[Ed Note: Today is the first day of Fall classes here at Oregon State University, and this month also marks the one-hundredth anniversary of Linus Pauling’s enrollment at what was then known as Oregon Agricultural College. Today’s post is part 1 of 4 examining the school that Pauling attended for his undergradua

I experienced an unexpected failure. The brand new heat pump quit working the moment it turned cold and rainy and I switched it to heat mode.  Maybe the heat pump too is revolting with sudden onset winter, when its still officially summer.  Snow in the mountains now.  It's been pouring down rain for days.  A tornado, i

Moms will be moms and kittens will be kittens. You can try your best to tell kittens or moms how to behave but it won't work. Best to let kittens be kittens.  And kids be kids.  And Moms be moms. So, in the spirit of kittenhood, and my kitten loaded bathroom...and a mom who sometimes seems to say with her eyes, "g

Today Oregon will get its first fall storm, with a lot of rain predicted. Sure we need rain.   But my heart sinks to think of it.  The summer was completely useless. We waited so long for summer after a winter that broke every record for rainfall.  Last winter stretched on forever and was one of Oregon's most depressi

Well, I am overloaded in cats again.   And I don't even take in cats.  Ha! I have the torti and the ear tipped kitten from the Grocery Outlet parking lot. Thankfully the torti is tame, and I'm advertising her as found, but the bird lady says she'll foster her and care for her permanently if she doesn't have a home.  Wh

"If I fits, I sits." Annie found an empty box on my craft table. She is barely able to get all four of her paws in it, so when she lays down, much of her tiny 8lb body hangs over the edges. Nevermind the 4'x1' box filled with fresh, crinkly packing paper in the living room... #annie #catsinboxes #cat #korat #korat

I love a good mystery.  I sure do. When this photo popped up on Lost and Found Pets in my town, I went over to look for her, even though it was after 11:00 p.m. the night before I was to take Raven up to FFR.   I found nothing.  Where she was supposed to be, by Great Clips in the mall, automatic sprinklers were wetting

Goodbye sweet Raven.  Good luck. Today I drove Raven up to Felines First Rescue.  They are showing her for adoption in the Petsmart off Scholls Ferry Road exit. It's always hard, to let them go, to know she's alone now, without a friend, in a Petsmart condo, waiting for someone who will adopt her.  I hope so much someo

[Pauling at UCSD, part 3 of 3] In early 1969, Linus Pauling announced that he had accepted an appointment at Stanford University, and that he would be leaving the University of California, San Diego, where he had been on faculty for the past two academic years. In making this announcement, Pauling explained his feeling that

Sept. 13, 2017 A new video from Oregon Sea Grant shows how researchers at Portland State University are inspecting the guts and tissues of razor clams and oysters along the Oregon coast for microplastics, which can come from foams, tiny beads in facial creams, synthetic fibers from clothing, and disintegrating plastic ba

My table centerpiece for fall took some effort. I didn't want to store anything long term or spend much money, so I had to be creative. The mason jars are filled with candy corn and M&Ms. I used @lawnfawn small stitched leaves dies and distress ink to make 3 dozen leaves. The doily thing is actually a placemat from Bed,

I couldn't stop myself from taking reservations when they came up for yesterday. I already had 3 reservations for Heartland.  But when someone with nine reservations got sick and couldn't use them, I got given five of those to use.  That would be 8 more local cats fixed.  Why wouldn't I jump all over that? There are log

Week 36 in my #housewife #bulletbinder. "Life is tough, but so are you." Did a lot of visiting this week, which is great but exhausting for this introvert. SO glad I was able to reconnect with friends and family! I am also thankful to have a quiet home where I can hide out for a day or two afterward. Does anyone e

Week 35 in my 2017 #housewife #bulletbinder. "Some see a weed: I see a wish!" Anyone else grow up wishing on dandelions? I wish it would rain and be less hot and just not be summer anymore. 😧 Grandma taught us to "make wishes" out on the farm where weeds in the lawn seemed to be tolerated, but Dad was

Today the last of a family of girls are being fixed, three more girl kittens.  Their mom Cora was fixed two weeks ago and the first kitten, also a girl, Lolotai, was fixed last week. Cora had wandered in as a stray already pregnant. Mom, Cora, was fixed a couple weeks back. The first of her four kittens to be fixed wa

  [Part 2 of 3 in a series exploring Linus Pauling’s years on faculty at the University of California, San Diego.] As his program on orthomolecular psychiatry began to take off, Pauling’s work as an activist moved forward with as much zeal as ever. Despite criticism that his association with the Center for

Harvest Moon 2017. With all the smoke we have in Oregon right now due to forest fires, the moon glows a beautiful pumpkin orange. Got out my long lens and had some fun in the street scaring drivers while taking photos. @thatoregonlife #moon #harvestmoon #fullmoon #stargazing #oregon #oregonmoon #astronomy #pnw #greatpnw #pu

I decided to head out Saturday, get away.  I had wanted to go overnight, but whats the fun of that really, with the smokey skies occluding most everything.   So I went with a friend Saturday to the river.  The Little North Fork of the Santiam area. I've been up to that area quite a lot.  I hike the Opal Creek loop trai