Wednesday, March 22, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Learning the lessons of a hard widter Sisters Coudtry birds
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
Sisters’ heavy winter of
2016-17 has taught property
owners some hard — and
expensive — lessons.
Many homeowners and
owners of commercial prop-
erties are dealing with dam-
age from water that seeped
down walls and through ceil-
ings due to ice dams.
Michael Robillard of
Mountain View Insurance
says that property owners
should take time to fully
assess the extent of dam-
age, which in some cases
may only now be becoming
apparent.
“You can turn in a prop-
erty claim for up to two years
— it may even be longer than
that,” he told The Nugget.
Now is the time to figure
out just what happened to
your house and why — and
get to work fixing whatever
problems there may be so
they don’t happen again.
“If you’ve had areas where
you’ve had issues before, get
ahead of it,” Robillard said.
“Don’t assume that problems
are just going to go away.”
Heat loss through the roof
can contribute to the melt-
freeze cycle that creates ice
dams — the culprit in many
leaks. Robillard, who is part
owner of the building that
houses his Sisters office,
says he’s dealing with that
himself.
“I’m going to blow in
more insulation,” he said.
Identifying problem areas
and acting on them now just
makes sense. And, Robillard
notes, property owners actu-
ally have a duty to mitigate
problems.
Contractors are extremely
busy and booked up some-
times for months for repair-
ing storm damage. It pays to
plan ahead to avoid problems
in the first place.
Looking ahead to the
potential for another winter
of heavy snows, Robillard
advises homeowners to be
proactive. Get the snow load
off your roof and get on
ice dams early before they
become thick and intractable.
“If you have to hire
someone, hire someone,”
Robillard said. “This is your
house.”
And make sure you are
covered the way you need
to be. Robillard notes that if
you shovel massive amounts
of snow off your roof onto
the ground, it then becomes
a flooding hazard. A quick
melt-off that causes water
infiltration from the ground
can be considered “flood-
ing” and might not be cov-
ered if you don’t have flood
insurance.
You can turn in a
property claim for up to
two years — it may even
be longer than that
— Michael Robillard
And in most cases, flood
insurance doesn’t kick in for
30 days after you acquire
it, so, again, you have to be
thinking ahead.
The big winter Sisters just
experienced was exceptional
— but there’s no guarantee
that it won’t happen again
next year. Learn the lessons
of winter and act now while
the weather is good to repair
damage and prevent it from
recurring.
By Douglas Beall
Correspondent
The American dipper
[Cinclus mexicanus] or
water ouzel is found singing
and bobbing on fast mov-
ing streams throughout the
western U.S. Searching for
aquatic insects and small
fish, the dipper dives and
sometimes swims under
water while overturning
rocks to find their food.
They have white upper eye-
lids that protect their eyes
and that also may help in
blinking communication
while on the loud rushing
rivers.
The female
chooses a
nest-site that
is above flood
stage and then
the male dip-
per constructs
a nest with an
outer layer of
mostly moss
which is lined
with leaves,
grass and bark.
Four to five
white eggs are
incubated for
14 to 17 days,
and a 24-day
nesting period is begun. On
the Metolius River, every
bridge has a dipper nest
under or close by.
A low metabolic rate,
and blood that has a capac-
ity to carry increased oxy-
gen levels, enable the dipper
to survive the cold winter
waters. Their melodic songs
echo along the streams and
rivers and increase in fre-
quency during the late win-
ter to spring breeding sea-
son. A group of dippers is
called a “ladle” of dippers.
For more American dip-
per images visit http://abird
singsbecauseithasasong.
com/recent-journeys.
PHOTO BY DOUGLAS BEALL
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