News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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Those who struggle with depression may approach everyday decisions differently from others, believing that the outcome of each decision they make, each action they take, demonstrates something fundamental about their character. The person susceptible to depression relies upon feedback from their environment to gauge their self-worth. Positive feedback validates their worth as an individual, but negative feedback can just as quickly strip them of self-worth. Good outcomes say that they are competent and intelligent, they are... Full story
• I backed my brand new Bronco into a telephone pole in Sisters the very first day I drove it. No problem to get the dent out. Now, though, it seems there’s no such thing as repairing a dented fender. When one fender meets another fender, or worse, the cars involved are often totaled by insurance companies because body parts comprised of “composite material” just can’t withstand a good, old fashion fender bender. • It never fails: I’ve kept certain statements for years and years and finally and at last got rid of ‘em last J... Full story
A former boss told me once, as we were dodging a boulder garden in a raft on the North Umpqua River, “humans are like houseplants; after a couple of years, both need repotted.” So, after almost seven years here as the district ranger in Sisters, last fall I voluntarily and temporarily repotted as the forest supervisor on the Modoc National Forest in northern California. Part of the reason was curiosity, part of it was the timing, part of it just could have been a wan... Full story
C.J. Box started the Joe Pickett book series with "Open Season" in 2001. Now, 24 books later, the series latest book is "Three-Inch Teeth," published in 2024. Joe Pickett is a Wyoming game warden who, in this current book, is fighting to survive against two lethal enemies - one a monstrous grizzly bear and the other a monstrous human who is out for revenge. If you are a person who loves to hunt, fish, and enjoy life in the woods and wilderness, then you will live your love of... Full story
On a clear winter evening in January, look to the southeastern sky to behold the brightest, most recognizable constellation in the entire sky. Orion the Hunter straddles the celestial equator, making it visible from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Hunter's shape is easy to identify because of the arrangement of its brightest stars. His belt is marked by three equally spaced stars of about the same magnitude that lie in a nearly straight line. It is tilted at... Full story
That raucous chatter heard often in neighborhoods across Oregon is what I refer to as the Western Blue-Jay [Aphelocoma californica]. Originally referred to as a "scrub" jay, they now have a larger population within forests and towns. This blue-with-a-gray-back jay inhabits residential areas in large numbers, gleaning food from backyard feeders and trees. Insects, nuts, snails, berries, and bees make up their main diet. A six-inch nest is built within tree branches, where two... Full story
We made special Christmas boxes for the Scotties to open on Christmas morning. Each box was wrapped in holiday paper and filled with some of the dogs’ favorite treats. It took them more than 20 minutes to reach the treats. Scotties are tenacious and never give up. For nearly half an hour the pack was fully alive. They pushed, pulled, bit, dug, tore, jumped on, and danced around their prey. We laughed at their antics more than we ever had before. It was the best morning we h... Full story
It’s that time of year again – shopping, parties, decking the halls, gathering with friends and families, exchanging presents, and singing carols. If all is copacetic in life, the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa season can create wonderful memories to last a lifetime. If you are alone, ill, fallen on hard times, or grieving, all the festive airs can seem like a cruel hoax, magnifying the difficult circumstances. If I’ve learned nothing else about holidays, it is to ackno... Full story
A few weeks ago I read an article in The Nugget about Sisters author Melody Carlson. Since she’s written over 250 books, and I’m a former bookstore owner, you’d think I’d have read all of her books — but I haven’t. Over the last few weeks, I’ve made up for lost time. I just finished number nine! A few of them were “short stories” or “novellas” but great to read in one day. Many of them are set in the northwest — Oregon, Washington, Idaho — and that makes them even better. The one I just finished is “Christmas in Winter Hill... Full story
In August of 2024, when a developer was requesting code changes to allow variances from current code for a plot of land in north Sisters, the Three Sisters Historical Society (TSHS) wrote and submitted a plea to preserve and protect the remnants of Sisters' oldest homestead and what we now call the Conklin House. An excerpt from the 'brief history' which TSHS sent to the city with their plea: "JJ Smith's 1886 homestead went from Pine St. (east) to Locust St. and Cascade to... Full story
Sometimes, when the gods are being generous, we cross paths with incredible people whose accomplishments stand apart, and whose ability to reflect the lessons of great physical and spiritual challenge encourage us to examine our own lives. So it is with Ruby Gates, 60, who is on a quest to circumnavigate the globe in her sailboat, single-handed. I met Ruby at Black Butte Ranch, where she gave a presentation after completing the first leg of her adventure - sailing her 39-foot... Full story
The Santiam Wagon Road was originally built in 1866 to collect tolls, but the road’s owners also convinced Congress to give them a huge land grant if they extended the road to the Idaho border. While some claimed they never actually finished the road, they ended up getting more than 861,000 acres of federal land. Fifty years later, most of this land was in the hands of two Minnesota businessmen, Watson Davidson and Louis Hill. Hill was the son of James J. Hill, builder of the Great Northern Railway, and he was wealthy e... Full story
Happy holidays, y’all! Here we are in beautiful Sisters Country, awaiting snow and hoping there’ll be enough for a New Year’s Eve party at Hoodoo. Awaiting the first night of Hanukkah, which falls on Christmas Day this year. Awaiting prezzies and family dinners, Santa Claus and Midnight Mass. Awaiting song and candles. Awaiting whatever traditions we’ve inherited or created for ourselves, with our biological families, adopted families, or families chosen in adulthood. Persona... Full story
Winter solstice is an ancient celebration, evidenced by sacred sites such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. Immense stones were aligned to illuminate the sun as it rose for solstice, and are still used as ceremonial sites on this special day. Candles and fires characterize winter solstice and related celebrations of light in darkness. Sisters Community Labyrinth organizers will light a contained fire at the large boulder in the labyrinth's center the evening o... Full story
The Santiam Wagon Road was originally built in 1866 to collect tolls, but the road’s owners also convinced Congress to give them a huge land grant if they extended the road to the Idaho border. This made them eligible for 861,512 acres of federal land. In 1871, they sold the wagon road (which, in the Cascade Mountains at least, was still producing toll revenue) and the land grant for $160,000 (about $4 million today) to two Californians, H.K.W. Clarke and Alexander Weill. Clarke paid $20,000 and Weill, acting as a r... Full story
After bundling up against the cold, one of the best times to stargaze is on frosty December evenings when the sky is clear, and the stars are bright. Cassiopeia is a prominent wintertime constellation that is easy to recognize because five of its primary stars are arranged in the shape of a "W." Using Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) to locate the North Star (Polaris), extend an imaginary line from the dipper through Polaris to an area of about 30 degrees on the other side of the... Full story
Festive, cheerful, joyous, and celebratory — these are the emotions we often associate with the holiday season. Yet for those grieving the loss of a loved one, this time of year can evoke vastly different feelings. Words like dread, fear, anxiety, and loneliness emerged during a recent seminar here is Sisters that focused on helping people cope with grief during the holidays. Although grief is felt every day of the year, the empty chair at holiday gatherings can amplify the sense of loss, especially for those facing their f... Full story
Most residents of Sisters Country have heard of the Santiam Wagon Road and many have hiked or driven on parts of the road. What many may not know is that the Santiam Road is only part of a much longer road, known as the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road, which was supposed to stretch from Albany to Idaho. In reality, this road was mainly a way to scam the federal government out of more than 860,000 acres of land. This scam greatly enriched a few people, yet it isn’t even clear that the road was ever built. T... Full story
Northern Goshawks are found throughout the mountains and forests of North America and Eurasia. In North America they range from western central Alaska and the Yukon territories in the north to the mountains of northwestern and western Mexico. They are typically not found in the southeastern United States. Northern Goshawks can be found in coniferous and deciduous forests. During their nesting period, they prefer mature forests consisting of a combination of old, tall trees wit... Full story
Thanks, y’all, for the feedback on my last column, a light ‘n’ snarky one about women’s mid-life changes. People seemed especially pleased that I encouraged men to read. Keep reading, folks of all genders! I mentioned an upcoming talk at the library. I went, despite the grim weather, and enjoyed open, nonjudgmental conversation with local ladies of various ages. At the podium stood doctors Erin LeGrand and Sarah Hellmann, both OB/GYNs with St. Charles Medical Group. OB/GYNs... Full story
It is fashionable to suggest that violence doesn’t solve problems, although the history of the world suggests otherwise. It might be better to say that violence doesn’t always solve problems, because it was only violence that cemented the American Revolution, it was violent resistance that carved out what little indigenous Americans have left, it was violence that finally solved Hitler, and at least for a little while it allowed schoolgirls in Kabul to learn how to read wit... Full story
Suppose you’re in your late 30s. Or well into your 40s. Or, heaven help you, mid-50s. Let us also suppose you have a uterus and ovaries, and you’re still menstruating. Even if you don’t have that apparatus, or you’re freaked out by the word “menstruating,” keep reading. What follows may help you navigate a world that’s composed of over 50 percent women.* There’s this wild, destabilizing thing that happens around mid-life. Our hormones go absolutely wild. It’s called per... Full story
There are events that occur over the course of one’s life that have the potential to cause depression — going through a painful divorce, adjusting to widowhood, living with chronic illness, becoming a caregiver for an ill parent or life partner, losing your job and struggling to find another. Sometimes depression takes root, not as a result of an external event but from biological changes within one’s brain. But we are so used to looking within our life circumstances for the cause of our depressed mood that we may ignore the... Full story
Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Regulus calendula) were first described in 1766 by Linnaeus, and its generic name is latin for little king. They are very common now, flitting and hanging in the air gleaning small insects from trees and bushes. They live in mixed woods, isolated trees in meadows, coniferous and deciduous forests, mountain-shrub habitat, and floodplain forests of oak, pine, spruce, or aspen. These tiny birds nest high in trees, and so prefer older, taller, and denser... Full story
With so many of us newbies, me included, I'm always delighted when I learn a tidbit of Sisters history. Of course, The Nugget is chock full of much of what you might be curious about. You may not know how much of a historical library The Nugget is. Heck, many of you may not even know that The Nugget has an online edition - nuggetnews.com - where in addition to getting the latest news about Sisters Country you can go to that amazing little magnifying glass icon to the right,... Full story
