Upstream in Oregon

Trout Fishing In America, and other books on the nightstand

November 18, 2008 by mstansberry

I’m currently in a multi-read mode, slowly covering a few books simultaneously. On a year-old reccomendation from Guy, I’m finally reading Brautigan’s Trout Fishing In America. The wikipedia post offers an accurate description of the book: Novella length prose poem with no discernible storyline wherein trout, San Francisco bums, and fishing in Northern California and Idaho play central roles. It’s not something I would have thought I’d have liked, but the writing is too good to put it down.

A prime selection: “The two artists talked about comitting themselves to an insane asylum for the winter. They talked about how warm it would be in the insane asylum, with television, clean sheets on soft beds, hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes, a dance once a week with the lady kooks, clean clothes, a locked razor and lovely young student nurses. Ah yes, there was a future in the insane asylum. No winter spent there could be a total loss.”

Concurrently, I’m working through Saving Homewaters, by Gordon Sullivan, a reccomendation from Jim Van Loan. It’s about how Montana brought its trout population back from the brink of disaster. The point in the book I’m at now, hatcheries are the savior of trout fishing in Montana, but I have a feeling that perspective will shift as I continue reading. I hope to see if lessons from this book could apply to Oregon’s fisheries problems.

Lastly, I’m reading Dismantling the Hills, a selection of poems by Michael McGriff. McGriff is from Coos Bay and his poems are largely about central, coastal Oregon. There are some great lines in this book, and I really like the way he captures the run down, gravely feel of highway 101. You can find a bunch of his poems online at From The Fishouse (an amazing site btw).

Posted in Oregon, books | Tagged Astoria Rust, books, Brautigan, Coos Bay, Oregon | 1 Comment »

Horror fiction taking over my reading life, again

November 6, 2008 by mstansberry

For whatever reason, I tend to read in cycles — moving from fiction to non-fiction in long sequences. I don’t know why. For most of my early twenties I was a fiction man all the way. Then at some point I switched over to nonfiction for a few years. Now I’m back to fiction and reading my favorite stuff — new horror fiction that’s actually worth reading.

A few months ago we listened to Stephen King’s Cell on CD and I thought it was one of the most horrifying books I’ve ever read (*is it really reading or no?). I expected it to be some lame “scary object does spooky stuff, connecting to a paralell world” type of story like From a Buick 8, but instead it was non-stop apocalyptic action.

I also listened to Dan Simmons The Terror on CD. Katie wasn’t a huge fan, but I loved it. The NY Times critic panned it for being too long and tedious, but I thought the pace was fine and the monster’s backstory was fantastic.

Now I’m reading The Historian, a book nerd vampire novel by Elizabeth Kostova. It’s actually making me think about traveling to Europe, which I haven’t wanted to do at all in the past few years. And the history, creep-factor and great writing make this a must read.

Halloween is over, and the un-dead have conceded their bid for the presidency, but Fall is still a great time to pick up some scary books.

Posted in books | Tagged Dan Simmons, Elizabeth Kostova, Horror Fiction, Stephen King | 2 Comments »

Pontius Stansberry Wedding photos online

November 3, 2008 by mstansberry

Well, for those of you who missed it, here are the actual wedding photos. Katie loaded them onto Flickr a little while back and I hadn’t posted them. Here they are:

Posted in photos | Tagged photos, wedding | 3 Comments »

Goodbye Bush, you huge piece of shit

October 31, 2008 by mstansberry

I am so excited. I have to imagine this is how Bush feels:

Posted in politics | Tagged Bush, Spaceballs, Suck | 4 Comments »

The Mule and I attempt to tackle litterers, but lack the right tools

October 28, 2008 by mstansberry

While salmon fishing last weekend, Karlos and I came across some wilderness littering bastards. We picked up their trash on the trail, assessed which vehicles the trash belonged to with a little detective work and wrote a semi-threatening note to the offenders.

While I wanted to kick in their fenders and smash their windows, I didn’t. I hadn’t caught them red-handed. We found beer bottles and cans, which corresponded with empty packaging in the back seat of each rig. And there was a small chance they would have picked up their garbage on the way back out the trail. But the main reason I didn’t is because I park there a lot myself and don’t want to start some kind of property crime war.

I wrote down their license plate numbers, but feel pretty powerless. Any suggestions?

PS: Check out Karl meditating on his bouquet of Chantrelles.

Posted in Oregon Fishing, salmon | Tagged Fishing, Litterers, Oregon, salmon | 3 Comments »

Silver Creek Falls photos — fall colors, falling water

October 27, 2008 by mstansberry

This weekend we hiked the trails around Silver Creek Falls and the yellow leaves were in full fall colors.

Posted in Oregon, hiking, photos | Tagged hiking, Oregon, Silver Creek Falls | 3 Comments »

Last of the Oregon Honeymoon photos

October 23, 2008 by mstansberry

I never finished posting the rest of the Oregon honeymoon photos. Here they are: Quail on the wild and scenic Lower Rogue River, the view from Gold Beach, some wildlife shots from Pistol Creek beach, and the Illinois River Falls.

Posted in Oregon, photos | Tagged honeymoon, Oregon, photos | 2 Comments »

Upstream in Oregon election endorsements

October 20, 2008 by mstansberry

Just a quick rundown of my take on the Oregon elections.

On the national stage I have to endorse Obama and Merkley, no surprises there.

I love this man:

For Eugene Mayor — Kitty Piercy v. Jim Torrey? I’ll call that a toss up. Torrey is a conservative, pro-business, former mayor. Kitty Piercy is the incumbent, liberal. Neither has been a particularly effective leader and I think we’re in a lose-lose situation here. This city needs someone who can affect real change, someone who can outmaneuver the vocal factions that make change impossible.

Eugene needs the following initiatives, not half-baked, unfinished good ideas:
-Tools for removing agressive petty criminals from downtown that don’t infringe on the Constitution.
-Strong independent oversight on a politicized and surly Eugene police department.
-A plan for increased urban housing desnity and redevelopment of downtown real estate.
-Strong protections for green space within Eugene, and a plan to work with neighbor communities to limit urban sprawl.

Eugene measures:
20-145 -Yes. Fix the roads.
20-146 - Yes. Appoint a civilian review board to monitor police complaints.

School districts and Lane Community College levies — yes. If you don’t agree with funding public education you are an ignorant, selfish piece of human garbage and deserve the future you are creating.

State Measures:
Measure 54: Yes. Amend the Oregon constitution to drop the legal voting age in school board elections from 21 to 18. If you can vote for president you should be able to vote on the school board. Also, having separate ballots for those 18-20 seems like a waste of administrative resources.

Measure 55: Yes. Let legislators finish their terms in the district they were elected to, and not be assigned to a new district in re-districting.

Measure 56: Yes. Allow voters to decide tax measures, not non-voters.

Measure 57: Yes. Strengthen sentencing for property and drug crimes.

Measures 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 are from Bill Sizemore and other ballot measure hacks. Sizemore is a slimeball that makes a living introducing confusing ballot measures. He’s one corrupt right-wing lunatic. And even if I agree with the spirit of some of his meaures (like 61) I can’t validate his initiatives.

“Do you really want to cast your vote based on the impulses of an uninformed, self-aggrandizing ax-grinder?” asked Steve Novick in a great Oregonian column.

Lastly, I just have to say the Oregon election system is the greatest in the country.

Posted in Oregon, eugene, politics | Tagged Barack Obama, Bill Sizemore, Gordon Smith, Jim Torrey, Kitty Piercy, Oregon Politics | 2 Comments »