With all the nice weather we have had lately, it is hard to see anything but spring.  Last week, I noticed a few things growing out there:

Well, yesterday we had some fog and when it lifted, we were left again with ice everywhere.  Here are a couple shots of the ice around our place on a young Elm tree (click for larger versions):

Okay, I have had some cold weather.  We have seen –22 one winter in January if I recall correctly, but I do not remember times in December that hit –4!  Now where is that global warming stuff?

This morning found the basin entrenched  with fog.  I thought I would grab a few shots while it was still clearly seen.  Here are a few of the photos:

(smaller)

(larger)

Mt Shasta also looked good above the fog this morning:

It appears there have been some sightings of cougars in the area again.  People are being warning around the area, more so in places like Moore Park and up in the hills around OIT industrial park around NEW Corp to be cautious when walking or hiking around the area.  We typically see them every year around here and we all need to be aware of them!

Here are a few links on living with cougars:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/cougars.htm

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/living_with/CougarBroch.pdf

http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/cougar/pdf/cougar_brochure.pdf

Quite a day for tragedy.  It started with a car one fire at New Corp, which handles technical support for DirecTV.  I do not know the entire story, but two fire engines came to put out a car that had caught fire in the parking lot.  I got there a little late and could not get to see the actual vehicle, but I did snap a view shots around there as the car was extinguished:

Later that evening, my wife and I noticed a strong smell of smoke coming in our living room window.  The nosey person that I am, I had to go and see what was going on.  There was a house on fire on the next street over.  While I do not know the extent of the damages, but there was a lot of smoke.

After sitting down and for just an hour or so, we saw an ambulance going by slowly, which appeared to go to a neighbor’s house.  I did not find out what had happened, but it was the close of an active day.

Well, we got more snow after those last pictures were taken (about another foot).  With settling and some melting, we current have snow 27 inches deep in our front yard and 30 inches deep in the backyard where the sun does not reach as well.

Last night when we had more incoming snow, I thought it might be time to go rack off the roof again when I heard the inside walk pop twice.  Was glad I did as there was another foot or so of snow and more expected at that time.

Dragging the snow off the roof now has our living room window peeking over the top of the snow :)

What a year!

We managed to pick up a bit of snow around here.  It has been a busy week with all this snow.  Had to go out and clean of the satellite dish five times just this afternoon.

For those outside our area, here is a picture of snow on my sister's truck as of yesterday, prior to our next 6" or 7" inches that we now have...

Update:  Sun came out (at least a bright spot in the sky) for a couple minutes.  Grabbed a quick shot of part of the backyard:

For many of us, broadband (fast) internet services are the only way to go. Here locally, we have several different choices of where to purchase those services along with a variety of different types.

If we are paying for the service, it is only reasonable to expect the services we to which we have subscribed. To that end, we need to check from time -to-time that the services we receive are correct. As an example, a year or so ago, I subscribed to one speed of service but was actually receiving a reduced speed. After some testing, I called the company and they said there was a mistake and my package was stepped down. Had I not tested, I would never have known and probably just complained that their service was slow.

To ensure you are receiving your selected services, you only have to run a speed check. There are hundreds of places you can use. The primary sites I use are at:

http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

http://www.Speedtest.net

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

You may not receive your full limit of bandwidth (especially in the evening when everyone is online), but you should get somewhere in the ballpark.

First, I received an email this morning from a friend with a pdf attached.  From what the pdf says, the C.O.B. power plant is a thing of the past, it has been pulled as they no longer have any plans to build it anymore!  That should come as a great relief for many of us in this area.  Sure, it will mean there will not be the extra revenue to the country they expected, but it will help preserve our surrounding area.

I just hope the new bio-fuel center they are talking about is friendly to the area and not suck up too much water.  That could help replace what C.O.B. would have brought to the party.

http://ReflectedThought.com/Images/KlamathFalls/cob.pdf

Next, it was announced about a week ago, that Costco is finishing up a traffic study at a site in Klamath Falls, to build a new store.  While it is yet another big box coming into our town, it will at least give Wal-mart some competition.  As I have posted before, at this current time, Costco provides somewhat living wage for their employees.  This will at least give a bit back to the community that companies like Wal-mart just such away.

For some time now, I stood against the C.O.B. power plant they wish to build out in the Bonanza area.  It seemed like a rip off where the power would go to California, the natural gas from here and the profits going back to Chicago.  There is also the problem of increased pollution not only out in the rural landscape near by, but some believe it could even diminish (although slightly) the air quality as far away as Crater Lake.

Even our local government, I believe, have overstepped their authority in bringing the power plant to the area.  They had to extend the Enterprise zone (which if I recall correctly, is limited to 15 miles) twice to make it reach all the way to the proposed site to enable them to get a tax break for building here.  I am sure there was a reason to limit the zone to a specific distance, but they walked all over that limit and extended it to the distance they wanted anyway.

All this being said, I was not opposed to the local power plant or the two new ones they plan to locate here as much as C.O.B., as our air quality is horrible anyway (still much cleaner than I saw in Ohio though ;) ).  It has amazed me the city does not seem to show a profit from the power plant and it actually generates debt.  This last year they received (and thought the earned) $1 million in revenues, after the money was spent, an error appeared, which not only showed they did not earn the money, but actually owed $3 million.

There is talk about two more power plants sited next to the city owned plant.  The city plans to make money on taxes and providing water, but what comes to my mind is that if the city cannot make money on their own plant, how is the two new plants suppose to generate enough revenue that the city will actually make something on them when the city is losing money on their own plant?

Putting all this aside, what about the natural gas, there is supposed to be a shortage and even talks about large imports.  If there is a limited supply, why are we burning it up with these large plants not to mention the large amount of water they use?

If this was not enough, today on the front page of the Herald & News, it says the city has lost two of its contracts for power, which equates to one third of the power plants production.  The article goes on to say there is an abundance of electrical power at this time and it is a buyers market.  Is there really abundance?  How is that possible when our Pacific Power company rates are due soon to increase by 12%, if energy is so cheap that power plants cannot generate a profit and there is such abundance of power?

It seems the consumer is ripped off yet again at every turn by artificial shortages, for the sole purpose of empting our already shrinking wallets.  First we have the supposed power crisis of 2001-2002 where power rates crippled many businesses, which now the supposed crisis has been shown to be a scam where power plants where shut down for artificial reasons solely  to drive up power rates.  Follow that two years by a supposed fuel shortage, which they cannot make up their minds if caused by shortage of oil or shortage of refineries.  It makes you wonder how many refineries may have been shut down or at least they reduced their capacity to pretend there is a shortage.

So, now we are heading for a natural gas shortage.  I know there is a limited supply of oil on the planet and we will soon run dry of the easy to get oil, but there are still trillions of barrels of oil in other forms still under the surface, just not as easy to get.  We should not be fooled by the supposed world demand causing prices to climb among their other numerous excuses, based on history, to me it seems like just more frauds and I am sure even more are on the way.

It appears that the new owners of the Klamath Mall plan to destroy the current mall (except for Gottschalks) and build a new strip mall! Yep, from what I hear, the 300,000 sq. ft. Klamath Mall that was formally known as the "Shasta Plaza", will be destroyed and a new 161,000 sq. ft. strip mall. The new mall is targeted to open in Summer of 2006.

Being born and raised in Klamath Falls, I fondly remember shopping in the old Shasta Plaza. We had J.C. Penny at one end with Montgomery Wards at the other and Woolworths in the middle. The mall was one of the first places you would hit when you wanted to do some Christmas shopping or have a good meal at the built in restaurant inside Woolworths. The mall was always filled in my youth when the mills where the economy of the area.

For the last decade, the mall has run into many problems with a faulty roof. The owners of the mall did not properly handle the snow buildup on the roof, which collapsed along with a couple main supports of the roof that fractured. For years, the mall remains mostly empty for except for Gottschalks and Radio Shack along with a couple businesses coming and going over the years.

The mall is now being sold to a company in California. First thoughts were that they would actually spend a few dollars and fix the mall, but it seems this is not the plan. The mall as we all know it will be destroyed except of Gottschalks, which will now become the only anchor and be the center of the new strip mall. The new mall (if you wish to call it that) will be a few new buildings attached behind and in front of Gottschalks, running from east to west along Pershing Way between Avalon St. and Austin String. The parking lot will replace the current mall all the way to Sherms Thunderbird.

Yes, I will be sad to see the best walk-in mall we have ever had, turn into yet another strip mall.  However, more than that, I am confused as to why they would take such a drastic step.  I am not a structural engineer, so I do not speak from knowledge as to the extent of damages, but to me, it seems repairing the mall by giving it an entirely new roof  and support structures would be less expensive that demolishing the mall and then building a new smaller mall.  The $1.5 million urban renewal money from the city would go far to that task.

Maybe the real problem is that the mall is too big and they cannot find large enough tenants to take the leases.  This might be why they are reducing the size of the mall to 161,000 sq. ft., which is less than half its current 360,000 sq. ft.  If this is the case, it could be a big mistake.  They may not be able to find a tenant for the large stores at the time, but that does not mean there will not be any come along.  Until that time, they could split large stores (JC Penny and Woolworth) in half and attract smaller tenants.

The business community in this town wants to promote local shopping.  It is hard on many people though, to go in and out of all the parking lots and businesses to shop.  It is much easier when you have many shops that are enclosed into a single location where they can walk from shop to shop without having to go out in the weather or all over town.

I guess my hope to see the old mall come back to life is over and I have to face the fact that this town will no longer have a decent walk-in shopping mall as it once did.  We are in the Wal-Mart, strip mall world now!  To me this also adds yet another nail to the local shopping coffin.

Interesting things happen in the USA in the sector of gambling.  In many states, it is illegal to gamble even though many of those states have state run lotteries, allow poker machines and other forms of gambling.  It seems gambling is going on in legal ways so why is it illegal to build a casino?

Now, let us pile on the growing number of tribal gambling casinos.  Even though the state says it is illegal, the tribes are allowed to build and run large casinos, supposedly due to their claims to sovereignty over the land.  This produces an unfair business environment of the surrounding areas where this activity is illegal.

Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski on April 6, 2005, signed a contract allowing the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to build Oregon's first "off-reservation" casino in the Cascade Locks.  How is it they can build a tribal casino off the reservation land?  The tribes have no claims on the land, so that land must fall under the USA jurisdiction where gambling (at least casinos) are considered illegal.

Supposedly, the purpose of this deal is to help protect an "environmentally sensitive" area near Hood River where the tribes had rights to build the casino along with the fact it will bring new jobs and income to a town in economic problems.

The big issue, if the governor and others happen to think it is a good deal to have these tribal casinos in the first place along with a state lottery and the new gaming machines, why keep casinos owned by Americans out?  This seems unfair and without merit.

Two men from Lake Oswego plan to put a measure on the Oregon ballot to open up the state to non-tribal casinos which they wish to build near Portland.  Their initial plan is mostly to use video gaming machines and pay the state 25 percent of the profits.  The new deal governor Ted Kulongoski signed for the tribal casino is only for 17 percent of the profits to flow into the state fund in and indirect manner.

People may argue on moral levels and concerns that it will increase gambling addictions, but what is the difference?  There are already enough ways to legally gamble if one chooses, not to mention illegal methods including possible online gambling.  We cannot let this fear stand in the way and force gaming in Oregon to the lottery and the number of growing tribal casinos that the state has no control over.

It is time to allow the people of Oregon to place a bet if they wish and do that in an American casino! 

Our local news had a story about Grants Pass building their first indoor mall.  While they are still under construction, it seems they have already leased 80% of the available space, with the anchor being Sears.

The story continued to mention that the owner of the Klamath Mall (previously called the "Shasta Plaza") said the mall is in escrow to a buyer in northern California.  Mr. Welch said he could not reveal the buyer at this time, but did say the new owner has renovated many malls in the past.  This sure could be good news to our local city if the mall was to find an anchor to replace empty J.C. Penney space.  We once again would have two malls available locally.

It appears our little city is waking up from a many year slumber along with the booming growth in southern Oregon!