August 21, 2003

Cowboy Shrub (aka George W. Bush) is scheduled to visit Central Oregon today. There will be no public appearances (just a speech about his "Healthy" Forest Initiative to a bunch of his local minions at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds), and the Secret Service of course won't divulge where he's staying tonight.

But I have a pretty good idea. The exclusive golf course and resort Crosswater in Sunriver (about 15 minutes south of Bend) has instituted a curfew from 3pm today to 9am tomorrow for anybody not actually residing at the resort. So chances that Shrub is staying there and is going to hit a few relaxing golfballs this afternoon are pretty good.

And to remind Shrub and everyone else just how gorgeous old growth trees really are (and that they shouldn't be chopped down under *any* circumstances), here's today's "Pic of the Day":

This tree in LaPine State Park is Oregon's largest ponderosa pine. Nicknamed "Big Red," the tree is 162' tall, 28.9' around and may be in excess of 500 years old. It was originally even taller, but lighting struck the tree and chopped off its top part. Click on the image to get a more detailed look at this magnificent tree.