March 2010
5:50 am
Got this event notice from S.O.S.. The event is free this Thursday night.
See this sweet little fish named Buster? He is more than just a salmon burger and he is in trouble!
Come find out why Buster and his friends on the lower Snake River are endangered. Save Our Wild Salmon presents “Endangered Salmon 101″ in Cataldo Hall of the Gonzaga campus, Thursday, April 1st at 7 pm.
The event features a film on endangered salmon from Patagonia’s “Freedom to Roam” series, followed by a roundtable discussion of voices impacted in the salmon crisis.
We must save our wild salmon!
This event is free and open to the public.
News |
7:11 am
This in from Washington State Parks:
Earth Day opportunities: Volunteers needed
for huge coastal cleanup and April state park cleanup days
OLYMPIA – March 22, 2010 – The Washington State Parks and Recreation
> Commission is putting out a call to volunteers to hit the beaches
> for a huge beach cleanup effort on April 18, the day Gov. Christine
> Gregoire has proclaimed “Washington Coast Cleanup Day.” In addition,
> state park rangers at more than a dozen parks need volunteers to
> help with Community Partnership Month park cleanup events throughout
> April, to get ready for the spring and summer camping season. (more…)
News |
6:15 am
Joe Thomsen trues a wheel at P2P.
This just in from Spokane’s only non-profit community bike shop:
Pedals2People Celebrating Sprague Shop Grand Opening
SPOKANE, WA — Pedals2People is holding an open house at its new Sprague location, and Empyrean Coffee, on April 9.
Pedals2People is celebrating the grand opening of its new shop on 1802 East Sprague in Spokane. It’s a two-part celebration, one taking place at the shop, the other at Empyrean Coffee on 171 South Washington. The event at the Pedals2People shop starts at 6:00 pm, and the Empyrean Coffee party kicks off at 7:00 pm. (more…)
News |
7:58 am
Want to win? Just received this notice from Ski the Northwest Rockies:
With several weeks of skiing and snowboarding left in the 2010 season, area ski resorts are encouraging locals and visitors to “get out and get up” to the mountain this spring. Ski the NW Rockies is launching a “Get Out! Get Up!” video contest, encouraging skiers and snowboarders to shoot a short video showing their time at the mountain. Contestants have a chance to win a 2010-2011 season pass to all four mountain resorts (Silver, 49º North, Lookout Pass and Mt. Spokane). This four-mountain pass is not available to the public and is a great opportunity for area residents to get a collective pass. (more…)
Cool Stuff |
10:29 am
Did you know the biggest annual sporting event in Spokane County in terms of economic impact is starting this week?
433 Teams travel to Spokane for PNQ Volleyball
Economic impacted expected to exceed $4 million for Spokane County
(Spokane, WA) – There is no economic downturn at the USA Volleyball Pacific Northwest Qualifier (PNQ) this year! March Madness has hit Spokane as the city will welcome 433 volleyball teams from across the United States. Family members, fans, and university scouts will add to the approximate 6,000 people participating in the two weekend tournament, March 19-21 and 26-28. (more…)
News |
7:03 am
This news release was just issued by WA State Parks:
State Parks Director Rex Derr announces retirement
OLYMPIA – March 11, 2010 – State Parks Director Rex Derr announced late
Tuesday that he will retire on Nov. 30.
Derr, who will be 62 in June, said he and his wife Anne want to pursue
their outdoor recreation passions and spend time with children and
grandchildren in other parts of the country. Derr informed the
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission of his decision at the
end of a public work session Tuesday at State Parks Headquarters in
Olympia. Derr said he announced his plans early to give the Commission
time to recruit and hire a new director and to put a transition plan in
place. (more…)
News |
9:27 am
The mystery has long been heralded as the pathway to literary escapism for many American readers. Over the years, as more have flocked to its passionate shores, mysteries have grown in popularity and become a genre in which some remarkably good writers flourish. While the bread and butter of the genre is popularized by those who win mystery writing awards, there exist various sub-genres that are often overlooked.
For the avid fly fisherman who longs for the warm rays of sun on tumbling water, there is a growing group of writers who can help take the cold ache out of winter and add some substance to their daydreams of hours on the water. In my own pursuit of placating the winter doldrums, here are some fly fishing mystery writers who have wiled away the hours for me. In no particular order at all, for all you fly fishing gumshoes, here are some of my favorites.
William B. Tapply
Tapply was an amazingly prolific writer who passed last year at the age of 69 from Leukemia. While I started out reading his personal experiences of fly fishing adventures, such as Goin’ Fishing, and A Fishing Life, he maybe is most known for his fishing mysteries. He penned an amazing 30 mysteries, 11-plus non-fiction books and countless articles for Field and Stream Magazine. He has been writing mysteries for so long many of his books are out of print—although still available at internet book sites as used copies and your favorite used bookstores—and well worth the time invested in locating them. They have complex plots, the characters struggle both internally and externally, and his topics tend to shed some light on the white underbelly of humanity. His protagonist Brady Coyne is my hero. Brady is an independent attorney with a soft spot for persons trapped in legal quagmires that reek of impropriety. A lover on the outside and loner on the inside, his favorite pastime is fly fishing. Unfortunately, he talks more about fly fishing than actually fly fishing and it is served up more as a description of Brady’s character. On the rare occasions he does wet a fly in the local waters of his books, he tends to simplify the art and leaves out much detail. Nonetheless, fly fishing is a background veil and for some, that is enough to maintain the long winter vigil of longing to fish.
Tapply’s Coyne novels, which began in 1984 and ended in 2008, are as follows: Death at Charity’s Point, The Dutch Blue Error, Follow the Sharks, The Marine Corpse, Dead Meat, The Vulgar Boatman, A Void in Hearts, Dead Winter, Client Privilege, The Spotted Cats, Tight Lines, The Snake Eater, The Seventh Enemy, Close to the Bone, Cutters Run, Muscle Memory, Scar Tissue, Past Tense, A Fine Line, Shadow of Death, Nervous Water, Out Cold, One Way Ticket and Hell Bent. Tapply has a second series, this time with the protagonist Stoney Calhoun, three books I have yet to explore. His Stoney Calhoun Novels are: Bitch Creek, Gray Ghost and Dark Tiger. He started a third series, co-authored with J.W. Jackson that I have not read, either.
Victoria Houston
This woman has spun a mystery series of lovable, warm characters who live in Wisconsin and fish (fly and Muskie predominately) while dealing with the unexpected demise of persons somehow tied to their tiny, backwoods community. The protagonists are Llewellyn Ferris (Lew); a strong capable woman in her 50s who serves as the town’s sheriff. A devout fly fishing enthusiast, she has taken under her wing the town’s former dentist—who also doubles as a forensic specialist when deputized—teaching him the wiles of her fly fishing trade. There is a romantic spark between them that softly develops over time and circumstance making reading the series in order a pleasure. The other predominate character, and my favorite, is Ray Pradt, a loose, charismatic adventurer who has slyly opted to sit on the sidelines of life—but secretly has the life we all dream of—who is a guide, tracker, grave digger, dependable friend and stalwart trustee to all who need his help. His skill in gathering crime scene data always proves invaluable, despite a host of accompanying vanities.
Houston’s books which are refreshingly non-violent with a homespun bent, in order are: Dead Angler, Dead Creek, Dead Water, Dead Frenzy, Dead Hot Mama, Dead Jitterbug, Dead Boogie, Dead Madonna, Dead Hot Shot and Dead Renegade, published in November 2009.
David Leitz
This is a creative series about Maxx Adams, a businessman whose fast paced lifestyle eroded his marriage and he found himself re-discovering his life as the owner of a Vermont Fishing Lodge. He revolves his mysteries around a fly fishing theme, never straying far. Someone is always turning up dead in his private stream, lake or is singled out for attack at his Lodge. He frequently is tying flies, teaching someone how to fly fish (and has good tips for the reader) talks about equipment, describes exciting landings of Brown and Brook Trout. It’s the real deal. Of all the books, his are probably the fishiest—meaning they deal more with fly fishing than the others. However his plots are a bit more predictable, the characters more stereotyped and the twists and turns less dramatic. Still, if you are a fly fishing mystery lover, there is enough entertainment and fly fishing banter to help wile away the cold weather fishing doldrums. He has written: Fly Fishing Corpse, Casting in Dead Water, Fly Fishing Can Be Fatal and Dying to Fish.
John Galligan
This guy is my favorite. He is kooky and loveable. How can you not adore a protagonist who calls himself “Dog,” lives in a dilapidated motor home, rarely bathes other than frisky splashes in cold streams and cruises across America fly fishing every famous river heralded by the trout zealot? His favorite drink and guide to nutritious health—Tang and Vodka with the occasional ice cube. A former owner of his own security business that he abandoned due to a tragic past, he is running from life as fast as he can. Along the way he meets a chorus of peculiar folks from the woodsy back burgs of America, all broken and looking for a way home. A dupe for fellow lost souls, he is compelled to assist in his rather dubious, floundering way in most instances being just a bit more of a help than a hindrance. His books, in order, are The Nail Knot, The Blood Knot, and his most recent, The Cinch Knot (catchy titles, huh?). Galligan can turn a phrase and his books are fanciful reads with interesting plots introducing you to a side of Americana that can only broaden your perspective of diversity.
Magazine Article |
9:24 am
Senior cross country runner Adam Thorne found himself standing on a stage. By this time, he knew it was either his Ferris High School team, or the Texas team standing next to him, that won the Nike Cross Country Nationals on December 5.
“There wasn’t a sure favorite,” Thorne says. “We knew whoever brought it that day was going to win.” He thought the results were a tie. They all did. If not, why would they bring both teams on stage? As ill fate would decide, it wasn’t a tie, and the Ferris team took second place. “A reporter talked to me when I got off the stage but I didn’t have anything to say,” Thorne says. “It was all too bittersweet.”
Although Thorne doesn’t know the official point spread, he’s heard it’s as little as six points. “I’ve heard if someone ran three seconds faster on our team we would have won.” As time has passed, the sting of defeat doesn’t hurt as bad as it once did. After all, the team wasn’t favored to run as well as they did, Thorne says. Not to mention, Thorne led the Ferris team and individually placed 10th, running a personal best of 15:25:50.
What lead Thorne to the national stage was a long history of running. He competed in his first race in first grade. “I think my parents told me it would be fun so I did,” he says. “I just never stopped from there.” He ran throughout elementary and middle school, but things didn’t get serious until he joined the Ferris High School cross country team—who were ranked first place at the time. “That team really showed us the ropes,” he says. “They really inspired us to achieve the things that they did.”
Thorne says it will be hard to graduate and leave the close group of guys that have been best friends and running together since elementary school. “We’ve had a good year of personal records,” he says. “We just love to see each other run well.” In February, Thorne signed his letter of intent to run cross country and track and field with Stanford University. Although tentative, Thorne says he wants to study medicine.
The decision came between Brigham Young University—who hosts one of the best coaches—and Stanford. “But I figured Stanford is a great opportunity not only for running but educationally,” he says. “It’s too good to pass up.”
Thorne says academics, on top of the transition from high school running to college running will be difficult. He’s confident, however, that he’ll have a lot of help. “Stanford is one of the best schools in the country,” he says. “I think their cross country team average is a 3.5. They just treat their athletes so well and get them the help they need.”
Perhaps the greatest help Thorne receives is from his own motivation. He says he works just as hard or harder as everyone else, it’s just that they’re all going after the same goal. No matter how far his running career takes him, one thing’s certain. He’ll always be a great representation of the running culture and legacy in Spokane.
Here’s the gear you’ll see Thorne training in this spring and summer to get ready for Stanford:
SHOES: Thorne runs with orthodics in his shoes and switches between Asics Kayono running shoes and Nike Vomeros. “I just wanted to get used to running in Nike because I’ll get free ones in college (they sponsor the Standford Cross Country team),” he says. “But they are a great shoe with good cushion.”
SPIKES: Thorne says spike models change every year, but he generally runs in Nike track spikes for both track and cross country events. The Nike Zoom Victory Spike is 3.6 ounces and is extremely light for track, he says. For cross country he prefers to run in Nike Zoom Matumbo spikes. “There’s not a huge amount of plastic on the spike so it’s not a problem when you get on uneven surfaces,” he says.
SOCKS: Thorne says he had problems with blisters his sophomore year because he ran in cotton socks. Now he swears by Balega Socks.
SHORTS: Whatever he can get his hands on. Thorne says he likes his shorts shorter, to about mid thigh. “Shorter shorts are light and generally have comfortable liners,” he says. “They’re best for hot weather runs.”
SHIRT: Nike singlets.
Magazine Article |
