the world, and how much we ourselves would change in these short ten months.

We converged on a snow-buried Mt. Adams Center in January for snow shoeing and hiking, star gazing and caving. But after we departed to our service sites… me to the desolate and foggy southern Oregon coast… the stories and adventures continued in full force.

My accomplishments at work and new skills acquired will certainly go with me, but it is the other less tangible, more spiritual experiences that I have had here in the magical Pacific Northwest, that have really changed my life forever. In ten months I have snow shoed, skied, and caved in the Cascades, swam in the Umpqua River, rafted the Rogue River, explored Crater Lake, Oregon Caves, the California Redwoods, and dozens of state parks, climbed Mt. Adams (well, most of it), adventured in Seattle, Portland, and Victoria, seen marine creatures great and small, from gray whales to sea splurge, hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls and Beacon Rock in the Columbia Gorge, made friendships that are guaranteed to survive distance and time, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, Court Appointed Special Advocates, South Coast Food Share, and Star of Hope, started a recycling program at the local county fair, and so much more.

I would like to think Oregon will remember me as long as I will remember her, but that’s not likely. Like the iconic bumper sticker on my water bottle; Oregon will always have a special place in my heart.

---

Now I am off on a cross-country adventure that should bring me home for Thanksgiving. I will be travelling through Oregon-Idaho-Utah-Colorado-Kansas-Missouri-Illinois-Indiana-Ohio-West Virginia-and-Pennsylvania. I've never been to several of those states and think I should eat pancakes at least once.

See you on the other side of the country!

Atlantic Ocean, Marley is coming home!

So Pretty (when you speak your mind)

So, I finally sat down and transcribed the lyrics on the back of one of my third eye blind concert t-shirts. I had never read them before because they are written in tiny cursive in light green ink on a green t-shirt. I just knew I liked what the front of the shirt said ("So Pretty (when you speak your mind)") when I bought it. But I like the rest of the lyrics too. It’s not on any of their better-known albums; it came out on a 3-song EP a year ago. Interesting…

the police high-beam froze her pretty face
in white glow for a while
the politic bureau’s on high alert and
her name showed up on file
there’s trouble with the war effort
and she’s been speaking out
check point charlie’s radio-ed in
she’s compromised in doubt
there’s trouble with the war effort and she’s crossed the party line
you were so pretty in the days you spoke your mind

you were so pretty hiding out
the files have been filled
the regime won’t be undermined
you were so pretty in the days you spoke your mind

quiet now don’t make a sound
the system shut us down now we find each other in the underground
she had the voice once of the people
now she’s timid as a mouse
I would kiss you on the mouth in a safe house
cause you were so pretty hiding out
so walk on by, you’re a red star

tell me how did you let them in
we were silent secret agents
but the resistance is wearing thin
dissent is now illegal
she must pay the consequence
in the thriller mystery baby
you are my suspense
cause you were so pretty hiding out
you’re a red star

My November 3rd

Last night, I (as the effective face of the Friends of the Coos Watershed group) hosted a permitting workshop that brought together seven federal, state, and tribal agencies to discuss their permitting processes and the importance of permitting programs to protect the natural resources of this unique part of Oregon. The event was a great success (35 people filled the room) but not without some goofy mishaps on my part.

Firstly, I forgot my grocery shopping list, so I was wandering around Grocery Outlet chanting “chips… salsa… bread… cheese… veggies… juice…” and probably getting some weird looks. Then, even though I got to the meeting place 40 minutes early, people started pouring in before I could set up the tables, food, projector, and get the coffee made. Needless to say, I ruined the first batch of decaf coffee by (1) not knowing how to make coffee because I don’t drink it myself and (2) not reading the directions that were right in front of me. Later, I was notified that I had made a typo in someone’s phone number on the agenda, but not before I had scattered all 51 plastic spoons, knives, and forks out of a bag that exploded in my face when I tried to retrieve one spoon. Then, after all that, only seven people filled out my evaluation.

So, that was my November 3rd. How was yours?

Happy Halloween!

If the neighbor's inflatable ghost isn't scary enough for you, watch this video to learn how vampire electronics are sucking the blood out of your electric bill when you're not even home!

The Black Lab Mutts In My Life

Recently I took the FB quiz “What breed of dog are you?” and got the response that I am a beagle. My response was “big floppy ears, occasionally walks into walls, yep, sounds like me.” But I think the quiz is flawed. It must not have “black lab mutt” as a choice because I think that is what I must really be. Why? Because my three best doggie friends right now are all black lab mutts:

Barney
Barney is my family’s $25 backyard litter labramation/dalmador (black lab + dalmation, a.k.a. black lab mutt). He used to be jet black except for a white with black spots chest, white tip of tail, white tips of toes, and a gray nose; but now he is graying all over (he is ten years old now). But I think it just makes him the George Clooney of dogs. The way he is graying on his muzzle just brings out his brown eyes. His favorite toys are kong toys (with Scooby snacks in them of course) and hedgies (pretty much any furry toy that goes ::grrrunt:: instead of ::squeak::). He also enjoys wearing his santa coat and scaring people with his bark.

Lily
Lily is my landlady’s black lab mutt puppy. She has some very interesting quirks. (1) When I am sorting my dirty laundry (or folding clean laundry even) and I am obviously paying more attention to my laundry basket than I am to her; she drops whatever toy-of-the-day into my laundry basket and then stares at me like “where’d my toy go?” (2) When I am sitting in my chair in the living room eating dinner, watching a movie, doing a puzzle book (it doesn’t really matter) she likes to pile her toys on my lap so that if I’m not paying attention to her an avalanche of toys will fall off of my lap when I stand up. (3) She sleeps on a couch in the living room but every morning like clockwork, when I open my door, she comes in, drops to floor, rolls around on my carpet, and then demands a belly scratch.

Raven

Ah, Raven, the newest to the bunch. Raven is my friend’s shaggy black lab mutt. Raven’s favorite activities include sitting on people’s feet and demanding belly rubs. Although Raven wouldn’t hurt a fly (my friend had to stop getting squeaky toys for Raven because she wouldn’t play with them – she thought she was hurting them), but one night she did sit on me. Of course, I don’t know why I was on the floor to begin with.

Calling All Mixed CDs

I have less than a month left here on the foggy Oregon Coast which means I have less than a month until my mom and I depart on a seven days, six nights cross-country adventure which means I need your best custom-made mixed CDs.

As you know, I’m not that picky about my music. My Pandora stations range from Van Halen to Mozart to Marc Broussard to The Dandy Warhols to Enrique Iglesias to Van Morrison to All American Rejects to Joe Jackson to Boston. So, send me your favorite music.

Send your mix CDs for Marley’s cross-country adventure to:

PO Box 5689
Charleston, OR 97420

PS: if you like the sound of my eclectic Pandora stations and want a CD from me, just let me know!

Why 350?

A new website, 350.org, is spreading the word about why 350 is the most important number in the world. Leading climate scientists say that 350 ppm is the "safe upper limit" for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

What are people saying about 350?

"If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm." ~ Dr. James Hansen

"As a resident of a Small Island Developing State, I am acutely aware of the dangers of global warming. Some countries are closer to the frontlines of global warming than others, but we are all affected by this global problem, which requires from us a global response. Getting to 350 means saving our planet and ourselves from a disaster of our own creation." ~Liz Thompson

Reaching 350 ppm is a matter of living by my values—which include both “love your neighbor” and “try not to wreck every blooming thing on the planet while you’re here.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver

"Sustaining 9.3 billion people on the planet, ensuring a prosperous future for inhabitants of poor countries and simultaneously protecting the species that share the globe with Homo sapiens will only be possible with an energy revolution. The climate crisis is our biggest collective challenge, and it can only be solved if we stick to ambitious objectives – like 350 ppm." ~Claudio Angelo

Where are we now? 390 ppm and rising.

What can you do?

(1) Educate yourself. Visit 350.org to learn about why 350 ppm is so important and learn about what people around the world are already doing. If you're a teacher, visit climatechangeeducation.org for lots of resources on how to teach climate change issues. The Pew Center on Global Climate Change can get you up to speed on climate and energy research and legislation. More great organizations are linked on the 350.org Friends & Allies web page.

(2) Share the knowledge. The UN Climate Change Conference is 52 days away. If you are worried your decision-makers won't make big enough statements at this conference, speak up now! Get involved with the International Day of Climate Action on Saturday October 24th. Use the widget below to search for actions near you. People from over 150 nations have already registered creative on-the-ground actions.

Days Left

On October 24, join people all over the world to take a stand for a safe climate future.

Enter your City, Country, or Zip/Postal Code below to find an event near you.

(3) Change one thing. Change one thing about your every day life to reduce your impact on the environment. Check out Earth911.org's Tip Garden for lots of creative ideas. Once you are comfortable with that change, change something else. Set a goal for yourself to change something for the better every week... every month... whatever works for you. Just remember, whatever you do, you are making a difference.

One idea: Put reusable shopping bags in your trunk, and use any plastic bags you do accumulate as garbage bag liners or puppy duty bags. Any bags you can't reuse, be sure to return to a plastic bag recycling collection center, usually found at your local grocery store.

Another idea: Save electricity and save money! Remember to turn off the lights, turn off the TV, unplug your cell phone charger, etc. You would be surprised how much energy your appliances are draining when you're not even home to use them.

Yet another idea: Car or bus? Neither, bike! Biking is good for your body and good for the planet. Check out Craigslist or local pawn shops for cheap bikes. But remember to wear your helmet, have your bike outfitted with lights and wear light-colored clothing, and tell a family member when to expect you home (since biking will probably take you longer). Don't have safe biking paths or lanes in your area? Get involved. Petition your city council for more bike and pedestrian-friendly streets!

What are your ideas? Share your ideas here. Then get out on the street and do it! You can make a difference!

The News As I See It

It seems like the Olympic committee has a renewed interest in oddly-shaped balls. Word is, golf and rugby are both approved sports for the 2016 and 2024 summer Olympics. Rugby hasn’t been an Olympic sport since 1924 (of course, the US took the gold that year). To learn more, visit http://www.olympic-rugby.org/. Rugby has been one of my favorite spectator sports for several years and I even wrote an article about rugby for my college newspaper back in 2006.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) had a very successful Cruise for Compassion in Annapolis, MD last month. Little Ben, a rescued Jack Russell Terrier takes the cake – literally. Watch the video here.

Any news story that combines human-accelerated climate change with the plight of wild animals gets a strong reaction from me. This week I learned of 131 young walruses being trampled to death by a stampede of other walruses. Scientists hypothesize that a decrease in sea ice forced the walruses onto a beach near Icy Cape, Alaska. The AP reports; “Walruses in large numbers on the northern shore of Alaska is a phenomenon seen for the first time in 2007.”

Warmer temperatures and parasites are threatening moose in Minnesota and warmer temperatures are also threatening the migration patterns and health of the Brant goose here in the Pacific Northwest. And the Yellowstone grizzly bears are back on the threatened species list of the Endangered Species Act due to the fact that warmer temperatures are allowing pine beetles to flourish, killing whitebark pine (whose nuts they love to eat in the fall), forcing the grizzly to leave the park looking for other sources of food - where they are being killed by hunters acting in 'self defense.'

Remembering Retreating

In late September, my AmeriCorps group gathered on the northern Oregon Coast to share four days of walking barefoot on the beach, telling stories around the campfire, indulging in delicious food, making hoola hoops, hiking, and of course doing some official AmeriCorps things like presenting our CAP projects. A unique part of the retreat were IP-led activities in which I got to teach bhangra dancing, and learn how to use a GPS, and to make hoola hoops, sand candles, and crocheted hats.Our retreat location was the beautiful and secluded West Wind.

WestWind had a great beach near the inlet to the Salmon River. Playing 4-square and "Wah" on the beach was so much fun.

View from the Highlands. Welcome to the Oregon Coast. We stood there for less than ten minutes and multiple waves of fog rolled in and out in that time frame.

View from Cape Perpetua on my leisurely drive back down the coast.

Tough Guys ~ Big Hearts

I stumbled upon a great animal rescue group today: Rescue Ink. They are a group of mostly tattooed, burly, motorcycle-riding guys... with hearts of gold. Their website says "Like many of the animals they save, the members of Rescue Ink know what it’s like to be given a second chance in life. And they’re using theirs to help the animals, no matter what it takes." I also like that the animals they rescue, and the crusaders themselves, remind you not to judge a book by its cover.

Check out their new show "Rescue Ink Unleashed" on the National Geographic Channel. It looks like "Dog the Bounty Hunter" meets "Animal Cops."

Wednesdays

Wednesdays are great. They are when I get the Earth911.com e-newsletter. This week through exploring the new articles on Earth911.com I learned that Bon Jovi has released several eco-friendly items in his new product line including the now ubiquitous stainless steel water bottle and a couple of 100% organic cotton t-shirts (but what about fair trade, Jon Bon!?). And while exploring their website I found out that they have a pet accessory line called Bone Jovi. Heelarious.

Anyways, back to the earth. I also learned some cool new things about recycled glass. Did you know new glass materials have to be made out of the same color glass? (although, personally, I would like a tie-dyed beer bottle once in a while, that’s fine with me) So, when different colored glass gets mixed in the recycling process, then it has to be used as an “additive” for other products. Well, a company called FilterPave has developed an ingenious product to use this mixed glass and the Morton Arboretum in Chicago is using it. It is a recycled glass paving material. Word is, it is made of 90% post consumer recycled glass, which means 70-90 recycled glass bottles go into each square foot of pavement. And the really cool thing, the paving material can absorb 15 ounces of oil or water per cubic foot, so it is really good for trapping car pollutants on say, your driveway or parking lot. A combo aimed at my true heart: recycling and stormwater solutions!

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night...

Check out "The Unlikely Calm: Life on the Southern Oregon Coast" at: http://mtadamscenterblog.com/wordpress/?p=631

With my last article about my Crater Lake adventure, I have now written 50 blog entries. Appropriately enough, I just had my first article published on another blog (see above). Of course, my editors over there seem to have found an embarrassingly goofy picture of me in Callie's green sunglasses from the last MAC training. But what the hey, being goofy is what life is all about, right? Just take it from these guys...

I took this picture through a teloscope at Shell Island a few weeks ago

...i wear my sunglasses at night... don't mess around with the girl in shades... oh no!...

Easier to Breathe

For the long weekend, a couple of my friends and I decided to take a road trip to see some different scenery, feel some different water, smell some different air. Seriously, it felt like a whole new world out there; one where breathing and smiling and laughing were easier.

We started by driving up into the Cascades north of Crater Lake and stopping at Diamond Lake; a diamond shaped lake between Mount Thielsen and Mount Bailey. We walked out on the docks at the historic Diamond Lake Resort and marveled at the lake’s beauty and size, not realizing the grandeur that lie just around the next bend.

We then drove into Crater Lake National Park from the north. After passing through the Pumice Desert we got our first glimpse of Crater Lake. You don’t know what a 6-mile diameter lake looks like (or makes you feel like) until you see it, especially in moonlight.

The next day we started by visiting the visitor centers, watching the historical video, and buying souvenirs (of course I went straight for the National Parks passport stamp station and the smashed penny machines). Then we hiked The Watchman; a mountain on the west side of the lake. It was a steep 400-foot climb to a beautiful fire lookout station with panoramic views of the lake, Mt. Scott to the east, the Willamette Valley to the west, and Wizard Island in the lake. Wizard Island formed after the ancient 12000-foot high Mount Mazama collapsed upon its own empty magma chamber 7700 years ago, from the subsequent eruption of a cinder cone.

We all attempted to photographically document the breathtaking cloud formations and the shadows that they created on the valleys and trees as a storm front moved quickly towards us. It rained on us as we descended the Watchman but felt that this was the way Crater Lake was meant to be seen.

After a stop for lunch and to chitchat with a lady who was walking the 33-mile rim drive, we found ourselves at the northern point of the lake, hiking the 1.1-mile trail down to Cleetwood Cove in bright sunshine. This is the only official access to the water. The boat tours had been cancelled that day because of the wind (there were 4-foot waves hitting the rocks earlier that morning), but we sat down on the swaying docks and dipped our hands into a body of water as blue as a sapphire. I do have a fear of deep water, so floating on a wood plank above 1,943 feet of water, was certainly a challenge, if not a thrill.

The hike back up was tough (the saying goes that the trail is 1 mile down, 10 miles back up), but we recovered as we continued clockwise around the lake. We then found ourselves at Sun Notch where after a short hike, you can take in breath taking views of Phantom Ship (the smaller of the two islands in Crater Lake). Phantom Ship looks like a tiny island, but it is actually home to 7 kinds of trees.

The next day we packed up our wet tents (it had rained on us pretty steadily that night) and drove west to Union Creek where we had breakfast in a historic restaurant and visited the Rogue Gorge. We continued southwest, stopping in Grants Pass for lunch at a little coffee shop where I got a really good vegan sandwich. Now heading south to Cave Junction, we stopped in a little “hippie town” called Emery at an awesome place affectionately called Burl World where a man single-handedly (as far as I can tell) has built 4 elaborate tree houses, dog houses, fences, swings, benches, and so much more (and that was just the things that were on the outside). He also had two large barns full of more polished burlesque masterpieces.

In Cave Junction we set up camp at the Country Hills resort with the perfect campsite right on Sucker Creek (I know, I know, funny name). That night we ate ice cream around the campfire then fell asleep to a genuine babbling brook.

Monday morning, we packed up and headed up the windy road to the Oregon Caves National Monument. After getting the safety spiel and buying postcards, we headed under the mountain, at first following the path of the first person known to enter the caves; a man chasing his dog “Bruno” who had chased a bear into the cave. I think this was the first marble cave that I had toured (I usually see limestone caves). So although I had seen bigger chambers and bigger formations (i.e. Carlsbad Caverns), Oregon Caves definitely had something special to offer. For example, 38,600 year-old jaguar bones and 55,000 year-old grizzly bear bones were found in the Oregon Caves. Finds like these help scientists determine when different openings in the cave closed or opened. After walking literally through the mountain, we decided to take the longer trail back to the visitor center, the trail that took you over the mountain.

From there, we looped down in to California where we visited the pretty Smith River and majestic redwood trees of Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park, and the lighthouse in Crescent City. From there, it was a straight shot up the Oregon Coast. Although, it was good to be home, we already missed the trees, lakes, rivers, and rocks.

CoosWA September Newsletter

Click the image to read the full newsletter or visit: http://www.cooswatershed.org/Publications/CoosWAnewsletter_September09.pdf

Go Blue and Green!

I just learned today through the wonderful Living Architecture Monitor that in May, Toronto became the first major urban center in North America to adopt a green roof bylaw. The bylaw will require green roofs on all new schools, nonprofit housing, multi-unit residential, commercial, and industrial buildings in 2010.

There are so many benefits of green roofs beyond stormwater retention: use of wasted roof space, social benefits (recreation, food production), habitat, extended life of the roof, aesthetics, improved efficiency of roof-mounted air conditioners, and in general helping to control the temperature of the building.

I think Michael Krause (chair of the Green Infrastructure Foundation (GIF) board) summed up my motto nicely in this issue: “restoring ecological function to urban infrastructure through more environmentally conscious design and construction.”

I was proud to see that Philadelphia ranked 5th in terms of green roof square footage installed in 2008 at a whopping 196,820 square feet.

I also found the Environmental and Energy Study Institute Climate Change newsletter fascinating this week.

For example, here is a great new tool showing projected changes in temperature and precipitation for the US: http://www.climatewizard.org/. You can even choose the IPCC emission scenario and the general circulation model. Other than that: more bad news for Central American coffee and polar bears.

But remember, YOU can do something: take canvas bags to the grocery store, plant a tree, take the stairs, take the bus, unplug your cell phone charger. Go blue and green!

Top Reasons to Go Home for Your Birthday

Mom and Marty… my mom and I had a full week of collaging, watching Mad Men and Dog the Bounty Hunter, swimming, antique flea market shopping, and shopping in general. Marty hung out with us when he could, but he is not a big fan of collaging or Dog the Bounty Hunter, I don't know why…

The Sistas… Let the photos explain this one…

Barney (the dog) …So what if I spent most of the week calling him “Monster Booger” or “Schmooger,” he’s still the bestest doggie in the whole wide world (well, most of the time…)

Fleamarkets and thrift stores… My mom and I spent a lot of time scrounging antique flea markets and thrift stores for vintage clothes, pictures, knick knacks, and more. I found an awesome white with black polka dots vintage dress and some people’s birthday presents that I can’t disclose publicly.

Collaging … My mom and I spent several hours collaging at an art co-op booth at the Fremont Solstice Festival in Seattle earlier in the summer. Now she has got us both hooked on the free form craft where “don't throw that away! everything can be recycled!”

Mad Men… My mom also got me and Nicole hooked on the AMC series Mad Men about sleazy advertising executives on Madison Avenue in the early 1960s.

Bowling … Despite my tragically embarrassing score (I have my list of excuses ready if you would like to see them), North Bowl is an awesome place. Too bad the second floor lounges were closed for renovations. I really wanted to see their Barcelona chairs and couch. All the more of many reasons to go back to Northern Liberties.

In the Sign of the Leo

I read horoscopes in magazines...

especially yours...

in the sign of the Leo...

the regal one...

but man you let your claws show

~from Third Eye Blind's "Palm Reader"~

As you may know Third Eye Blind is one of my favorite bands. Other “favorite” bands have come and gone since I got my first CD (Nsync) in 1998, but Third Eye Blind (first 3eb CD also received in 1998), has stuck. Their self-titled debut album has also always been my favorite so I am excited to hear that their new CD Ursa Major (released yesterday) is a “back-to-basic return to the group's core sound.” I had the pleasure to dance to a couple of these new songs at their concert in May and personally can't wait to get my hands on this CD!

Tombolos and Starfish

Have I expressed how strange Charleston is yet? A little while back I found someone trying to blow dry their cat-dog with the hand dryers in the ladies restroom here on the marina. A marina employee drives around in a little rusty golf cart with a painted owl manequin on the roof, perhaps for good reason, but still comical. Even the seagulls here are "different." They like to hunker down in the middle of the parking lot or the middle of the road infront of Seahawk Seafood and aren't the least bit moved by you and your car trying to get past them.

But that being said, the area around Charleston is beautiful; full of geology, vegetation, and wildlife. I had the chance to share all of this with my AmeriCorps gang last weekend. We met up at the Bastendorff Beach overlook and then did a 4-mile geology and wildlife exploratory hike from Sunset Bay to Cape Arago.

We learned about sea stacks, tombolos, concretions, and synclines. It was a special day when we could hear the seals and sea lions from over a mile away. Once we reached the Simpson Reef overlook, I knew why. There must have been twice as many seals and sea lions there than I had ever seen before. Plus, we saw [gray?] whales spouting and splashing surprisingly close to the shore. We joked that they were having a conference becasue of all of the racket they were making.

A day of hiking was followed by the traditional camp party spiced with tofurkey skewers and acoustic guitar playing. And Saturday we all traveled to a secluded park along the Umpqua River and swam and rafted to our heart's content. I hadn't realized how much I missed swimming being so close to the freezing Atlantic. Despite the scratches on my feet, it was definitely a highlight of the summer so far.

(Top to bottom): the gang on the cliff, the gang on the rocks, the gang on the tree.

Llamas for Laughs

Although llamas are still used as pack animals in South America, here in Oregon they seem to be more of pets and guardians of sheep. Driving through rural, coastal Oregon, you cannot go far without seeing a sheep herd. And many more times than not, there is one tall llama sharing the green grass with the herd of sheep. Apparently they have been used in this capacity as a guard animal in North America since the 1980s.

Recently, at the Coos County Fair I had the opportunity to observe the creatures at their best... eating hay and staring back at me. Here are some of my favorites.

There is also an extremely adorable picture of a llama on their official Wikipedia page.

Have you ever been directed to your parking space by a man on horseback?

The Coos County Fair was last week. In addition to my recycling project going amazingly, I was able to pictorially document this little gem of Coos County culture. One of my favorite things was to visit the llamas each day, but they deserve their own blog entry...

There were no lumberjack competitions but there was a chainsaw carver. The artist is also the executive sous-chef at a local casino where he does lots of fruit, bread, and ice carving as well.

The Coos County Fair had the usual carnival rides and games. Think the Ferris wheel looks cute? Well, be ready to cough up $5 for one ride!

On a trip through the 4-H arts building I discovered this lovely, actually I have no idea what this is made out of, but it definitely isn't what it looks like.

Amidst the fried scone vendors and airbrush tattoo artists, is a small trailer where you can summarily learn if you are going to heaven by answering two questions.

And on a final note... (notice one of my recycling posters dwarfed below this banner).

Chocolate Strawberry Kabobs!?

An article about my recycling project was printed in The Register-Guard (the Eugene, Oregon newspaper) today. That means, a newspaper a full 125 miles away (as the car drives) picked up my story. Pretty cool!

The story has been in the Coos Bay newspaper The World 3 times in the last week and was even on the front page (within a larger “Fair goes green” article) yesterday.

I look forward to sitting at the CoosWA/Recycling booth in the natural resources tent at the Fair on Friday and Saturday; helping kids make “Sammy the Salmon” and “Billy the Beaver” puppets, directing people to the native plants display, recruiting volunteers and e-newsletter subscribers, and educating people about local recycling.

Other highlights should include milkshakes at “The Purple Cow,” chocolate strawberry kabobs, taking a video of how ridiculous llamas are up-close, and maybe even a ride on the Ferris wheel.

The Eagle Has Landed

Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of man’s first walk on the moon. I celebrated by seeing a marathon of free documentaries about the Apollo missions at the Egyptian Theatre.

First was “For All Mankind,” a documentary comprised of all original footage and some narration. The most impressive parts were the up-close views of liftoff (it looks so slow at first) and of Buzz and Neil bouncing around in their lunar rover “golf cart.”

The second movie was “In the Shadow of the Moon,” another [Ron Howard!] documentary that was mostly based on interviews with the actual astronauts. I think Mike Collins is hilarious (he was the guy who had to stay in the command module while Neil and Buzz got to walk on the moon). “I was described as the loneliest man in the universe. Which really isn’t true. I had the command center yakking in my ear half the time. So, it was actually nice to go around the far side of the moon.” [where they couldn't send him radio transmissions]

Did you know Apollo 15's David Scott performed Galileo's gravity experiment on the moon? Sure enough, the hammer and the feather hit the ground [lunar firmament] at the same time.

It was interesting to hear from the Apollo astronauts how they felt about being involved in this mission while the rest of the world was dealing with the free love, civil rights, and women’s rights movements and the Vietnam War. They said that they sometimes felt they were living in a bubble and that some of them have extreme guilt complexes about not fighting in the Vietnam War. After all, most of them were fighter pilots before they were recruited as astronauts.

It was also crazy to think how much they accomplished with the technology of the 1960s (those computer images looked ancient!). And we haven’t been back to the moon since…

NASA has a great website they are building to commemorate the Apollo missions. Check it out here.

It's Happening!

Recycling at the Coos County Fair is definitely happening this year. I am so excited! I feel like this project could really make a difference. 50,000 people are estimated to attend the event over 5 days. If only half of those people buy a soda bottle, water bottle, or soda can, and only half of those people actually put it in the recycling bin: then that is still making a big difference.

I have also never coordinated a project that impacts such a wide geographic scale. I sent this press release out to 23 media outlets (6 radio stations, 6 TV stations, and 11 newspapers (including The Oregonian in Portland!)). And am anxiously awaiting some actual press coverage. I mean, who wouldn't want to write or talk about a county fair implementing a recycling program after 94 years?!The best part: "Marley Bice, an AmeriCorps volunteer through the Northwest Service Academy, is coordinating recycling for the Fair. “We hope to be able to divert the majority of single-use beverage containers from landfills, thereby reducing the negative environmental impact of this community event,” said Bice, who is serving as Watershed Outreach Organizer for the Coos Watershed Association this year."

Le frigo est plein de boustifaille

Wow, some days I am shocked by the stuff you find on the Internet (usually in a good way). Here are some awesome pages I found today just in my usual travels of reading my environmental e-newsletters, working on native plants fact sheets, and lots of randomness.

• Ever wondered if you need to refrigerate mustard or if those eggs really should be thrown away as soon as the sell by date passes? Check out stilltasty.com for these answers and lots of other tips about how to reduce the amount of food you throw away unnecessarily.
• Want to get outside but don’t know anything about local nature preserves or parks? Check out the National Wildlife Federation’s NatureFind application.
• Want to watch a time-lapse video of a stand of trees changing into their fall foliage? Virginia Tech’s dendrology website has a cool video.
• Need some help working up an appetite? Check out the Rogue Brewing Company’s menu! They are just up the road in Newport, Oregon.
• Need a reason to go to Colorado? Check out the Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. They have a really cool sounding “Film on the Rocks” program on Tuesday evenings. Who wouldn’t want to watch movies in a natural rock amphitheatre that is taller than Niagara Falls in the Rocky Mountain foothills?

The Mt. Adams Experience

I did a lot of hiking in Washington this past week. Firstly, on the way to my AmeriCorps training, I had to take a detour on to Washington state highway 14 because a truck with tens of thousands of pounds of hot asphalt turned over on interstate 84, closing the highway for almost the entire day. Although I was at first bummed about this detour because I had planned on hiking Multnomah Falls (again), this detour ended up sending me past Beacon Rock, the second largest rock mass in the world that I wasn’t able to summit in January due to high winds. Thus began the series of hikes.

Beacon Rock was a 1-mile hike to a summit at 850 feet (approximately 850 feet elevation gain – it is right on the Columbia River). The next day, I hiked to the top of Sleeping Beauty peak, a 1.2-mile hike to 4,900 feet elevation (1,400 feet elevation gain). The abandoned lookout at the top provided amazing views of Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Rainier (before the clouds covered it up). We could hear a thunderstorm brewing on Mt. St. Helens and it was clearly raining on the South Butte of Mt. Adams, where a group of us would be hiking the next day.

View of Adams from Sleeping Beauty Peak

The next day after hours of being in the sun and walking around, 11 of us started up the South Spur trail of Mt. Adams at 6 pm. (All along I had thought we were starting this hike on Saturday morning…) This left us with 3600 feet to our goal; “the Lunch Counter,” and less than 4 hours of daylight to get there. Another thing that made this trip difficult for me was the snow conditions. I was prepared (or thought I was) for the idea of having to hiking a snowfield up to the false summit (so, starting at 9000 feet). But it turned out there was up to 2 feet of snow starting at 6500 feet.

Early on, on the trail.

I was extremely thankful for loaned ski poles and yak traks but after 2000 feet of snow hiking, I knew I wasn’t properly equipped for another 4000 feet of it. So, I decided to stay at base AmeriCamp at 8300 feet the next day while most of the other people got up at 4 am to hike to the summit. It turned out I was perfectly content to sleep in until 8 am and wake up with a panoramic view of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens and the Gifford Pinchot National Forest 3000 feet below.

Getting dark on the first night

Sunset from 8300 feet with Mt. St. Helens to the East

Marley and Mt. Hood to the South the next morning

In my 3000 feet of hiking, there was one snowfield that was particularly adventurous to traverse. On the way up, we had to kick-step-pause up a 100 foot “snow ladder” a la the Klondike Gold Rush ladder. And, on the way down, the “safest” way to get down this snowfield was by glissading the 300-foot drop from farther up the snowfield. At the time, I was, well… scared, but looking back it was fun and other than several scraped knuckles, I came out unscathed.

View from the top of the snowfield

View from the bottom of the snowfield. Marley and the glissade chute in the background.

In fact, we all got as far up the mountain as we were comfortable with, and all got back down safely under clear skies the entire time. Some days, you can’t ask for more than that. Plus those huckleberry smoothies back in Trout Lake were awesome.

She's Going to do What?!

I can hardly believe it either, but in less than a week, I will be tackling my biggest physical and mental challenge ever: Mt. Adams. Mt. Adams stands at a mighty 12,276 feet above sea level, above cloud level, above comfortable oxygen level…

Adams is a stratovolcano but it hasn’t erupted in the last 200 years and it is second in eruptive volume only to Mt. Shasta within the Cascade Range. But it is still active; the USGS reports that there are “fumaroles emitting steam and hydrogen sulfide in the crater area.” The main cone is estimated to be 220,000 years old.

Adams, along with Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood, has been described by Northwest Indians for centuries. It has been called Klickitat and Pahto in different legends. Interestingly, its current name is left over from an 1839 scheme to make the Cascades the Presidential Range.

I will be setting off on the 11.6 round trip, South Spur Trail with a group of fellow AmeriCorps friends in the wee hours of July 11th. We will spend the night in bivouacs at a place called the “Lunch Counter,” make water by melting snow and throwing in iodine tablets, and then hike to the summit!

Hiking with an overnight pack (extra food, clothes, tent, sleeping bag, etc) will be harder but I think it will be worth it to sleep on a mountain at 9000 feet. I hear the stars are amazing. Plus, I hear the worst part is the snowfield up to the false summit, “Pickers Peak,” so better to attack that after a few hours of rest. Although some hikers have said it feels like a 45-degree climb, the max angle on the whole trail is [only] 30-degrees.

The Story of Lily and the Table

A couple of weeks ago I found a really ugly black table at a Relay for Life yard sale for $1. I could tell it was real wood and decided to take it home for my first refinishing project.

Lily, the puppy at my house, thought she was helping by dropping her slobbery rawhide chew bones and various other toys and sticks on my table as I was trying to sand it, after all I was on her back porch. But, hey, she is a good model to make up for it.

There (Victoria) and Back Again

I just got back from another amazing Power Girls vacation (a long story) to Victoria, BC, Seattle, and the Portland area. First we took a high-speed ferry from Seattle to Victoria. Although, my mom said its grandeur and speed paled in comparison to a high-speed ferry she had taken from Sweden to Denmark, it was still pretty cool. I was shocked to learn that the boat was burning 250 gallons of fuel per hour! But once you divide that by the 200 people on board the boat and compare it to how much fuel it would have taken to individually drive there… it all makes sense.

The Seattle Skyline

Once in Victoria and once through Canadian customs, we slowly dragged our suitcases the two blocks to our hotel. But we didn’t realize our hotel was right across the street from… THE Thunderbird Park. We were shocked to find the carving studio, which had been used for 25 years, was being dismantled. We stopped to take pictures of the half-gone building and it’s massive ceiling beams, little knowing that by the time we walked by again at 9 am the next morning, that it would be almost completely gone, and that by the end of our stay, the only thing left of the building would be it’s floor and a Haida totem pole that had marked the entrance.

Thunderbird Park is full of totem poles!

What was left of the carving studio...

Thunderbird Park is the Royal British Columbia Museum’s outdoor totem pole exhibit. Most of the poles are replicas of originals that are now in storage or inside the museum to be preserved. One of the most intriguing parts of Thunderbird Park for us was this huge Kwakiutl long house replica… that we couldn’t get in! One evening, on a whim, I stuck my eye between two of the house boards, and what I saw was amazing. I could see a painted dance screen and two totem poles with wide wings flanking a stage. I moved to the other side of the building and looked in again. There were two massive totem poles flanking (and probably guarding) the entrance. Needless to say, this activity kept us entertained for some time and we walked away feeling like we had discovered the dusty artifacts ourselves, which was almost better than being let into the house on a museum tour.

We spent another three days on Vancouver Island; first exploring the city itself; the waterfront, Chinatown, Beacon Hill Park, the beaches along the Juan de Fuca Strait, the Royal BC Museum. On the third day we rented a car and drove up the coast to Duncan, the city of totem poles and Chemanius, the city of murals, with several scenic detours.

A viewpoint on the Vancouver Island drive

Perhaps the highlight of this detour up the coast was hiking out to Kinsol Trestle. This precarious looking bridge was part of the Trans-Canadian hiking trail before it was set on fire. Imagine, walking across that 600+ foot bridge, 125 feet above the rocky river, with no railings, and huge gaps between the wood beams… I have a feeling this is one thing that would not have been allowed in the US. Now that the bridge is condemned, hikers have to take an 8.5 km detour to continue on their hike.

Kinsol Trestle: would you walk across that?

Once back in Seattle, and through US customs, we explored Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, the Klondike Gold Rush Museum, Chinatown, and did lots of antique shopping. On Sunday, we spent the day in Fremont at the Summer Solstice Festival, and doing more vintage store and antique store shopping (of course). There was so much fun stuff to do at the festival. We rummaged through 2/$10 boxes of awesome silk skirts, dresses, and tops made from old saris, took a free yoga class, marveled at extravagant “art cars,” and sat down and made collages from 1930s-1940s era National Geographics.

We saw a submarine in Puget Sound on the way back to Seattle.

An idea of what you find at Pike Place Market

What I mean by "art cars"

Sadly, the next day we headed south again. We stopped in Olympia for (more antique shopping) lunch at Spar Café (a McMenamin’s establishment) and over a delicious veggie burger and hummus plate decided to go to Multnomah Falls and then spend the evening at McMenamin’s Edgefield. Edgefield was set on the property of an old “poor farm” and had everything one could want: a hotel, spa and soaking pool, 3 restaurants, brewery, distillery, winery, golf course, glass blower, pool hall, vineyards. What a beautiful place, I can’t wait to go back and do more.

I guess that is the downside of vacations, you rarely are able to completely explore the place you have gone to visit, and have in the process, discovered other places you want to come back to and explore more. But would I stop going on vacations because of that? Never!

More photos are on my flickr page, although more will be updated in July (already reached my June quota).