Chris Carvalho

Brightly backlit magenta grass widow flowers fill a grassy meadow with thin soil and rocks. The plants have clumps of grasslike leaves about five inches tall. The flowers are about an inch across with six petals. It's a clear, windy day with blue sky and a few scattered clouds.

Grass widows in the Gorge are at peak now; this is a shot taken yesterday at Tom McCall Preserve. Get out to see them this week. Cool, showery weather will prolong the bloom a bit, but some snow is also in the forecast Mon/Tue, possibly Sat. The moisture is needed.

Power returns for most in Hood River County, about 800 customers still out HOOD RIVER CO. — After the lights went off shortly past 6 p.m for 8,876 customers in Hood River County, about 800 remain without electricity, and there’s currently no estimated

Looks like the power is mostly back on, about 800 customers are still affected. www.columbiagorgenews.com/free_news/po...

The power is out in the entire town of Hood River.

This week, the east Gorge had yellow goldstars, pink prairie stars, & tiny white flowers of Whitlow-grass. The display is just getting started. Grass widows will peak over the next week. Next week is predicted to be cool & wet, which should prolong the bloom.

On 3/4, OHA reported 4 new COVID deaths in Oregon; the total is now 10,958. Hospitalizations are at 0.1 per 100,000 compared to a national average of 0.9. This is a record low for the pandemic. We are tied with New Mexico & Maryland.

Brown tabby cat with cute white triangle on his nose gives good side eye

Lucky barrel is my name....I don't know why
But one thing I do know....is I give good side eye
Meet me at Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood OR

Coming up now on OPB Radio Think Out Loud & 8 pm tonight: Interview with Gorge Commissioner Robert Liberty resigned from the body due to their pro-development policies.

Ask your doctor for a measles antibody titer test. It will tell you if your vaccine needs a booster. I just checked mine and I’m good.

Affordable housing isn’t that difficult. We just need honest, competent, & responsible people running it. That’s in short supply throughout Oregon, sadly.

a tracker for measles, showing just how far we've descended into a public health disaster.

Yesterday, OHA reported 1 new COVID death in Oregon; 2 in the prior week. The total is now 10,954. Hospitalizations are at 0.1 per 100,000, compared to a national average of 0.9. Wastewater levels are currently showing the wave has peaked, same for flu. OHA just introduced ...

Home Forward’s Real Estate Portfolio Is Fast Approaching Financial Distress The housing authority has high vacancy rates across its portfolio last year took 185 days on average to fill a vacant unit.

Portland’s affordable housing authority takes 185 days on average to fill a vacant unit, & has a struggling debt coverage ratio:

www.wweek.com/news/2026/02...

parts of the country, while their husbands worked in drier lowlands. Given that early explorers of Oregon & Washington were known for the occasional tryst with Native American women, perhaps the 2 definitions were combined, confusing the American Indian with the country of India.

who had cohabited with several men." Perhaps these flowers symbolized the region's first settlers enjoying a moment of romantic impropriety in the gorge's lush fields. Another use refers to British colonists in India, whose wives often lived in hill stations in cool and green...

A bit more about grass widows. The origin of the flower's name is not well understood; there are 2 possibilities. According to the British language expert Michael Quinion, one comes from historic use of the term "grass widow" to mean "an abandoned mistress or unmarried woman...

Grass widows have narrow, spikelike leaves bearing single or small clusters of six-petaled deep magenta flowers with a bright yellow pollen anther in the center. Each flower is about an inch across. The plants are from two to eight inches tall.

Grass widows (Olsynium douglasii) are one of the 1st flowers to appear in late winter in the Gorge. They live in open & grassy areas from the central Gorge eastward. The magenta flowers are always a delight to see after a long winter. No Native American uses are noted...

Hood River art exhibit anchors Black History Month events by group Black in the Gorge "Black in the Gorge" is a grassroots group that aims to foster connections between Black, biracial and multiracial residents in the Columbia Gorge. We hear about its impact and a new art exhibit one o...

Think Out Loud on OPB radio at 8 pm tonight had a segment on "Black Infinity House," an art exhibit at Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River until March 29, 2026. From the group Black in the Gorge, it features more than 30 Black artists in Oregon: www.opb.org/article/2026...

Portland council postpones decision on $21 million in unspent housing funds Councilmembers voted later than anticipated because of an anti-ICE protest that disrupted the meeting.

Only in Portland can a city have a housing affordability & homelessness crisis they say is too big to address, then discover they have $21 million in unspent funds just lying around in their housing fund: www.kptv.com/video/2026/0...

eaten by native peoples as food. The leaves are highly nutritious sources of vitamins C & A. It has several named varieties that intergrade. The stems are covered with sticky hairs. The leaves have smooth edges, distinguishing them from the western saxifrage's tooth-edged leaves.

Wholeleaf saxifrage has a cluster of basal leaves with smooth edges. The leaves are hairless and green with red edges when young. The white flowers are borne in a cluster on stems with short, sticky hairs. Each flower has five petals.

The grassland or wholeleaf saxifrage (Micranthes integrifolia), grows in vernally wet meadows in the Gorge at all elevations. It can even grow in rocky spots with sufficient moisture such as seeps, creeksides, or cliff walls. Other species in the related genus Saxifraga were ...

Video: ResistDance Honors Renée Good & Alex Pretti in DC On President’s Day, the First Amendment Troop staged “ResistDance” - a tribute and act of artistic dissent - at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Memorial. Watch the full performance in this video.

More here, w/ video (might not display on Edge browser)
broadwayworld.com/article/Vide...
22 dancers performed, representing 22 days between Good & Pretti’s deaths. The event was peaceful. The dance was shut down within seconds by officers, citing they weren't allowed on federal property.

man, doctors can harbor bias & discount bleeding symptoms as being from rough anal sex. Discuss your sexual practices with your doctor in detail & be sure you are getting them to follow up if symptoms persist.

to see a doctor. More sensitive stool tests and circulating tumor DNA tests are less expensive than a colonoscopy & easier to do. They can provide some peace of mind. I'm still here because I asked my doctor questions & didn't take "no" for an answer. Finally, if you're a gay ...

I suspect gum disease from orthodontics, which is now very popular, is a major risk factor. Another one is family history. Doctors talk about processed foods as another factor, but our consumption hasn't changed that much in recent times. If you have any GI symptoms, be sure ...

noticeable symptoms develop. If it's the latter, it's often after the cancer has spread. Since Van Der Beek was 46, he likely wouldn't have been screened. That means his cancer was developing long before that. Colorectal cancer is hitting younger people & we don't know why ...

undiagnosed metastasis and decided not to disclose that. As a rectal cancer survivor, I know this: Rectal tumors are often discovered earlier because the bleeding is obvious. When the tumor is in the ascending or transverse colon, it's usually not detected unless screening or ...

Everything the Late James Van Der Beek Said About His Cancer Journey James Van Der Beek announced he had been diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in November 2024. The actor died on Feb. 11, 2026. Here’s what to know about James Van Der Beek's cancer journey.

You probably heard about the recent death from colorectal cancer of James Van Der Beek, star of Dawson's Creek. We know some details, but there are missing pieces. He said he had Stage 3 cancer. Typically, this is highly treatable. It's possible he had ...
people.com/james-van-de...

Wednesday, 2/11, OHA reported 7 new COVID deaths in Oregon with 6 of them in 2026; the total is now 10,951. Hospitalizations are at 0.2 per 100,000 compared to a national average of 0.8. Wastewater levels are noisy but show an increasing trend.

YouTube video by CBC News Do AI image detectors work? We tested 5 | Visual investigations

Check this out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-_b...

Another trash pickup of Old Highway 8 completed. The road to Catherine Creek is now clean & ready for spring wildflower viewing. Enjoy the trip!