February 17,2026

Taking plots in preparation for thinning; the only time Dad got fired; Shrove Tuesday, the first day of Ramadan, the first day of Chinese New Year, AND the annual ring of fire solar eclipse; bone box.

From the Woods

Dad and I took 15 plots today in our to-be-thinned Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pine stands. Each plot is 1/50 of an acre. We marked a center tree with yellow ribbon, then counted each tree within a 16.7’ foot radius using a “log tape,” a metal measuring tape that hooks onto your belt and has a hook at the end to stick into a tree if you’re working alone. We currently have about 350 trees per acre and want to end up with 250 trees per acre. In each plot we chose which trees will be cut and marked them with pink ribbon.

I love being out in the woods with Dad—he notices the coyote scat, scotch broom, and talks about the trees like each one is his friend.

And while we walked, I noticed Rough Goose Neck Moss and thought of my brother Steve when we passed the snags he had made during the last logging.

People Older Than Trees

“You boys gotta go to town,” is what the Kansas rancher told 16 year old Dad and his friend Allen after he ran over a natural gas line in the field. Hear Dad tell the story:

I Want to Know More!

This morning, our neighbor Pat, who keeps a pulse on the ebb and flow of energy in the world, told me that today is Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday, the first day of Ramadan, the first day of the Chinese New Year, AND the annual ring of fire solar eclipse. So I decided I needed to learn more about each of these. But before I tell you my new found knowledge, I need to say it is also my dear friend Laura’s birthday! I met Laura in NYC in 1993 and we have been fast friends since.

(a detail from a painting titled Between Carnival and Lent By Pieter Brueghel the Elder - http://msza.net/i/rb_prp.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20937067)

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent in the Christian liturgical calendar. Many Christians give up rich foods and other indulgences for Lent (I once heard someone in NYC say they were going to give up the drug ecstasy for the 40 days!) and Fat Tuesday is the last day for indulging. In my Baptist days, my church of had a pancake dinner on this day.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan#Beginning)

I’ve known that Ramadan is time for fasting during daylight hours—when I taught ESL in Seattle in 1985, about half my students were men from Saudi Arabia who fasted during this time.

I didn’t know that the exact beginning of Ramadan is determined by seeing a new moon in the sky and is therefore different in different countries. Also, the Muslim calendar is a lunar calendar that doesn’t use leap days so Ramadan could be in the spring, summer, autumn, or winter. I also learned that Ramadan is believed to be the time that all Islamic scriptures—scrolls of Abraham, Torah, Psalms, Gospel, and Quaran were handed down.

(By 月岡芳年 TukiokaYositosi（1839-1892） - The contributor has this source., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21247015)

It’s the first day of the Year of the Horse in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Not only is it the Year of the Horse, it’s the year of the Fire Horse, a once in 60 year phenomenon. In Japan, the Year of the Fire Horse has seen significantly low birth rates because women born during that year were deemed to be dangerous. In 1682, one particular woman, Yaoya Oshichi, was burned at the stake after she was accused of arson. The above woodblock print is a depiction of Oshichi.

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The ring of fire solar eclipse will mostly be visible near Antarctica. For about 2 minutes 96% of the sun will be blocked.

Stumptown

Room 4, floor 2 of the Skourtes Tower, OHSU. 1 pm 2/11/2026

I was breathing as deeply as I could on the laughing gas while the periodontist was extracting tooth fifteen from my wide open mouth, when I heard the assistant ask, “Do you want me to go get the bone box?” Not a sentence I ever thought I’d hear. Turns out, my sinus and the tooth root had no barrier between them, so I needed some cadaver bone to create a one.

Not a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, but I feel SO MUCH better without that tooth. And it was a gorgeous day with Mt Hood shining white over the Willamette.