Mr. Polehn writes

The Dalles Cherry Festival is coming up (Saturday April 22nd this year).  Despite the cheesiness and the crowds, this is actually one of my favorite "local holidays."  The 10k run is one of my new favorite traditions.  The run has been around longer than I have and goes right through where I grew up.  It's about time I started to "enjoy" it. """April 22nd – 3k and 5k are out and back, with a nice uphill at the start. The 10k does a LOOP, with rolling uphill the first half, then enjoy the nice 9+ miles of downhill to the finish.  Paved, scenic, orchard country roads. Awards to the top 3 in each age division, all runs. Great random prize drawings! Proceeds will benefit TDHS Cross Country Teams. Registration forms available at The Dalles Chamber office.""" If you're following along at home and can convert customary to metric in your head a run with 9+ miles of downhill is a comically long 10k.  Despite the obvious typo this is...

  Two months ago now I declared my candidacy for election to Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation District Board of Directors Position Number Five.  A mouth full of a title.  I really enjoy our local parks and have no major qualms with the parks district or the current board.  They have done a fine job maintaining and improving existing parks and programs.  So there's question you are probably asking and I am required to ask myself.  Why am I running? Democracy requires contest   What is the point of an election with only one candidate?  Without contested races there is almost no need for real public discourse unless some controversy springs up.  This is all too common for local elections in Wasco County.  Uncontested races are akin to a business handing a job to the first and only applicant.  This wouldn't work in the private sector and it shouldn't work for public offices.   Surely the citi...

  Recently I came to the conclusion that I should write more often.  That is, I believe, I should start to consider myself a "writer."  That's the main reason there's been a bit of an increase in publishing to this blog (going from zero over the past few years to a couple times a month is a pretty huge jump).     I, like most humans, have thoughts and opinions which are a product of the times and places in which I live.  I figure I can do my part for future historians and write a few of them down.  I also just might have enough creative juice to pump out a story or two. This blog   I'd like to post to this blog at least once a week from now on, or at a minimum once a month.  Really, anything at all would be better than what I've been doing.  I'll mainly write about my life, family, interests, and opinions about, current events and local and state politics (I'll try to steer clear of national issues for my own sanity).  Pretty...