Posted inHome life Salem

Tree cleanup guys are the new Salem-area heroes

Ah, what a difference it made to my mood having tree debris from the recent ice storm cleaned up from our rural south Salem yard. We'd done a lot of picking up small branches ourselves. And I'd been able to cut some larger limbs with my small 16-inch chainsaw. But there was no way I could handle the big limbs from a giant oak that fell on our lawn. That required a bigger chainsaw and younger muscles than I possess. So for almost three weeks my wife and I have been staring at a mass of tangled branches whenever we…
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Posted inHome life Salem

PGE tree clearing crew were artists at what they do

Yesterday a Portland General Electric (PGE) tree clearing crew was working in our neighborhood prior to the restoration of power following a massive ice storm. We and our neighbors had been without electricity for 11 days at this point. So it was a joy to finally see PGE repair activity occurring. Laurel, my wife, had noticed a PGE truck in the driveway of our neighbor to the south on Lake Drive in rural south Salem, where a tree was in contact with an electrical line. She walked over to talk to the crew to make sure that they knew about…
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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 inHome life Salem

PGE getting well-deserved ice storm criticism

First off, I want to say that I'm as thankful as anyone for the PGE crews that are working to restore power to the hundreds of thousands of Oregonians who are without electricity after the recent massive ice and snow storm.  But I'm a believer in the middle way: give credit where credit is due, and assign blame where blame is due. PGE deserves some of each. (PGE stands for Portland General Electric, not to be confused with PG&E, Pacific Gas & Electric, a Calfornia utility.) My main gripe with PGE is their decision to stop giving estimates for when…
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Posted inHome life Salem

Our dog is enjoying no electricity. Me, not so much.

Out here in rural south Salem, Oregon, we've been without electricity for two days after a big ice storm caused trees to topple and electrical lines to crumple. My wife and I sleep in different bedrooms. We have a wood stove, but the heat from it doesn't reach to where I sleep. I toughed out the first night without electricity, though naturally my room was much colder than usual, Last night I decided that I'd sleep on a blow-up bed. I put it in the living room, which is close to the wood stove in our open-plan house. Our Husky…
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Posted inHome life Salem

Photos of the Great Salem Ice Storm of 2021

l've lived in Oregon for 50 years. I've seen plenty of freezing rain. But I've never experienced anything like the ice storm that struck northwest Oregon yesterday.  Here's photos that I took this morning as my wife and I surveyed the damage to our property in rural south Salem, which was considerable. The ice was amazingly thick. Up near Lake Drive this twig had ice the width of my index finger, about 5/8 of an inch.  The walkway outside our front door was littered with fir branches. Trees and shrubs were bending over from the weight of the ice. There…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Take the Salem Climate Action survey, though it is strange

I urge you to take the Community Survey that is part of the process for preparing a Salem Climate Action Plan. I believe you have until November 4. However, having just taken the survey myself, be aware that it is decidedly weird. Much of the survey has little to do with the climate, or actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, or with the planning process.  For example, early on a question asked me how often I did the following: work on a community project, attend a public meeting discussing town or school affairs, attend a political meeting or rally,…
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Posted inSalem

Salem Reporter editor wants ideas about how to end divisiveness. Here’s mine.

I give Les Zaitz, the editor of Salem's online-only news outlet, the Salem Reporter, a lot of credit for raising good questions in a commentary today, "Salem has to find a way to restore civility, to turn aside the meanness." After talking about some of the issues that foment divisiveness in our city -- Black Lives Matter protests, student activism with the Salem-Keizer school board, COVID pandemic -- Zaitz asks for ideas. Nothing in my decades of journalism has prepared me to manage so many crosscurrents at once. I feel like I’m in a row boat trying to cross the…
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Posted inHome life Salem

Spots that make me smile on our ten acres

Laurel, my wife, and I live on ten acres in rural south Salem. For thirty years I've had a love/hate relationship with our property. After moving here in 1990, we've done a lot to improve both the land and our house. But it's a damn lot of work. And at the age of 71, I find that maintaining what we've got isn't as enjoyable as it was when I was 41. Yesterday I finished mowing some grassy areas with a walk-behind DR Field Mower. It isn't the worst job I've ever done. I just can't call it "fun." However, as…
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Posted inCoronavirus Salem

Marion County and Oregon still seeing lots of new COVID-19 cases

This wasn't a cheery sight to see in my email inbox today, the latest Oregon Health Authority update about new COVID-19 cases. Those 178 cases statewide are the most in a single day since the pandemic began. Which means Marion County isn't going to enter Phase 2 of reopening tomorrow. Like everybody else, I want things to get back to normal as quickly as possible. But this isn't going to happen so long as new infections keep occurring at a rapid rate. So please, people, wear a mask and maintain social distancing. Many people in Salem aren't doing this.  Here's…
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Posted inHome life Salem

Starlink, save us from our rural broadband hellscape

My wife and I have a third-world broadband speed even though we live six miles from the city limits of Oregon's capital, Salem. Right now -- 7:30 pm on a Tuesday -- I'm "enjoying" a download speed of 5.8 Mbps and an upload speed of .71 Mbps. That's crappy, because the only broadband available to us is CenturyLink DSL, brought to our house via a copper phone line and, I'm guessing, a team of low-paid internet elves who shovel the content of web sites and streaming services into the phone line as slowly as possible, and with frequent breaks. Like…
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Posted inSalem

Photos of George Floyd protest in Salem, Oregon

Here's photos and a video I took at today's George Floyd protest at the Capitol mall. I was deeply moved by thousands of people coming out to protest the murder of Floyd and others at the hands of police officers. I used an Adobe Spark web page to share the images.
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Posted inCoronavirus Salem

Salem, we’re all in this together. So please, wear a mask.

I feel better when I shop at Trader Joe's and LifeSource Natural Foods than at Fred Meyer. The reason doesn't have anything to do with the stores' prices, selection, ambience, or anything like that.  It's because Trader Joe's and LifeSource require customers to wear masks. Fred Meyer doesn't.  I have a feeling of We're all in this together when everyone around me -- grocery store staff and customers alike -- are wearing masks to protect ourselves and others from being infected with the coronavirus.  This graphic from the East Alabama Medical Center shows why my feeling is justified. Wearing a…
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Posted inHome life Salem

Toilet paper leads to a realtor. I love blogging!

There's a lot to like about predictability. But life would be boring if everything happened as we expect it to happen. Also, that wouldn't be life. It would be something else, something boringly mechanical. So I enjoy a mixture of order and chance, consistency and surprises.  Virtually every day I write a post for one of my three blogs. That's orderly. But I never can predict what will result from my writing. That's the chance'y aspect. Back on March 21, I wrote "Grocery shopping in Salem in the Coronavirus Era," noting that my wife and I had both struck out…
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Posted inCoronavirus Salem

Oh, the thoughts I have while grocery shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic

In case someone out there is interested in what goes through my mind during my weekly grocery shopping expedition here in Salem, Oregon during the coronavirus crisis, and why wouldn't there be, here's a pretty accurate glimpse of my thoughts last Monday. [Note: my wife and I already had some N95 masks that we got during the Fukushima nuclear plant scare following the tsunami some years back when radiation was crossing the Pacific.] Getting into my car: OK, check my protective gear. N95 mask. Three pairs of lightweight garden gloves. Hand sanitizer. Disinfecting wipes. Plastic bag to put used gloves in. Yup, all…
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Posted inCoronavirus Salem

Why we can feel good about living in Salem during the COVID-19 pandemic

It's difficult to maintain a positive attitude these days, given the constant reminders of the COVID-19 outbreak here in Oregon and just about everywhere else in the world. (Except Antarctica. So far.) So I thought I'd dredge the corners of my mind for reasons we're fortunate to be living in Salem right now, rather than somewhere else. Of course, I readily admit that some of what follows is by no means unique to Salem. But since I'm not in those other places, but here, I'm including those bits of positivity anyway. (1) Just the right size. I'd hate to be…
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Posted inCoronavirus Salem

Grocery shopping in Salem in the Coronavirus Era

Here's a report from the front lines of people venturing out to do some grocery shopping in what I've come to think of as the Coronavirus Era.  By "people," I basically mean me. But I'll start with a second-hand report from my wife, Laurel, who headed out in the morning in a (futile) search for toilet paper and facial tissue. Laurel was staring at the completely empty shelves where toilet paper used to be at the south Salem Fred Meyer store. A man walked up and said, "Wow, what happened to the toilet paper?" Naturally she said that it was…
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Posted inSalem

After criticizing its construction, Salem Health Rehab Center helps my sore leg

My right leg has been really painful, so yesterday I got a physical therapy referral from my family doctor. The letter said that I'd been referred to Orthopedic Physical Therapy at 755 Mission Street. I'd never heard of that name, and I couldn't remember any physical therapy clinic near that address. All became clear when I called the phone number on the referral. I'd been referred to the Salem Health Rehabilitation Center that was constructed a few years ago. Amazingly, I was offered an appointment with Michael that very afternoon. (Must have been a cancellation.)  "Do you know where we…
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Posted inSalem

“Salem is a really friendly town.” So says a couple considering moving here.

Last Monday my email inbox presented me with an interesting message, which said in part... Brian Hines: So, my wife and I are exploring Salem as a place to retire... from crazy, CRAZY Silicon Valley.   Two days before Christmas, just at this moment we're sitting in our AirBNB living room in South Salem, exploring by cyber-means what we've been doing by car and by shamelessly accosting locals on the street, in coffee houses, and at Northern Lights for the past week. After seeing a million prospective houses in West and South Salem, our real estate lady took us to Pringle…
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Posted inLiving with a catheter Salem

Misfits belong in Salem’s theatre community (and elsewhere)

Misfits don't fit in. Except where they do. Like, in Salem's theatre community. There was a lot to like about today's City Club program, "On Stage: Salem's Vibrant Theater Community." But what I'm going to focus on is one thing Lisa Joyce, executive director of Pentacle Theatre, said. She told us that misfits find a home in theatre, because everyone is welcome there. I absolutely loved those words. And now, having written that five word sentence, I'm having trouble explaining why. So for the moment I'm going to take a detour around my personal feeling about misfits and return to it…
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