I was very lucky to be almost at ground zero for the American Eclipse of 2017. I was only a 1 hour drive from the center path of totality at Stayton, OR. Stayton was where National Geographic and several other shows did streaming broadcasts since it was one of the first places in the country to see the eclipse. I was just 2 miles up the road on a hill at Sublimity to avoid the crowds.

I found this video to be a great capture of exactly what you experience as totality passes overhead (besides the annoying automated buzzer thing he has). The amazing, and almost instant night in the middle of the day. Also add the sensations such as the temperature drop as totality approaches in the last 60 seconds.

It still doesn’t do justice to what happens to the sun and the light it bathes everything around you in. It appears to be perfect black ball lined with the most electric white light – yet can be looked at with the naked eye. I don’t think I have ever seen a photo or video that comes close to capturing what it really looks like. Even more than that is the surreal light it bathes you in. It doesn’t surprise me at all that people travel half way around the world to catch them. I certainly will be going to the one in 2024.

 

Portland is ill-prepared for the very likely 9.0 magnitude earthquake from the Cascadia subduction zone. In fact, we’re very badly/not at all prepared. It’s predicted all the city’s bridges (save one brand new one) would likely collapse. That on top the fact major regions of the city would be leveled due to being on fill dirt that would liquefy during such a quake.

This, however, is a good animation of what it would look like based on projections and engineering analysis of such earthquakes. Skip along to 1:37 for the animation.

Tis the summertime again – and the homeless situation appears to be even more out of control than usual.

If you need to report illegal campsites, campers, and public nuisance, turns out there is a handy website for the city. This will help the city track what’s going on in the neighborhoods. If they are on public land, then you report them as a campsite. If they have squeezed themselves onto a business front/private property – then report a ‘Neighborhood Nuisance Complaint’ or ‘Neighborhood Housing Complaint’. If in doubt, file them as multiple and they will sort it out.

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/27447

Here’s where you can report illegal AirBnB’s:

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bds/34180

 

Wow. Want to see the sights of Oregon in a totally different way? Sam Forencich created this entire clip in infrared.

Did you know that each year from mid-October to Memorial Day, glass float makers place their hand-made, numbered glass floats on the beaches near Lincoln City?  Their army of “Float Fairies” covertly hit the seven miles of public beach hiding handcrafted glass floats along their way, from Roads End on the north to Siletz Bay on the south.

While we put out over 3,000 floats each year, official floats, which are numbered, are placed reflected by the year – so 2,016 numbered floats were placed in 2016, 2,017 in 2017, etc…. You find it, you keep it!

Here’s a link for more info.

vonHummer is a local public-access-like Youtuber and musician in Portland. I’m not sure how to describe his shows other than a psychedelic trip with a man who wears plastic lobsters attached to his head and speaks in made-up languages, co-stared by a skeleton man that shakes beers and shoots them with a pellet gun, and several strange women. Each one of his shows usually has a song he’s made up for the occasion.

He has a YouTube channel, but here’s an idea of what you’re getting into:

I grew up in the midwest, and morel mushroom hunting was an annual tradition. I have fond memories of my grandfather cooking these at his house and eating them until I was completely stuffed.

So, with at least 2 vendors selling them at the local Saturday farmer’s market, I decided to buy a few pounds and try out some recipes.

The first recipe I tried was this one:

Ingredients:
8 oz. fresh morels, sliced once lengthwise
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 tbsp good white wine (if you wouldn’t drink it out of a glass, don’t cook with it)

Directions:
In a large pan, saute morels, olive oil, butter, and garlic for five minutes. Add white wine. Continue sauteing for 5 more minutes. Mangia!
Note: Adding anything else to the morels, coating them in anything, or putting them in any sauce or soup is blasphemy, plain and simple. If you want to coat them in batter and drown them in grease, or otherwise hide the texture or flavor of these wonderful harbingers of Spring, send your morels to me, and I will send you some button mushrooms.

It was fantastic. They were light and delicious. I started scarfing them down as fast as I could cook them. My favorite!

 

Next up was to find a deep-fried sort of recipe like I remember from my childhood.

Fried Morel Mushrooms

This one was much more like I remembered, but I put the batter on too heavy during the first batch. The second batch was better – so the key is to keep it light. While more like I remembered as a kid for sure, I found them overly heavy with the breading – but that didn’t stop me from eating them all.  It was great to relive some memories of my younger years.