Posted inNeighborhood

Save The Mail Depot in south Salem (sign a petition)

My wife and I have lived in south Salem for 35 years. Throughout all that time, The Mail Depot on Liberty Road, near Walgreens, has been by far our preferred place to mail letters and packages, as they offer USPS, FedEx, and UPS services -- so you've got a choice at The Mail Depot. The USPS (United States Postal Service) branch on Commercial Street is much less convenient. Farther away. Longer lines. Only one mailing choice, the postal service.  Which makes it really disturbing to learn that the USPS is planning to cancel its contract with The Mail Depot, which…
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Posted inHome life Neighborhood

In 2024 we see very few bees and yellow jackets in rural south Salem, Oregon

We've lived at our house on ten acres in rural south Salem, about six miles from the city limits of Oregon's capital, for thirty-four years. This has been an unusual year for us as regards the bee and yellow jacket population. We've seen very few of each on our property. Almost none. Typically we have several natural bee hives. We have flowering plants in our yard that were chosen to appeal to bees. In 2024, though, the bees never showed up. Same with yellow jackets. In past summers, when we'd eat breakfast on our deck some yellow jackets would appear…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Neighborhood Salem

Ice storm conversation highlights

Tonight our monthly Salon discussion group met via Zoom. Laurel, my wife, was able to host the meeting even though electricity is still off in our rural south Salem neighborhood, thanks to our generator and the Starlink satellite internet system. Not surprisingly, most of the conversation centered around the recent ice storm and resulting power outages. We all shared our stories of how we're coping. Here's some themes that emerged in the course of our 100 minute discussion. How to prepare for no electricity. Some people favor going the green route. Others the fossil fuel route. Since we live in…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Troy and Lori Anderson land use applications to Marion County

Because neighbors here in rural south Salem, Oregon are interested in the plans by Troy and Lori Anderson to build a farm dwelling on 80 acres of their 217 acre property just north of our Spring Lake Estates neighborhood, here are the documents related to their land use application to Marion County. (1) Below is a PDF file of the application submitted to Marion County by Lori Anderson in March 2020 for a primary farm dwelling on 80 acres north of Spring Lake Estates. Download Application (2) Below is a PDF file of the April 2020 Marion County decision on the…
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Posted inHome life Neighborhood

Evacuation checklist a good way to relieve wildfire anxiety

Right now Oregon is suffering though a wildfire perfect storm of longstanding drought, high winds, and many fires burning across our state.  My wife and I lost electricity in the early evening yesterday, along with about thirty of our neighbors. Apparently the windy conditions caused a utility pole to catch fire, with electrical lines lying in the road.  I fired up our generator, so we had a fairly normal night -- aside from the fact that because of the smoke from wildfires in the area we didn't want to open any windows, and our air conditioning wasn't working because of…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Dumb stuff our HOA is trying to do

From what I can tell, Homeowners Associations (HOAs) are about as beloved as the IRS -- a necessary evil that people want to have as little to do with as possible. Which means I must be an aberration, since for about 25 years I was the secretary for our HOA, Spring Lake Estates Recreation Property, Inc. here in rural south Salem, Oregon.  That meant I not only had to attend almost every meeting of our HOA board for a quarter century, I also had to stay awake enough to take notes and write minutes that were close enough to what…
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Posted inNeighborhood Sustainability

Smoky air in Salem points to global warming as culprit

Here's a not-so-cheery air quality map for the Pacific Northwest. In two words, it sucks. When I set off for a dog walk about an hour ago, the setting sun was as red as the Unhealthy coded color for most of Oregon, including Salem, where I live.  There aren't any wildfires in our immediate area. But smoke is drifting into the Willamette Valley from British Columbia and Eastern Washington. Wildfire smoke has been an annoying aspect of summers in Oregon for the past few years. It wasn't always this way. I've lived in Oregon since 1971. Summers are much hotter…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Buy a lakeside home in Spring Lake Estates, near our house

When a house is for sale near us, naturally we hope that it will end up in the hands of someone we'd like to get to know. Ideally, someone liberal, environmental, neighborly, friendly.  So if this describes you, or someone you know who's looking for a home in the country, check out a new listing for 10322 Liberty Road S in rural south Salem (Oregon).  A great feature of this house is that it's right next to Spring Lake. We're several lots away from the lake, but this house is right there. Here's screenshots of part of the Zillow listing.
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood

A real estate sign speaks volumes about citizen activism

A few weeks ago a new sign went up along Liberty Road S, just north of Spring Lake Estates, where my wife and I live. It meant a lot to me, for reasons I'll explain. Here's a photo of the land being offered for sale. The property extends beyond the crest of the hill. The acreage suitable for a vineyard is shown in the photograph I took, which includes a shadow of me taking the photo. Back in 2005 I wrote my first blog post about these 217 acres, "Measure 37 hits close to our home." For a lot of…
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Posted inHome life Neighborhood

Why two inches of snow can be a big deal here in western Oregon

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. So in this blog post I'll be sharing photos of how my wife and I have been dealing with, and enjoying, a seemingly minor storm that dropped two inches of snow out here in rural south Salem. I italicized "seemingly" because people from cold-weather states who make fun of how us Willamette Valley Oregonians panic over snow that they'd consider a dusting don't realize that our snow here usually isn't like their snow there.  This photo was taken today on a dog walk that led the family canine and I…
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Posted inHome life Neighborhood

Rural south Salem wildlife caught on our trail camera

OK, let's get this clear right off the bat: these photos from the trail camera my wife, Laurel, tends to -- moving it around our property in rural south Salem in attempts to capture what our non-human neighbors are doing -- aren't exactly National Geographic quality. But, hey, they show wild creatures living their animal lives on what sure seems to be a popular spot. (The dates on the photos appear to be off; so is the time, probably.) Coyote! Wily canines who we occasionally see in the daytime, but not often. We have some irrational coyote-hating neighbors who tried…
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Posted inNeighborhood

A plea to dysfunctional HOA’s: trust, relax, loosen up

For twenty-three freaking years, yes, 23, I've been the secretary of our homeowner's association here in rural south Salem, Oregon.  A few days ago, I resigned. You'll learn why in a bit. I was asked to run for the board of directors soon after my wife and I moved here in 1990. A few years later, in 1992, I agreed to be board secretary. The rest is history, an almost quarter-century of it. Being a writer/author/blogger, I was comfortable taking notes and writing minutes. Plus, doing all the other stuff that came with the position. I kept being re-elected every…
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Posted inNeighborhood Salem

Let’s make Salem more gnarly and less smooth

"Gnarly." A great word. Also, an admirable quality. For people, like you and me. For a town, like Salem, Oregon, where I live. Some of the meanings of gnarly are powerful, misshapen, difficult, outstanding.  My Tai Chi instructor used the word in telling a story about what happened after he asked a martial arts acquaintance he hadn't seen for quite a while to demonstrate his Yang Long Form. "Oh, no, you don't want to see it," the guy replied. "My form is gnarly, man, not pretty at all."  Which meant, his Tai Chi had evolved into a practical fighting art,…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood Salem

A “For Sale” sign for 217 south Salem acres that warms my heart

For five years, 2005-2010, my wife and I led our rural neighborhood's fight against a subdivision that threatened our wells and surface water -- springs that feed the lake our community, Spring Lake Estates, is named for. We eventually won. A legal ruling caused me to write, "Judge's final decision on Laack subdivision: the meaning for me." Today I drove by the property on south Liberty Road, which has remained undeveloped. Our neighbors and us have been wondering what would happen to the 217 acres. Finally looks like something is. The Gysin listing shows the asking price as $2,300,000. That's…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Year supply of Costco vegetarian emergency food fits in small closet

I haven't opened any of the 21 boxes of vegetarian emergency food that arrived yesterday courtesy of Costco (and my VISA card). I hope I never have to. My wife and I are involved with emergency preparedness efforts in our neighborhood. It's been kind of difficult to get people interested in dealing with a problem that isn't readily apparent -- such as the "Big One" earthquake that is overdue to hit the Pacific Northwest.  But now that we've learned about how devastating a major earthquake would be to Oregon, I couldn't stop thinking about what life would like here if…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Neighborhood

Oregon HOA’s lose out on liens after foreclosure (probably)

I'm the secretary of our planned community's homeowners association (HOA). Our HOA has had to file liens on property owners who fail to pay their dues two years in a row. The dues are only $185 a year. Payment plans are allowed. Volunteers do a lot of the work needed to maintain the common property (we also hire a contractor for mowing, spraying, bark mulching, and such). When dues aren't paid by some of our 90 property owners, the other owners have to make up the lost money. Being the secretary, I have the not-so-fun duty of filing the liens…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Neighborhood Salem

Salem’s Todd Davidson heading up international tourism efforts

One of our neighbors here in rural south Salem has become a celebrity -- in the tourism promotion world. Recently President Obama announced at Walt Disney World that Todd Davidson will lead an effort to increase international tourism through the U.S. Tourism and Travel Advisory Board.  Here's a KGW story about Todd's appointment (after a brief ad).  Davidson is CEO of Travel Oregon, which has been successful in boosting tourism in our state. "The travel industry is an important part of Oregon's economy," said Governor Kitzhaber. "Appointing Todd Davidson to Chair the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board was an excellent…
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Posted inNeighborhood Salem

Salem’s great Spring Creek flood of 2012

This is one for our rural south Salem neighborhood's memory book. Until we die or move away, us old-timers will be saying, "Remember the flooding back in 2012? Man, that was something we've never seen before, or since." Spring Creek is only half a mile long, at most. It's fed by, no big surprise, springs. The creek winds through our property on the way to Spring Lake. Usually it's quite small, even in winter. But the rainfall we've gotten this week isn't usual. Here's a seven minute video of how Spring Creek and Spring Lake looked to me, my wife,…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood

Successful south Salem subdivision fight makes the news

A few days ago the Portland Oregonian ran a story about a judge's ruling that said "no way" to a 43-lot, 217 acre subdivision that threatened water supplies in our neighborhood. A Marion County judge has ruled that property owners who started building a South Salem subdivision before voters limited such development didn't meet the legal guidelines that would allow them to finish the project. The ruling reverses a decision by the Marion County Board of Commissioners, who in July 2009 voted 2-1 that Leroy and Jean Laack and five associates had a "vested right" to continue building a 42-unit…
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood

Judge’s final decision on Laack subdivision: the meaning for me

A few days ago Judge Nely Johnson finalized her oral opinion in Marion County (Oregon) Circuit Court that overturned a flawed Board of Commissioners' decision to let a 43-lot, 217-acre subdivision move ahead on high value, groundwater limited farmland. Land use junkies and interested neighbors can read all about it here (4.1 MB PDF file): Download Final decision FOMC v. Marion County (Laack) This has been a long journey for our neighborhood and me. It started in 2005, when plans for this Measure 37 development first surfaced. My wife, Laurel, initially led the fight to protect our area's ground and…
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