Oregon L.O.W.F.I

Posts Tagged ‘nature’

I’m an earthquake junkie, checking the earthquake maps throughout the day. Anyone who’s looked at the activity, whether on a daily or weekly basis, has noticed that things have been very active for awhile, including all along the west coast. Oregon has had earthquakes recently, off shore as well as inland.  There was a 4.3 on the 3rd of this month 234 miles from the coastal town of Waldport.

ZenHaven reports on ’silent earthquakes’ occurring in Washington and Oregon:

Parts of Washington and Oregon are in the midst of silent earthquakes this week. You can’t feel this so-called “slow slip” quake and it doesn’t cause damage. Still, scientists want to learn more about the recently discovered phenomenon.

Little is certain so far, but there’s a possibility these deep tremors could trigger a damaging earthquake or serve as a warning bell for the Big One.

Discouraging and maybe surprising, given Portland’s, like Eugene’s counter culture vibe. But they went ahead and did it and one has to wonder.

Oregon beaches have been experiencing coyotes on the beaches for awhile now. I wrote about coyotes in the Newport area in May of 2010, for Oreogn L.O.W.F.I. I’ve heard them at night; it’s both a cool and an eerie sound to hear them so close, and right on the beach. But, like bear and deer in the area, the coyotes in human developed areas are a problem, for both humans and animals. There’s the reason why bear, deer, coyote, etc. are “infringing” in human populated areas. The animal’s habitat is being decreased, the animals move in. There are other reasons as well: for example, humans feeding wildlife, particularly bears. A Yachats, Oregon women was found guilty of feeding bears on her property; she was banned from living in the area) as I also blogged on L.O.W.F.I.

On Thursday, a five year old was bitten by a coyote on the beach in Nehalem State Park. (Nehalem is on the coast.) Wildlife authorities shot and killed the coyote; the child is undergoing a rabies shots series.

At the back of my mind limped the dark thought that all the authoritative sources cited concerning the glowing, sceeching, impervious metal boxes on Oregon coasts were covering up, or at best, dupes in a larger cover-up. I also thought that researchers, like Linda Moultan Howe, who interviewed these authorities, gave up too easily.

So the story goes, residents insist they have not seen a thing, someone made a YouTube video on how it was all a hoax, authorities deny anything strange at all. And that’s very likely.

Still, that nagging thought of a “what if” in the back of my mind. Not a “what if” as in alien from outer space, but something to do with Fukushima, and/or covert government activity. When I told Jim this story of the strange metal boxes and the seeming “no there there” aspect his immediate response was that these boxes have something to do with monitoring radiation.

Now if that’s so, it seems, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, pretty rash to go up to these boxes– for example, using them as material for ones art.

More importantly, if it’s true, the truth about the radiation levels continues to be hidden from us. Throw in distractions and disinformation about aliens, UFOs, and hoaxes, and there you have it.

A YouTube clip of Oregon’s haunted coastal places.

People feed the birds bread, popcorn, and junk food, which is very bad for the birds. Very bad. Please don’t do it.

Sharnelle Fee, director of state department’s Wildlife Center of the North Coast, said she has treated pelicans who have eaten hot dogs, doughnuts, potato chips and even chicken bones.
“When you have a hungry pelican, they’re going to eat anything you put in front of them,” Fee said. “These kinds of foods can actually kill them.”
Scientists advise people to avoid feeding any wildlife, but they are particularly strident in their appeals about pelicans because the availability of human food may be encouraging them to stay on the north coast during the winter instead of heading south to their Baja California breeding grounds.

The article also notes that the brown pelicans have been hanging around on the Oregon coast (we saw some a couple of years ago in November in Yachats) and they don’t know why that is. Climate changes/global warming wouldn’t have anything to do with it I suppose…

State vs. Feds. Gil Gilberston, Josephine county sheriff, has written a 13 page document concerning the feds and their legal limits concerning power and general rights trampling. Unraveling Federal Jurisdiction within a State :

This a “must read” for anyone concerned about infringements against the 10th Amendment and federal encroachments in general – like road closures, Wild Lands and Monument designations, mining and other resource uses. In other words, this is for anyone and everybody with an interest – no matter how casual — in accessing the public lands, either as a “resource user” (a rancher or miner) or simply a casual vacationer who enjoys weekend camping.

“If you’d told me two years ago that I would be writing such a document, I would have probably walked away from you shaking my head,” the sheriff notes in the introduction.

“This paper is a result of a clash with the federal [U.S. Forest Service] law enforcement in this county, from citizens complaining of what can only be described as harassment and violations of their rights,” he explains. “The first time I approached the USFS the door closed regarding any discussion. The USFS advised me to file a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. “

Local news reports a cougar sighted near Spencer’s Butte park, a popular hiking area (and, local lore goes, somewhat of a UFO hot spot) — there are rattlesnakes up there, and the occasional cougar report. I can see the Butte if I walk to the corner of my street… not far from me at all. With video and photo.

The day before yesterday all four of our cats were behaving very strangely. I even said to Jim that I wondered if there was an earthquake coming soon, because they were just so “off” — not their usual routine.Very agitated and confused, literally walking in circles sometimes. (In a weird way, not the usual that’s what cats do way.) Each cat has their own personality and what bothers one may not bother the other, but that day, they were all just crazy. Well, turns out there were earthquakes, several,  in the area: the Eugene (where I live) and surrounding area, sort of I-5 corridor, extending to the North up towards Portland area, which is about 100 miles from Eugene, and to the south, near Medford:

August 3rd: The Eugene area where I live, had a 1.1.

August 3rd, a 1.6.

August 3rd, 2.1 McMinnville area

August 4th, 2.1

August 5,th 2.2 (southern Oregon)

August 5,th 4.5 off Oregon coast 235 miles off the coast of Newport

(You can read the local news item about the earthquake off the coast, with an interesting comment by a reader who remarks his own animals were acting very strangely.)

Besides the “Conspiracy Park” images I came across while walking along the Willamette River, I’ve come across these rock constructs in the water. You can still see stone from the foundation of a structure that used to be there, before the pedestrian bridge was built. Probably remnants of an old power station — the current EWEB (Eugene Water and Electric)  buildings are nearby. About a month ago, we had walked this same walk and these rock formations weren’t there. Some one, or probably more than one person, enjoyed themselves creating these rock creations in the river. I realize you can’t see them too well; as I said in my previous conspiracy park post, I’m not a photographer and use a cheap camera. But hopefully you’ll get an idea. Here’s one with a mothy vibe:

"Wings" on top of rock arrangement, Willamette River (University end)

Rock arrangements, Willamette River

River rock arrangements