at a stunning sunset with Mt. Hood in the distance. No Native American uses are noted for the plant.

A successful botanical quest! The Criterion Ranch Trail is a few miles south of the town of Maupin. We went there to see the sagebrush violet (Viola trinervata) in bloom. It's one of the most beautiful wild violets, growing in sagebrush desert. A mountain bluebird visited us ...

Happy birthday! Looks delicious.

Yesterday I scouted the bloom in the Gorge. Low elevations are peaking now through next weekend, lupines are still a bit behind, but balsamroot looks nice. It's about average for bloom intensity. A calm day, no wind motion in photos to deal with.

4 oz. Bag of Mauna Loa macadamia nuts, with an illustration of the green cliffs and waterfalls of the Na Pali Coast.

Back of package says, “Product a blend of Hawai’i, USA, South Africa, Guatemala, and Australia.”

Dirty little secrets:

safe streets to a rabid anti-car stance. Both of these people have contributed to Portland's failing business climate & their departure signals a change to making the city more car friendly. I look forward to seeing what comes next.

MOVE Santa Barbara County Announces New Executive Director to Build on Strong Legacy and Expand Community Mobility Credit: CourtesyCredit: Courtesy Santa Barbara County, CA — MOVE Santa Barbara County is pleased to announce the appointment of Sarah Iannarone as its new

making it widely hated. Now 51, with 2 knee replacements, he could be learning the value of having a car firsthand.
Sarah Iannarone is leaving The Street Trust to head Santa Barbara's MOVE: www.independent.com/2026/03/03/m...
She's taken The Street Trust from being a reasonable group on ...

I'm going on hiatus The community needs to reset their expectations of BikePortland. For now, at least.

2 key developments in Portland's anti-car scene that bode well for business & those who drive: Jonathan Maus, head of BikePortland, is going on hiatus. bikeportland.org/2026/04/15/i...
His radical & confrontational anti-car writing has damaged the reputation of the cycling community, ...

A steep hillside is covered in the yellow sunflower-like blooms of balsamroot flowers. The sky is mostly cloudy, with dramatic dark clouds. A small oak tree is visible peeking over the curved hilltop in the distance at the right.

This week & the next are the peak wildflower bloom in the Gorge's low elevations. Weather should be good over the weekend, so get out to enjoy it. I will have an update on the intensity of the bloom; the photo below is from a rare superbloom year.

Lots of insights here. Helps to explain why Trump doesn't support Ukraine. Huge numbers of people are still angry at Biden. JD Vance about as bad as Biden, Newsom isn't POTUS material. High disapproval for Netanyahu, RFK Jr. surprisingly stronger than other Cabinet members.

I have a stockpile of frozen berries from various years. They keep very well!

Pope Leo unfavorable rating: 11%. Trump unfavorable rating: 57%. SO MUCH WINNING!
news.gallup.com/poll/693155/...

My oh my! Huckleberry Pie!

A Trump executive order will unbank millions of Americans, denying them access to online recreation reservation/permit systems. Perversely, it will deprive agencies of revenue from recreationists. www.msn.com/en-us/news/p...

I’m willing to bet Precision Castparts in Portland is a major source.

Unusual airborne toxin detected in the U.S. for the first time Scientists searching for air pollution clues stumbled onto something unexpected: toxic MCCPs drifting through the air for the first time in the Western Hemisphere. The likely source—fertilizer made fr...

The Oregon DEQ doesn’t ban biosolids fertilizer in agriculture. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
Maybe they should.

The 4431 Fire is now 100% contained.

Welcome to wildfire season. The 4431 Fire has been reported on the east side of Mt. Hood, halfway between Eightmile Point & Mill Creek Ridge.

I hate that update. Buttons I use all the time buried under submenus. Transparent buttons are moved to unfamiliar places and impossible to see!

isn't as important as being able to intercept a deadly asteroid. But if we do make it to Mars, we'll be a lot better prepared to deal with asteroids.

engine to the asteroid much more effectively than some kind of automated mechanism. It would need to happen far from Earth, so being prepared for this task is going to require having people travel much further than lunar orbit to accomplish the task. I think going to Mars ...

asteroid's trajectory remotely, if we discover one that presents a doomsday scenario, we might not want to risk sending a robot to do the job. We would want humans on the mission to deal with unpredictable contingencies. A crew could anchor a nuclear weapon or rocket ...

With Artemis in the news, many criticize the space program's cost. Why are crewed missions important? A big reason is protecting the Earth from an asteroid impact. If one hit us, it could wipe out humanity or deal us a major blow. While there is work underway to alter an ...

Monarchs are migrating! Journey North reports many sightings in the Midwest as far north as Missouri. The West Coast is behind. Don't get excited about the dots in OR/WA, these aren't photo-confirmed & likely are painted lady or tortoiseshell butterflies. maps.journeynorth.org/map/?map=mon...

toward salaries rather than conservation efforts. For an organization that in recent years had $1.5 million in donations, they have little to show in accomplishments. Here's hoping Sheoships can reverse these trends. If he can't, he ought to shut it down & let something better rise from the ashes.

practiced in the past under former director Kevin Gorman. This could be a reflection of the pressure many are applying to them to reform & be more relevant. Under Gorman's tenure, they became bloated & top-heavy, with a declining revenue trend & 86% of donations going ...

Friends of the Gorge has announced their new Executive Director, Gabe Sheoships. He is Native American, a refreshing change for the organization. While I haven't met him, Native Americans are usually more open to the LGBTQ+ community & less prone to the bigotry the group ...

I-84 WB construction delay at Bonneville Dam. Consider WA SR-14 at Cascade Locks.

A male Sara orangetip nectars on a fiddleneck flower. The butterfly has bright orange tips on the forewings, about 1/3 the wing's length. The orange is surrounded by a black outline. The remainder of the forewings and hindwings are white, with a smaller black area next to the thorax.

The Cardamine genus is a larval food plant for the Sara orangetip.

Oaks toothwort flowers have four oval pink petals. The flowers are borne in clusters on 6–12-inch stems, 4-8 flowers per stem. The leaves are deep green and lanceolate.

Oaks toothwort (Cardamine pulcherrima) is a charming flower starting to bloom in oak savanna grassland in the Columbia Gorge. The name comes from use of the roots as an herbal remedy to treat toothache pain. The globular bud clusters at left are waterleaf, a different plant ...