News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 276 - 300 of 460
The legend behind the development of the Scottish Terrier breed is that an English lord, living in Scotland in the 1800s, evaluated his new breed of dogs by saying, “These dogs act just like the people I live around here in Scotland. They are tough, smart, and stubborn as the devil himself. We’ll call them Scottish Terriers.” Well, they are all of that, especially stubborn! Like any particularly smart child, the Scotties want to be able to make choices for themselves. And,... Full story
When you sit with patients long enough, you start picking up on patterns. Individual wellness is often connected to the collective, and with our digitalized world becoming smaller, that collective is more interconnected than ever. Feelings and sentiments are more palpable and like a contagion, can spread. While we may not ourselves have experienced a particular trauma or loss, we have immediate access to those who have, creating a breeding ground for secondary anxiety, fear, s... Full story
Hate reminds me of a thistle: once it invades the mind it quickly propagates, showing up everywhere, and choking out other, more wholesome mental states. Once established, hate is difficult to uproot. When I practice daily mindfulness meditation, I try to water the seeds of loving-kindness, compassion, happiness and joy, hope, and inner peace. Once germinated, these seeds have the capacity to transform the garden of my mind, creating a beautiful dwelling place. But I also water the seed of hate because, I tell myself, the... Full story
• World’s Children thanks everyone who attended A Musical Event to Help Ukrainian Children and others who donated to provide supplies for Ukrainian children who fled for their lives and now live in displaced persons camps. A total of $3,571 was donated and will be wired to our Ukraine country liaison to purchase critical items for those children. A huge thank-you goes to Carol Ast’s SPRD Zumba Class, who put on the event. Thanks to Monica Tomosy, who had the idea to help Ukraine children and organized a group to pull it off.... Full story
The wild turkey [Meleagris Gallopavo] is not a native species in Oregon. Introduced in 1961 by ODFW, they are now well-established in the pine forests around the Metolius Basin. The subspecies Rio Grande has had the most successful natural expansion, although the Merriam's also has a steady population. Females lay 10-14 beige mottled eggs which hatch in approximately 28 days, and within 24 hours of hatching the poults have left the nest. Insects, berries, seeds, and all... Full story
In response to Bill Bartlett’s November 8 article about forest permits, I offer pertinent additional information and clarification not about bark stripping, but the stripping of nearly all the branches on multiple incense-cedar trees. This was not “cutting a few boughs here and there.” I was that first person to call the Sisters Ranger District Office. While hiking the Greenridge Trail with a friend recently, we saw two men some distance below the trail, spread far apart, cutting branches off trunks with pole pruners at le... Full story
Climate change To the Editor: In the November 15 letters to the editor, Sharon Booth said she was stunned by the lack of knowledge Pat Farr possesses on climate change in comparison to “scientists” all over the world. I’d bet Pat Farr has more common sense than those scientists have conclusive data free of untainted bias and motive. And believe it or not, there are also scientists all over the world that disagree with the narrative pushed by CNN, AOC, and Greta. Proverbs 14:15-18, New Living Translation. Sharon in her summary... Full story
Last week, Sisters marked Veterans Day observances, Americans’ annual opportunity to honor those who have served the country in our armed forces. Sisters students met with veterans and celebrated their service in assemblies (see “Roundabout Sisters,” page 3). Bend hosted its always-impressive Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, November 11. What Americans know as Veterans Day grew out of solemn observations of Armistice Day, marking the moment when the guns fell silent on the W... Full story
Shipworms, if you didn’t know, were the bane of mariners for many centuries. Shipworms are mollusks that make a living by burrowing into wood immersed in saltwater. These “termites of the sea” can chew a wooden ship into pieces in a relatively short amount of time. There is even some evidence to suggest, in the writings of Bernal Diaz del Castillo and other contemporaries, that Cortez didn’t burn his ships because he wanted to trap conquistadors in Mexico, but because they we... Full story
Timing is always tricky with a weekly publication. Take Halloween this year, on a Tuesday, literally the day when The Nugget is rolling off the press on its way to Sisters. So, no way to capture freshly the excitement of the annual children's parade put on by Sisters Park & Recreation District and Rotary Club of Sisters. Reporting on it would be eight days later, by then old news. Veteran's Day is always November 11, but local observances fell during the week, so they would... Full story
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in various U.S. cities recently got my attention. Curious as to what the protestors were actually supporting, I read from various news sources. To my surprise some of the “journalistic” accounts made little if any mention of Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack on Israelis living in Gaza. The journalists, like the protestors, seemed more focused on Israel’s retaliation following the horrendous attack. After more research, reading and watching video, I discovered how many protestors support a very de... Full story
Climate change To the Editor: The letter from Pat Farr in The Nugget on October 11 stunned me by the lack of knowledge she possessed re: climate change. The changing climate has to do with overall averages of measured weather phenomena over extended periods of time. Temperature is the most commonly used to monitor climate, but also severity of damaging storms. Weather is what we experience on a day-to-day basis. Taken cumulatively, climate is defined by average weather measurements. Scientists from all over the world agree... Full story
The Killdeer [Charadrius vociferus], is the largest of the ringed plovers, and the only plover with a double breast band. In flight, the Killdeer's long, pointed, slender wings have conspicuous white wing stripes. Killdeer frequent a variety of open habitats such as fields, meadows, gravel bars, and mudflats throughout the United States and most of Canada. Their diet includes snails, grasshoppers, worms, beetles, and other invertebrates. They can often be seen in fall in... Full story
Have you heard the phrase “Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses?” It’s a phrase we might not use to describe many people these days. But what it represents is a perspective, a worldview. This worldview shapes the way we view reality and ultimately our behavior, even the experience of our behavior as we interact with our world. I wonder, how often do we critically think about what has shaped our perspective? Historically, people often developed their worldview based... Full story
I just don’t get those self-driving cars. I, myself, love to drive and can’t imagine the fun of sitting in the driver’s seat with “somebody” else making the decisions, and steering, and pedaling. Talking cars, one thing I like about old cars is that they have wing windows. When Jack and Reese were little kids, we were coming back from getting ice cream in Sisters and I asked one of them to crack the wing window. They thought that was the funniest thing they’d ever heard. Come to find out I actually do have standards w... Full story
• The Cottage Inn at Sisters won the Building a Better Oregon award for Outstanding Lodging in Sisters at the Building a Better Oregon Awards presentation sponsored by Central Oregon Association of Realtors. The owners of The Cottage Inn are Jeff and Vicki Lemos. • Steve Stratos of Sisters Community Church wrote: We are entering into another holiday season with both Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner. We recognize a world where lots of pain, suffering and unc... Full story
At The Nugget Newspaper, I have the privilege of manning the front desk and greeting community members as they walk in the door or call on the phone. This public contact is actually my favorite part of the job. Even after living in Sisters for 14 years and having kids in Sisters schools dating back 18 years, I have never had the opportunity to interact with as many people from Sisters as in this role at The Nugget. I continue to meet people that, in some cases, have lived in... Full story
“Another fall, another turned page…” —Wallace Stegner With frosty nights, some rain, and a wee bit of snow, we have indeed turned the page on another fire season; one marked by a paucity of dry lightning storms, quick detections, and aggressive initial attack. For the 2023 fire season, the Sisters Ranger District had 22 fires for a total of 2.8 acres burned, with only one of those fires caused by lightning. Of those human-caused fires, 13 were related to camp or bon/par... Full story
Bernard Cornwell has a very interesting life story that got him to the point of writing several fictional series. He was born in England in 1944 and adopted when he was six weeks old. His new parents were members of a strict fundamentalist sect called the Peculiar People, who forbade just about everything kids and young adults were interested in. Cornwell definitely expressed his rebellion toward all those restrictions when he started to write historical novels about war, realistic wartime relationships, and fighting. He... Full story
On a rainy Rogue River trip, Jim and I contemplated a fire. A fire would offer warmth even if drying out was not possible. My ammo can contained kindling, and I set about making a fire in our tiny Weber barbecue turned fire pan. I was about to flick my Bic…. In early adulthood I was lucky to learn a trade. I worked as a framing and finish carpenter in Fresno, California. A lasting take-away from that job was an abiding love of wood. Especially redwood. Fresno is in the heart of redwood country. West, along the coast, are t... Full story
Hunters in the forest To the Editor: There were a few misconceptions promoted in T. Lee Brown’s column of November 1. She stated that a hunter had fired off 12 rounds without looking. Since hunters are limited by regulation to a maximum of five rounds, one in the chamber and a magazine that can hold no more than four cartridges, it was clearly not a hunter who was shooting. The second misconception is that hunters take over the entire forest during the fall of the year. In fact the rifle deer season in this area was O... Full story
You may have read articles recently implying that hunters own the entire forest this time of year because they paid for a hunting permit. You may have gotten the impression that the responsibility for keeping people (and non-targeted animals) safe during hunting season lies entirely on non-hunters. People who like to take walks and meander along streams. People who camp and dance and listen to songbirds and write poetry in the woods, which is to say, people like me. I think hu... Full story
If you look into the southeastern sky on a clear November evening, you can see the Greek sea monster Cetus. This is a big constellation, fourth largest, in fact, by area. Its neighboring constellations are Aquarius, Aries, Eridanus, Fornax, Pisces, Sculptor, and Taurus. The creature's head is located about 25 degrees west and 10 degrees south of the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus. During the late fall and winter season, Cetus can be seen by observers from the South Pole to a... Full story
It is now widely known in our community that the Sisters Trails Alliance (STA) has come out publicly against the Green Ridge logging project due to concerns over the cutting of large and mature trees in old-forest patches, and scientifically contradictory restoration goals and methods. We are not only concerned about degraded aesthetic and recreational experiences on Green Ridge, but also irreparable harm to our life support systems. We recently messaged our far-reaching email list letting members of the Sisters community (an... Full story
My dark wish for Sisters To the Editor: When I walk out my front door in Borrego Springs I can see the Milky Way — ours is a designated international dark-sky community. It is estimated that 80 percent of humanity has never seen the Milky Way and never will. This is largely the result of urbanization and the bright night-lights that come with it. The 20 percent who do enjoy a clear night sky are taking steps to protect it. On my recent visit to Sisters to give a Science Club Talk at The Belfry (Starry Starry Nights, O... Full story
