Wednesday, February 27, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
The Bunkhouse
Chronicle
Craig Rullman
Columnist
A mediation
in white
I9m writing this on
Sunday morning, during the
first real snowstorm we9ve
enjoyed this year4though I
almost didn9t believe it was
going to happen.
I stopped believing the
weather woman about two
months ago. This was a
deliberate act of rebellion
because riding the predic-
tion roller-coaster was dam-
aging my nerves and upset-
ting the dogs. Calls for snow
this winter have too often
dissembled into blue skies,
warm chinooks, and mud in
the paddocks, and although
I have sympathy for anyone
who signs up to predict the
weather in Central Oregon
my stores of good humor
were used up three fake
storms ago.
But, for some reason, I
believed her this time. More
importantly, I planned ahead.
Instead of the humiliation of
standing in line for the ice-
melt lottery at Ace 4 which
some of you may remember
from a few years ago 4 I
now have enough ice-melt
on hand for the next decade
and diesel to run my tractor
well into the next presiden-
tial election 4 which is its
own kind of storm.
Also, I have an industrial,
shock-proof, carbon-fiber,
high-speed roof rake.
This kind of snow was
not something I prepared for
4 despite knowing better 4
back in the Snowpocalypse
of 917, which hit Sisters
Town like a fuel-air bomb,
collapsing barns and build-
ings, morphing light fix-
tures into waterfalls, flood-
ing basements, turning <ice
dams= into a dirty phrase,
and leaving far too many
people living in their bed-
room closets or fifth wheels
for months on end while
their houses dried out.
But the weather peeps
seem to have gotten it right
this time around. Which
reminds me of Arnold
Palmer9s quip to a loud-
mouth in the gallery who
shouted <Lucky shot= after
Arnold nailed a 300-yard
hole-in-one. <Maybe,=
Palmer said, <But the more
I practice the luckier I get.=
Or so the story goes. Other
versions of the story give
credit to Gary Player, and yet
another version claims a for-
eign mercenary first uttered
the phrase during the Cuban
Revolution 4 though one
wonders about the context.
If there were any justice
for the hapless and bedrag-
gled ranks of Central Oregon
meteorologists it would have
been one of them who said
it, though the larger point is
that in tracking the source of
a quote 4 not unlike predict-
ing the weather 4 degrees
of accuracy matter.
But the snow, which as
I look out the window just
now is bending the skinny
juniper in front of our house
like an enormous longbow,
is emphatically needed to
help beat back the endur-
ing threat of wildfire we all
live with. Fire is the one
thing that keeps me awake
at night, although the incre-
mental creep of socialism
into American politics runs
a close second. They both
rate a wary eye because they
have similarly devastating
effects, as 1 million percent
inflation (that9s a real num-
ber) and tens of thousands
of starving Venezuelans can
attest.
Speaking of snow, Corner
House Publishers did the
world a service by putting
out a terrific collection of
Thoreau9s journal entries
called <Winter.= The book
follows the calendar from
December to February,
drawing from his personal
musings between 1838 and
1860. I read this book every
winter, sipping from it one
day at a time like a cup of
hot tea in the morning, and
find in it the nuggets of con-
templative insight that con-
tinue to support Thoreau9s
legacy as a giant.
On February 23, 1860,
which is the day the col-
lection ends, and about
13 months before General
Beauregard kicked off the
civil war by firing on Fort
Sumter in Charleston Bay,
Thoreau wrote:
<Thermometer 58° and
snow almost gone, river
See BUNKHOUSE on page 29
2017 Jeep Cherokee Latitude
One owner, 34K low
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11
PHOTO PROVIDED
Three Creeks Brewing Co. and Bigfoot beverages presented a check to
Warfighter Outfitters. Pictured from left to right: Gary Conner (WFO Board
member), Wade Underwood (Three Creeks Brewing Co. CEO), John Hartney
(Bigfoot Beverages GM), Nicole Harbert (WFO Board member), Travis
Widdifield (Bigfoot Beverages), Bob Buckman (WFO Board member), Greg
Edwards (WFO Board member), and Brett Miller (WFO Founder).
Local business gives
to veterans outreach
Representatives from
Bigfoot Beverages and Three
Creeks Brewing Co. gathered
at the Three Creeks pub in
Sisters to present a check to
Warfighter Outfitters 4 pro-
ceeds of the Warfighter Pale
Ale sales.
The check was for $3,725
and will serve roughly 248
veterans on day trips.
<One hundred percent
of our donor dollars and
contributions go directly
into operating costs,= said
Warfighter Outfitter Outfitters
founder Brett Miller. <No
salaries, no wages, all
volunteers.=
To date, Warfighter
Outfitters has received over
$9,000 worth of contributions
from Warfighter Pale Ale9s
first season of sales.
For more information,
contact Warfighter Outfitters
at info@warfighteroutfitters.
org.
549-9388
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