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With all of the national, racially hateful actions taking place around the US, for me, it has been a little weird. As an older African American, since the election, I have had white Americans over the age of 60 approached me to voice their opinions...

How could learning too much ever estrange someone from anyone else? Emily Dickinson once said that hearing the truth is such a rare thing, it’s a delight to tell it; but then on the other hand, ...

The short part of the long and the short of it is that I walked to CVS to buy Artificial Tears. I went to high school with an ophthalmologist, (I mean. Not then. Later, he went to medical school.) who I e-mailed that morning with a specific ocular...

I am an American woman, raised in the Midwest by a successful self-made non-practicing Jewish father, who could have been Walt Disney’s twin and a non-practicing catholic mother whom could have ...

Not when it comes to the banksters, anyway. While I would like to be optimistic on ...

My city, Detroit. My friend, Baba Baxter Jones. How I Met Baba Baxter Jones I am a member of the Disability Committee of the 13th Congressional District of the Michigan Democratic Party. In mid May, I worked on a disability project for that...

I am still haunted by the 2000 presidential election. I thought highly of Ralph Nader and was supportive of his campaign. Gore was a lackluster candidate and an awkward campaigner, and Nader offered a lot more progressive option. Today, I am looking...

Whisky is for drinkin' but water, water is for fightin' Old Western Water Adage Through shameless flattery, I have been persuaded by some people - who for the purposes of ...

I wrote what I consider to be a key to success in a comment and a very nice Kossack said they were putting on their refrigerator. It concerned the twitter craze with "Good-Bye GOP" and my general ...

I saw this quote on my social media page today: “The faith passes, so to speak, through a distiller and becomes ideology. And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus: ...

Well, we probably should. Government is going bankrupt, our military and financial institutions have bankrupt the economy, and today Senator Bernie Sanders posted a diary here saying the true ...

I was born in a small town in Idaho, and now live in a slightly larger town in Montana. For the majority of my life I lived in rural America. I've lived in places where voting Democrat has (or would ...

I know others have posted and discussed this - but I have to add my $.02 about the symbolism coming from our leaders in the face of tragedy. I had written a piece full of research about Romney’s ...

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from Massachusetts, where thousands of people dedicated time and energy to give the country a priceless gift to open this January. Elizabeth Warren visited ...

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality says last night's meeting on permits for proposed Ambre coal shipping docks attracted an audience of 800, which is the largest ever attendance at a DEQ ...

The Backyard Science group regularly features the Daily Bucket. Too many aphids? Brush fires from the drought? Having a good carrot harvest? Please add your own observations in a comment. ...

President Obama's "All of the Above" energy policy has funded developments in wind, solar, conservation, alternative fuels, nuclear, and now, petroleum coke. Petroleum coke is a coal-like byproduct ...

The Backyard Science group regularly features the Daily Bucket. We hope you will add your own observations of the world around you. New bug on the tomato plants? The creek at the park running dry?

The Backyard Science group regularly features the Daily Bucket. Here you can note any of your observations of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers, and ...

The Backyard Science group regularly features the Daily Bucket. We hope you will add your own observations of the world around you. New bug on the tomato plants? The creek at the park running dry?

Manzanita translates from Spanish into “little apple." But the Manzanita tree is only loosely related to the apple, and also the madrone tree. It’s originally native to California, and ...

For decades now, I've worked on occasion to help organize unions. Many times, when I approach workers to discuss the union, we are initially strangers to each other. Too often we have very little ...

The Backyard Science group regularly features the Daily Bucket. Blossom end rot threatening your tomatoes?  New frog in the neighborhood? Surly yellow jackets showing up? Please add your own ...

The Backyard Science group regularly features the Daily Bucket. Some of us are scouring the garden for late-ripened cukes. Or we may be catching up on our weeding. Others may be hiking or kayaking ...

I’ve worked part time at a golf course in Oregon for about 15 years. It’s a nice course, and is open to the public. We’ll call it Killdeer Hills. The course is converted farmland, and fairly ...

The Backyard Science group regularly features the Daily Bucket. Buckets and the accompanying comments chronicle nature's endless cycles in our own backyards and favorite places. Did a nearby pond ...

The Backyard Science group regularly features the Daily Bucket . Anyone can note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds, flowers and ...

The Backyard Science group regularly publishes The Daily Bucket, which features observations of the world around us. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds, flowers and anything natural or ...

The Backyard Science group regularly publishes The Daily Bucket, which features observations of the world around us. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds, flowers and anything natural or ...

The Backyard Science group regularly publishes The Daily Bucket, which features observations of the world around us. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds, flowers and anything natural or ...

I work part time at a golf course, raking the sand bunkers. These are shallow depressions partly filled with fine sand. We rake the bunkers almost every day to insure a consistent surface. But ...

Here is my quarterly post-construction report to FERC (the Frog Environmental Regulatory Commission) regarding the suburban operation of .003 acres of created frog habitat, to mitigate at a 2:1 ...

In 1806, Meriwether Lewis drew this picture of a Columbia River Smelt, brought to them by the Cowlitz Tribe. In the days of the Lewis & Clark expedition, tens of millions of the skinny shiny fish ...

As many of you know, I spend many hours in the Frogs’ Mitigation Area (FMA) on the south edge of my suburban property.  I’ve added a pond and stream to support native frogs’ habitat, and ...

And their new ally, the !#@!%. An ugly, greedy, uninvited non-native species is fouling the waters at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and is undoing years of habitat improvements at the R

Southern Oregon stretches east 400 miles from the Pacific Ocean, over big and little mountain ranges, high plains and desert, past old volcanoes and the young geothermal fissures still venting steam.  I just drove 178 miles of it from Medford to...

The Backyard Science group features The Daily Bucket. Here we—and you—can record our observations of the world around us. Insects, pretty places, fossils, climate, birds, flowers and more are all worthy additions to a Bucket.  Please let us know what...

U nidentified F roggie-like O bjects are the UFOs referenced here, of course. Every Dusk I slip outside to the Frog Mitigation Area, where dozens of local tree frogs croak  vigorously and loudly ...

I told the attorney about how I dug out a new drainage system on the fly, to divert the flood waters into the Lily Pond, and I gave him all of these pictures. This newly laid pipe drains water ...

Early every Spring, the Western Chorus Frogs migrates back to their birth place. If you can only hop 6 inches at a time, that’s a 600-foot, 1200-hop,  grinding journey. Khaki Frog was the first frog this season to appear in the two ponds and...

A few days ago, I watched a portly skunk canter across the full 100 foot length of my backyard.  Then it paused, dug around in my compost pile for a decaying treat, and loped back the way it came. ...

I’ve been maintaining chorus frog friendly ponds in my back yard in Washington County Oregon for some time now, so when I found a 1956 study about frogs in Washington County, I read it as avidly as some folks might read the latest John Grisham...

Long ago, when time had barely began and the old Goddesses ruled, the Three Fates determined the time on earth for all beings.  “The Golden Thread,” by John Strudwick.  Clotho “The ...

As a former Alaskan, I get Alaska Dispatch News delivered to my email box daily. Sometimes I even read it. My sojourn in the state was long ago in what seems another lifetime so I often ignore it. ...

Recently, the state of New York had its primaries, and Donald Trump won the Republican primary overwhelmingly over his opponents Ted Cruz and John Kasich.  While Trump was widely expected to win the New York primary handily, particularly since he is...

The New York Times has reported that 60 people on a Louisiana island threatened by rising sea levels will be relocated at a cost of $48,000,000 <link>. As climate change incrementally makes parts of the United States less and less livable,...

As winter strengthens its icy grip here on the upper Midwest (or “The North” as some of our branding agents prefer) I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to the warm summers on the Superior Hiking Trail. The Superior Hiking Trail runs from the...

I teach at a Catholic high school and one of our rites of passage for graduating seniors is a Baccalaureate Mass.  As part of the offertory, the graduating class presents symbols reminiscent of their high school experience.  It is an opportunity for...

I have a dim memory, from first grade, of crouching under my desk facing away from the windows.  It wasn’t just me.  All of my classmates were crouched under their desks as well.  We were following our teacher’s instructions for what to do in the event...

First let me say this post is not intended to minimize the struggle of people of color, or make the argument that white privilege is somehow a disadvantage, quite the opposite. Being white myself, my general philosophy on the subject is to keep...