It was a great spring day, clear as a bell and maybe even some warmth. Very nice. I have a family of swallows setting up housekeeping on my shed. You see, every lot has a shed, which makes for a lot of blank walls to look at. I told my neighbor to feel free to decorate the side of my shed they're forced to look at, which they did with some wall hangings. Then, about a week ago he put up a bird house, and it looks like a pair of swallows are...
The Denver Post bought samples of marijuana products and had them tested for pesticide residue, which showed disturbing results. The city then stepped in and began testing, resulting in a lot of recalls. The "pure, organic, medical" claims growers were making weren't true all the time. But Colorado didn't test marijuana, they didn't have approved labs. They didn't even test for THC content, which for the consumer is like buying a bottle of...
My cardio doctor thinks all is well, and no changes to my meds are necessary. He wants to see me again before I leave in the fall. And he explained something I noticed a while ago: I don't have a pulse in my wrists. The nurse tried hard, to no avail. Well, they took the artery out of my left arm that gives the pulse, and the one in the other arm is blocked. Well, that answers that question. Gee, I hope I'm never in the situation where someone...
Washington and Colorado require anyone with a financial interest in a cannabis be a state resident. Oregon never included this requirement, likely due to the close business relationships with Californians. Alaska decided to allow out of state money, and Washington just recently changed their law to allow non-residents. It's given as a sure thing that a California initiative to legalize recreational cannabis will collect the signatures, pass the...
I've had a few days of sun so it was easy to drive around and check things out. Very little has changed since I left. The boat yard is chock full of the big commercial boats in the Alaska fleet. It's the welders and steel workers getting the hours now. There aren't that many wooden boats in the yard. Normally I'm here when the plants are blooming, but since I'm here much earlier, I get to watch it happen. And another surprise bonus for arriving...
Two weeks ago I landed in Ashland as a rainstorm came in. Today I crossed the Columbia and the sun came out for the first time since then. I spent two weeks covering I-5 in Oregon, mainly by waiting out storms in pricey RV parks. I liked Ashland a lot. And I always enjoy Eugene, but it was very wet there. Tomorrow I'll go to Chimacum (I'm writing from Kelso). Sunshine expected for the next two days, and given what they've had in rain lately, it...
I'm at one of those next to the freeway rv parks for a few days to wait out a rainstorm. The forecast is dismal this weekend, but I'd rather be stopped in Eugene than most other places. Bookstores, for one thing....
Southwest Oregon and Northwest California are considered the premier cannabis growing region in the US. They've been supplying marijuana, breeding marijuana, and developing useful technologies for over 50 years. Since marijuana was "legalized" in Oregon, the folks in the growing and selling business are operating under temporary rules set by temporary laws and administered by two separate agencies. To my eye, I don't see any consistent...
Last year in March and April there were more sales of marijuana than alcohol in Aspen. I guess that shows that skiing or riding when drunk is a lousy idea, but doing it stoned is great. The city gets a portion of the state taxes collected on cannabis products.
I did get out this morning when the weather was good, and made it as far as Roseburg, now I'll sit for two nights before moving. The forecast is for rain for the next week. My idea was to cut over to the coast if the weather improved. It isn't at all, and today there was a mudslide blocking 101 up by Sea Lion Caves. Now, I can think of about a thousand potential slides along that road, so it looks like it's I-5.
It's been almost a week of rain, wind, and sometimes sunshine. I've grown to like Ashland, when I can see it in between weather events. This is one of the more eclectic places I've visited. Think Ammon Bundy meets William Shakespeare at a pot shop. One fella claimed that 1 in 6 of the homes here grow marijuana, and that claim was repeated by another. I am extremely skeptical of the claim, but it wouldn't surprise me if reality was close. Anyway,...
I knew when I left Arizona that I would be encountering mean weather in Oregon, so I built in some extra time to wait out the rainstorms. I didn't know I'd be laid up as soon as I crossed the border into the state. And I didn't plan I'd be stopped for high winds, not heavy rain. Tomorrow the winds are expected to gust to 55, way over my comfort level for traveling, so no moving for a couple of days. Luckily I'm in a most intriguing town, and I...