The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Although I don't have a "charmed" life, I certainly have it easier than many people. I recognize that in the scheme of things, I have no right to complain. But, I admit, there are some days or weeks...

I recently heard an interview on one of my favorite National Public Radio shows, Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, with Dr. Ellen Stofan. She is currently the Under Secretary for Science and Research at T...

While I'm a sorry excuse for a flower gardener, as anyone who's seen our landscaping would agree, I'm a huge fan of flowers in the vegetable garden. In fact, sometimes the flowers do better than the...

I’ve found that in owning a restaurant, gardening, and life in general, many of the rules and clichés I’ve learned throughout my eons in the business world still apply. First, the 80/20 rule, whic...

It certainly has been hot lately, not only is it bringing out the sloth in me, but it is also obliterating my garden. The combination of my heat-inspired slothiness and my normal forgetfulness has...

The garden is really picking up pace with the hot temperatures and full sun. We took a quick trip to the coast over the holiday weekend and came back to not so much a garden as a jungle. Weeds are a...

In keeping with my love of old movies, I was recently reminded of: It Happened in Naples. I admit with no hesitancy that I am no Sophia Loren. But sometimes things happen at the Weinhard that are...

I am an old movie fan, and lately, the classic flick, The Three Faces of Eve starring Joanne Woodward, has been on my mind. Probably because, in a small way, I feel like my life is emulating that stor...

The dog days are close at hand, and with a record heatwave happening as we speak, what better way to beat the heat than to head down to your favorite swimming hole with "Rover" in tow. Few things are...

I am now officially and happily the Ice Queen. Just in time for the brutal heat wave that struck this week, we finally have a functioning ice machine. Sometimes, the small pleasures in life (albeit...

It's weird to be thinking about fall when it doesn't even feel like summer has hit its stride, but here I am, planning what seeds I need to start to ensure I have cabbages and carrots galore. Gardens...

My mother, a very wise woman, taught my sister, brother, and I that "you don't kick a man when he's down." A lesson I remembered this week when we purchased a new ice machine for over $3,000. Three...

Every time I think I have the garden dialed in I'm reminded that I don't. Such is life. Overall, May has been kind to our garden with stable weather though a bit cold in our area (the last frost was...

In 2000, a new celebrity chef was born when Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential; Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly became a best seller. At the time, I was working as a “kitchen sla...

Our jet sled bobbed near the infamous "Buoy 10" in the mouth of the Columbia River. It was a stormy September afternoon with angry Pacific surf bullying its wave action far upriver. Coho were the targ...

We’re all exhausted, my hands are raw, my nails are shredded, and my feet are so sore I can hardly walk. Somehow, we made it through the first two weeks as new Dayton restauranteurs. All without k...

We did it! We opened the café! I’m so glad we started with our “friends soft opening” last Saturday; it was a smart move. We found the kinks, what works and what doesn’t (the meat slicer). Also, si...

Seven apple varieties, previously believed lost or extinct, have been found in old orchards in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, according to a joint press release by The Temperate Orchard Conservancy...

Well, it's officially go-time! Those of you in Waitsburg proper should probably be a week or two ahead of me in terms of planting. Living a bit north of town and in a slightly colder spot, we managed...

My sister and I are good friends when she's not trying to run my life. Being petite and the middle child, she's decided it's the reason (excuse) for her bossiness. Luckily, we agree on politics and...

Have you ever had pet chickens? Neither did I until a few years ago. After a nasty bite from a vicious kindergarten class parakeet, it took me a while to venture into the avian world again. While I...

Insanity doesn’t even begin to describe our recent business decision. There was a movie made in 2011 called “We Bought a Zoo.” Based on a true story, it stars Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. It chr...

Picture a portly, toe-headed boy standing along the muddy shoreline of a farm pond as the sinking summer sun casts a warm amber glow across the water. He wore pastel yellow jogging shorts and a Mr. T...

Pam was an Elder in the Christian Church of Waitsburg. Her husband Larry’s family helped build that church. I am not talking about the structure at the corner of Main and 6th Streets but the s... Full story

Like beauty, organization is in the eye of the beholder (or doer). Daniel and I recently had a heated discussion about who is more organized. I think the issue is that we have different expectations a...