Vancouver Food Co-op

Here is a great way for some one who may be interested in supporting a Clark County food store that contains as much as possible, locally sourced, sustainable or other great things from Food stuffs to the household basics. 

Right now, they are working on many different fronts and probably would love to have any one who might want to volunteer and help them connect with other like minded companies, local csa and metropolitan portland area - southwest washington community events. 

If you would like to know more about this wonderful idea that is trying to be brought to the City of Vancouver, please do not hesitate to drop a line at their web site: 

http://vancouverfood.coop

Old Santa Claus Train in Downtown Vancouver

I just found out in the local news media that Burlington Northern Santa Fe brought in a Christmas Steam Train to Vancouver Washington. What a wonderful thing to do for the local kids.

Wish I had gone down to investigate the horn I was hearing yesterday in Downtown Vancouver. (It was not the sternwheeler as I had thought but this old steam train.)

Thanks Burlington Northern for bringing some thing wonderful to life for Clark County kids.

Wondering about the Sternwheeler

Ok, I live about three or so miles north of Downtown Vancouver. For the past twenty four hours, I have continued to here these noise blasts.

They do not sound like the Burlington Northern and Union Pacific train sets that run past this area. It sounds either like a fog horn or sternwheeler horn?

Any one else hear this noise?

Wonderful Discovery Walk Festival

Here is a location of pictures for the "Mayors Walk" and 2008's Discovery Walk . http://uofgts.com/docs/DW/index/index.html

For those who may not be a part of the Portland Vancouver region, this walk is one of the biggest exercise and volksmarch in our area.

It is a wonderful community event once a year in Clark County and brings people from around the world to our little piece of heaven here to walk the many trails and parks.

If you were not able to attend this years or many of years past, please be watching, listening for Discovery Walk 2009 at:
http://www.discoverywalk.org/

Or watch their Blog at:

http://discoverywalk.org/blog/

Some of my newest neighbors and older faith or even other fatefuls might not know of the treasure trove of very close, scenic areas of wonderful clark, skamania, and cowlitz counties have to offer.

Many of the regulars might know of Merwin, Swift and Yale dams on the upper reaches of the Lewis River. But do you know about the upper falls and middle falls of this mighty little river?

The river starts near Mount Adams, flows around Skamania until it sets through the three power generations plants of Pacific Power and Light, then makes the run for the Clark and Cowlitz county lines until she finally empties into a tributary with the Columbia River on its final turn westward push towards the Pacific Ocean.

If you would like to see more of the wonderful pictures and may be take a spring or summer visit to this wonderful paradise, please look here for some wonderful pictures.

http://lewisriver.com/falls.html

C-tran board meeting of November 2008

Those that may not be aware (and is being tabled for next meeting in the first or second week of December) a fare increase of both CVAN and RYDS (or some combination of youth, low income, seniors and others.)

Before the December meeting, they will be holding a informational session to hash out more numbers that they have asked Jeff Hamm and c-tran executives to produce for them.

You may contact them through the C-tran web site: http://www.c-tran.com.  Or you can watch the video (**WARNING** its near three hours long, so this video is not for the faintest of heart.) off the cvtv web site: 

http://www.cityofvancouver.us/cvtv/cvtvindex.asp?catID=999&fileID=10433

Fort Vancouver Television

This is a community Public Access Channel on Comcast cable television.  

It had remarkably improved over the past couple of years that I have been aware of its existance watching the City of Vancouver - Clark County Telecommunications (cvtv's parent watcher.) meetings that handles the PEG  access and equipment funds that makes a part of this possible.

So if you have an interesting local viewpoint, you would like to share with all of us, take the classes, sign up for use of the cameras,fill out the producer forms and tell all of us about it.

Please head over to http://www.fvtv11.org 

City of Vancouver Clark County Television (aka CVTV)

This is a gem of a resource in the Clark County area. If you move into the area (City of Vancouver or outskirts near Hazel Dell, Sifton, Three Creeks, the Fairgrounds Neighborhood or Cascade Park-Camas area, check them out.)

Also they do a City Minutes and Clark County focus on things that are going and around our community from the Veteran's Parade, Hazel Dell Parade of Bands, Dozer Days (along with several other local people, companies and goverments.) Clark County and City of Vancouver government meetings and many other things that are going on within our wonderful community.

They also offer video links, so that you may watch online KIRO news online, offerings that available on-demand or saved links in an encoded windows media video format, so you can download the to your computers hard drive or ipod-phone-? to watch when your traveling to keep up on what is happening.

You can find out more at their site: http://www.cvtv.org

further comments

Some people have asked me about my political views. The best answer I give them is I'm a political agnostic when it comes to elections. I do have a central core base of things that I look for in a candidates but they're not your traditional Democrat, Republican or independant voting block type. 

Some friends, family and locals have tried to survey me, try get me to go to church gatherings and information sessions on local candidates but for some reason I am usually one of the most informed person in the room on a subject. (its very rare to find some one who can beat me on subject.) 

Some of my closest friends might know that I have a personal interest in Clark County transportation, transit (also Metro regional council from Portland) SWRTC, finding local news that is being missed by the local news media, Puget Sound Ferry boats, Washington and Oregon state politics, Columbia River Crossing Project, Columbia Waterfront LLC and many other projects too numerous to count. 

So my interests very quite widely. 

Links to things I listen to...

Some of my favorite places to read or listen to: 

http://www.clarkblog.org (if your a local, interested in local Clark County politics or what is going on, try starting here.) 

http://theredneckcabbie.blogspot.com (musings of a Taxi Cab driver from where he has driven all over the US.)

http://www.columbian.com (If you need whimsical interest in local news, though not officially sanctioned, try take a look here.)

http://www.kgoam810.com (Saturday and Sunday nights, you will find me listening to Doctor Bill Wattenburg and his science mania. Some folks cannot stand his political views, but I look past that and see what are the most important issues he brings up in the scientific realm.)

Walking around Clark County

Well, this is my home for the time being. 

Hope to have some wonderful pictures up soon and let's see where my blog takes me?