The Bureau of Land Managements National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center will be hosting a variety of open-air programs in September to connect youth to Americas natural and cultural heritage through public lands.

The Interpretive Center has a variety of programs to take visitors back in time:

Oregon Fever! offers visitors a deeper insight into the pioneer experience Thursdays through Sundays at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Sit a spell and talk with a Ranger during Porch Chats Thursdays and Fridays at noon, and Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m.

Learn about the flora and fauna of Flagstaff Hill during a ranger-guided nature walk on Saturdays at 9:15 a.m. and stick around to hear a pioneer describe their experiences on the Oregon Trail during Voices of the Past at noon.

Discover the unique mining history of eastern Oregon at the Going for Gold program Sundays at noon.

There are also special events and exhibits to explore:

Meet formerly wild horse Norm Fridays, Sept. 18 and 25 at 11 a.m. While Norm poses for pictures and smooches visitors, owner Deb Henshaw will be happy to answer questions about working with wild horses and the BLM adoption program.

Dont miss exploring how cutting-edge technological advances of the 1800s made the grueling overland journey easier for later emigrants. A self-guided exhibit entitled Tech on the Trek is open during regular center hours through Oct. 12.

Public health measures encouraged

While visiting, we strongly encourage all visitors to follow Centers for Disease Control and the State of Oregon guidance to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. These measures include:

Practice social distancing by maintaining two wagon wheels (6 feet) between you and others visiting the center.

Wear cloth face coverings, like bandanas, where social distancing is difficult (except for those who are under age 2 or have trouble breathing). Wash your hands often. While youre outdoors, use hand sanitizers. Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Most importantly, stop the wagon train and stay at home if you dont feel well.

The rest is here:
Pioneers, porch chats, and gold among September programs at the Interpretive Center - Ontario Argus Observer

Guest blog post by Tim Scarbrough

Simplicity. For many months now, this seems to be a place I must inhabit a place of peaceful simplicity. A definition of the word "simplicity" isa thing that is plain, natural, or easy to understand. It might be pluralized as "simplicities of pastoral living".

Yet, to further the concept, I think the perception of simplicity is as personal as the feelings a sunrise might create in your heart, or perhaps the giggle of a baby or the mew of a kitten. Is it a place of raw basic emotion? Perhaps one of nostalgia or sweet memory?

I believe all these examples are true and much more than many of us might consider. Let me elaborate from a recent discovery as I was recovering from some of the worst effects of radiation and hormone treatments I experienced while fighting prostate cancer.

I recently rediscovered my front porch, a place of simplicity.

I have a small farm in rural southern Illinois and have always had a great view from my porch. Id commonly see bees and trees, dogs and cats, gradual and sometimes rapid growth of plant life, especially mid-summer crabgrass and field corn. Before my divorce some years ago, throughout 22 years married, our porch was seldom used and not at all for meetings, quiet time with God, calm reflections, or meditation.

Last year, a former girlfriend of mine gave me a nice cigar. We sat together and laughed, smoked it, and drank a little just spending quality time together, on the porch.

I newly saw, even in the beginning of 2020, my porch was a place that gave me comfort. In this place, I found a peace that Id not known since my marriage was sound, and all of my children were smaller, living inside.

How utterly simple and profoundly peaceful!

In my deep pain from treatments, work stresses, and old terrible memories that bubble up from time to time I was able to sit comfortably on my porch, just me and the Lord. Sometimes with a glass of tea or coffee, maybe a pipe of aromatic tobacco and a brandy: There I found a deeper place of simplicity and peace. Afresh I saw trees and grass. With new insight I saw my small herds of goats and sheep grazing. Hummingbirds, honeybees and wasps buzzed by, And goldfinches flew across the yard.

I could see the faint expression of a breeze through a leaf on a low branch or through only the top of the boughs of very tall trees. A thunder storm might cause the rain to fall and the trees to bend but there I sat, enjoying the sight and feel of it all. A dog or cat at my feet and I was not suffering but just basically at rest. I might have been utterly exhausted or feeling terrible but I could find peace sitting there and letting the wind blow and simply just be.

View from the porch.

For some months since this rediscovery, my porch remains a place of simple peace. An escape for me from a world of pestilence and uncertainty, in all seasons a location to quietly commune with God and the world he created a basic place of simple joy.

I encourage you to search your home for this special secret place. I guarantee it exists. You just need to search it out. When you find it, make it your own and use it often if not daily. Each of us needs this to live life in order to decompress or be quiet amidst worldly noise. Your body, mind and especially your soul will be thankful of the decision and the time spent in this peaceful place of simplicity.

Seek it out.right now!

Tim Scarbrough is a retired Army veteran, singledad of four awesome kids and owner of a small farm. He serves others through his local church, mentorship and public speaking in Toastmasters, and building missions with Habitat for Humanity.

Aur Beck has lived completely off-grid for over 35 years. He has traveled with his family through 24 states and 14,000 recorded miles by horse-drawn wagon. Aur is a presenter at The Climate Reality Project, a fellow addict at Oil Addicts Anonymous International and a talk show co-host at WDBX Community Radio for Southern Illinois 91.1 FM. Find him on the Living Off Grid, Really!?!? Facebook page, and read all of Aur's MOTHER EARTH NEWS posts here.

All MOTHER EARTH NEWS community bloggers have agreed to follow our Blogging Guidelines, and they are responsible for the accuracy of their posts.

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Off-Grid Simplicity: Discovering Peace on the Porch | MOTHER EARTH NEWS - Mother Earth News

Instead of gathering along city sidewalks to watch the annual Valleyfest Parade, residents of Spokane Valley will be able to turn their own porches into floats and attractions and Valleyfest will come to them this September.

Valleyfest Executive Director Peggy Doering said organizers have had to constantly adapt to the evolving COVID-19 restrictions and the 31st iteration of the annual festival will be different from what locals remember.

She said organizers were inspired by the Portland Rose Festival this spring, which created a parade in place event where neighborhoods decorated their porches and spruced up their front yard gardens and were placed on a map so the community could drive to neighborhoods and view the porches.

The best way to think of all of these activities is that the festival will be at your home, Doering said.

She said in addition to the map, which would be public, a procession that includes the Valleyfest Royal Court would follow the route and throw candy at participating porches. This event would be the Valleyfest Courts debut. Queen Hayli Sanders and princesses Amy Brown, Hanna Michaelis, Joelle Larson and Kennedie Krieger have not had the chance to attend any events.

Instead of taking place over multiple days, almost all events will occur on Sept. 26.

The porch parade is one of several ideas Doering and other organizers are developing to turn Valleyfest into a virtual event. They plan to borrow another idea from Portland, inviting families to make miniature shoe box floats, which they would photograph and send to Valleyfest organizers. Their miniature floats would be included in a video parade. She said she was also considering a virtual vendor village to allow those who would have had booths at the festival access attendees, a sports day to encourage the community to do sports on their own and possibly a drive-in movie.

Marilyn Clint, CEO of the Rose Parade, said about 400 people participated in the porch parade in Portland and there were about 80,000 views on the map the festival staff created for the parade in place event.

It totally exceeded my expectations for community engagement, she said.

Portland porch parade participants mostly shared examples of their floats on Instagram using variations of the hashtag #porchparade or #paradeinplace. Clint said participants made zoo- and animal-themed porches. Some focused on the theme of the event, roses, but many went far beyond with one neighborhood teaming up to turn the entire area into a float, with each resident adopting a local business, such as a theater or book store, and decorating their porches to celebrate them.

She said other organizations in Portland, such as a cemetery also found creative ways to get involved. Many prominent community members who were pivotal in the Rose Parades history, or the citys history, were buried at the cemetery and their graves were decorated and shared information about them was shared for visitors.

Kathy Hansen, Valleyfest Parade Chair, said she anticipates Spokane Valleys porch parade would function in a similar way, with people signing up to have their porch included in the official map, picking a theme and receiving a sign noting they are on the official route.

She said the parade committee came up with several ideas for themes, including honoring first responders, harvest and people with hearts of gold, which is the theme of Valleyfest every year.

She said people could make up their own themes, as long as they are not a political campaign or some form of commercial advertising.

Hansen said she hopes the miniature parade and the parade in place event will give people something to look forward to, and an activity for families to do together.

Our main objective is to provide some hope and some unity within our community, she said.

This story was clarified on August 14 to reflect that a typical Valleyfest parade does not take place downtown.

Continue reading here:
Spokane Valley residents can expect to celebrate 2020 Valleyfest on their porch - The Spokesman-Review

Igrew up in my grandmothers brick home in a leafy suburb of Washington. My mother and I navigated carefully around Gommys knickknacks the china figurines and flowered teacups that filled her seafoam-green living room.

My favorite spot was her screened-in porch that ran along one side of the house. We lived in that porch from spring into summer and early fall. It was furnished more informally, with a metal table and chairs at one end, a rocking chair in the middle (my mothers favorite spot), and a glider at the other end.

We ate out there every evening watching people walk home at the end of their workdays from the bus stop at the top of the road. We could hear the neighbors chatter next door when their windows were open, as they were only 15 feet away.

When sweltering, humid weather arrived in August, as it always did, air conditioners hummed in windows. The porch was almost too uncomfortable to manage then, but I would often go out there to sit in the darkness and listen to the night.

When it rained, I would lie on the glider, under its plastic cover, secretly alone, a small transistor radio in my grasp and hoping my favorite song of the moment would come on. I was safe and dry when the rain came in.

A screened porch is a room connected to nature: sheltering, but open to the world. One can still use it in rainstorms, still peer at a laptop screen on sunny days. Ive mostly lived in places with mosquitoes and other annoying bugs, so decks and open-air patios dont make as much sense to me.

I havent lived in that house full time since I left for college. But my love of porches endures. Ive had a few modest ones since then. One was big enough for a small round table and chairs. It sat at ground level. The chipmunks loved to taunt my indoor cats, running back and forth right in front of their noses, safe outside the screens. My cat Charlie was especially entranced by them and would run back and forth with them, never tiring of the entertainment.

My brother-from-another-mother (my moms best friends son), John, is a porch aficionado, too. As children, our families vacationed together for a week every summer, returning to the same second-floor apartment, a two bedroom with a porch overlooking a small lake. Whenever we return to that favorite childhood area, we rent cottages based almost solely on their porches. Who cares about the inside? They must have a beautiful, comfy, screened-in porch.

A few years ago, my husband and I began talking about renovating our house. We called on an architect friend to help with the plans, mentioning that we wanted a porch our cats could enjoy. Not a judgmental man, he took us literally and designed a porch about 2-feet tall for the cats!

We patiently explained that we wanted to use it, too.

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Im happy to report that we now live in a home with a beautiful screened-in porch. I was happy to place the designing of the house in my husbands hands. I did insist on one thing: that it have a big porch. And so we do: We look out on a tidal river and salt marsh, where seabirds fish as the tide rushes in and out.

But whenever I hear crickets singing, Im back on my grandmothers porch.

Link:
A paean to the porch - Christian Science Monitor

A feline thief in Altoona, Pennsylvaniais making waves for sneaking out every night to steal shoes from around the neighborhood. The 6-year-old kitty named Jordan roams around taking them from front porches and has brought home nearly 80 shoes and counting.

Jordans family, mother BJ Ross and her son Gavin, set up cameras and put a tracking device on him to see where hes finding so many shoes.

BJ also started a Facebook group to return stolen shoes to their rightful owners.

"I had a pair of shoes sitting out on my back porch they went missing, and I'm like, OK," said neighbor Chelsea Rebinald. "I actually did not have any idea that it would have been a cat taking the shoes to tell you the truth."

Jordan even likes to admire his stash.

"When we brought the shoes in and put them on the table, he came over like, what are you doing?" Ross said.

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Cat Burglar Sneaks Out Every Night to Steal Shoes Off Porches - Inside Edition

Some stray doggie families get lucky and are taken care of as a full and happy family despite being strays, like LilMama and her 15-puppy litter which Bored Panda covered recently. Other stray canine families, however, arent as lucky, and are often broken up with the younglings wandering off and ending up living alone on the streets, subject to danger.

Well, this does not stop them from finding a new family, as this one young pupper decided to do by simply choosing this one familys porch and lying on it, resting until someone came over to help the puppy.

Image credits: This Is Houston

Meet Lila, the 4 to 6-month-old Australian Shepherd pup who was recently found chilling on this one familys porch on August 3rd in La Porte, Greater Houston Area, Texas. She was seen wandering the streets and stumbled upon someones driveway. Given her state, they watered and fed her.

Lila soon noticed a very comfy porch that provided shade, and she decided to lie down on the welcome door mat to get some shut-eye. The puppy spent a good several hours just resting there, waiting for something. She simply refused to leave, indicating that something is up and she needs help.

Image credits: This Is Houston

They couldnt allow the doggie inside, so this prompted the family to get in touch with This Is Houston, a rescue organization dedicated to tackling animal welfare issues in the greater Houston area. A post about Lila soon went public on Facebook. The caption explained the situation:

This puppy showed up in someones driveway in La Porte yesterday. They fed her and she wouldnt leave their porch. They couldnt allow her inside and they hoped she wouldnt wander off while they looked for help.

We cant imagine what she thought as she looked inside the glass, but we are thankful she found a family that would get her some help. One of our fosters couldnt stand to see her continue sleeping on the porch so she picked her up last night and brought her to safety.

Shes a little baby at about 4-5 months old, and she likely has demodex mange. Shell see a vet tomorrow but today, shes resting peacefully inside. Well get this baby back to health in no time!

Image credits: This Is Houston

Image credits: This Is Houston

The rescue tagged Kourtney Crenshaw, a rescuer who arrived at the house to pick up Lila. When I first got there, she was a little skittish, but once I let her smell me, she let me pet her and immediately started licking my face. She would not walk on a leash, so I just picked her up and got her in my car and we headed home, said Crenshaw in an interview with the Dodo.

Crenshaw explained that Lila seemed like she was ready to be rescued as she was a tad bit scared, but otherwise it was easy to gain her trust and get her to safety.

Lila was soon brought to the vet who took a look at her. It is believed that shes a 4 to 6-month-old Australian shepherd. Shed lost some fur and her skin was irritated due to demodex mange, a skin condition caused by tiny parasitic mites. However, she has been treated with antibiotics and medicated baths and is well on her way to recovery.

Image credits: This Is Houston

Image credits: This Is Houston

Needless to say, Lila is now enjoying herself at her foster home, getting back scratches, belly rubs, and, most importantly, regular meals, care, and love until she recovers and is strong enough to be put up for adoption and find a forever home.

People on Facebook asked for an update on the story several days ago and This Is Houston responded with a photo of Lila, not wearing a cone anymore with the caption Shes doing great!

If it wasnt for Lilas sheer determination and the fact that she found the right porch, she would have most likely not found help and remained a stray. And people are happy that she was rescued, calling the rescuers heroes and showering the puppy with love on social media.

Image credits: This Is Houston

Image credits: This Is Houston

You can support the rescue and Lila by donating to This Is Houston or even adopting a pupper or two. But, before you do that, let us know your thoughts on this in the comments section below!

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Neglected Puppy Shows Up On This Family's Porch And Refuses To Leave - News Lagoon

Virtual Performance Starts at 7 p.m. on LakewoodAlive's Facebook Page

All good things must come to an end, and LakewoodAlive's 2020 Virtual Front Porch Concert Series is no exception. But it's bound to conclude on a high note when the talented musicians comprising The Light of Day Band deliver a memorable performance next Friday, August 21.

Sponsored by Bentley Wealth Management of Raymond James, the 2020 Front Porch Concert Series features eight musical performances hosted virtually via LakewoodAlive's Facebook page on Friday evenings at 7 p.m. The series, which aims to foster Lakewood's vibrancy while offering a safe, family-friendly entertainment option, runs through August 21.

Week 8 is presented by Lion and Blue and brings to the stage The Light of Day Band, a talented Cleveland-based funk, jazz and R&B group. This band is renowned for its high-energy performances that often induce dancing, making it the perfect choice to culminate the 2020 Virtual Front Porch Concert Series.

The Light of Day Band performs a wide variety of upbeat music that will make you want to boogie in your living room. The band consists of Brian Bowie (vocalist, lead guitarist), Sam Bell (vocalist), Nia Kennedy (vocalist), Bernard Bowie (bass guitarist), Chris Stennis (keyboardist, rap vocalist), and Joe Moon (drummer). They perform shows in loving memory of vocalist Arlene Peterson-Bowie, who passed away last year following a courageous battle with cancer.

Now in its 10th year, the popular music series is taking on a different format to ensure health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet LakewoodAlive remains committed to enhancing Lakewood's sense of community by offering free weekly concerts that families and all music lovers can enjoy. Visit LakewoodAlive.org/FrontPorchConcerts to learn more.

The Front Porch Concert Series is generously supported by the following sponsors:

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Light of Day Band at Virtual Front Porch Concert Series Aug. 21 - Patch.com

Tanya Kerssen was standing on her front porch as Minneapolis police officers walked by, yelling "get inside" for curfew. USA TODAY

A video shared on social media appears to show Minneapolis law enforcement shooting marking roundsat people standing on their front porch this weekend.

During the video, which was shared by Minneapolis resident Tanya Kerssen on Saturday evening, a Humvee and an officer dressed in riot gear can be seen passing by her home to enforce curfew.

"Look at this," one unidentified woman says in the video clip. "They just keep coming."

A group of around 15 to 20 police officers and National Guardsmen then approach the front of the house, shouting "go inside!" five or six timesand "get in your house now!" After around 10 seconds of commands, one officer yells, "light 'em up," and starts shooting green paint bullets at Kerssen and other unidentified people, according to the video.

George Floyd protests: Federal prisons locked down; social media goes dark for #BlackoutTuesday

The group on the porch runs inside.One person was hit with a bullet to their thigh, the video shows.

Paint rounds, or marking rounds, are used by police and military. They are for close-range training,counter-terrorismand urban warfare,among other purposes, according toone munitions vendor, Simunition,

It is unclear if the video was taken before or after curfew. A FAQ document posted by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety says that individuals can be on their porch during curfew but says people must listen to officers' orders.

"If a law enforcement officer or other public safety official asks you to go inside, or take any other action, you must follow the instruction," the document said.

The curfew for Minneapolis and Saint Paul is in place starting at 10 p.m. Tuesday until 4 a.m. Wednesday.Tuesday from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Neither Kerssen nor the police department immediately responded to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote

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'Light 'em up': Minneapolis officers seen firing paint rounds at people on their porch - USA TODAY

Two California-based senior housing nonprofits, Front Porch and Covia, have agreed to affiliate with one another.

The two organizations boards of directors voted to affiliate on June 1. The affiliation would create a combined organization with 54 senior housing communities. Front Porch was ranked no. 22 in total unit count in the latest LeadingAge Ziegler 200 list, while Covia ranked no. 47. As a combined organization with 4,408 units, they would have ranked no. 10 in the 2019 list.

Covia CEO and President Kevin Gerber and Front Porch CEO John Woodward plan to remain at their posts, and both organizations plan to act independently until the transition period is over, which is expected in early 2021. The new combined organization will initially retain the Front Porch name, with Woodward as CEO of the combined entity and Gerber stepping down once the affiliation is complete.

The move to affiliate was not spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic, but instead was meant to help the two organizations achieve greater scale in the Golden State and therefore better serve older adults there, according to Kari Olson, Front Porchs chief innovation and technology officer.

This helps us have scale and purchasing power, as well as to manage costs and spread overhead across a larger base of communities, Olson said. All of that adds to our financial strength as well as our ability to create new options to have enhanced access to capital.

Front Porch and Covia are the latest in a number of senior housing nonprofits which have looked to mergers, affiliations and other forms of collaboration as a way to gain scale and thrive. Recent examples of the trend include the affiliation between HumanGood and Presbys Inspired Life, the affiliation of Acts Retirement-Life Communities and Integrace and the 2018 merger between the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society and non-profit health system Sanford.

The organizations are immediately focused on an integration plan and have not hammered out an agenda in terms of what the first goals would be for the combined entity to accomplish, Olson said. However, they are aligned in terms of their cultures and see the potential for growth in several areas. Front Porch has made technology and innovation a focus in recent years through its Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing. That focus will continue into the combined organization. And, the two companies have already collaborated for the past four years on new ways to bring tele-mental health services into affordable housing settings.

Innovation is a priority in both cultures today, and that creates a really strong jumping off point for the future, Olson said. Were just ready to ramp up on an existing and strong relationship and see what else we can do.

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Front Porch and Covia to Affiliate, Creating 54-Community Organization - Senior Housing News

This article is one in a series at The 74 that profiles the heroes, victories, success stories and random acts of kindness found at schools all across America. Read more of our recent inspiring profiles at The74Million.org/series/inspiring.

Whether they were among the 10,000 who attended a virtual prom hosted by MTV and Michelle Obama or celebrated by dressing up at home and dancing virtually with their friends, the Class of 2020 would not be denied a prom.

I just put on my lamp upstairs so I could have some nice lighting, Makinde La Veau, dancing in his dining room at his schools virtual prom, told CNN. Im a senior. This is going to be my last prom, so I just want to make it fun.

La Veau, a senior at Eastern Technical High School in Baltimore, clearly knows what to do when life gives him lemons.

Were still alive, La Veau said. Life is like this, so as long as Im still here, Im going to enjoy it to the fullest.

In Sweetwater, Texas, Grayson Chapmans mother wasnt about to let her daughter graduate without a little prom fun.

Grayson thought it sounded a little cheesy at first. But she was so excitedto get to be able to dress up after all and go to her last prom, Jaci Chapman told Fox News. Once we started getting the porch decorated and cranked up the music, she really started getting into the spirit of it!

What a Great Idea ! All you need now is #VirtualPromLive Rocking out on the front porch is way better than partying

Posted by Virtual Prom onMonday, April 27, 2020

At Northwest High School in Jackson, Michigan, seniors Meg Moffitt and Chelsea Devolder made a video of their classmates wearing their prom dresses.

We wanted to make something for girls to show their dresses, Meg told JTV.TV, the school districts video news channel. Boys were invited, but we didnt get any of those. We had about 35 or 36 girls, though, so it was a good turnout.

In Knoxville, Tennessee, a local news outlet hosted a prom for high school seniors throughout Eastern Tennessee.

Hannah Lucas, 18, a senior at South Forsyth High School in Forsyth County, Georgia, and her brother Charlie, 15, a freshman, created the We Are Well Prom to help seniors feel less alone, NBC reported.

At the Vista Peak Preparatory School in Aurora, Colorado, social distancing didnt stop students from choosing prom royalty.

As for the prom Michelle Obama hosted, it was put on by MTV and When We All Vote, a nonprofit that aims to raise voter participation, People reported. Obama is co-chair of the group and wanted to ensure that COVID-19 doesnt cause the 18-year-old virtual prom-goers to miss out on another rite of passage voting in November.

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WATCH On Front Porches, in Backyards and Online, Amazing Class of 2020 Virtual Prom Celebrations From High Schools Around the Country - The 74