News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 301 - 325 of 734
The Sisters High Desert Chorale will host their annual spring concert performance this coming Friday, May 3, at 7 p.m. at Sisters Community Church, and again on May 5 at 2:30 p.m. in the same venue. The program will open with the Sisters High Desert Bell Choir, directed by Lola Knox, performing two numbers. Chorale director Irene Liden, with the aid of Julie Geveshausen, the Chorale's accompanist, will then swing into Hoagy Carmichael's classic "Georgia On My Mind," followed... Full story
Twenty Sisters High School juniors, along with teacher Samra Spear, joined Kolleen Yake, Kelly Beck, and Hayley McClure from the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council (UDWC) last Thursday for the Whychus Creek Student Stewardship Project. Community surveys and public comments previously collected by the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council and Sisters Ranger District revealed a lack of information and understanding amongst local students and community members regarding stream health... Full story
The Wolftree Whychus Creek Discovery Outpost was not always the ideal conservation site it is today. According to Forrest Babcock and Janet Zuelke, who live just above the outpost, the area below them was a scene of gunfire, nasty barking dogs and people living along the creek who weren't in the least interested in conservation, or being good neighbors. One day the shooting, nasty barking dogs and lousy neighbors vanished and peace and quiet settled along Whychus Creek. But... Full story
Of all the insects we interact with every day, flies, mosquitoes and bees top the list. Flies, because no matter where you live or what you do, they're in our faces constantly; mosquitoes as they are in the news currently as vectors for the dreaded Equine Encephalitis; and bees because we can't have food without them - we love to eat honey - and they're in big trouble, worldwide. Currently, there are a lot of people in Sisters Country who are not only interested in the... Full story
"If it isn't cows eating young aspen, it's elk," said Tim Lillebo of Oregon Wild, early in 2013, pointing to damage to cloning aspen, as he, Maret Pajutee, forest ecologist for the Sisters District, and Darin Stringer, forester and owner of Pacific Stewardship, looked at the sad condition of aspen in Glaze Meadow. Stringer also noted that young conifers were crowding the aspen. Between elk damage and infiltration by other trees, foresters worry that they may lose the... Full story
There aren't many ways the average person can enjoy watching a pair of golden eagles raise their babies without going to a lot of hard work, or posing a threat to the eagles. Not anymore. All one has to do is turn on the television (or laptop, or any other electronic equipment that will access the Internet) go to www.goldeneaglecam.com, and you're there. In 2003, Forrest Babcock and Janet Zuelke, who have a home overlooking the Wolftree Discovery Outpost on Whychus Creek,... Full story
Sometimes, I get the notion we're closer to Nature than is good for anyone. I recall all too well back in the '50s when I had the crazy idea of wanting to pet a wild female northern spotted skunk on my birthday. I did, and got away without getting blasted, but the incident led me down a path I'm not proud of: I got greedy, captured her babies, then de-scented and sold them for "pets." I also caught momma the next night. Yeah, the sweet little gal who trusted me and allowed me... Full story
This memo was written recently by Brent McGregor of Sisters, chairman of the Oregon High Desert Grotto, a chapter of National Speleogical Society (NSS): "There has been an increase in vandalism in the China Hat caving area lately and I would like to ask grotto members to keep an eye out when caving there. Some of the observations during the past couple days include: • Boyd Cave: Signs at top and bottom of stairs destroyed. The information signs only lasted 1-1/2... Full story
Sisters High Desert Chorale is deep into their rehearsals for their spring program. This year's performance will include "Hernando's Hideaway," from "The Pajama Game," a play based on the novel, "7-1/2 Cents." The musical play opened on Broadway on May 13, 1954, ran for over 1,000 performances, and was eventuality made into a movie. The lyrics of "Hernando's Hideaway" describe a sleazy, dark, raunchy and secretive nightclub where alcohol and prostitution are the order of the... Full story
Court-mandated community-service work projects involving removing old barbed-wire helps protect wildlife in Sisters Country, while providing an opportunity for offenders to give back to the community. The trapped juvenile great horned-owl (pictured on page 17) didn't survive the injury to its wing after it was entangled in an old, abandoned barbed wire fence. But the juvenile offenders who took on the difficult job of gathering up and recycling the wire guaranteed it would... Full story
The speaker at the upcoming Friends of the Sisters Library Diane Jacobsen Speaker Series to be held in the Sisters Library community room on March 17, 1:30 p.m. will be PGE fish biologist, Don Ratliff. Ratliff received his bachelor's degree in fisheries science from Oregon State University in 1970. Little did he know what was coming. Originally hired as a hatchery biologist and PGE coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife-operated Round Butte Hatchery, his... Full story
Last Wednesday evening laughing and snickering from parents, and hilarious bickering from student actors and actresses could be heard drifting out of the drama room of the Sisters Middle School. The reason was a take-off on the old familiar story of Rupenzel, put on by drama teacher Caroline Plath's middle schoolers, entitled,"A Hairy Tail," written by Charlie Lovett. Twenty-four students took part in the silly little comedy, and from the time the lights came up to the final... Full story
You know that stressful drive from Portland to Seattle? Take a traffic break and take the Nisqually exit: the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is not more than a mile from the turn-off. As you pull up to the visitor center (VC), don't miss the juvenile bald eagle perched in the big cottonwoods. Don't get all pushed out of shape by all the cars stacked up in the parking area; once you've paid the fee for enjoying all the wildlife you'll see, start out on one of the trails,... Full story
How many times have you had the "feeling" that something was going on your life - or your friend's - and you couldn't understand or have proof of it going to happen, and didn't know where the "hunch" came from? Then, finding proof you were right, it became even more mysterious. Such phenomenon could be "intuition," or the ability to acquire knowledge without inference and/or the use of reason, a "shot out of the blue." Karen Grace Kassey will be exploring "intuition" at The... Full story
If you walk into Mike Geisen's science classroom at Sisters Middle School (SMS)and wonder why the lights are going on and off, it's because the sun is rising in summer and winter. His students are demonstrating houses they designed and built to their specifications as a "Dream Home of the Future." Students had to: • Incorporate at least seven solar design features. • The model could not be larger than two feet in any direction. • No industrial... Full story
First it was the rumors: "The barred owls are coming." Next, it was the dire warning that barred owls were going to either chase the northern spotted owl out of the northwest, or breed with them. In the 1980s one turned up in Alfalfa, and then about five years ago another strayed into Tumalo State Park on the Deschutes River, and another down near Crescent; then recently one was seen hanging around the Old Mill District in Bend. Just a while back, Gary Landers, of Wild Wings... Full story
There we were, eating a late breakfast because we'd slept in (something I rarely did before I hit 85) and a tiny bushtit popped up on our suet feeder just a few feet from our kitchen window. "Here they come..." Sue whispered, like the birds outside could hear her. Then another tiny, long-tailed, blueish little chickadee-like bird flitted onto the feeder, and before we knew it there were 15 of the little guys all feeding hungrily on the suet cake. I'll tell you, you may be havi... Full story
The young men of Boy Scout Troop 188 went ice-fishing on Saturday, February, 9. Even though they all held to the Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared," they had no idea of the surprises in store for them. The goal was to go ice fishing on Marion Lake. That's what they all expected to do when they met in the parking lot of the Sisters LDS Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) at sunup, all of them chock-full of the energy of youth, equipped with warm clothing, water,... Full story
The Sisters Science Club will host a discussion on "Male/Female Sports Performance Differences," presented by Professor John Liccardo on Thursday, February 14. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for food and refreshments, and the lecture begins at 7 p.m. In the world of nature, "strength" can mean the difference between survival and extinction. Among the raptors, for example, females are larger and stronger than males, a factor that leads to better survival of the species. The femal... Full story
Overcoming gravity, friction and mass has always been a critical task for humans making their way in the world. We create tools and machines to do that - and that's a big part of what has made humans successful. Last week, third- and fourth-grade students of Sisters Elementary School were treated to an understanding of some of the working principles of the lever, wheel, pulley and ramp by members of the Sister Science Club (SSC). Science Club co-founder Dr. Bob Collins got... Full story
"Is that a green heron?" A small, noisy little bird went flashing by me while Sue and our daughter, Miriam, and grandson, James, were birding in Phoenix a couple of weeks back. One of the best things about being a birder is that no matter where anyone goes, there is always the opportunity to add a "Lifer" to one's Life List, especially in the American Southwest. During the time Sue and I spent in southeast Arizona in the late '70s and early '80s - while I was the head honcho... Full story
Fifty singers from all over Sisters Country gathered last Monday at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church for the first High Desert Chorale rehearsal of the 2013 season. Among the 50 energetic singers, there were several newcomers there to see if they will fit into the chorale. In 1995, Forrest Daniels, retired Music Director at COCC, wandered into Sisters looking for a few voices to be the nucleus for a chorale in Sisters Country, and about 20 singers responded. Over the... Full story
Last fall, one of our native belted kingfishers discovered two elements on Cascade Estates Drive that undoubtedly made it think it had died and gone to heaven: Mary Smith's pond, and the goldfish therein. Mary, being a person of considerable quilting and sewing talents, coupled with her native instincts, created a scarekingfisher the likes of which no one has ever seen before. Just because the surface of the pond froze over, and said kingfisher left the country, doesn't mean... Full story
Albert (Al) Waibel, owner of Columbia Geoscience in Hillsboro, will be presenting an illustrated lecture on geothermal energy in the Mt. Newberry area at Sisters Library in the Community Room at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 20. Waibel has over 35 years experience with geothermal exploration and development in North and Central America, Asia, Africa and Europe. He is a co-author of the geothermal section of the "Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology." He has... Full story
It was a clear and cold Tuesday morning - just nine degrees - and 20 sophomores from Rima Givot's biology class were all bundled up and eagerly hiking from the high school to take part in a new adventure in the recently refurbished greenhouse located on the east side of Sisters Middle School. They were about to get the jump on spring by planting seeds for what will become 1,600 seedlings of native sulfur buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum, a species of wild buckwheat known by... Full story
