Eye Pain

For years my left eye has intermittently caused bouts of SEVERE pain that sometimes lasted for days. Repeated attempts to diagnose have been unsuccessful and the physician assured me there's no way to relieve the pain. And furthermore, he's known it to make Navy SEALS emote.

Yesterday, after several years without an incident, I spent all day, from about 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in such intense pain I lost control of my bowels. (I was in the hills near Baker City, Oregon.) I tried several times to use the Debreather but each time, after a few minutes, I felt as if I couldn't breath and had to stop. (See Richard's, the inventor of the Debreather, reply on the link above)

The headgear is part of the Debreather II. The chin strap keeps the mouth closed after a person loses consciousness. The fabric is velcro and holds the face-mask in place.

Note swollen left eye

Happy Faces

Apparently the "clearcut" has gone out of style. The "harvesting" is of much smaller trees, debris is accumulated into piles and there ground is only marginally disturbed...or so it appears.

In the days of yore, that shrub in the upper left and lower right wouldn't have been able to come back; the ground'd be covered by the debris. And the trees at the right would've been taken. 

Evidence Of Bear

I discovered a vestigial trail down to the stream I've been camping next to. I carry a take-down bowsaw and clippers just for such occasions. I wish I'd thought to take a "b4" picture. 

Besides water, there's BOUND to be gold in there. Now where'd I put that avarice?

Once I'd cleared some room I noticed the nearby "diggings." My tactic in bear country is to cough. It could be a pretzel allergy, but this afternoon my throat kept itching something awful. 

Chinese Cemetery

I was looking for grocery stores when it came up. It's behind Grocery Outlet.

The prayer house is as humble as it gets. It's empty, with a dirt floor.

The crudity feels like a slap to the face. 

Somewhere....

One of two...

The other...

The rest of them. May they rest in peace.

A weed garden

All there is to know

Across the Street...tilted pigeon roost.

Blue Mountains

It was a long day of driving. Up over the top, above 7,000 feet, then down to Baker City to resupply. Then an hour or more to get back out.

The ridgeline is most dramatic when coming from the West.

There are surrounding peaks that make their own contribution. 

Pipeline

There's a huge dredge in Sumpter that was electric. The story, as told to me, was they imported Chinese to build a pipeline to bring water from Olive Lake to the Fremont Power Plant where it was converted to electricity. This is the pipeline...hidden in the woods.

Disappearing into the Distance

There's a groove along the lowest edge of the board, the parallels, that is so perfect there's not a hint of splinter. The smell of waterproofing tar is still strong.

The survivors supposedly went unpaid. Googling Chinese and Fremont Pipeline brings no mention of their contribution. The only evidence is the cemetery in Baker City. It's condition shows there's been no change in attitude since the earlier era. (see blogpost: The Chinese Cemetery)

Gordon & I

Gordon LeAllen Wickland is a Swede from Minnessota. His grandfather's 2500 acre farm bordered Canada.

He's the middle child of 15 and comes from a town of 2500, two thousand of which are relatives. 

Cheryl characterized him as 77 going on 15....and a *young* 15. She said he once pulled out a gun in the huge, extravaganza flea market Sumpter is famous for, and fired off several shots...just to liven things up a bit. He's one of the funniest people I've ever met.

His right leg was crushed when he was standing in front of a truck and the guy accidentally put it in drive. Gordon was standing in front of a telephone pole and the bumper hit him just above the knee. The miracle of modern medicine enables him to walk but three years post event it still hurts.

I left my Zadrozny Sound-healing wands (that cured my sciatica) with Dennis to see if they'd help his back and encouraged Gordon to try them too.