Oregon L.O.W.F.I

Posts Tagged ‘Oregon’

From the BFRO, (and Sharon Lee, via FB) a clip of a fishing/rapids trip on the beautiful McKenzie River from 2008. The person filming this, and the people fishing, were not invovled in any BF expedition at all; the BF — if it IS a BF — appears very briefly on the back for just a moment, and it’s clear its presence went unnoticed by everyone.

I’m not a photo image experty by an means, but it looks like a BF on the bank, until you crop and move in and then it looks like a backpacker. Maybe, heh…

This by way of Cliff Barackman,’s North American Bigfoot on Bigfoot author Thom Powell (The Locals.) Thom has written an article on offensive geographical place names in Oregon (a hot topic here) and a possible connection “between the word “squaw” and sasquatches.”  Both Cliff and Thom were speakers at the Oregon Sasquatch Symposium in June.

The coastal town of Florence in Oregon has its Elvis brush with fame:
Elvis enjoyed the small town atmosphere of Florence back in the day’

And I had my own brush with Elvis, as I recently wrote about for UFO Mystic: My Claim to UFO-Hollywood Fame.

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.

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.

Jim and I will be guests on Future Theater, Nancy and Bill Birnes podcast, airs 6:00 pm EST.

According to local news reports, the fires in Russia are affecting air quality in Oregon. The Pacific Northwest is experiencing wildfires; one is Rooster Rock near Sisters, Oregon, and one in British Columbia but it is the fires in Russia that has us breathing this muck, not local ones. The air has been pretty bad here in the Eugene area in Lane County (mid-Willamette Valley) and the reason for that lousy air is mainly due to Russia’s fires. The Eugene-Springfield newspaper Register Guard reports:

The south valley skies are, instead, smudged by Russia’s killer wildfires that have burned 756 square miles, taken the lives of 50 people and destroyed one-fifth of Russia’s grain crop.

“You can see (smoke) on the satellite,” Wolfe said. “The prevailing wind is west-to-east. Follow the currents, and it puts it over here.”

“You see a wispy haze, very faint and thin but perceptible. It’s coming over across the Aleutian Peninsula, down across the Gulf of Alaska and right into our area,” he said.

The smoke rising from the Russian fires — the flaming forests and peat bogs — is soaring six miles into the stratosphere, according to the NASA Earth Observatory.

“At such heights, smoke is able to travel long distances to affect air quality far away,” according to the agency.

The southern end of the Willamette Valley is more than 5,400 miles from Moscow, where a cluster of the troublesome fires burn. The drought-fueled fires started in July and multiplied to 589 individual blazes scattered across the Russian countryside.

Smoke particulate — as measured here by Lane Regional Air Protection Agency nephelometers — spiked locally on Monday, which was the same day Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared a state of emergency in seven regions of Russia.

Locally, the fine particulate peaked again on Thursday — but didn’t go high enough to cause respiratory problems, said Ralph Johnston, meteorologist at LRAPA.

“Our air quality is quite good,” he said. “The levels (of smoke) are low enough that I don’t think even sensitive folks would be looking at a problem.”

As usual, this agency downplays the effects fire, smoke, and other pollutants have on residents. I can’t believe he said “…even sensitive folks would [not] be looking at a problem.” Maybe they didn’t get any calls, after all, what’s the point, I’ve decided long ago, but I know that yesterday was particularly bad. I couldn’t go outside; had trouble breathing all day. Tried to go for my daily walk and just couldn’t do it. Too damn hard to breathe.

Naturally I’m not blaming local air quality tracking agencies for the fires here, in British Columbia or Russia. But I am frustrated with their continued glib attitude towards us “sensitive folk.”

Speaking of Russia, I feel for the people of Russia who are suffering and am praying for them. It is a horror on earth.

I’ve been keeping an animal journal, which I posted about on Women Of Esoterica awhile back. My intent was to write about animals, but I soon realized that “animal” means a lot of things other than the expected. Last night I was writing in my journal about cryptids, shape shifters, mixed energies, inter-dimensional beings…I’m pretty sure this will turn into something. I had the following dream after writing in my journal last night:

I go see about some land for sale here in Oregon. “39.4″ acres for incredibly cheap. I go alone; arriving, there is a man who’s clearly some kind of guard to this little town, which is very odd. He lets me by. He’s not armed or even threatening, but it is … odd. I continue on, meeting up with a pleasant man in his early forties, maybe. Friendly person, telling me all about the property. We’re standing in the middle of a highway. No people around or cars, out in the country. What’s extremely weird is that, as soon as I passed the “guard” earlier, the landscape changed radically. Suddenly, I am surrounded by high, sharp, jutting mountains covered in snow, it’s cold, the water (ocean? lake?) on one side of the highway, surrounded by these very high and close mountains, is grey and choppy. I’m a little nervous, the water is almost up to the road. And on the other side of the highway, across from the water and mountains, the land just goes straight up, very steep. I’m told this is “Wyoming-Idaho” in Oregon. I say, in the dream, (a lucid moment?) that there’s no such thing, and what is Wyoming doing in Oregon?! The man thinks that’s funny.

He continues telling me bout the land, that’s it’s a great deal (it is), it’s all just land, but one thing to be aware: there are poachers that “encroach on the edges,” as he puts it. I’ll have to deal with them as I see fit, he says.

As we’re talking, suddenly a man in what is obviously a very bad, very cheap Bigfoot costume, (light grey in color) steps out onto the road. The man says, in a mock frightened tone, “Oh, look, look! It’s Bigfoot! Bigfoot is here!” and they both crack up. The guy in the BF suit goofs around, stomping and clowning, and then takes off.

All this time I am not amused, and am just looking at them. The man says to me,”You don’t think that’s funny?” and I’m thinking to myself, what a maroon, another joker, and a Bigfoot debunker. Great. But I’m not going to tell him about my opinions on Bigfoot, or anything else.

Then the man says to me, very seriously, “You know, around here, we all know Bigfoot exists. Anyone who’s ever spent any time in the country around here knows damn well Bigfoot exists. You can’t judge people on things like having fun.”

Well okay then, I think. Interesting. So back to the land issue, but I tell him that I don’t like the snow, or mountains, and I still don’t like this idea of “Wyoming” being in Idaho-Oregon, and on the west coast to boot. It’s all very suspicious. And why are all the townspeople, who I know are all around us, watching us, hidden? It’s not that they’re sinister or of ill intent but it is weird and I’m uncomfortable.

The man says to me, “You didn’t think the property was this place, did you? Oh no, it’s not like this at all, it’s back behind here,” and he waves his hands around, indicating that the land is even further, and not snowy or mountainous.

I tell him I’ll think about it, and tell him I have to leave. He stays there, I’m a little put out he’s letting me go off on my own, after all, I don’t know my way around. He stays put on the highway, as if he’s under some type of interdiction to stay in that place. I find my way though and back to the guard, who also seems amused that I’m here. He doesn’t help me with directions either, but I figure it out.