Oregon L.O.W.F.I

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Footage taken by a man who works on a ranch in the Thurston area, a neighborhood in Springfield, Oregon not far from here, of a bobcat.

Cougars are becoming more plentiful, and visible, in Brownsville, Oregon (roughly fifty miles from here, in Eugene) and according to local news reports, six cougars have been trapped, and killed, in the past two months.

From the Register Guard, Eugene’s local newspaper:

A County Trapper trapped and killed 6 cougars in the last two months on her [Cathy Stepp] farm. Now she said she’s scared for her son’s safety and that more cougars may be lurking in the distance.

“I don’t let him out of my sight. We pack guns when we come out in the morning to do the feeding and the checking. We try to get a head count on them at least two or three times to make sure we’ve got the right number,” said Stepp.

Until the predators flee Stepp said she’ll keep her flock and family close.

Around here, as all over, wild animals have been seen more and more frequently in residential areas, and around humans generally. They’ve also become more aggressive, although, this is an interesting phenomenon; if the animals are more numberous, and being pushed out of their habitats for various reasons (lack of food, shelter, human encroachment…) we need to be careful of anthropomorphizing these situations. (Which doesn’t help much when cougars are attacking your horses (as happened to someone I know) and so on. )

A woman faces a fine for illegally creating a “major marine event.” Kala Thomas, a University of Oregon student, posted on her Facebook page that she was going to cool off down by the Willamette River. Who’s with her? she asked. Lots of people. Who told lots of other people, which is trouble, according to our local authorities, since Thomas didn’t get a permit:

Thomas never obtained one, so Lane County Sheriff’s officials say that if the float really does attract a huge crowd, she may be hit with a $190 citation.

“I think that would be appropriate,” sheriff’s Capt. Bill Thompson said. “There’s a responsibility people have to take when they do something like this.”

Thomas said she understands that authorities aren’t pleased with her plan.

“I guess I’m in big trouble,” Thomas said. “But how was I to know that 1,000 people would want to do this?”

Oregon State Marine Board officials learned of the unintentionally illicit float on Thursday, and sent Thomas a Facebook message instructing her to cancel it.

I’m curious to know how “the authorities” found out about this. Authorities are worried “chaos” will occur if the 1,000 or so people show up with inner tubes and rafts; there’s a lot of construction going on in the area, for example, that might be a hazard for people; or, vice versa. Authorities are also concerned about any rescue efforts they might have to make — this time of year, there are numerous rescues on the river, and emergency personnel might have trouble accessing areas.

The Lane County sheriff ordered Thomas to dis-invite people to the event, for whatever good that might do. If a lot of people show up and authorities feel it’s a problem, she’ll be fined. Some local businesses however have said they’ll help her with any fines she might receive.

For the record, in case any “authority” is reading this, I am NOT inviting anyone anywhere, including myself. Besides, I’m having far too much difficulty with my asthma to want to go out anywhere in this heat.

Besides the glowing shrimp and elks on the freeway in the middle of town, Oregon has the largest growing mushroom in the world:

The Armillaria ostoyae, popularly known as the honey mushroom, started from a single spore too small to see without a microscope. It has been spreading its black shoestring filaments, called rhizomorphs, through the forest for an estimated 2,400 years, killing trees as it grows. It now covers 2,200 acres (880 hectares) of the Malheur National Forest, in eastern Oregon.

The outline of the giant fungus stretches 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometres) across, and it extends an average of three feet (one metre) into the ground. It covers an area as big as 1,665 football fields.

People on the coast and elsewhere have reported that their shrimp and fish glow. According to Oregon State University, this is normal and the fish is safe to consume.

Shrimp and other seafood can appear luminescent, courtesy of certain marine bacteria that might be hitching a ride, said Kaety Hildenbrand, of Oregon State University Sea Grant Extension, which has been receiving calls from concerned consumers.

The thing to remember, said Hildenbrand, who works with coastal fishing communities, is that “glowing” shrimp is not a health risk and doesn’t reflect mishandling during processing.

I love some of the comments, such as:

“This seems to be a banner year for glowing seafood,…”

The following remark strikes me as very odd:

It’s also possible that there has been no increase in glowing seafood — just an increase in the number of people noticing it. That raises another question: Are more people cooking seafood without lights?

Complete story here.

And I was just over there in that area earlier today! Missed it; more odd animal tales.
“Randy Pape Beltline” (recently changed the name from I-5 for one of Eugene’s rich citizens. . .) is the freeway! Fortunately, sounds like the elk is all right.

Elk runs through north Eugene neighborhood before crossing Beltline

By Jack Moran

The Register-Guard

Posted to Web: Tuesday, Aug 10, 2010 02:48PM

A bull elk ran through a Santa Clara neighborhood and ran across Randy Pape Beltline this afternoon, prompting a police search for the animal.

The elk reportedly swam to an island on the Willamette River, but later left it. Police at the scene said the animal was last seen in thick vegetation north of the river.

Read more in Wednesday’s Register-Guard.

Dog seeks help for owner in Yamhill, Oregon. A Dachshund went to the neighbor’s house to get help, after his owner collapsed. The dog would not leave until the neighbor followed the dog back to her home, and sought help for the owner.

                      Heceta Head Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast, Florence, Oregon 
                           manipulated photograph/mixed media, Regan Lee 2005 


This is an image of the Heceta Head lighthouse keeper’s home in Florence, Oregon. The house is now a bed and breakfast. The lighthouse is available to visit; tours are given. It’s a bit of a hike up to the lighthouse but worth it.


The house is said to be haunted. There have been several articles written through the years in both local and national publications on the haunted house. I know a few people who’ve stayed there who’ve told me they either felt or saw ghostly type things. 


While I’ve been to the lighthouse, I haven’t been inside the bed and breakfast. Unless you’re staying at the inn, you can’t go inside just to look around. Which is nice to know; you can’t disturb the guests that way. Maybe some day we’ll try staying there.


I manipulated the photograph I took using mixed materials: acrylic paint, oil pastels. It’s been so long since I took this I’m not sure what camera I used; either a disposable or my Instamatic, which I like to use for some silly reason, even though I have digitals and other cameras.

           Heceta Head Lighthouse, Florence, Oregon, manipulated photograph by Regan Lee
This blue image is of the lighthouse itself. Just a photograph (most likely the same camera was used but as I say, don’t remember) that I had fun playing with by altering the color via the computer. 



Never seen a ghost or anything unusual or esoteric when I’ve been up there, but there’s always next time!

Recent news making the loop alerts us to the news that bald eagles and pelicans, are eating murres on the Oregon coast. Specifically, the murres at Yaquina Head. This is news, and very weird news, in context of what it means as signals within global changes, as we’ll see.

But the fact that eagles eat murres isn’t all that new, as the Oregon Field Journal notes in a post from June 3rd:

Bald eagles eat murres and they know where to find these seabirds: in their largest colony on rocks right off the Yaquina Head lighthouse in Newport.

We covered this story last year (and the program ran again last week on Oregon Field Guide)

Gulls swoop in and eat the eggs, the eagles eat the murres. Now scientists have noticed an added element: pelicans are also eating murres. Fish and Wildlife Bulletin reports:

Our field crew also recently observed an immature brown pelican land on Flattop Rock and run through the colony flapping its wings,” Suryan said. “As it zigzagged through the colony, it ate 10 common murre chicks and chased away many of the adults, allowing the gulls to come in and go through their egg-stealing routine.

“Who would have thought that a pelican, of all things, would devour 10 young murres in a matter of seconds?”

Many thanks to Iona Miller, Oregon Fortean and conspiracy writer. I lifted this from her website.

MEDFORD ATTACKED BY RUSSIAN ELF

From “The Secret War Against Medford, Oregon”, by Mark Metcalf.

Recently, while reading a back issue of Nexus magazine, I came across a
news clip titled “The Mysterious Taos Hum.” The story said that
Representative Bill Richardson (D-NM) has asked the House Select Committee
to investigate a noise that causes dizziness, shortness of breath,
headaches, anxiety and sleeplessness, and is thought by some to emanate
from a secret defense-related project plaguing various cities in New
Mexico.

I realized that I might know something about that sound, something that I
had been playing it safe with for fourteen years.

During the years 1980-83, I was living with the daughter of the new-
deceased Dr. David Fraser, former head of the Department of Toxicology at
the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. One Day she told me of a
frightening encounter involving her father and the American military. When
Dr. Fraser came to stay with us while on vacation in 1981, I asked him to
tell me the story.

Suicide capital overnight

He said that in the early 1970s, the small city of Medford, Oregon, became
the suicide capital of the United States overnight. (The exact dates can
be found by checking national health statistics.) After Dr. Fraser was
notified of this dramatic anomaly, he organized and sent a team of
researchers to look for the cause. The team checked the water, the air,
the soil and a variety of additional possibilities, but could find no reason
for the massive increase in suicides. Then the researchers discovered that
*ultra low frequencies* (ULF) were being beamed into Medford, Oregon, from
a nearby military base. When they went to the base and met with its
commanding officer, he said that although he knew about ULF, his base was
not responsible, the Russians were! However, the ULF waves stopped the
very next day.

The researchers determined that the military base was not the only source;
the ULF was also coming into the homes of the populace through their
television antennas, which created some sort of standing-wave resonance
within the structure of the home itself. People who were often at home in
the houses with TV antennas became severely depressed even if they did not
watch TV.

Since the ULF wave had stopped, the researchers returned to the University
to write their report and to confer with Dr. Fraser. Several men
displaying CIA credentials arrived on campus and said that the ULF waves
beamed into Medford were a “national security” matter. They explicitly
threatened to kill each of the researchers, including Dr. David Fraser
himself, should anyone speak further about it. As far as I know, no one
did.

It seems clear that the military-industrial complex secretly declared war
on the American people quite some time ago and is waging a long-term
psychological warfare operation, complete with fully operational, mass
mind-control technology.

In fact, our whole society seems to be what Walter Bowart* refers to as a
“psycho-civilization” ruled by a “cryptocracy.”

How we respond makes a difference

What makes this evil that pervades our nation so effective is the
inappropriateness of our response. We behave much like Dr. B.F. Skinner’s
chicken when placed between two salivating wolves. We just go on pecking.
But who do we call when the bad guys have badges and judges and ray guns–
when blueprints of new federal prisons have cells labeled “labs”?

How can we learn to develop responses that are appropriate to the dire
position we have acquiesced to? We must look for new models of behavior to
consider and act upon. We must deeply consider the achievements of the
founding fathers, which in many ways were without precedent. If we do not
find the courage to change our behavior we may soon come to the end of
human history on this planet.

As Abraham Lincoln said:

“The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and
conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic
than monarchy. More insolent than autocracy. More selfish
than bureaucracy. I see in the near future, a crisis approaching
that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my
country. Corporations have been enthroned. An era of
corruption will follow and the money power of the country will
endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of
the people, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and
the republic is destroyed.”

—–
* Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, Dell Publishing, 1978, out of
print, Tucson.