SMOS, from the official articles of incorporation has the purpose “to establish and maintain a school to serve the general public and foster the theory and practice of utilizing the natural world for environmental education and individual fitness.”

From the bylaws the above will be accomplished by these objectives:

1. To function primarily as a private, K-12, school that maintains a regularly enrolled student body, an established curriculum, and a full-time faculty that fosters the theory and practice of utilizing the natural world for environmental education and individual fitness;
2. To offer workshops, seminars, and camps open to the general public that relate to our specific statement of purpose described in the articles of incorporation;
3. To promote environmental awareness and stewardship by offering fun and educational activities open to the general public such as interpretive hikes, bird watching, mushroom gathering, trail maintenance, etc;
4. To sponsor special events that promote general health through the natural world such as fun runs, hikes, tree plantings, etc;
5. To engage in any other activities related to our specific statement of purpose described in the articles of incorporation;

SMOS is largely a response to the current state of the Northport area. Northport, considered by many to be a ghost town, is rich in natural resources but poor in community infrastructure. Over 70% of the towns inhabitants are considered to be from low-income households, there are plenty of at risk children, and the limited funding for the school has forced it to cut many extra-curriculum activities and electives. SMOS will address all of these concerns.

Empty talk? Lets hope not. My father, an experienced outdoor education teacher, offered an outdoor ed class to 15 students (the average class size for Northport Highschool is around 20) that was hugely popular and is going to offer it under the SMOS umbrella this year. Furthermore, within the next week members of the board will present to the school board in attempts to create a partnership with the Northport School District so that we will be able to offer electives during the school days on Monday and discuss after-school extra-curriculum activities. Finally, we are actively pursuing insurance options through 4H so that we can offer educational recreation opportunity such as rock climbing and canoeing.

Exciting things are sure to come.

I’m in grad school now, living in Pullman and working towards my masters in botany from the school of biological sciences. I just finished my first paper for a class and had a very difficult time writing it. It made me realize that I need to start my one hour or so of writing a day again until I can write papers after three beers, while listening to music, watching a movie, and juggling a soccer ball. I’m just not sure if I’ll be able to squeeze an hour out of my schedule.

I’m going to try to focus on science mumbo jumbo, mainly because critically reviewing science articles is what I’ll be doing constantly for the next 2 years. But I may dabble in general biological processes relating to what I’m lecturing about for the weeks lab, or based on hikes I’ve done recently. I’ll try to stray away from the techie side of things (which is too bad, since that is my entire reader base) since I’m trying to officially retire. But my brother and I are still hacking away at the new version of Trailtracer so I may go down a tangent in that direction.

My pops and I have been working on cleaning up a huge slab of limestone on the property to be used as a bouldering rock. You can get an idea of the walls location in the above photo - it’s about where the valley ends and to the left of that last bush in the field. It seems like an extension of the house since it’s a short five minute walk and visible from the deck but it is definitely not. I was reminded of that yesterday.

Yesterday, as I was working on some bouldering problems I heard something moving around in the woods to the south, and very close, to me. At first I wasn’t readily concerned since I assumed it was just one of the coyotes that hunts in the field and figured s/he will just run away once he or she catches my scent. Or it could be a turkey, elk, or maybe the moose that was recently spotted. But then I heard some grunting sounds that came from the lungs of something rather large with, probably, sharp teeth. I quickly realized that we saw a black bear walk through the field the day before and spotted two of them on our driveway a few days before that. I simultaneously started making noise and assessing my climbing ability as a survival tool instead of a hobby. Luckily the bear did not approach me so I was allowed to climb in peace.

The incredible fact that I am able to walk a short distance from the house, basically staying on my extended backyard, to a huge bouldering wall (pictured above), and still have to deal with large predators does not escape me. It’s going to be very difficult for me to leave the CCR and move to Pullman.

Paul Anderson, a man famous for his rock climbing accomplishments as one of the pioneers of the sport and the first person to climb a 5.11 in the U.S., has discovered the joys of the mountain bike. His goal is to sequence a series of trails, from east to west, that stretch from nearly the eastern side of British Columbia to the western side. The trails are derived from resurrected and modified train tracks that were purchased by the Canadian government and donated to local clubs for maintenance and general stewardship. Paul has plans of riding a 30 mile stretch of the trails once a week. To do this he needs a partner with another vehicle to ditch at one end of the trail and use the other to ferry back. Paul is actively recruiting and I was one of the fellas that he asked. I couldn’t turn the opportunity down so I went along. The ride was fairly easy but the scenery was breathtaking. The ride started at the southern end of Lake Slocan and paralleled the Slocan River with views of Valhalla Provincial Park and a unique and wonderful peak called Gimli Peak (which I will hike to or summit one day).

The next day I had plans to white water kayak but those failed to materialize so I went on a few nature hikes around the property where I picked up four more tick points and discovered a huge limestone bouldering rock with some kind of den underneath. The next day I went mountain biking with friends up a strenuous trail to the east of Sheep Creek Road. It was a good ride with a steep and fast descent. Following that I went to soccer practice. The next day I had a soccer game in Canada. We were able to field a full team so I wasn’t responsible for the entire midfield this time. I exhausted myself a couple of times but it wasn’t as bad as last week, the day after Bloomsday.

Tuesday my dad and I met up with a fella in Colville and we three headed to Leavenworth for a 4-H Challenge Instructor’s training in rock climbing. That was an incredible experience which I really should write a dedicated post for. The other attendees were fully supportive of my dad and my efforts to get a non-profit outdoor school started. The training was a great refresher for my climbing knowledge and incredibly valuable for methods of teaching kids new skills in a fun and safe manner. Leavenworth was amazing with warm weather and high water flow in the Wenatchee River (darn cold though), beautiful granite, and great climbs. I plan on going back.

I got back from the training a couple of days again but was sick with either the flu or heat exhaustion until today. So the past two days I sat around being unproductive and worthless which was nice (I played Dragon Quest VIII for like 16 hrs – which is odd for me because I’m not a big gamer) but has caused a great stir of renewed determination to get crap done again.

The temperature finally isn’t dipping down below 40 F so we can finish up the master bedroom and start building the library shelves, the tomato plants are ready to be transplanted and general planting is finally safe, the barb wire is ready to be stretched, kayak season is in full force, a huge snow ball effect has started with the non-profit which I need to roll with, I need to make up a bunch of hours for my ‘real’ job, and I need to start developing some climbing routes with my pops. No more Dragon Quest.

This post was the final catalyst. It’s zoom time.

The Palouse starts south of Spokane and is readily apparent. Small mountains vanish from the foreground and are replaced with rolling farmland, devoid of trees and covered in wheat. Upon entering the Palouse I was overcome with a strong urge to speak to myself in Spanish and yell things like “donde esta las montanas?” and “Ahhh… esta bonita, no?”. Perhaps it triggered something deeply embedded in me, something from the old west, of cowboys, and ranchers. Or it was just a result of driving for three hours without radio.

The view from Highway 195, south of Spokane, the Palouse Loess is nearly ubiquitous. A few road cuts expose ancient basalt with origins from a volcano near the corner of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, called the Grande Ronde volcano, which was active during the late Miocene. The numerous eruptions make up the region in southestern Washington know as the Columbia Plateau. In the far eastern distance the foothills of the Rockie Mountains rise up above the flood basalt flows. One such hill, similar to those in the distance, is much closer. It is little over five miles from Highway 195 and is named Steptoe Butte.

Steptoe Butte is composed of rock much older than any other around. The rock was here before the basalt floods and before the loess was blown here from the glacial outwash plains. It stood tall before the conglomerate of exotic islands that compose Washington State were united, before the Kootani Arc was formed and even before life had evolved. Steptoe Butte is made up of Precambrian belt sedimentary rock and is over a billion years old.

There is a campground at the base of the butte and a road that spirals up to the peak. The road allows nearly everyone an easy way to the top but scars the hill’s facade. I, of course, had to reach the top. The road was narrow. Big trucks barreled down swerving into the middle of the road so I was forced to move inches from the edge just to avoid them. Large rocks sat in my path, marmots scurried all around me, and no guardrail was present. By the time I got to the top I felt as if I just drove through the gauntlet. It was worth it as I was rewarded with an amazing view of the Palouse and its huge sky rich with cumulus clouds. In less than three months I will be one of the many specks in these vast plains and I am nothing but excited about it.

Installing Flex Builder on Ubuntu

- Download Java
	- search for 'sun-java' in synaptic
		- error downloading
	- update Synaptic
	- download works
	- add the PATH (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=568447)
		- "sudo update-alternatives --config java" choose #3 (sun-java-6)

- Download/install Eclipse
	- install from synaptic
	- installed 3.2 - need 3.3 for Flex Builder Linux alpha 3
	- Download Eclipse Classic 3.3.2 from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/
		- http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php?file=/eclipse/downloads/
			drops/R-3.3.2-200802211800/eclipse-SDK-3.3.2-linux-gtk.tar.gz
	- Unpackage and place in /home/user folder
- Downnload Flex Builder from Labs
- Install FB
	- "sh flexbuilder_linux_install_a3_033108.bin"
	- select your eclipse folder when asked
	- installed

- Testing if FBLa3 works
	- open eclipse
	- open perspective > Other... > Flex Development
	- create new Flex project, add "”
	- compile and run… success!

- installing subversion
	- Use Subclipse: http://subclipse.tigris.org/
	- Help > Software Updates > Find and Install > Search for new features to install
	- New Remote Site… > Name: Subclipse; URL: http://subclipse.tigris.org/update_1.2.x
	- Finish
	- Check Subclipse when search results come back
	- ERROR: Buckminster - Subclipse support (Incubation) (0.2.0.r3554) requires plug-in
		“org.eclipse.buckminster.core”.
		- Unselected “Integrations (Optional)” from “features to install”
	- Accept terms > next > finish
	- Install all > restart eclipse
- testing if subclipse works
	- open perspective > Other… > svn repository exploring
	- right click in SVN Repository window > new > repository location
	- enter location, enter password
	- success!

The rules to Mullein War are simple. Two combatants harvest a deceased mullein stem then continuously hit them together in a sword fighting like fashion until something snaps in two. The first person to have his or her stem break is the loser. The winner keeps his or her stem and uses it for the next battle. I have a brother that found a stem that lasted for three days and 21 bouts. It was amazing. I still feel inferior to him today, even fifteen years later.

Mullein, or Verbascum thapsus, is a non-native biennnial that grows in disturbed soils. In the first year the plants produce a basal rosette – a collection of low growing, very hairy, leaves. Because the leaves grow low the plants cannot handle much competition so are considered non-invasive because they have not caused much trouble in established plant communities. The leaf hairs create a signification boundary layer which reduces the loss of heat and water vapor by essentially slowing the rate that circulating air carries heat and gas away from the leaves. It is the same process that the hairs on our arms exploit and is why they stand up (giving us goose bumps) when you and I are cold (increases the boundary layer). In the second year the plants produce a single, tall (0.4-2 m), straight stem that has a large inflorescence with many flowers. At the end of the season the seeds disburse and the plant dies. The stem dries out and the coveted weapon of Mullein Wars is produced.

There is a huge, year old, rosette on the property that is sure to produce a fierce fighting weapon this spring (unless it waits for the third year to produce the stem, as some have been shown to do when they are stressed). If my brothers take a break from college I’ll have to slap them in the face with a leaf and challenge them to a duel.

Springtime is a great time of the year. The days are longer, the seedlings spring from the earth, and the buds finally open. But most enjoyable is the warm weather. So it was a bit of a surprise to me when I woke up this morning, looked out the window, and saw… snow? In fact, it snowed three days now with lows near 20 F. The weather hasn’t been warm this Spring, it’s been abnormally cold.

The relatively cold weather is a slight annoyance to me but it is something that I can tolerate. What I cannot tolerate are how some people are reacting. They view the chilly Spring as proof, absolute, empirical, in-your-face proof, that global warming is false and that all the science, concise peer reviewed models, thousands of meticulous studies conducted by some of the worlds most intelligent and educated people, are all false. “Look outside you dimwitted liberal hippie, it’s cold. It’s obvious the globe isn’t warming.”

There is, of course, a simple rebuttal to their claim. It’s so simple it scares me that people do not grasp it on their own. I do not think that people are unintelligent, uneducated, or lack critical thinking skills. What I do think is that their ideals and values block their tools of logic. But that’s besides the point.

Here’s the rebuttal: Weather and climate are two different things. Weather is short term and will have fluctuations. Climate is a long term average of weather. Snow in spring is weather. Global warming is climate (that’s why it is also referred to as “global CLIMATE change”).

The above mentioned naysayers have a blatant misunderstanding of global warming. Somewhere in their heads, I assume, they conclude that because the globe is warming each day at every place in the world MUST be warmer than the corresponding day during the previous year. This is not true as I mentioned before - weather fluctuates.

Weather is an incredibly complex system and it is very difficult to make prediction about it. There are random factors contributing to it that we cannot explain. To disprove a long-term trend based on a short term occurrence when random events are a factor is a mistake. It would be like disproving that the chance of getting heads on a flip of a coin is 50% by getting tails on the first two flips. Or that the chances of rolling a six with a six-sided die is greater than 16.67% because the first two rolls were sixes.

Weather is not completely random. In fact part of the cooler spring this year is attributable to an event called La Nina (the opposite of El Nino) where equatorial ocean currents are colder than usual which cools the air above it. But casual factors aside, it is foolish to extrapolate trends, or basically anything, solely based on a few occurrences.

The location of my current residence, aptly named the Carlson Canyon Ranch (or CCR), can be placed into many categories.

Geographically, the CCR is located in Northeastern Washington where the Columbia River spills out of Canada and near the southern end of the Silkirk Mountain range. The CCR is a 10 minute drive to Northport, WA but has a Colville, WA zip code. It roughly fits into the longitude/latitude coordinates of -117.78/48.9 and has the elevation of 2,000ft.

Geologically, the CCR rests on an ancient continental shelf, called the Kootenay Arc, which is the old margin of the North American Continent. Millions of years ago the shelf was tightly buckled and folded by the pressure of another continent docking into the North American plate. Limestone is the predominate rock and was created by millions of years of accumulation of marine organisms that lived, died, and drifted to the ocean floor. In the past this area was covered in glaciers which left U-shaped valleys and glacial till as a reminder of their ancient presence.

The CCR is included in the Canadian Rockies ecoregion, defined by the organisms that live here and by the climatic variables that those organisms can tolerate. This ecoregion is one of the nine that Washington State hosts and comprises only 4% of the state but extended north for miles into Canada.

The climate here is dry during the majority of the year with an annual precipitation of around 18in but with significant snowpack during the winter especially at higher elevations. Temperatures in the summer can get into the high 90’s and in the winter can drop below 0 F. These climatic conditions are able to support large coniferous forests, dominated by ponderous pine and douglas fur, and lush grasslands of fescue.

The area had a rugged history where western man never really tamed it. Northport, WA was established sometime near 1892 as the railroad portal into Canada and as a mining boom town. Northport was plagued with many fires, two of which burned a huge are of the city in 1893 and 1914 and floods, one of which drowned the northern section of the town for many months in 1894. The ferry across the river was attacked by indians until a bridge was built but even that was destroyed by uprooted trees being swept down the Columbia during a high water year. Today Northport resembles what it was in the early 1900s with a very similar road network but with less buildings.

To categorize an area is no easy task and to define an area is even more difficult. My past and future writings are and will be largely influenced by the CCR and the surrounding area. I will attempt to communicate the natural history and ‘essence’ (the CCRness) of the area but I will be fully aware that a location can be many different things to many people.

I am sitting outside while writing this. It is a little over 40 F but in the spring sun it’s warm enough that I can sit in comfort. I am softly cooing to a timid horse, Zim, while he eats his breakfast. He had little human interaction while a colt so does not feel comfortable with our touch. If I reach out a hand to touch him he recoils and if I move closer he flees. I am hoping that by sitting here Zim becomes accustomedhttp://picasaweb.google.com/home to my presences and realizes that, although I look and act like a predator, I mean him no harm. His loud chewing indicates that he is used to me enough that he can at least ignore me.

I just finished feeding the other horses, the chickens, and the dogs. A piece of our jury-rigged fence was down and our older horse, Kyam, got into another corral that was blocked off so new grass can grow. He was happy to follow me to the barn where he got oats so I was able to fix the fence while he was distracted with his stomach. The chickens produced three eggs which were fresh enough to still be warm and slightly soft. The chickens are getting anxious to range free and the abundant insects are an indication that it is about time we allow them to. The problem with allowing them out of their coop is that not all remember to go back at night and we usually loose the majority of them to coyotes, skunk, weasels, hawks, or other predators.

In fact, as I was writing this I heard the roster release a string of alarm calls. While this was happening the dogs ran pass the chicken coop and out into the canyon with their hackles raised barking and growling. The horses at the barn did not seem alarmed but the horse I am with gave the commotion his full attention and stood in a posture of fright and agitation. There were too many possibilities that could have caused the event. There was no use speculating so I just enjoyed the show and made sure that everything was safe.

As I look over our property I think of my living conditions just a month ago. I was living in Seattle in a house with a back yard and a small front yard. It was within walking distance of Green Lake and Gasworks Park. For Seattle standards I was in a great location. But I was not able to see the horizon, only other houses and concrete buildings. I could not see the sun rise or set. If I went for a jog I would have had to wait for stoplights and cross walks or jet across the street and play frogger while young drivers tried to run me over. Green Lake was a small retreat but it was full of similar minded people who talked loudly or had children or dogs that made it impossible to stay quiet. I found myself enjoying Gasworks but only because I was slowly learning how to mental block the houses and condos in view and even caught myself saying “Wow, this place is so beautiful, you can barely hear the traffic.” To enjoy Seattle I had to actively tax my perception with a mental filter that selected certain senses to processes or ignored.

Here, at the CCR, I hear no machines or unwanted sounds. I only hear the sounds of courting turkey or nesting barn swallows and American robins. I can hear red-winged blackbirds staking out their territory or the nearby nesting red-tailed hawks piercing the air with their characteristic shriek. I listen to the frogs crock at the pond and can almost visualize a disturbance move across them as they subsequently quiet down and then start up again. It could be caused by the great blue herons or one of the many types of ducks that live there; the mallards, the ring-necked ducks, or the hooded mergansers. The flies, hornets, and beetles are out creating a rich set of constant vibrations that fill the ambient air. Soon the quaking aspen will be hosting a vibrant collection of leaves that tremble in the slightest wind.

Here, where I live now, there is no reason to mentally block any sound. There is no reason to train my mind to get used to certain disturbances. I don’t have to “put up” with noise, or pollution or congestion. I can take in all of my surroundings, with all senses, and be pleased with all of it.