No Kings Day Protest Marches in America

We strongly support all the No Kings Day Protest Marches in the United States. Today, 3/28/2026, millions will walk and talk about how we can be become a better Nation. We respect and admire these loyal real Americans.

The current MAGA Republican crumbly Krew and the incompetent and sick demented pedophile thief President Tumper Dum Dum must be immediately removed. Return to our Real and Honorable American Ways.

We both worked until age 70, paid taxes and Social Security for 54 years, and I served in the US Air Force for four years, and we both voted Democratic in every election since 1967.

More Democrats and Independents need 1) Vote in every election, and 2) root out their unconscious mistreatment of women, minorities, gays, the sick, the impoverished, and the downtrodden. We want peace, we want DEI, we want a good economy, we want a better future for our grandchildren, we want a Real Respected America.

Stop the billionaire class from dominating American lives in the national media, and in their bribery and illegal manipulations of laws to further their outrageous indifferent Greed!

We want the USA Department of Defense to Return. We want our troops brought home. We want Veterans benefits restored and improved.

Peace, Sisters and Brothers, Love Not War

Weather in Vancouver, Washington

The City of Vancouver, in Clark County, Washington, USA, is situated on the north side of the Columbia River, directly across form the large City of Portland, Oregon, on the south side of the Columbia River.  Portland and Vancouver have the same weather.

Karen and I live in the Orchards neighborhood, northeast of the City of Vancouver, in Clark County, about 7 miles north of the Columbia River along the 205 Freeway.
We can see both Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens from our area.

Average Annual Precipitation: 43.55 Inches (Some sources say 39 Inches) 

Number of Days Per Year with a Trace or More of Precipitation: 151

Number of Cloudy Days: 229

Vancouver, Washington, USA, Zip Code: 98662

Hardiness Zone:  Zone 8a: 10F to 15F

Average First Frost:  October 21 - 31

Average Last Frost:  April 1 - 10

Koppen-Geiger Climate Zone:  Csb - Warm-Summer Mediterranean Climate

Ecoregion:  3a - Portland Vancouver Basin

Palmer Drought Index:  Extremely Moist

Average Annual Rainfall:  43.55 inches

Heat Zone Days:  Rare Over 86F 

Elevation:  171 feet above the Pacific Ocean

General Geography: 

The Pacific Ocean and Astoria, Oregon, is 100 miles to the West from Vancouver, along the Columbia River. The south side of the City of Vancouver is the Columbia River, and across the river is Portland, Oregon. The Cascade range and Columbia Gorge is to the East. Looking north:165 miles to Seattle, 307 miles to Vancouver, Canada; 105 miles to Olympia, and 45 miles to Mt. St. Helens.

January Average: 33F low, 46F high, 6" Rain

February Average: 35F low, 50F high, 4.99" Rain

March Average: 37F low, 56F high, 4.38" Rain

April Average:  40F low, 60F high, 3.28" Rain

May Average:  45F low, 67F high, 2.67" Rain

June Average:  50F low, 72F high, 1.88" Rain

July Average:  53F low, 79F high, .8" Rain

August Average:  57F low, 82F high, .5" Rain

September Average:  49F low, 75F high, 1.91" Rain

October Average:  42F low, 64F high, 3.41" Rain

November Average:  38F low, 52F high, 6.49" Rain

December Average:  34F low, 46F high, 6.68" Rain

Yearly Averages:  42F low, 62F high, 43.55" Rain


The Spirit of Gardening

Gardening Information for Vancouver WA.

Gardening in Red Bluff, California

Colors in the Garden: Vancouver, WA

Gardening in Vancouver, Washington

The Weather of the Pacific Northwest. By Cliff Mass. University of Washington Press, 2021, 299 pages,  Second Edition. FVRL. Excellent overview, lots of photographs, for the lay reader but very thorough.

Rains All the Time: A Connoisseur's History of Weather in the Pacific Northwest. By David Laskin. 1997, 215 pages.

Cathlapotle House, Ridgefield, Washington

 About 15 miles north of my home in Vancouver, Washington, is the small town of Ridgefield.  It sits on a bluff above lowlands, bottomlands, lakes, sloughs, ponds, and swamps adjacent to the Columbia River.  The wetlands area is now part of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.  It is part of the "Wapato Valley" named by Lewis and Clark.  

In the 1990's Professor James Ames, Archeologist, Portland State University, led an excavation of the Indian ruins near Ridgefield in the bottomlands.  In 2005, as part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Celebration, a replica of a Native Indian cedar plank longhouse was constructed near Ridgefield on the Refuge.  

  

The Chinook and Cowlitz River and Lewis River Peoples all lived in this area for 1,500 years.  They all build wood houses, in which to smoke and store food, keep dry and warm, work, and socialize.  They all fished, hunted, and foraged in an environment rich in resources.  

The Chinook were traders and people speaking dialects of the Chinook language, or using a Chinook trading language and sign language, were active in trading goods from Ilwaco to The Dalles.  Canoes were in everyday use by all people living along the Columbia River.     

Ridgefield City   Images     Population 4,700   The small town is on a bluff above the lowlands by the Columbia River. 

Ridgefield - Chinook House  Cathlapotle Plankhouse   

Cathlapotle and its Inhabitants 1792-1860.  By Robert Boyd.  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon, 2011.  Index, 209 pages, many maps and charts, place name index, detailed bibliography, art work.  FVRL.  Fascinating study of native people living the area from For Vancouver to Ilwaco, on both sides of the lower Columbia River.  I believe there is also one plankhouse reconstructed at Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon.  I visited Native American plankhouses and shelters in Northern California at Patrick's Point State Park. 

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Ridgefield, Clark County   This large refuge includes an auto tour through the wetlands, sloughs, bogs, and lowlands along the Columbia River.  A few trails from this road are open only in the summer.  Many birds winter here.  A second area of the refuge consists of a walking path over the railroad, a reconstructed Chinoon style plankhouse, and many walking trails through these lowlands (soaked in winter). 

Ridgefield History

Ridgefield Visitors Guide

Ridgefield Library FVRL

Ridgefield Shopping 

Ridgefield Recreation

Ridgefield Information and Travel

Ridgefield Marina    On a slough of the Columbia.  Kayak rentals, small boat launch, mooring, picnic tables, fishing, restrooms, parking lot. 

Blog Posts to the Cloud Hands Blog by Mike Garofalo regarding travel adventures in Washington State.

The Chinook Indians: Traders of the Lower Columbia River.  Robert H. Ruby and John A. Brown.  University of Oklahoma Press, 1988, 372 pages, index.  VSCL, FVRL. 

Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia.  Edited by Robert T. Boyd, Kenneth M. Ames, and Tony A. Johnson.  University of Washington, 2015, 464 pages.  VSCL.  Outstanding collection of articles.  First Choice!! 

Peoples of the Northwest Coast: Their Archaeology and Prehistory.  By Kenneth M. Ames.  Thames and Hudson, 1999, 288 pages.  FVRL.

Cathlapotle and its Inhabitants 1792-1860.  By Robert Boyd.  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon, 2011.  Index, 209 pages, many maps and charts, place name index, detailed bibliography, art work.  FVRL.  Fascinating study of native people living the area from For Vancouver to Ilwaco, on both sides of the lower Columbia River.  

Willapa Bay Area Information 

Lower Columbia River: Ilwaco to Washougal 

Northwest Oregon: Astoria to Cape Disappointment

Chinook Indian Nation  "The Chinook Indian Nation is made up of the five western-most Chinookan speaking tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River.  Our nearly 70-year-old constitution codifies who we are and identifies our five constituent tribes – the Clatsop and Cathlamet (Kathlamet) of present-day Oregon and the Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum (Waukikum) and Willapa (Weelappa) of what is now Washington State."  Not federally recognized. 

Chinookan Peoples

 

The Northwest Coast: Or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory.  He lived in Willapa Harbor from 1849-1851.  By James Gilchrist Swan.  Adesite Press, 2017, 448 pages.  FVRL. 

"James Gilchrist Swan wrote an amazingly interesting and detailed account of his years in Willipa Harbor. The origin of some modern place names, I.e., Tokeland became very clear, for example. His treatise on the nature of Native Americans is especially significant, as is his description of their languages.  I especially liked his analysis of how the Hudson Bay Company's strategy to get along with the native people was compared with Governor Stevens' botched treaty proposition along the banks of the Chehalis.  Swan was an interesting man in his own right: pioneer, scientist, Indian agent, teacher, revenue agent, probate judge, cultural and natural historian and adventurer. He is buried in an unpretentious grave in Port Townsend, Washington." 

"In November 1852 James Swan moved to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington Territory. Fascinated by the Indian communities he encountered, Swan spent the remainder of his life studying their art, material culture, and history. The author of several books, he became the Smithsonian Institution's principal agent in the Northwest, collecting natural history and ethnographic objects from Gray's Harbor through the Alaskan panhandle. He lived among the Makah Indians of Neah Bay where he taught school and was among the first Americans to visit the Haida villages of the Queen Charlotte Islands."

Swan Among the Indians: Life of James G. Swan (1818-1900).  By Lucille McDonald.  Binfords and Mort, Portland, 1972.  Index, 233 pages.  FVRL. 

Coast Country: A History of Southwest Washington.  By Lucile McDonald.  Long Beach, Midway Printery, 1989.  Index, 183 pages.  TRLS. 

The Historical and Regional Geography of the Willapa Bay Area, Washington.  By Jean Hazeltine.  South Bend, 1956, 308 pages.  FVRL

Shoalwater Willapa.  By Douglas Allen.  Snoose Peak Publishing, South Bend, WA, 2004.  Index, notes, sources, 286 pages.  TRLS.  

Chinook Resilience: Heritage and Cultural Revitalization on the Lower Columbia River.  By Jon D. Daehnke.  Foreword by Tony A. Johnson.  University of Washington, 2017, 233 pages, index, bibliography, notes.  FVRL.  Interesting discussion of evidence for the distribution of Chinook speaking people, and the history of the people in the area.  A long and detailed discussion of the creation of the Cathlapotle House in Ridgefield. 

Chinook Texts.  Collected by Franz Boas.  1984.  Includes myths, beliefs, customs, tales, and historical tales as told by the Chinookan people. 

Columbia River: The Astoria Odyssey.  By Penttila Bryan.  Frank Amato, 2004, 96 pages. 

Chinook Art, Contemporary     Chinook Design Art Products: Hats   Bags

Chinook Merchandise

Chinookan Art Style

What Runs But Never Gets Tired?

 The annual average rainfall (AAR) in the different places I have lived is of note for me:

1946-1967  Unincorporated East Los Angeles, Bandini Neighborhood/Varrio,
                  City of Commerce, Southern California   AAR = 15”
1948-1958  Karen grew up in Alexandria, Central Indiana   AAR = 42"
1969-1973  Biloxi, Mississippi   AAR = 65”
1973-1983  Bell Gardens, Southern California   AAR =  15”
1983-1998  Hacienda Heights, California   AAR = 15”
1998-2017  Red Bluff, Northern California   AAR = 25”
2017–         Vancouver, Southwestern Washington, Northwest USA  AAR = 42”


Vancouver, Washington, is rated as USDA Agricultural Zone 8B.

Zone 8b means that the average minimum winter temperature is 15 to 20 °F. 


"Ancient traditions have long associated holy wells and springs as very special places of the Goddess or anima mundi: symbolic of the Great Mother and associated with birth, the feminine principle, the universal womb, the prima materia, the waters of fertility and refreshment and the fountain of life. The dreaming sites, as they are called, have also been associated with visions, healing, and other paranormal experiences. In ancient Greece, for example, there were more than three-hundred medical centers placed at water sources, where patients experienced healing."
- Christopher and Tricia McDowell, The Sanctuary Garden, 1998, p. 62

"Day after day we looked for rain, and day after day we saw nothing but the sun. Lavender that we had planted in the spring died. The patch of grass in front of the house abandoned its ambitions to become a lawn and turned into the dirty yellow of poor straw. The earth shrank, revealing its knuckles and bones, rocks and roots that had been invisible before."
-  Peter Mayle

Water and Rain: Quotations, Sayings, Thoughts

What runs but never gets tired?
Water

"Water is the driver of Nature."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Interstate 5 Highway Bridge from Vancouver, Washington to Portland, Oregon.  

This bridge crosses the Columbia River.  

Columbia River Valley

Mt. Hood and Hood River Valley, Oregon
The Hood River flows into the Columbia River.

Astoria, Oregon, where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean.

Independence Day or Dependence Day

My Midsummer Celebrations in 2021 include: the Summer Solstice rites, Olympics in Tokyo, NBA Finals, Tour de France, the Fourth of July, Father's Day, local travel, gardening, and reading poetry.

We are very pleased that Clark County has finally banned the sale and use of fireworks--- a stinking, loud, and dangerous bad habit in urban America. I prefer the smells and colors of Roses to the stench of fizzling fireworks.

In America, the 4th of July is a National Holiday.  Americans celebrate our "Independence Day" on this day.  Family gatherings, outdoor meals, games and sports, visiting with friends, and summer fun activities are all popular.  Some towns also have patriotic parades.

I prefer to call today "Dependence Day" to reflect views of Inter-Being, community cooperation and peace, working together, finding "common ground," cooperation, ecology, etc.  

I hope everyone has a very safe and peaceful 4th of July weekend holiday.  

May we all be able to find a government that enables us to create and work for a better life, respect liberty, and pursue happiness.  May be enjoy freedom from religious oppression, and be allowed to speak our minds in a civil manner.  May we avoid hatred, fear, stealing, lying, and fighting for impractical idealistic causes.  We should not enslave people, disrespect the rights of women, and persecute minorities.  Let us encourage gun free zones in our civil society.  Let us cultivate peace, tolerance, patience, and prosperity.  Let us work at our jobs diligently, intelligently, creatively, and with pride.  Let us preserve and protect our environment for future generations.  Let is strive for good health, vitality, and positive mental health.  Let us mind our own business when appropriate, and avoid listening to men with extreme and angry opinions and facile solutions to difficult problems.  Let us encourage kindness, generosity, simplicity, and community cooperation.  May reason and justice be our guides.  May we deliberate calmly and avoid extreme and inflexible opinions.  May we remember and respect the hardworking and decent wise women and men of the past. 

Best wishes to everyone!

Bridges Over the Columbia: I 5 and I 205

The mighty Columbia River separates Portland, Oregon, from Vancouver, Washington.  Two bridges connect the two cities.  The Interstate 5 Bridge was built in 1917, and enlarged in 1958.  The Interstate 205 Bridge (Glen L. Jackson Bridge) was built in 1977.

Since we live in the Orchards area of northeast Vancouver, Washington, we have travelled both of these bridges hundreds of times.

I 5 Bridge, Looking South to Portland

I 205, Glen Jackson Bridge, Looking North to Vancouver

Columbia River, near Portland, Oregon, Looking West

I 205 Bridge and Mt. Hood, Oregon, Looking to the Southeast

Lewis and Clark History

We went to Powell's Bookstore on Monday of this week.  I purchased books on travel in the Columbia River Gorge, northwest coast, and Lewis and Clark.

When Federal employees are back to work, very soon I hope, we plan to visit Fort Clatsop, where the Lewis and Clark Expedition spent the winter of 1805-1806, near the current city of Astoria, Oregon.

Shame on Democrats, Republicans and the President in 2019 for "shutting down" our federal government services.  Compromise, give in, move on, stop arguing.

I am now reading two books about United States history during the period from 1800-1810.  Jefferson was President.  The Louisana Purchase was finalized in 1803.  Captain Lewis Meriwether and Captain William Clark led the Corps of Discovery expedition from Washington to the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River, and back, from 1803 to 1806.  They where the first American expedition to explore uncharted territory up the Missouri River from St. Louis and all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  

A few decades after 1805, people were moving into the area of the Willamette Valley and to take advantage of the Columbia River commerce opportunities.  The town of Astoria, Oregon, was founded in 1811; Portland, Oregon, emerged as a city from 1843 to 1851; and Vancouver, Washington, a suburb north of Portland, where I live now, grew from a fur trading post in 1825 to an incorporated city in 1857.  

In 1870, the population of Vancouver was 1,722; Portland, 8,293; and Astoria, 639.  In 1890, Vancouver had a population of 3,545, Portland, 45,385; and Astoria, 6,184.  In 2019, the population of Portland is about 647,000; Vancouver is 175,000; and Astoria, 9,862.  

The Portland (Vancouver and Hillsboro) Metropolitan StatisticalArea (MSA), the 23rd largest in the United States, has a population of 2,226,009 (2010 Census). Of them, 1,789,580 live in Oregon (46.7% of the state's population) while the remaining 436,429 live in Washington (6.7% of state's population).

California became a U.S. State in 1850; Oregon in 1859; Washington in 1889; and Idaho in 1890.    


Undaunted Courage:  Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West.  By Stephen E. Ambrose.  Simon and Schuster, Touchstone, 1996.  521 pages.  Paperbound book.


The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery.  The Abridgment of the Definitive Nebraska Edition.  Edited with an introduction by Gary E. Moulton.  Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 2003.  EBook.

I need to investigate using the Clark County Library System ebook options.

Travel in the Northwest
Bibliography, Notes, Links, Information, History, Nature
Washington, Oregon, Northern California, British Columbia
Prepared by Michael P. Garofalo