What Goes ‘Round, Come Around: The curious life of bot flies

Posted inOutside

What Goes ‘Round, Come Around: The curious life of bot flies

Jim Anderson

In the 80-plus years I have lived on this grand old planet we call
home, I have come to realize that the world of nature is so complex I
will go out among the stars with only a hint of what's really going on.

Take
bot flies for example. These pestiferous little buggers (pun intended)
make life miserable for any mammal they come into contact with,
especially rodents, livestock and humans. Scientists have placed bot
flies into one big family: Oestroidea (OH-est-ROW-eh-dee-ah). The bot
fly is a "true fly" that is, they belong to the order Diptera, which
means, "with two wings." While all the other billions of insects are
flying around with four wings, flies have only two, and a "balancer"
that gives them the remarkable agility to avoid fly swatters and such.

Posted inOutside

Fall into Winter: Squeeze in a last-chance hike before the snow falls

Pam Stevenson

THREE FALL HIKES
Fall colors at Mt. JeffersonFall is hiking season in Central Oregon. Now that
November is here, the window of opportunity for many of our best hikes
is closing quickly, but if you can squeeze in one more hike before the
snow flies, here are some of my favorites.
Get there any which way you can: Jeff Park
There
are four ways to gain admission to the "Park," a gorgeous lake-studded
meadow at the base of Mt. Jefferson. Every autumn, I try to find an
Indian Summer weekend to backpack up there when the huckleberry bushes
paint the fields burgundy. My usual way in is an easy six miles up the
Whitewater Trail, off Highway 22. One time, we took a shuttle and came
back out the Pacific Coast Trail and Woodpecker Ridge Trail, which is
about the same length, but can involve a challenging crossing of the
creek running down from Russell Glacier. You can also enter the park by
taking the South Breitenbush Trail or the PCT from the North. Once
you're there, it's an idyllic place to hang out or, if you're really
gung-ho, you can attempt to climb 10,497-foot Mt. Jefferson. Whichever
way you get there, you won't want to leave.

Posted inCulture

Wii Like Music: Nintendo takes on the Guitar Hero phenomenon

Shawn Wallbaum

Somewhere under the rainbow, robotic children play music.It's been a slow process for Nintendo to release games that use the Wii
balance board, but now comes Wii Music. This game was in line to be
released with the Wii system, but it ran into a few snags and was more
or less left in the dust. Well, it seems a resurrection has occured due
to the popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band and Nintendo wanted this
game on the fast track. Wii Music was overseen by famous Nintendo
composer Koji Kondo who has contributed music to some of the best games
Nintendo has ever released including Duck Hunt, Mario Bros., Zelda, and
many others. The game allows for either single or multi-player action
and lets you choose from up to 60 different instruments. Players can
choose to play the piano, violin, guitar, bongo drums, harp, trumpet,
and other instruments and the Wii Balance Board is used to play the
drums with pedals while the Nunchuk serves as the drumsticks.

Posted inCulture

Lifeless Haunting Will Shock No One: You’ve seen this one before…on every channel

Mike Bookey

Scissor sisters. I almost don't know what to say about this innocuous entry into the
thriller genre except that it's as about as mediocre as they come, as
generic as it gets, and predictable beyond a shadow of a doubt. My
first thought was proven to be true that any movie with "Haunting" in
the title and especially "the Haunting of…" is doomed from the get-go.
Just check out Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com) if you don't believe
me. This movie was so below my level of consciousness that it didn't
even have enough power to make me mad. I just sat there and so did the
movie.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley, follows, you guessed it, Molly
Hartley and her pesky haunting and does so as follows: Molly (Hayley
Bennett) is attending a new high school in a new place with just her
dad. He says "let's have a fresh start" at breakfast, foreshadowing
things might not go so well. They've moved to the same community as her
mother's mental health facility and soon Molly has headaches,
hallucinations and troubles all stemming from the fact that mom jabbed
a pair of scissors in her chest years ago and was put away. Molly is
basically haunted by her mom…constantly, via flashbacks and what seems
to be present day escape visits.

Posted inCulture

Get A Real Porno: Zack and Miri make a forgettable movie

Rachel Purcell

The milkman always rings twice. You can try to distract me, Kevin Smith, but despite the gratuitous
nudity, rampant profanity and every euphemism for male and female
genitalia in existence, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is full of poorly
written dialogue, boring characters and sentimentality that plays
cheesy and awkward.
Zack (Seth Rogen, Knocked Up) and Miri (Elizabeth
Banks, Definitely, Maybe) are high school best friends come roommates
that are struggling to pay the bills. The night of their 10-year high
school reunion they come home to find their utilities shut off. Huddled
around a trash can fire in their living room, they decide in a flash of
entrepreneurialship to make a porno.

Posted inFood & Drink

Quick Bites: Good, Cheap Eats on Northbound 97

Mike Bookey

Not to worry, the world still revolves around Bend. But for times when you are forced – by death or marriage – to leave Bend, where will you eat along the way?
For many years, my trips northbound on Highway 97 to Portland or Seattle were punctuated by visits to Pepe’s in Madras. I swore up and down that Pepe’s was the only decent food to be had between our fair berg and the Northwest’s culinary utopias. When I say decent, I just mean food prepared by real cooks – versus pimply faced teenagers – in an owner-run establishment. When Pepe’s temporarily closed last year, I reluctantly embarked on a deeper search into my roadside dining options

Posted inFood & Drink

Quick Bites: Good, Cheap Eats on Northbound 97

Mike Bookey

Not to worry, the world still revolves around Bend. But for times when you are forced - by death or marriage - to leave Bend, where will you eat along the way?
For many years, my trips northbound on Highway 97 to Portland or Seattle were punctuated by visits to Pepe's in Madras. I swore up and down that Pepe's was the only decent food to be had between our fair berg and the Northwest's culinary utopias. When I say decent, I just mean food prepared by real cooks - versus pimply faced teenagers - in an owner-run establishment. When Pepe's temporarily closed last year, I reluctantly embarked on a deeper search into my roadside dining options

Posted inFood & Drink

Bend’s Godmother of Dining: Pine Tavern offers lessons only history can teach

Alice Finer

Seeing the forest for the trees. In Bend’s increasingly volatile dining scene, Pine Tavern is a
stalwart. Established in 1936, it has perfected the recipe for success
in the restaurant business: a warm and comfortable atmosphere,
impeccable service, and, of course, great food. The oft-mentioned lore
of the place is certainly a draw, notably the 250-year-old live
ponderosa pine tree growing through the middle of the main dining room.
Others come for the setting. You’ll find some of Bend’s most
sought-after tables on the patio overlooking the Deschutes during the
summer and, when the nights get cold, some of the coziest in the dimly
lit lounge. Some patrons wait for the special menus that are offered
periodically. In fact, I returned last week to check out the featured
“Taste the Pastabilities” menu.

Posted inFood & Drink

Bend’s Godmother of Dining: Pine Tavern offers lessons only history can teach

Alice Finer

Seeing the forest for the trees. In Bend's increasingly volatile dining scene, Pine Tavern is a
stalwart. Established in 1936, it has perfected the recipe for success
in the restaurant business: a warm and comfortable atmosphere,
impeccable service, and, of course, great food. The oft-mentioned lore
of the place is certainly a draw, notably the 250-year-old live
ponderosa pine tree growing through the middle of the main dining room.
Others come for the setting. You'll find some of Bend's most
sought-after tables on the patio overlooking the Deschutes during the
summer and, when the nights get cold, some of the coziest in the dimly
lit lounge. Some patrons wait for the special menus that are offered
periodically. In fact, I returned last week to check out the featured
"Taste the Pastabilities" menu.

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