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High Desert Musings

• February 03, 2012
• 15:27

  How to Touch a Poison Dart Frog

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  Tiny, colorful, pretty and deadly: the poison dart frog is arguably the world’s most lethal animal. Their poison is used in blowgun darts by native peoples of South America. Want to know the cool trick (ok, it’s really science) behind how our staff can handle them?
  
  Well, here at the Museum, we feed the dart frogs crickets and fruit flies. In tropical forests, they get their toxin from other kinds of insect prey, probably ants and mites. As long as they aren’t eating those kinds of bugs, they’re not poisonous, so we can touch them.
  
  In our lush, re-created habitats, you can observe these amphibians, as small as your fingertip, shining and vibrant. Imagine you are one of the Emberá people in Columbia, in search of this tiny creature for its toxic secretions for poisoning darts used in blowguns. Poisoned tips will help in hunting small prey faster.
  
  Yet the story of these gems of the rainforest goes beyond poisons and blowguns, with larger lessons about biological diversity.
  
  Birds and reptiles quickly learn to avoid the nasty tasting frogs, who display their toxicity with brilliant colors and striking patterns. The strategy is so effective that an entire second suite of frog species mimics the colors and sizes of dart frogs. These imitators aren’t toxic in the least, but ride on the coattails of those that are.
  
  They don’t have to hide high in trees, and can be active in daytime, near the ground, where prey is more abundant. And they are among the few amphibians that can pair up and care for their offspring together.
  
  Who'd imagine that poison could help with good parenting?
  
  Come and discover more amazing stories of nature at our latest exhibit, "Leapers & Creepers: the Living World of Frogs and Reptiles."
• January 25, 2012
• 11:18

  Fast-Motion Video: The Making of "Leapers & Creepers"

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  Visitors at the High Desert Museum frequently tell us our exhibits are so fun and exciting.And, they often think that they are traveling exhibits, built by some museum in a big city and sent on the road. But we create nearly all of our exhibits here at this nonprofit, with our wonderfully talented and dedicated staff.
  
  Click">[www.blogger.com] here for a fast-motion video showing how we built a lush, indoor, plant filled environment for more than 20 native and exotic species of frogs and reptiles, from poison dart frogs and chameleons to geckos and snakes. It's our new exhibit Leapers & Creepers: The Living World of Frogs and Reptiles.
  
  One highlight is an area where tortoises roam freely and you can touch them and watch them being fed.
  
  This latest interactive and educational offering allows visitors to learn about these animals’ natural history and conservation issues. The exhibit runs through April 29.
  
  Thanks to our pro photographers who generously donate their time and expertise! This video was shot by Museum volunteer Lee Schaefer, and the photo is by Museum volunteer Abbott Schindler.
• January 13, 2012
• 16:46

  Photo Tells True Story for Mining Day

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  One Museum photograph intrigued Museum volunteer Suzanne Linford, and inspired her to research it:
  
  At the entrance to the Comstock silver and gold hard rock mine in Nevada, 12 men stand in a photograph taken in 1862. They look at us across the 150 years since they posed for this company photo, with their arms crossed over their bare chests. They are the mine supervisors chosen for trusted management positions. They come from Cornwall, England.
  
  Cornwall is the legendary home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable and Merlin the magician. In reality, it is a hard land and an enchanted one, accepting of invasions, grueling work and unseen possibilities.
  
  These Cornishmen came to America because the copper and tin mines at home played out, and the market for these metals dropped in the mid-19th century. They brought knowledge and skills – honed from 2,000 years of such mining. One major invention was the “Cornish engine,” a steam powered engine that pumped water out of mines. This machine helped allow mines to go as deep as 2,000 feet in the Comstock lodes. One adage went that at the bottom of every large hole in the ground, one would find a Cornishman.
  
  The Cornish miners were a mine owners dream. They worked 12-hour work shifts, seven days a week and held pro-management and anti-labor union views. Those who were Methodists didn’t drink alcohol. They were positive and always had a “Cousin Jack” who could fill any job vacancy. Consistent with their cultural heritage that combined hard work and a belief in what was possible, they were said to possess the ability to foresee possible disasters – signaled by underground elves.
  
  Look for the photo in our Spirit of the West exhibit, and take a tour with Suzanne Linford or another volunteer docent daily (except Sundays) at 2:45 p.m. And on Jan. 14, it’s Mining Day! Try your hand at gold panning inside the Spirit of the West exhibit’s re-created 19th-century placer mine and boom town. Have your earnings authenticated at Silver City’s Wells Fargo Bank and take your treasure home! 11am-3pm. $2 per “miner.”
  
• January 04, 2012
• 9:46

  Let Your Spirit Soar as a Wildlife Volunteer

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  Chances are you’ve been pondering how to make 2012 one of the best years ever: you’ll try new things, challenge yourself, have more fun, accomplish something meaningful and help others.
  
  Imagine working with animals at the High Desert Museum, from eagles and owls to hawks and badgers, helping to care for them and work with them in our acclaimed programs that teach people about our natural world.
  
  Haven’t worked with anything more wild than a house cat? That’s fine, you do not have to have experience. You’ll be trained by our wildlife experts, including Curator of Living Collections Jim Dawson, a raptor biologist who has studied nearly every raptor species in every desert in North America.
  
  Picture yourself here at the Museum’s 135-acre ponderosa pine forest. You hold your breath aa one of our hawks glides toward you. You hold your arm high, wearing a thick, leather raptor’s glove. The wild bird seems to look right into your eyes as it flares its wings and lands on your hand. It’s so close, you see every feather and its powerful talons. You remember to start breathing again.
  
  Few people have an experience such as this, an unparalleled way to connect with the natural world. Raptors lead lives that are spectacular and exciting. You will be a part of it. And you can share it through our programs, drawing visitors into nature and the wild world of birds and inspiring stewardship of our resources.
  
  What better way to think globally and act locally?
  
  Find out more about being a wildlife volunteer. Call Jim Dawson at 541-323-3322. Or click here.
  
  And, if you’re interested a range of ways that you can assist at the Museum from working with wildlife, to giving talks and tours or helping behind the scenes, join us on Jan. 5 for Volunteer Orientation, 10:30-11:30am. RSVP: volunteer@highdesertmuseum.org. Details at highdesertmuseum.org.
  
  Photo by Museum volunteer Todd Carey
• December 23, 2011
• 12:14

  The holidays in High Desert history

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  From fur trappers to buckaroos, a look back at holiday traditions in the High Desert:
  
  In 1825 fur trapper Peter Skene Ogden wrote:
  
  "Sunday, 25th. This being Christmas, all hands remained in camp. Prayers were made. Cold increases; prospects gloomy; not 20 lbs. of food remain in camp, and nearly all our traps out of water. "
  
  "Sunday, Jan. 1, 1826, Remained in camp. Gave all hands a dram. There was more fasting than feasting. The first New Year's day since I came to the Indian country when my men were without food; 4 beaver today."
  
  In 1826 Ogden wrote:
  "Sunday 25th, Christmas. I did not raise camp and we are reduced to one meal a day."
  
  Despite being thousands of miles from the nearest city, the men and women of the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trapping and trading forts still managed to celebrate Christmas and New Years in the High Desert. It was customary for the officers in charge to distribute regales – extra rations of rum, tobacco and foodstuffs – to the employees and to allow for time off while celebrating.
  
  In 1835, while visiting Fort Vancouver, American missionary Samuel Parker observed:
  
  “The holidays are not forgotten in these far distant regions...From Christmas until after the New Years, all labor is suspended and a time of general indulgence and festivity commences.” No matter the location, the celebrations, like the Fur Trade itself, were often a mixture of multiple cultures with Holiday songs and religious ceremonies conducted in French, English and Chinook Jargon – the trade language of the Pacific Northwest.
  
  The dishes on display the Museum's Hall of Exploration and settlement case represent the officers’ wives bringing out their best china to celebrate the holidays. The red and blue Spode items, circa 1780 and were in the halls of the ships coming West.
  
  A century ago, a Catholic vaquero, or buckaroo, would remember the celebrations of the Mexican Christmas holiday beginning with La Posada, the reenactment of the journey of Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay at night before the Baby Jesus was born. Young children would go from house to house pretending to be Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay.
  
  Happy holidays from the High Desert Museum.
• December 14, 2011
• 10:22

  Make an Impact: Wild & Local Gifts

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  Gifts that reflect your love of High Desert wildlife, nature and culture can make a difference. Whether you adopt a raptor or bobcat, give someone a year of unlimited Museum visits (membership is an incredible value) or shop our store for toys, jewelry or other artisan works, these gifts support our valuable work inspiring thousands of people every year.
  
  Museum gift membership offers a year of new and exciting exhibitions, inspiring educational programs featuring live animals and historical characters portrayed live, special talks, films, lectures and more special events. They start at just $50.
  
  Our new Adopt An Animal Packages make great, fun gifts, and help care for rescued animals here. They are $25 and up.
  
  Memberships and animal adoptions are available at the Museum, or by calling 541.382.4754, ext. 244, or click here.
  
  The Silver Sage Trading store is the place for: holiday ornaments and cards, books, cuddly plush toys, Oregon-made jams and sauces, fountain pens crafted from local wood, jewelry and other artisan works. Museum member discounts are now double: 20 percent off most merchandise in December.
• December 09, 2011
• 16:48

  Who Is Father Christmas?

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  Standing nearly 6-and-half feet tall, with twinkling blue eyes, rosy cheeks and a full white beard, Father Christmas has stepped out of a Victorian tale and into the Museum, in his hand-sewn, ermine trimmed, emerald velvet cape.
  
  On Dec. 10 and Dec. 17 at the Museum, he will be in our re-created settlement town, Silver City, listening to what you’d like this holiday. On the frontier in the 1880s, Father Christmas represented the season's spirit of good cheer. In this historically accurate setting, it's easy to imagine that you are a homesteader, or have come west to stake a mining claim and reap a fortune. For those who pioneered this region, celebrating the holidays was a welcome respite from harsh conditions in a new land.
  
  As you nibble on sugar cookies and take in our other exhibits, we think you'll take home an experience unlike any other. It's all part of our mission, helping you to discover your connection to the past, role in the present, and responsibility to the future.
  
  Have your child's photo taken with the Father Christmas, too. 11am-3pm. Photos: $3 each.
  
• December 02, 2011
• 13:56

  Why Go Birding in Winter?

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  The temperatures are dropping. It may not seem like a great time to spot some fascinating bird activity, but it is. In winter, trees and underbrush are bare, making it easier to observe birds, which are more attracted to feeders now, when insects are fewer. Discovering them in their habitat is a great way to connect with nature, whether you are in the wild, in your backyard or here at the Museum.
  
  With 135 acres of forest surrounding our trails and a wildlife viewing area with water and feeders, the Museum is an ideal place for birdwatchers. Mary Yanalcanlin from the East Cascades Audubon Society says she has spotted hairy woodpeckers (see photo by Paul Bannick), red-breasted sapsuckers, red-breasted nuthatches and mountain chickadees along our trails. She spied a red crossbill through one of our floor-to-ceiling windows.
  
  “This is just a sampling of the great variety here as more birds come down from the mountains, because they like to winter in Bend and go higher up to breed,” she said. One such bird is the dark-eyed Junko, a type of sparrow with a variety of markings and crisp white tail feathers.
  
  The High Desert has a range of habitats, which attract an array of species. Male ducks are getting their breeding plumage, distinctive green heads and their white “necklace” as Yanalcanlin calls it.
  
  “In summer, male ducks look similar to the females: drab brown,” she says. “They don’t need colorful plumage to attract a mate in summer, when they molt.”
  
  Sight is not the only way to discover winged life in our forests. Open your ears. Listening for bird sounds will enrich the experience even more.
  
  Come and discover the fun of backyard birding at 2 pm tomorrow at the Museum with Mary Yanalcanlin of the East Cascades Audubon Society. She’ll give a presentation on the birds of Central Oregon and tell how to identify the birds in your backyard. Afterward, tour the Museum grounds and identify local and migratory birds. In conjunction with the exhibit "The Owl and the Woodpecker: Photographs by Paul Bannick."
• November 11, 2011
• 16:59

  [nt]

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  What do you get when you combine a Shakespearean actor and live animals? The answer is a great new fun way to experience the nature and culture around us.
  
  In our new special program Animal Encounters: Tales from the Wild runs Nov. 20-23 & 25-26, Alastair Jaques portrays an 1880s natural scientist explorer who comes face to face with live animals.
  
  You've heard the old adage of actors and vaudevillians: “I never work with animals or kids.” Well, Alastair will have both – he’ll work with the world’s largest breed of owl, the Eurasian eagle owl that will soar over the audience with its 6-foot wingspan, a blue-tongued skink and other animals. (The audience, so close that they will practically be a part of the show, will include lots of kids.)
  
  Alastair is equipped, having once worked with a circus and so is accustomed to working with animals, and he’s taken his one-man show about Edgar Allen Poe around the region. He’s done some great research for his role here as the intrepid character and will draw the audience into his tale of encountering wild raptors and reptiles of the American frontier and abroad.
  
  We're excited about our rehearsals and will keep you posted on how it's working!
  
  Animal Encounters: Tales from the Wild - Nov. 20-23 & 25-26
  Enter the world of an 1880s natural scientist explorer as you come face to face with live animals! Unleash your imagination as this intrepid character draws you into his tale of encountering wild raptors and reptiles of the American frontier and abroad. An amazing journey of fun and enrichment. 11 am and 1:30 pm Members: $5; Non-members $7 plus Museum admission. Tickets on sale now at www.highdesertmuseum.org
  
• October 26, 2011
• 11:15

  Why Owls at Halloween?

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  Around the world, people have associated owls with mystery, witchcraft and even death. After all, they are creatures of the night, and we humans are inherently fearful of the dark: what we cannot see could hurt us.
  
  For example, many African tribal names for owls translate as “witchbird.” And the stark white barn owl is often called “ghost owl.”
  
  Many cultures have hunted owls to rid their villages of evil or death, but also to reap medicinal ingredients. Eating owl eyes was believed to offer night vision, raw owl eggs were thought to cure alcoholism, boiled owl fat was said to treat sores and owl soup was a folk remedy for whooping cough. Owl hearts were revered as offering strength for battles, curing epilepsy and as a truth serum.
  
  Speaking of truth, humans benefit greatly from having owls around us alive, especially barn owls, who like to live in, yes, barns. That’s where they help farmers by hunting pests. One barn owl can eat 1,200 mice annually in just one field. What a great pesticide – it’s free and doesn’t put chemicals on the food that we eat!
  
  You can meet our gorgeous barn owl, George, our raven, Hera, and other nocturnal creatures at Tales of Hallows' Eve - Sat., Oct. 29! With stories by Edgar Allen Poe and Edward Gorey told live by Victorian characters, puppet shows, bobbing for hanging apples and making pumpkin ice cream. Discovering the holiday’s origins as you do special jack-o’-lantern and puppet crafts!
  4 pm-8 pm $2. All children age 4 and under and all Museum members: free!
  Photo: High Desert Museum barn owl by Jennifer Loring
• October 21, 2011
• 16:47

  Hallow's Eve: Rooted in Nature, Culture

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  This Halloween, as kids roam the neighborhood dressed as Darth Vader or Disney princesses, the holiday's roots in nature and culture may not be so evident.
  
  Here's one fun way to discover those cool origins: the Museum's Tales of Hallows’ Eve on Saturday, October 29.
  
  Live, mysterious raptors of the night appear as you experience the gripping tales of Edgar Allen Poe and Edward Gorey and travel back to the 1880s inside the Museum. You'll meet ravens and owls close up and learn why these and other animals are linked to Hallow’s Eve.
  
  Victorian characters from the frontier will appear along with puppet shows, puppet making and bobbing for hanging apples. You can also make pumpkin ice cream and discover the origins of jack-o'-lanterns as you do a special jack-o’-lantern craft.
  4 pm-8 pm
  $2.
  Museum members and all children age 4 and younger, free!
  
• October 14, 2011
• 16:12

  Embracing the Harvest Spirit

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  For millennia, people have celebrated the earth’s bounty in fall, preparing for the cold, dark winter ahead. Today we have brightly lit supermarkets stocked all year long, but that ancient urge to celebrate the autumn harvest endures.
  
  Every weekend at the Museum’s 1904 ranch cabin, we see all ages indulging that spirit. Kids love getting their hands dirty, digging potatoes in our ranch garden, crosscut sawing, and helping at our 100-year-old sawmill. They do it all without much prompting from the homesteaders portrayed live there.
  
  Parents are always telling us they are delighted to see their kids away from video games, and actually having fun doing chores, helping the homesteaders sweep the porch and tend to the chickens.
  
  On weekends throughout the fall, the settlers will be cooking over their wood stove, chatting about the new technology in town (the telephone, automobile, electricity), the suffragette movement and speculating on what winter will bring. See you there!
  
  Characters are at the ranch weekends, 11am – 3 pm, weather permitting, and on weekdays in the Hall of Exploration and Settlement.)
  Photo by Lee Schaefer, High Desert Museum volunteer
  
• July 15, 2011
• 17:09

  "Kissed" by a Baby Porcupine

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  I just finished talking with the High Desert Museum’s new Senior Wildlife Specialist Lily Koch, and the whole time she had a baby skunk in her jacket pocket! That’s the kind of extra care needed to nurture the animal that had been orphaned, found beside its dead mother off a roadway.
  
  And it’s typical of Koch’s work here – this is no 9-to-5 job. When caring for the Museum’s new baby animals such as the skunk, porcupine and badger, Koch brings them home and bottle feeds them every two hours throughout the night (they sleep in a crate beside her bed).
  
  Then she’s at the Museum by 7:30 am daily, performing more of the duties that, ordinarily, an animal’s mother would in the wild, such as skinning and cutting up mice for the baby badger (adults eat them whole). Then it’s on to handling venomous reptiles including Gila monsters and rattlesnakes (using snake hooks) while cleaning their habitats. When caring for the bobcat, lynx and otter, she enters their dens with no barriers between her and the animals.
  
  “I love working with the bobcat because they give one warning – a growl – and that’s it, whereas lions and tigers give several warnings and allow you to make several mistakes,” says Koch, 31.
  
  Throughout her career, she has worked with animals ranging from lions, tigers, cheetahs and sharks, to monkeys, kangaroos, Malaysian bearcats and alligators. One challenge is transporting exotic animals to the veterinarian. She had to have the rear window of her car tinted because, when other drivers spotted the cheetah in the back and took out their camera phones, it nearly caused collisions. Working with the cheetah on TV commercials for Cheetos and a well-known celebrity had its challenges too, she said.
  
  A native of Finland, she also is a professional horse trainer who cared for the horses of Jordan’s HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, in Ireland.
  
  Come by and meet our animals and learn all about them from our wildlife staff including Lily!
  
  Photo by Lee Schaefer
  
• July 10, 2011
• 15:25

  Baby Porcupine Named by Local Student

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  Tumbleweed is the winning name for the baby porcupine at the High Desert Museum, and the culmination of a contest involving hundreds of Central Oregon students and visitors. Maycie Mitsch, 10, of Bend, submitted the winning name.
  
  The Museum had chosen Tumbleweed, along with Nettles and Newberry, from the suggestions submitted by students. Museum visitors voted for the winner with contributions dropped in ballot boxes for each name. All proceeds support the Museum’s porcupine family and the wildlife education programs.
  
  Visitors can meet the 10-week-old Tumbleweed at most 3 pm Desert Dwellers programs, which happen daily and include a badger and other live animals at the Museum.
  
  Mitsch won a special visit with the baby porcupine and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum’s wildlife areas.
  
  “I thought Tumbleweed was a good name for a porcupine because it’s something we have in the High Desert, and it’s sort of prickly like a porcupine,” said Mitsch, who is going into the fifth grade at Highland Elementary School, and whose family has had a Museum membership for several years.
  
  Mitsch’s mother, Melissa Mitsch, said the family was vacationing, visiting six national parks throughout the West, when Maycie learned she was a contest finalist. “It was Maycie’s most exciting memory from that trip,” she said. “She was ecstatic.”
  
  Museum President Janeanne A. Upp said, “It was wonderful to have the whole community join in naming our newest animal, and to see local school children’s excitement surrounding the contest. It exemplifies how the Museum achieves its goal of inspiring all ages to become engaged in learning about the wildlife and nature of our region.”
  
  The baby porcupine, like its parents, cannot survive in the wild. The mother, Honeysuckle, was born at an educational facility, and never learned survival skills such as how to find water, food, and shelter away from predators. The father porcupine, Thistle, came to the Museum from a wildlife rehabilitation facility in 2004. His injuries prevent him from surviving in the wild.
  
  This is the third consecutive year that Honeysuckle gave birth here. Last year, her baby was named Q’will in a contest open to the public.
  
  This summer, contributions that were dropped in donation boxes during the contest and those made through Aug. 15 at the Museum will be even more valuable. Sagebrush, a new collaborative fundraising project in Central Oregon, will make a percentage match to those donations. All of these contributions support the Museum’s educational programs.
  
  For more information, click here
  Photo by Abbott Schindler
• June 24, 2011
• 16:53

  Aha! Artifact Discovered in 1850 Stagecoach

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  It was just our kind of “aha moment.” For the last two weeks, a conservator from Georgetown, Maine, has been working on the Museum’s historic stagecoach, meticulously restoring stability to the wood structure and its interior textiles and leather. Jonathan Taggart, an expert in this highly specialized field, was inside the circa 1850 coach when something caught his eye.
  
  “I noticed a corner of white paper down behind the back right seat, where a person would have been facing forward – a choice seat,” said Taggart. “The horsehair was coming out of the padding where it has dried up and shrunken, and there was this beautiful printed package.”
  
  Dr. F.W. Diemer’s Swan Root Dyspepsia Treatment – a “two-day sample… fully guaranteed,” unopened, presumably fell or perhaps was jostled from the pocket of a passenger about one-and-half centuries ago, and it lay there, until this week.
  
  It’s no wonder that a passenger would have brought along such a remedy.
  
  “Riding in that thing would have given you dyspepsia,” said Taggart. “It couldn’t have been a comfortable ride. It was supposed to be for six people. They would have been crammed in like sardines with no legroom for hours going ka-boing, ka-boig, not going down nice, smooth pavement with rubber tires – these ‘tires’ are steel.”
  
  The Museum’s DeMoss Family Concord Stagecoach, one of the Museum’s most significant artifacts, plays a key role in telling the story of the settlement of the High Desert frontier. Every year, thousands of visitors and school children learn about the region’s history as they pause beside the stagecoach and chat with its driver, portrayed by the Museum's Living History volunteers.
  
  The stagecoach was once owned by Henry James “Hank” Monk, whose escapades have made it possibly the most famous Western American stagecoach. Monk ran great quantities of gold before railroad times, as well as passengers such as Horace Greeley, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, Prince Alexander of Russia (to a Bill Cody buffalo hunt), and President Rutherford B. Hayes.
  
  We can only wonder if perhaps it was one of these figures who, upon experiencing stomach upset as the stage rumbled over boulder-laden trails, fumbled around unsuccessfully for the medicine. So stop by the Museum, and let this remarkable artifact spark your imagination.
• June 14, 2011
• 16:37

  Sustainable Northwest Champion Speaks

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  Economic issues frequently are not considered directly related to economic and social benefits, but that is clear in the achievements of J. Martin Goebel, president of Sustainable Northwest, who talks about his award-winning work at 6 p.m. this Thursday at the Museum.
  
  Goebel’s passion for the last 25 years has been enabling people to change how they work with one another as well as how they work with the environment.
  
  “It has taken some time and a lot of work by a lot of individuals, but many people now have an appreciation for how the health of communities is directly linked to the health of the environment, how the fate of our economic and social systems rests on the integrity of natural systems, and how enormous economic opportunity – including stability and equity for people – can result from working together to solve our biggest environmental challenges,” said Goebel.
  
  For example, in Lakeview, Ore., Goebel helped to organize and facilitate a long-term management plan for 495,000 acres of the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Through the Lake County Resources Initiative, the community has embraced job creation and environmental conservation with a small-diameter log mill run by The Collins Companies and a biomass energy plant.
  
  Sustainable Northwest of Portland brings people, ideas, and innovation together so that nature, local economies, and rural communities can thrive. “When the conditions are right in a community, it is amazing what a few courageous innovators can do with a small amount of resources,” says Goebel. “The key is creating the conditions that enable open and honest dialogue.”
  
  The High Desert Museum chose Goebel for the 2010 Earle A. Chiles Award, recognizing his achievements in helping communities to restore and maintain ecological health, balance diverse interests, and promote economic opportunities in our region.
  
  J. Martin Goebel, Sustainable Northwest, June 16, 6 pm
  $3. Museum Members, free. RSVP: 541-382-4754 ext. 241
  
• June 09, 2011
• 16:21

  New Story: Live at the 1904 Ranch & Mill

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  Bend's growth, the economy, and how technology is changing our lives are all popular topics, but if you step back into the year 1904, you'll find High Desert folks were grappling with the same things. It's a central theme to a new story unfolding at the Museum’s re-created 1904 ranch and sawmill.
  
  The Miller family – new Living History characters – are portrayed live along with their guests throughout the summer. The area is changing dramatically. Bend’s population has surpassed 400, up from 21 people in 1900. Freighters, stockmen, buckaroos, sheep herders, timber cruisers, gamblers and transients of all kinds have descended upon the boomtown. Timber industry tycoon Alexander Drake is spearheading the area’s development, and a railroad line is expected to reach Central Oregon soon.
  
  New technology – the telephone, automobile and electricity – is arriving. Topics on the national scene include the women’s suffrage movement, President Theodore Roosevelt, and whether plans for the Panama Canal would position America as a maritime, and potentially imperial, power.
  
  A century ago, the residents of Central Oregon were not that different from today. They lived through a period of rapid growth and felt torn between appreciating modern conveniences and concern that their lifestyles were becoming obsolete. People tried to balance optimism for the future with nostalgia for simpler times.
  
  Despite the changes, the Millers are continuing to ranch. The family recently joined other homesteaders to buy a used sawmill from the U.S. Army. Now they can mill timber for barns, sheds, worker bunkhouses and other projects instead of buying lumber from distant mills.
  
  So, stop by our ranch and sawmill from 11 am to 4 pm and chat with the Millers and others from the year 1904 as you help with watering the garden, washing the laundry, cross-cut sawing and working at the mill!
• June 01, 2011
• 16:41

  Vote to Name Our Baby Porcupine!

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  What's your favorite name for our new baby porcupine: Nettles, Tumbleweed or Newberry? You can vote for the name by dropping a donation in ballot boxes set up here for each one. The name that receives the highest amount wins, and will be announced on July 9. All proceeds will support the nonprofit Museum’s porcupine family and our wildlife education program.
  
  Visitors can meet the prickly baby here at 2 pm most Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 2 pm, and learn all about it from our wildlife experts. (If the baby is feeling shy, however, the appearance may be canceled. Thanks for understanding.)
  
  The three names in the contest were selected by the Museum from scores submitted by preschoolers through eighth-graders in Central Oregon. The student whose submitted name wins will receive a special visit with the baby porcupine and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum’s wildlife areas.
  
  The Museum asked local school children to name our newest animal, because the Museum is first and foremost an educational center, said Museum President Janeanne A. Upp.
  
  The newborn weighed about a pound at birth in April. Baby porcupines are born with all of their teeth, their eyes open, walking, and with all 30,000 of their quills. The porcupine has not grown enough for Museum wildlife specialists to see whether it is male or female.
  
  The new baby porcupine, like its parents, cannot survive in the wild. The mother, Honeysuckle, was born at an educational facility, and never learned survival skills such as how to find water, food, and shelter away from predators. In the wild, porcupines stay with their mothers for up to a year, and learn such skills. The father porcupine, Thistle, came to the Museum from a wildlife rehabilitation facility in 2004. His injuries prevent him from surviving in the wild.
  
  This is the third consecutive year that Honeysuckle gave birth here. Last year, her baby was named Q’will in a public naming contest.
• May 25, 2011
• 16:38

  Raptors -Unscripted

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Throughout the spring, our wildlife staff has been working hard preparing hawks, owls and other raptors for an exciting new summer program at the Museum, but you’d never know it. That is, Raptors of the Desert Sky, which starts Saturday, lets you see these magnificent birds of prey in the forest, doing what they want to do.
  
  

Red-tailed hawks, Harris’ hawks, peregrine falcons, great horned owls, barn owls and Eurasian eagle owls will be flying free, out of view of the Museum buildings. The emphasis is on nature – human factors are minimal. It is not scripted. The birds are not tightly choreographed or trained. They are interacting with the environment and making their own decisions about what to do and when to do it.
  
  “Raptors lead lives that are spectacular and exciting,” says Jim Dawson, Curator of Living Collections. “The flight of a falcon in pursuit of prey leaves a memory far more powerful than a trained trick. In our program, you experience native birds much as you would in the natural world.”                                                    
  
  Shows featuring birds frequently strive to make birds seem more human. The Raptors program does the opposite. Join us and venture into nature and the wild world of birds.
  
  The daily program is 1:30 pm daily throughout the summer starting May 28. Visitors should be prepared to stand outside during the 30-minute program. Weather permitting. Dress for a 30-minute roundtrip hike on a rough trail. Good walking shoes, hats, sunscreen and sunglasses are recommended. The trail is not accessible to strollers and wheelchairs. Members, $1; non-members, $2, plus admission; 4 and under, free.
  Sponsored by the Village at Sunriver.
• May 06, 2011
• 9:24

  Local Students to Name New Baby Porcupine

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  The Museum is calling on preschoolers through eighth-grade students in Central Oregon to name its new baby porcupine. Visitors can meet the week-old baby here at 2 pm tomorrow.
  
  The student who submits the winning name will receive a special visit with the baby porcupine and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum’s wildlife areas. Students may submit names through May 30 by clicking here.
  
  After May 30, the Museum will select three names from those submitted by students, and will invite visitors to vote for the winning name with contributions dropped in ballot boxes for each name. The winning name with the highest total donations will be announced on July 4. All proceeds will support the Museum’s porcupine family and wildlife program.
  
  Visitors can meet the baby porcupine on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 2 pm at the Museum.
  
  “I am thrilled to have our local school children name our newest animal, because the Museum is first and foremost an educational center,” said Museum President Janeanne A. Upp. “The focus on students in this educational and fun event reflects the Museum’s tremendous value as a singular resource for arts, culture and natural sciences education.”
  
  The newborn weighed about a pound at birth on April 29. Baby porcupines are born with all of their teeth, their eyes open, walking, and with all 30,000 of their quills. The porcupine has not grown enough for Museum wildlife specialists to see whether it is male or female.
  
  The new baby porcupine, like its parents, cannot survive in the wild. The mother, Honeysuckle, was born at an educational facility, and never learned survival skills such as how to find water, food, and shelter away from predators. In the wild, porcupines stay with their mothers for up to a year, and learn such skills. The father porcupine, Thistle, came to the Museum from a wildlife rehabilitation facility in 2004. His injuries prevent him from surviving in the wild.
  
  This is the third consecutive year that Honeysuckle gave birth here. Last year, her baby was named Q’will in a public naming contest.
• April 14, 2011
• 17:04

  Museum Offers Free Art Program to Schools

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  We frequently hear from educators that the need for regional art and culture education resources is immense. To address that need this year, the Museum welcomed more than 300 Central Oregon elementary school students, mostly from Title I schools, for a unique chance to explore art and culture and be inspired by rare Native American artifacts.
  
  The innovative, grant-funded Art Through Ancestry School Program was free to schools and integrated elements of the Art Through Ancestry exhibit, created by the Museum. In the exhibit, three Native American artists connected the past to the present by using the inspiration of ancestral artifacts to create contemporary art.
  
  The students took their art home, showed their parents what’s important to them, and told what they saw and did here. This opened the door for these students, including some of Native American heritage, to discuss what is important to their culture.
  
  That alone is gratifying, but we also received exuberant declarations of gratitude from the students. Some of the students included drawings too. (One, above, is of a pot that one student made in the class.)
  
  Teachers, local artists, arts advocates, and the Bend/La Pine school district have told us that providing opportunities such as this to view the Museum’s collection, learn about the artifacts and art at the Museum, and integrate arts education into the Museum’s programs is a high priority.
  
  We are currently pursuing more grant funding so that we can bring it back next year.
• April 07, 2011
• 15:24

  Look Out! Volcano!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Ever tried building an indoor volcano? Not the mini, tabletop ones. We’re talking about one you can walk through and touch all kinds of weird volcanic rocks and soil, and emerge to see footage of Mount St. Helens erupting, then create a caldera (a crater-like volcanic collapse), and make magma rise at the touch of a button.
  
  That’s what we’re up to now – speedily finishing the Volcano Country exhibit that opens Saturday. You’ll be awed by its magma-nificence.
  
  But seriously, you will be amazed to see how, in 10 days, we have transformed the gallery where our live Butterflies exhibit had been. Gone are several tons of dirt, hundreds of plants and watering systems.
  
  As you read this, our exhibits team is making Volcano Country all come together. David Werhane, exhibit preparator, is scaling up and down huge ladders. Glen Marcusen, exhibit design team lead, is waving his arms and scratching his head. Fabric designer Kimry Jelen is hunched over a sewing machine, making the towering, billowing volcano.
  
  It’s all to put Oregon’s explosive geology at your fingertips, with hands-on ways to discover our area's fiery natural history. Come and explore it this weekend!
  
  Presented by Bend Research with support from BendTel, Vernier Software & Technology. In coordination with Central Oregon Community College, Oregon Historical Society and Oregon Paleolands Institute.
  
• April 03, 2011
• 13:04

  April Fools, everyone!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  To those of you who didn't notice our April Fool's disclaimer on our previous snake post, we apologize. We certainly did not wish to alarm anyone with our attempt at some April first humor. We've deleted the post so there will be no further concerns.
• April 01, 2011
• 14:04

  Rattlesnake Escapes, Hits the High Desert, Slithers Back

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  April 1, 2011, Bend, OR: Inspired by the Bronx Zoo's Cobra, one of the High Desert Museum's rattlesnakes escaped from its exhibit yesterday to explore the town of Bend and its environs. However, after 24 hours on the loose, the viper returned and re-entered its enclosure, complaining that there was nothing new to see in the area.
  
  Fresh from the twice-daily appearance in the Museum's hit show Venom & Vipers over spring break, the rattler thought it was time to break free and see what the big city had to offer this aspiring singer/actor/dancer.
  
  "Really, what a let-down. B.Z.Cobra hit the Empire State Building, Times Square, Yankee Stadium. All I got to was the D&D, and they carded me. Drake Park was filled with geese - a little too messy if you know what I mean. I had to shed a skin just to clean up."
  
  The viper continued: "It was way too far to Mt. Bachelor, plus I'd freeze my rattle off up there. Buying snow gear was going to cost an arm and a leg, neither of which I have."
  
  "All I saw for miles around was sagebrush. I come from sagebrush! At least back here I get all the mice I want and have a 24-hour heat lamp. Plus I hang with the Gila monsters - pretty cool dudes once they loosen up."
  
  Museum officials were quick to reassure the public that the snake enclosure was secured. "HD TV and a Wii have been added to the exhibit so the snakes can exercise, although Wii Boxing is unavailable to them at this time for logistical reasons," said a spokesperson.
  
  Happy April Fools' Day!
  
  Image courtesy of Jill Rosell Photography - thanks, Jill!
• March 14, 2011
• 16:01

  Intrigue Continues for 1887's Unsolved Murders

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  The unsolved murders of more than 30 Chinese gold miners in Oregon's Hells Canyon in 1887 drew two dozen guests to the High Desert Museum on a snowy night last week. They came to hear how an author unearthed evidence pointing to an improbable gang of rustlers and schoolboys, one age 15, as the killers. R. Gregory Nokes, who traveled the world as a reporter and editor, talked about the facts he uncovered about the crimes while writing the book Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon.
  
  The Chinese gold miners at Deep Creek near the Snake River were killed during two days in 1887. A gang of about six – or possibly seven – local horse thieves saw the Asian immigrants collecting the gold before robbing and murdering them. The killings went unnoticed until bodies began to be found along the shores of the Snake River near Lewiston, Idaho. A man turned in six alleged murderers, but claimed that he had nothing to do with it. The six were arrested, but three escaped. A jury of non-Chinese found the remaining three not guilty.
  
  The event was forgotten until a transcript of the trial surfaced in 1995. When Nokes read about the discovery, he wrote about it for The Oregonian. Nokes continued investigating, drawing upon his experience as a reporter for The Associated Press, where he was chief state department correspondent in Washington, and covered Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan.
  
  The images of memorial ceremonies at the site, officially named Chinese Massacre Cove, were poignant. A Nez Perce medicine man’s cleansing ceremony included chanting and sage burning. Chinese participants honored the victims by burning paper offerings so that the smoke would carry the message to the heavens.
  
  Museum Volunteer Thomas McDannold covered Nokes’ talk for High Desert Musings. McDannold, emeritus professor at Ventura College, who has written extensively about the Chinese in the West, presents Oregon’s Chinese Heritage: A Legacy of Places, about Oregon’s ethnic history, April 2 at 2 pm at the High Desert Museum.
• March 11, 2011
• 11:35

  [nt]

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Ellen Waterston, award-winning author of Where the Crooked River Rises, talks tomorrow at 2 pm about how her book reveals the blessings and challenges of decades spent as a rancher, and how the High Desert is her teacher. She describes its lessons with grace and care, inviting readers to look at their own lives through a lens of wide-open spaces, sagebrush and juniper, pumice and rabbit brush.
  
  She captures the otherness to the High Desert, its momentous, sacredness in the purity of the silence. Her latest book is a compelling collection of personal essays that illuminates the people, places, and landscape of Central Oregon's vast High Desert.
  
  "Ellen Waterston's new book is a slug of juniper air, a breath-taking view of a rough-edged land, as bracing and taut as October mornings—part celebration, part elegy, all love and the wisdom that grows from deep roots in basalt rock. Like Wallace Stegner and Ivan Doig, Waterston writes masterfully about what it means—what it really means—to live in the West.”
  —Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Wild Comfort
  
  Waterston is the author of two collections of poetry, Between Desert Seasons and I Am Madagascar, both of which won the WILLA Award for Poetry in 2009 and 2005 respectively. Her memoir Then There Was No Mountain was selected by The Oregonian as one of the top ten books in 2003 and was a finalist for Foreword Book-of-the-Year. She is founder and president of the Writing Ranch and founder and director of The Nature of Words. Waterston ranched in Oregon’s High Desert before moving to Bend, Oregon.
• March 09, 2011
• 11:24

  Icy Dip for Otter Specialist

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  The next time you're having fun watching our river otter, Thomas, frolic in his outdoor pond, you may appreciate it more after reading this. The glass that lets you see Thomas swim and flip-turn above and below water needs to be kept clean, even in winter. Ever wonder how we do it? You may not have guessed hip waders, a fly fishing float tube and a 10-foot-long squeegee, but that was the solution that Wildlife Specialist Jennifer Zalewski thought up.
  
  Yesterday, after the Museum closed, Zalewski embarked on a frosty mission. Thomas was snug in his den as she walked through snow and entered the pond. After a few steps, she was afloat, the inflated ring about her wader-clad waist. Squeegee-paddling and moving her legs toward the window at the far edge of the pond, she wished she’d brought her flippers. Her walkie-talkie, on a rock beside the pond, crackled with a comment from Jim Dawson, curator of living collections. “It looks like a space walk,” he said, watching her through the window inside the exhibit viewing space.
  
  “Brrrr!” said Zalewski, now with goose bumps on her wet arms in the 40-degree air.
  
  “I owe you a beer for this,” Dawson said via radio. He pointed to spots on the glass for her to swipe with the squeegee. She scrubbed at a spot where Thomas had rubbed his nose. “I have such a great team,” he said. “They are all really dynamic.”
  
  Zalewski has a master's degree in wildlife biology. She has done extensive field study of otters, but has never worked anywhere with a live otter exhibit – much less cleaned any of them. She made it look easy. The glass was sparkling, but not time to run for that beer just yet.
  
  Next task: remove several coins visitors had thrown (against Museum policy) into the pond. Wielding an 18-inch grabbing device, Zalewski plunged her arm into the ice cold pond. It took a few tries. “Got it!” she exclaimed.
  
  She emerged, smiling and triumphant, and changed into warm clothes. Just another day in the life of a Museum wildlife specialist.
• March 01, 2011
• 11:35

  A Lunchtime Conversation – True Grit on the Oregon Trail

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  She sits on the tongue of the wagon with her back to us. We cannot see her face, but by the way she slumps forward, we know she is weary – perhaps even in despair. This emigrant woman on the Oregon Trail is waiting for her husband, who went off to search for water.
  
  He had unyoked the oxen, and the wagon wheels lay on the ground beside his hammer and blacksmithing tools. When he comes back, he’ll shim the metal rims back tight against the wooden wheels until they reach a place with enough water to soak the wood tight again. He has to do this every day, sometimes more than once, depending upon the kind of ground they come upon.
  
  They are not “no account” people. They had owned a farm in Illinois until the banks failed and nothing was worth what it had been. The only choice was to sell what they could and leave everything they knew. That was as hard as the times that had come down upon them.
  
  They aren’t alone in this fix. People from all over the country and even from all over the world are doing the same. Many of them are on this same trail walking to good green country in Oregon. They talk different, but otherwise, she allows, they are pretty much the same.
  
  She and her husband have been walking beside the wagon for five months now, on the Southern route of the Oregon Trail. They call it the Applegate Trail after that poor family that capsized coming down the Columbia and got their sons drowned. It was good of them to come back after reaching comfort in the Willamette Valley to find a safer trail west and to spare other families the same tragedy.
  
  In the next six weeks, they will walk across the Great Basin, a fearful land of high desert and higher mountains, long on dust and short on water. They have to get there before winter sets in. On a good day, they cover 15 miles.
  
  She keeps her kitchen toolbox, butter churn and flour barrel set neatly by the wagon when the wheels are off. We hope that her good dishes are still packed in the flour barrel. Castoff items littering the trail nearby show that other emigrant women were not lucky enough to keep even a few pretty things from home.
  
  Her baby cries inside the wagon, where we can see a quilt, made during her easier life. We know she’ll tend to the child before unpacking her dishes box and sets to fixing lunch. But right now, she just needs a moment.
  
  At the Spirit of the West exhibit, we are privileged to share that moment with her and to witness her grit and gumption to do whatever is necessary, no matter how hard. The Living History volunteer who portrays the emigrant woman, dressed in period clothing and surrounded by authentic artifacts, is just one of the people visitors may encounter in the Hall of Exploration and Settlement.
  
  Every day, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., a different character is in one of eight re-created 1880s scenes, from a settlement town and fur trader encampment to a placer mine. They subtly invite conversations about their stories – by what is seen and often, more powerfully, by what is unseen.
  
  Written by Living History Volunteer Susie Linford.
• February 25, 2011
• 10:09

  Free Family Saturday + Free Shuttles = FUN!

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  Tomorrow's Mid Oregon Credit Union Free Family Saturday just got better: it's an hour longer, from 10 am to 5 pm. Avoid parking hassles and hop the free, continuous shuttles from Morning Star Christian School, 19741 Baker Rd., off Hway 97, Baker Road exit. Avoid parking lot traffic snarls and shuttle it!
  
  A record-breaking number of visitors – 4,740 – attended last month’s free day. Everyone enjoyed seeing our live raptors, bobcat, lynx, Butterflies exhibit in our warm, lush indoor garden and Spirit of the West and Native American cultural exhibits. Have lunch or snacks at our Rimrock cafe. Shop the Museum store, Silver Sage Trading, for books, jewelry, and toys inspired by the High Desert.
  
  Remember, once the Museum parking lot is full, drivers will experience delays approaching and exiting the Museum. Please be courteous. And, don't park on Highway 97. It is illegal.
  
  Thanks to Mid Oregon Credit Union for another fabulous community event, and to Wanderlust Tours for help with the shuttles!
• February 21, 2011
• 15:01

  Finally: Gorgeous Atlas Moth Emerges!

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  A beautiful, long awaited Atlas moth has emerged from its cocoon after a two-month wait. This species is the largest type of moth in the world. Ours has a wingspan of about eight inches. Its lifespan is only about two weeks, so now is the time to see it, along with scores of butterflies in our warm, lush, indoor garden.
  
  You also can see our 19 Atlas moth cocoons in our pupa room, and we may have more emerging soon.
  
  The dessert-plate sized moth’s appearance on Sunday was much anticipated. The cocoons of this Southeast Asian species arrived in December, and the moths were expected to emerge in about 10 days. Visitors who had seen Atlas moths in our live Butterflies exhibit in November consistently asked our exhibit staff and volunteers when we would have more.
  
  In mid-January, butterfly expert Robert Michael Pyle, author of Mariposa Road: the First Butterfly Big Year, visited and confirmed that the pupas were with still alive, and so we waited, and waited and waited, watching the brown, cigar-like cocoons for activity.
  
  Once Atlas moths emerge, their lives are short, but purposeful. They are born with no mouths. They live off the fat of their bodies, reproduce, and die. They aren’t great flyers.
  
  “They aren’t as agile as the smaller moths and butterflies,” says Dana Whitelaw, vice president of programs. “They look kind of like a Volkswagen bus coming at you.”
  
  Yet the intricately patterned blue, yellow and orange moth has been an ambassador for moths.
  
  “Typically, our connection to nocturnal things that come flying at us is that it’s scary or ‘icky,’ ” says Whitelaw. “It is very human to associate things at night as being bad.”
  
  Today, as visitors of all ages peered with wonder at this mega-moth and the cocoons, it was clear they will never consider a moth in the same way again.
  
  The live Butterflies exhibit runs through March 26.
  
  Photo credit: High Desert Museum Photography Volunteer Abbott Schindler
• February 17, 2011
• 14:19

  See it Like a Volunteer

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  Want to know what it’s like at the Museum from the perspective of a volunteer?
  Tom McDannold spends a lot of time helping people have fun and get the most from our live Butterflies exhibit. Here’s what “Dr. Tom” (emeritus professor of geology, California’s Ventura College) has to say:
  
  Wow!!! What an amazing exhibit. Butterflies is the most unusual thing in a museum that I have experienced. Being surrounded by free-flying butterflies in the midst of winter in Central Oregon is really something.
  
  It was particularly neat because I am a new volunteer at the Museum. I must admit that I was nervous about volunteering to tell people about the butterflies, but the staff and other volunteers made it easy and fun. If you have not seen the exhibit, stop by.
  
  P.S. Let me know you read this post and I'll give you a special tour.
  
  Stay tuned for more updates from Tom on his interesting experiences in the midst of Butterflies!
  (The exhibit has been held over by popular demand through March 26.)
• February 02, 2011
• 13:09

  Badger (Not Groundhog) Signals Spring's Coming

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  Today’s Groundhog Day, and although we don’t have a groundhog here, Bonnie the badger is acting as if spring is coming soon. She has been sunning herself and coming out of winter torpor, a less active physiological state.
  “She’s much more alert and active these days, and not curled up in a ball sleeping,” says Kelli Neumann, program mammals specialist. “When it’s sunny, she doesn’t want to play, she just wants to lay in the sun. She rolls on her back and begs to get her belly scratched.”
  Otherwise, she’d prefer to like to play with Kelli and her favorite toy, a hand broom. “She carries it around with the bristles in her teeth,” Kelli says.
  Bonnie and her brother, Clyde, take it easy in winter. They put on a few pounds and stay behind the scenes in their habitats. In summer, they meet Museum visitors close up and show off their powerful claws and how fast they can dig.
  In the meantime, our sun-drenched, winding trails are perfect for meeting High Desert raptors, fox, porcupine and otter close up!
  Photo credit: Jennifer Loring
• January 27, 2011
• 16:23

  It's "Snow" Much Fun to Learn

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  The snow outside may have melted, but our Backpack Explorers (ages three and four) are learning about it and even making some in this special program that happens again tomorrow (Friday) at 10 a.m.
  
  In a hands-on way of discovering how things freeze, our intrepid explorers made ice cream with baggies filled with ingredients inside a larger baggie filled with ice. In this photo, Nicolas Oncken, 4, of Sisters, tossed his ice-cream "snowball" to his mom, Akiko Oncken.
  
  Parents and grandparents join their preschoolers in doing do fun, educational activities such as this with new themes on Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
  
  Upcoming themes are:
  February 3-4
  The Bone Zone
  Almost everybody has bones. Birds, bears,
  and bobcats do. What about you? Let’s
  look at the different types of bones and
  why our bones are important.
  February 10-11
  The Call of the Wild
  Animals use many different sounds to talk to each
  other. Let’s listen to the call of the wild and discover
  animal sounds together. Bring your howl!
  member opening
  February 17-18
  Chinese Lantern Festival
  It’s Chinese New Year. Let’s celebrate with lanterns, a
  dragon parade, and other fun activities.
  February 24-25
  Biscuits n’ Butter
  Let’s make old-time butter and biscuits and visit the
  1880 Homestead cabin with its warm stove and
  friendly pioneers.
  
  The Museum created this program because play is a an important factor in learning at this age. Backpack Explorers gives children the opportunity to play while learning about nature, science, culture and themselves.
  
  Program fee: Members, $10; Non-Members, $15 plus accompanying adult admission.
• January 21, 2011
• 13:45

  When Free Day is More Than Just That

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Tomorrow’s admission-free day, Mid Oregon Credit Union Free Family Saturday, is much more than people getting something (something great, that is) for nothing. Many will discover that this Museum is alive and filled with fun, even though they are learning so much. Getting close to live, wild animals, meeting homesteaders from the 1880s High Desert frontier (portrayed) live, and learning all about the region’s cultural and natural history packs a big, lifelong-learning punch.
  
  This Museum continually proves wrong the notion that Museums are dead and boring. Our members tell us that their children grew up to become museum-goers because their earliest impressions of museums were formed here.
  
  For others, tomorrow’s free day is a chance to do something they otherwise couldn’t afford. We hear from families that our family membership of $75 for unlimited annual admission is the best value around. Yet when about 4,000 people arrive for each free day, it suggests that for some, admission is an issue, especially if they don’t live close enough to visit weekly or monthly.
  
  And, it is Mid Oregon Credit Union’s generous support that helps make possible this free day and the one on Feb. 26. This organization clearly agrees that everyone should be able to share in the Museum’s singular experience.
  
  One important note: please take our free shuttles to avoid parking lot traffic snarls. Go directly to Morning Star Christian School at 19741 Baker Road, just off Highway 97 at the Baker Road exit. Free van service is available from the school courtesy of the Museum and Wanderlust Tours throughout Museum hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both free days. Once the Museum lot is full, bottlenecks occur. And remember, parking on Highway 97 is illegal.
• January 07, 2011
• 12:01

  What Attracts Butterflies?

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Butterflies are drawn to people in our live Butterflies exhibit. We can't be certain why they might land on a particular person, but entomologist Dr. Ralph Berry knows all about why local plants attract butterflies. Tomorrow at 2 pm, he'll explain why butterflies depend on aspen, willows, juniper and other plants for survival.
  
  Dr. Berry (he'll probably let you call him Ralph) led summer nature walks here and collected specimens of these host plants that influence the biology of butterflies and moths. He's had snowbrush, rabbitbrush, ponderosa pine and other plant specimens in a refrigerator here so he can use them during his talk tomorrow.
  
  "I have to see what condition they are in," he said.
  
  We hope no one mistook them for a snack.
  
  He'll also have his collection of butterflies for reference. Dr. Berry, a professor emeritus in entomology at Oregon State University is also the co-creator of our live Butterflies exhibit. After talking with him, you can explore the exhibit and see if one of our vibrant Peleides blue morpho butterflies chooses to land on you, just as one did on one of our Museum staff recently.
  
  January 8: High Desert Perspectives: Butterflies and Moths of the High Desert at the High Desert Museum, 2 pm
• December 30, 2010
• 16:16

  Emerging Butterflies, New Year

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Butterfly metamorphosis – from caterpillar to winged beauty – is a classic symbol of transformation and an apt metaphor for the emergence of a new year. New Year's Eve is a perfect time to see these brilliantly colored flutterers emerge live from chrysalides. This warm, indoor exhibit filled with tropical plants and exotic and native butterflies has been inspiring visitors since it opened in October – photographers, quilters and jewelry artists as well as children who decided to be butterflies for Halloween.
  
  The Museum is closed New Year's Day, but re-merges in the new year on Jan. 2.
  
  And, coming up Jan. 8 at 2 p.m.: Butterflies and Moths of the High Desert with Dr. Ralph Berry, professor emeritus in entomology at Oregon State University and co-creator of our live Butterflies exhibit. He will discuss some of the butterfly and moth species found in the High Desert and the influence of host plants on their biology. It's included in Museum admission.
  
  On Jan. 15, award-winning butterfly author Robert Michael Pyle talks about his new book Mariposa Road: the First Butterfly Big Year, and butterfly ecology and conservation at 6 p.m. at Central Oregon Community College. (It's $8 for Museum members. General admission, $10. Students, $3. Tickets at the Museum, at www.highdesertmuseum.org and at the door at COCC. The special appearance, in connection with the Museum’s Butterflies exhibit, is in partnership with the Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program.)
  
  On Jan. 29 at 2 p.m.: Cascadia Lepidoptera Conservation, a presentation by Dr. David G. James, associate professor of entomology at Washington State University, explores people’s fascination with butterflies and the scientific and environmental reasons why we should care about them. He will also discuss some of the Northwest’s key butterfly species and the role of butterflies in the region’s vineyards. It's included in Museum admission.
• December 22, 2010
• 15:17

  The Hawk and the Snowman

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Earlier this week, as our wildlife staff went about feeding and caring for our raptors, they got a little distracted by the pristine powder that had fallen overnight. They built a snowman, and couldn't resist putting a falconry glove on it. Jim Dawson, the curator of living collections, prompted Marie, the Harris hawk, to fly to that glove. No photo tricks here. The secret? Jim's son, Sam, was hiding behind the snowman, holding the stick arm, so it would support Marie, who weighs about two-and-a-half pounds.
  
  Marie demonstrates her flying abilities during a special show, Owl Legends, which returns Dec. 26 through 30. She is the only hawk in the show that features Aurora, the Eurasian eagle owl, the world’s largest owl species. You can meet this owl with a six-foot wingspan, along with George the barn owl, Ghost, the great horned owl and William, the tiny screech owl.
  
  You'll explore the legends of these night hunters and discover their true stories as Jim Dawson, a wildlife biologist who has studied raptors around the globe, reveals the science and secrets about these fascinating creatures.
  
  Owl Legends
  Dec. 26 through 30
  11 am and 1 pm
  Members: $5; non-members $7 plus museum admission.
  Tickets and information: [bit.ly]
• December 16, 2010
• 15:24

  World’s Largest (and Beautiful) Moths Emerging from Cocoons!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  The Atlas moth, the world’s largest moth (delicate and colorful with an eight-inch wingspan) and new exotic butterflies are about to take flight in our Butterflies exhibit. Be surrounded by hundreds of live flutterers while watching new ones emerging from cocoons and chrysalides in the climate controlled “pupa room.” The moth cocoons and butterfly chrysalides wiggle as their inhabitants complete metamorphosis. See them break free, stretch their wings, antennae and proboscis (antenna-like feeding tube) for the first time, and you’ll have witnessed something unique and inspiring.
  
  The scarlet Mormon butterfly from Australasia and the blue-banded swallowtail from Africa are also expected to emerge within the next few days too.
  
  The warm, tropical indoor garden is a great escape from winter, and you’ll discover what the order Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) eat, how important specific plants are to them, and what we can do to protect them and their habitats.
  
  And, this Saturday is a Sensational Saturday, designed to get families together to do creative activities with a butterflies theme. Expand on what you learn with hands-on fun that engages all the senses. Discover how cultures throughout the world have made the butterfly and moth an important part of their heritage. China, Mexico, and many other countries have stories, art, and clothing influenced by these marvelous winged wonders.
  
  Sensational Saturday family activities are happening from 10 am to 4 pm, Dec. 18, and are included in Museum admission.
• December 08, 2010
• 16:10

  Saturday: Meet Live Butterflies, Discover How to Attract Them!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  This Saturday at our Butterflies exhibit, you'll be surrounded by hundreds of live butterflies, and at 2 p.m., you'll discover the area's best spots to find them, gardening to attract butterflies, butterfly photography, joining a butterfly count, habitat preservation, monarch migration and more from local butterfly enthusiast Sue Anderson.
  
  Local Butterfly Hot Spots is the kickoff of the Museum's High Desert Perspectives series of butterfly lectures, which build on the popular live Butterflies exhibit. The series is included in admission.
  
  “The Butterflies exhibit has been tremendously well-received, and we are offering this in-depth lecture series to further enhance the educational aspects by highlighting several themes: local species, the interplay of plants and butterflies, and conservation,” said Dana Whitelaw, vice president of programs.
  
  On select Saturdays, a different expert will help expand your knowledge about butterflies as they address a range of topics.
  
  Coming up Jan. 8 at 2 p.m.: Butterflies and Moths of the High Desert with Dr. Ralph Berry, professor emeritus in entomology at Oregon State University and co-creator of our live Butterflies exhibit. He will discuss some of the butterfly and moth species found in the High Desert and the influence of host plants on their biology.
  
  And on Jan. 29 at 2 p.m.: Cascadia Lepidoptera Conservation, a presentation by Dr. David G. James, associate professor of entomology at Washington State University, exploring people’s fascination with butterflies and the scientific and environmental reasons why we should care about them. He will also discuss some of the Northwest’s key butterfly species and the role of butterflies in the region’s vineyards.
• December 01, 2010
• 14:35

  Rediscover the Holidays, 1880s Style

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Have you ever paused to imagine how holidays free of commercialism would feel? Have you ever pondered how our holiday traditions came to be? This Sunday at the Museum, you can experience a rustic, historic 1880s Christmas just as it was on the High Desert frontier.
  
  Our re-created settlement town, Silver City, replete with bank, assayer's office and Chinese mercantile, will be visited by the Victorian-era Father Christmas, who represented the season's spirit of good cheer. In a nod to modernity, children can have their picture taken with him in his flowing, emerald robe and white beard, and tell him what they want this holiday.
  
  In this historically accurate setting, it's easy to imagine that you are a homesteader, or have come West to stake a mining claim and reap a fortune. For those who pioneered this region, celebrating the holidays was a welcome respite from harsh conditions in a new land.
  
  As you nibble on gingerbread, listen to 1880s music played live by the Thorn Hollow String Band, and take in our other exhibits, we think you'll take home an experience unlike any other. It's all part of our mission, helping you to discover your connection to the past, role in the present, and responsibility to the future.
  
  Dec. 5, 11 am-3:30 pm $10 (plus admission). Members, $5.
  Thorn Hollow String Band plays 1 pm - 3 pm.
• November 22, 2010
• 16:26

  World's Largest Owl and More Inspire, Amaze

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Aurora, the world's largest owl, is making her debut this week at our new Owl Legends show and visitors are raving. Meeting this Eurasian eagle owl, with her six-foot wingspan, along with other live owls is a remarkable way to discover the natural science wonders as well as the myths surrounding these creatures.
  
  Seeing her blazing orange eyes and powerful feet up close is an unforgettable experience. And, to demonstrate the night hunting adaptations of owls, you first will feel the Harris hawk swoop over your head and hear her feathers in the process.
  
  But when the barn owl flies over the audience, there's silence. Barn owls are known for superior hearing and keen night vision. Their heart shaped facial disks and white coloration make them unmistakable.
  
  When the great horned owl, the largest owl found regularly in the High Desert, circulates on the gloved arm of a wildlife specialist, its eyes follow you.
  
  Owls have long been shrouded in mystery. This is a unique chance to explore the legends, myths, folklore and science surrounding our native night hunters. They have influenced fashion, been the muse of Picasso, appear in prehistoric cave paintings and remain the friend of farmers (they are still the most elegant and effective rodent control).
  
  Learn why owls are revered in some cultures and greatly feared in others. What is a “ghost owl” and how did it earn that name? Do great horned owls really eat skunks and cats? Do “guardians among the owls” exist, such as in the new film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole?
  
  Compare legend with reality as internationally recognized raptor biologist James Dawson reveals secrets about these hunters of the sky and how they live in with wild.
  
  11a.m. and 1 p.m. through Saturday (closed Thanksgiving Day).
  Members: $5; Non-members $7 plus Museum admission.
  Tickets and information: www.highdesertmuseum.org
• November 17, 2010
• 11:58

  New Sensational Saturday Deepens Butterfly Discovery

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  This Saturday, families will get creative and have fun with activities building on the excitement of our live Butterflies exhibit. As you observe metamorphosis live and up close, the amazing change from chrysalis to butterfly inspires fun for children and parents. Hence the name Sensational Saturday!
  
  It's a great chance for all ages to learn together about the unique animals that go through metamorphosis and how they fill their niche in High Desert ecosystems.
  
  “Sensational Saturdays will take one of the many educational messages associated with the exhibit and expand on it with hands-on, inquiry based activities,” said Dana Whitelaw, vice president of programs. “These educational activities allow visitors to engage all the senses to further explore and learn.”
  
  With each Sensational Saturday this winter, families can deepen their knowledge. Educational elements range from the butterfly and moth’s influences in global cultures, to migration, adaptation and diversity.
  
  On December 18, the Sensational Saturday theme is “Myths and Legends of Lepidoptera,” in which families discover how cultures throughout the world have made the butterfly and moth (Order Lepidoptera) an important part of their heritage. China, Mexico, and many other countries have stories, art, and clothing influenced by these marvelous winged wonders. Activities including butterfly art allow you explore these legends from around the globe.
  
  On January 15, Sensational Saturday poses the thematic question “Why Do Butterflies Taste Bad?” Families will learn why monarchs taste bad to predators, how the blue morpho flashes color to protect itself and more amazing adaptations of butterflies.
  
  Sensational Saturdays activities run continuously from 10 am to 4 pm, and are included in admission (free for Museum members).
  
• November 09, 2010
• 14:29

  New Butterflies Taking Flight

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  Big fluffy snowflakes are swirling outside, and inside lots of new, brilliantly colored butterflies are alighting daily in our Butterflies exhibit. One new kind is the zebra longwing, which has long, narrow black wings with vibrant yellow stripes. Dozens of other species, such as the paper kite butterfly that landed on the finger of the young visitor in the photo above, are fluttering all around freely in this lush, humid, plant-filled environment.
  
  As you explore, you'll learn amazing things. Did you know caterpillars have 4,000 muscles, compared with humans, which have 629? It's the contractions of all of those caterpillar muscles that propel them forward.
  
  So, move a few muscles of your own, and come explore this wonderful new exhibit!
• October 28, 2010
• 11:26

  Evening with an Abstract Artist: Exhibit Walk Tonight

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Explore an acclaimed abstract exhibit with the artist - James B. Thompson: The Vanishing Landscape features this Oregonian’s paintings and prints exploring the transformation of the American West.
  The Oregonian called the works “ravishing … a considered and sophisticated grappling with matters of space, color and mark-making.” 7 p.m.
  $5. Members, free.
  
  Sponsored by Oregon College Savings Plan
• October 26, 2010
• 17:01

  Saturday: A Night You'll Forget Nevermore!

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  At Tales of Hallow's Eve this Saturday, you'll hear the gripping tales of Edgar Allen Poe and Edward Gorey live as mysterious live raptors of the night surround you at a cabin lit by jack-o'-lanterns.
  
  To hear Poe's classic poem The Raven, alongside our live raven, Hera, and our owls, is a richly atmospheric experience that takes the commercialism out of the season. A dramatic reading of Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart and Gorey's Gashlycrumb Tinies will heighten the mood even further.
  
  And, you'll be invited by Victorian characters from the frontier's past to join in puppet shows, puppet making, apple bobbing and pumpkin butter churning.
  
  Dress appropriately for this fun outdoor event that you'll forget nevermore!
  
  4 p.m. - 8 p.m.
  
  $5. Members, free.
  
  In association with B.E.A.T., the Bend Experimental Art Theater
• October 19, 2010
• 16:24

  A Great Conversation @ the Museum - Free

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Not satisfied with the conversations you've been having lately? Why not join us Thursday evening at the Museum and be engaged with your community in a thoughtful, challenging conversation about ideas critical to our daily lives and our state’s future. On Oct. 21 at 7 p.m., award-winning writer and editor Gail Wells will discuss Seeding a Sense of Place: Science, Stories, and Smart Forest Policy, an Oregon Humanities Lecture.
  
  What affects our opinions about forest use? How do we build meanings into places through storytelling and public policy? How does our allegiance to places affect our opinions about land use, particularly forest use? How do we build meanings into places individually and collectively through storytelling and public policy?
  
  Wells is an award-winning writer and editor specializing in history and natural-resource science. Her most recent book is The Little Lucky: A Family Geography. She is also the author of The Tillamook: A Created Forest Comes of Age and coauthor of Lewis and Clark Meet Oregon’s Forests: Lessons from Dynamic Nature.
  
  The event is free and open to the public.
  
  Sponsored by Oregon Humanities
  
• October 13, 2010
• 16:58

  Butterflies Landing at Museum on Saturday

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  Hundreds of brilliantly colored butterflies have been released into the new Butterflies exhibit which opens Saturday at the Museum. Exactly 364 painted lady butterflies took flight today, feeding on the nectar from more than 300 plants in a re-created tropical garden. Hundreds more butterflies of a dozen species will be in the exhibit when it opens on Saturday.
  
  Today, the orange-and-black painted lady butterflies landed on Museum staff and a photographer, lingering on them as the insects grew accustomed to their new home.
  
  Visitors will always find something new at the exhibit as new species hatch, metamorphose and fly during the course of the exhibit, which runs through Feb. 6. Visitors will be able to see brilliantly colored chrysalis hatching behind the glass of the pupa room.
  
  There will undoubtedly be much ooooh-ing and ahhhh-ing as colorful, winged wonders whirl around you. At the same time, you will learn how butterflies live, fly and migrate up to thousands of miles. You’ll discover what they eat, how important plants are to them, and what we can do to protect these winged wonders.
  
  On Saturday, visitors will see the following species:
  
  Pedeides blue morpho – an iridescent tropical butterfly with a wingspan of about up to nearly eight inches. They flash their brilliant blue wings to frighten predator birds. This butterfly drinks juice from fruit. They live in South American rainforests and can be found in Mexico, Central America, Paraguay and Trinidad.
  
  Three-tailed tiger swallowtail - from South America with a wingspan of up to nearly four inches.
  
  Green-spotted triangle butterfly - from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone of Australia with a wingspan of up to nearly four inches.
  
  Kleiner Mormon - from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone of Australia with a wingspan of up to nearly four inches.
  
  Scarlet Mormon - from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone of Australia with a wingspan of about five inches.
  
  Great eggfly from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone of Australia is black with white, orange and blue spots.
  
  Autumnleaf – found throughout Asia, with camouflaging coloration that remarkably resembles fallen leaves.
  
  Blue or brown clipper – a fast flying butterfly from Southeast Asia with bright blue and white markings.
  
  Great yellow Mormon – Asian swallowtail that feeds on citrus.
  
  Pink rose butterfly – from the Philippines.
  
  Paper kite/rice paper or large tree nymph – they taste horrible to predators, such as birds. They derive this defense mechanism from toxins in plants that they eat.
• October 05, 2010
• 14:52

  An office visitor

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  Why we love working at the Museum - Bonnie dropped by today! She's doing a great job packing on the pounds for her winter torpor (semi-hibernation). She's already in her big-girl harness...
• September 15, 2010
• 15:48

  Back to School = Fun (at the Museum!)

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  Going back to school doesn't only mean classrooms and books. At the Museum, children ages two to 12 are learning about the nature, animals and people of the High Desert in fun, hands on ways. Sensory-filled storytelling, themed journeys throughout the Museum, and scavenger hunts are among the programs resuming this fall.
  
  Totally Touchable Tales, storytelling about animals and people of the High Desert for ages two to five. Crafts, puppets and sometimes a visit from a live animal make this program unique, Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.
  
  Schools close early on Wednesdays, a perfect time for Wild Wednesdays, themed hunts throughout the Museum for parents and children ages 7 to 12, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.. As children follow clues about about High Desert nature and animals at the Museum and uncover treasure chests, they get a prize. The hunt themes change weekly.
  
  Weekdays, children ages two to five and their parents can do new fun things each week, from tumbling and clay to bubbles and trains. (Children must be accompanied by an adult. $5 per child daily, $3 for each additional child. Members,
  $25 per year.)
  
  Starting Sept. 27, Backpack Explorers returns. Ages 3 and 4 engage their senses on an adventure created just for them and their parents. They go on a backpack journey throughout the Museum, observe nature, animals, science, create art and take home activities based on their discoveries. It has new themes each week, starting with "Wild Frontier," in which children discover life on our re-created 1880s family ranch.
  The program happens most Mondays and Tuesdays, 9 am to 10 am, through Nov. 30.
  ($15. Members, $10.)
  
  No matter your age, this Museum is the place for lifelong learners!
  For details, visit highdesertmuseum.org or call 541-382-4754.
• 14:57

  A puzzle of butterflies

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  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
  If you've been enjoying High Desert butterflies as much as we have this summer, you'll also enjoy this fun crossword puzzle. (Hint: our members' newsletter has the answers in an article to be posted here shortly.) Or check back here for the answers later this month.
  
  And, come October 16, when you're missing summer and these fluttering wonders, come and visit our new exhibit featuring live, free-flying butterflies. See 100 species as they float, eat, rest and interact with plants and you!
  
  Explore butterfly biodiversity, migration, navigation, plant interactions and conservation issues facing this fascinating insect. The exhibit runs through Feb. 6.
  
  Click on this image to see the whole puzzle.
  
  
• September 02, 2010
• 12:12

  Big Weekend at the Museum!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  There's a lot happening here this weekend, as many of our programs are in their final summer week. If you haven't caught our Desert Dwellers Shows, Monday is the last day. Shows are 11 and 1 daily. Meet our badger, skunk, porcupine and raptors, and learn about the characteristics that make the High Desert home to so many species.
  
  Also, the sawmill is running this weekend as well.  Meet the millhands and watch it spin from 10-3.
  
  And, this is the last weekend that active duty military families can take advantage of free admission to the Museum thanks to the Blue Star Museums program. We appreciate all that you do! 
  
  
  Starting Monday, our kids' programs begin again - stay tuned for all the details. Have a safe and relaxing Labor Day and enjoy our beautiful Central Oregon weather. See you at the Museum!
  
• August 25, 2010
• 16:23

  High Desert Bats: Diverse But Threatened

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Bats are misunderstood by many, but they play an important role in the ecosystem. And if you are enjoying summer nights without mosquito bites, you have a bat to thank. In the High Desert, some species of bats eat about 600 mosquitoes in just one hour.
  
  The High Desert bat community is one of the most diverse mammal groups in Oregon. Fourteen species of bats have been documented from the cliffs and stream corridors of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, a unique High Desert park along the lower John Day River and tributaries. Of these, nine are listed by state or federal authorities as species of concern, including three of the four species restricted to the High Desert: the pallid bat, spotted bat, and Western small-footed myotis.
  
  In 2002, the National Park Service began a systematic inventory of bats and other species in the park. This effort, in conjunction with a broader bat inventory coordinated by the U.S. Forest Service, has added greatly to our understanding of the diversity and conservation status of Oregon High Desert bat communities.
  
  This Saturday, August 28, you can join biologists from the Deschutes National Forest to learn more about the fascinating bats of Central Oregon. And, outside after sunset, use special acoustic equipment (“bat detectors”) to record bat calls and identify species!
  6:30 pm – 9:30 pm
  
  Call to reserve your spot: 541-382-4754 ext. 241.
• August 12, 2010
• 16:50

  Strike Gold! Saturday is Mining Day

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  This Saturday visitors will have a chance to experience the life of a placer miner in the High Desert by panning for gold at our very own mining tent camp. Here one can see how exciting but lonely the profession sometimes was. Starting with the California Gold Rush, thousands of men scoured the West looking for mineral wealth. Often they would move from strike to strike, traveling from the California foothills to Nevada, Eastern Oregon and Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and eventually Alaska over the course of half a century.
  
  At our encampment, one can try panning or use our rocker, a simple sifting device that separates gold from the surrounding material. Many placer mining strikes occurred in dry stream beds where the gold would have been washed down from the surrounding hills. However, water was still necessary to separate the gold from the soil, and our site is no different. At our “Dry Diggings” enterprising miners would run water from a nearby spring to the mining site, but other miners relied on companies to deliver the water.
  
  Mining Day is this Saturday, August 14, from 11am-4pm. It will be located at the Mining Encampment past the outdoor Otter Exhibit and costs $2 plus Museum admission.
  
• August 11, 2010
• 11:27

  Imagination + Play = Lifelong Learning

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  After the Hartleys, including Quinn, 3, and Jack, 5, won the Museum's baby porcupine naming contest in July (with the name Q’will), they've returned a half-dozen times to the daily show featuring the prickly porcupette and other animals. Since then, the boys have been re-enacting the show at home.
  
  "They do it about once a week," said Jill Hartley, the boys' mother. "They say, 'I’m going to put on a Desert Dwellers show,' and they go upstairs and practice it. It was completely their idea. I had nothing to with it."
  
  Quinn holds his plush owl toy on dad's leather gardening glove just as the Museum's wildlife specialists use a leather falconry glove to hold raptors during the show.
  
  Jack improvised a glove with one of mom's towels.
  
  During the show, the wildlife staff also demonstrates how they train certain animals to follow a target (a ball on the end of a stick), so that they learn to follow them to places such as to veterinary visits.
  
  "When Quinn did this and put a bagel on the end of a stick, I just about lost it. It was so funny," says Jill.
  
  Jack has been a bird lover since he was age three and collects toy birds of prey. He has a Peregrine falcon, bald eagles and owls. "I’ve learned a lot just by them going to the library and wanting new books about raptors," Jill says. "Every time we're at the Museum store, he writes down which ones he wants for his birthday. And he asked for the family membership for his birthday last year."
  
  What better proof of how the Museum inspires lifelong learning, even among its youngest visitors? Tell us how the Museum inspires you and your family!
  
  Live animals at the Museum’s 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. daily Desert Dwellers shows typically include badgers that demonstrate their amazing digging abilities, a hawk that flies right over your head, porcupines, owls, and reptiles.
• August 06, 2010
• 15:29

  Let Art Help You Take It Slow

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Many of us find that we frequently are too busy to contemplate, breathe, appreciate beauty or be inspired. That is what art offers. At the High Desert Rendezvous Art of the West Show opening tomorrow, paintings and sculpture from Western artists reflect a range of artistic interpretations of the landscape – and the spirit of the West.
  
  The works are inspired by a range of experiences – from witnessing an elk while on a mountain hike to imagining a Spanish vacquero on horseback.
  
  One of the artists, Mark Keathley, has said, “I want my paintings to inspire people to be still, to listen to that quiet voice, and then rise up assured that they are a part of something bigger than their schedule.”
  
  These works do just that. And, if you want that contemplative spirit to stay with you, you can take the works home. They are on exhibit through Aug. 21, when they will be auctioned at the 21st annual High Desert Rendezvous, the Museum’s signature fundraising gala. All of the proceeds will support the Museum’s education programs.
  
  Come and see what we’re talking about. For a digital preview, visit www.highdesertrendezvous.org, which also has information about High Desert Rendezvous. The event, at 5 p.m. on Aug. 21, features a hosted bar, wild West cowboy supper, dancing to live music by Courtney Lynn and Big Trouble, and a live and silent auction to benefit the Museum’s educational programs. Guests are invited to dress in Western gear for the evening.
  
  High Desert Rendezvous auction tickets are $350 per couple (includes a Family Membership) and $200 for one person (includes an Individual Membership). Museum Members: $150 per person. Sponsorship packages start at $2,000. For tickets, call 541-382-4754, ext. 365, e-mail hdr@highdesertmuseum.org, or visit www.highdesertrendezvous.org.
  High Desert Rendezvous Honorary Chairs: Kathryn and Curtis Baker
  
  Presented By: Sterling Savings Private Banking
  
  
  
• July 28, 2010
• 10:17

  Summer Camp

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  It’s all fun here at the High Desert Museum Summer Camp!
  
  Campers are learning from a variety of topics through fun and engaging activities throughout the camp day. Each week camp is themed for two age groups, 5-6 and 7-9 years old.
  
  This week our younger group is learning about Cool Communities, having fun with a new community each day. How does a forest community interact? Or how do you play a role in your human community?
  
  Our older group is developing their photography skills in Picture the World camp. You can only imagine how many fun things there are to take pictures of at the High Desert Museum! Today campers got a sneak peak at some new additions to the wildlife team; stay tuned to find out what kind of creatures they might be!
  
  There are still two more weeks of camp with spots open for your little campers!The youngsters will be learning about animals in Creature Feature starting on August 2nd, while exploring pioneer life in Frontier Fun beginning on August 9th. We’re all booked for animal camp Desert Dwellers starting on August 9th, but we’ve got space available for our week of cultural exploration in Dig It! beginning on August 2nd.
  
  To find out more, or to register for camp visit our camp web page or call Erica Benton at 541-382-4754 ext. 320.
  
  See you at Camp!
• July 16, 2010
• 17:26

  New Swooping Hawk Thrills - With a Purpose

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  When Marie, a Harris’s hawk, swoops over the heads of visitors at the Museum, it’s a sensation that few ever forget. The new Curator of Living Collections James Dawson has begun incorporating the Raptor Free Flight Program that he created into two daily Desert Dwellers shows that feature live animals throughout the summer. During most of the shows, Marie thrills visitors with her flying abilities.
  
  Dawson, an internationally recognized expert on raptors, said, “She flies right over their heads, and they love it. The energy is so great when they do that. She flies back across the crowd in the pavilion, and she’s right in there with them. The sense of boundaries evaporate.”
  
  Marie has been instrumental in Dawson’s work with utility companies to safeguard power lines and poles that can electrocute raptors.
  
  “She has had a deep affect on the conservation of her species and changing attitudes,” he said. “I did more than 90 presentations with utility companies in doing avian protection programs throughout the High Desert.”
  
  A Peregrine falcon named Indy also meet visitors at the Museum close up, from the gloved arm of a wildlife specialist.
  
  “This is such a great species for conservation messaging because it came back from the brink of extinction in the 1970s,” Dawson said. “I like to tell positive stories about how we can fix things and how we have fixed things.”
  
  He has worked with such diverse groups as the Department of Energy, Westinghouse Electric, mines and prisons. He recently has partnered with utility and power companies in Arizona to prevent accidental electrocutions of birds that perch on power poles. Working with power companies, he organized a series of workshops to help them create and launch avian protection programs.
  
  “Education is the key to understanding the world we live in, and scientists have an obligation to bring science to the public,” said Dawson. “I also feel strongly that people must make both intellectual and emotional connections with the natural world to understand and appreciate it
• July 12, 2010
• 16:11

  Meet the Sheep

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  sheep
  
  Baaaah! The four new sheep (and the pioneers) at the 1880 High Desert Homestead are waiting to meet you.
  
  It is the year 1880 at the re-created ranch, and the Blair family of homesteaders, bought the young sheep from a Willamette Valley outfitter passing through en route to summer grazing on the slopes of the Cascades.
  
  In these times, ranchers have preferred raising sheep instead of cattle because it is more profitable. The number of sheep ranches in the Willamette, Deschutes and Ochoco regions are growing to meet the demand for cheap mutton in the mining camps of John Day, Baker City and the Idaho Territory.
  
  Sarah Blair's husband is typically not at the homestead because he is away trading horses, so she decided that she will see how much she can earn raising sheep.  "Ideally, I will be able to sell whatever wool I can shear in the fall," she said.
  
  Stop by and find out more about the challenges of life on the frontier.
• July 02, 2010
• 16:39

  Winning Name for Baby Porcupine

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  Come and meet the new baby porcupine at the 1 pm Desert Dwellers wildlife shows this weekend, and on Sunday, find out which name is the winner: Juniper, Nettles, or Q'will!
  
  Visitors have been voting for their favorite by dropping donations in the ballot boxes.
  
  The name that garners the most money wins, and the proceeds help in caring for our porcupine family!
  
  The porcupine is among many live animals that frequently appear at the Museum’s 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. daily Desert Dwellers shows. The show also features Bonnie and Clyde, badgers that demonstrate their amazing digging abilities, hawks, owls, snakes and other reptiles.
  
  “Having the community participate in naming the baby porcupine has been a fun way to engage people in learning more about native wildlife,” said Vice President of Programs Dana Whitelaw. “Every day the Museum’s animals attract visitors to our educational programs where people discover the roles of wildlife in our ecosystem.”
• 15:18

  Enduring Comfort: Quilts from the West's Pioneers

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  Imagine it’s 1836, and you are on the first wagon train along the Oregon Trail. After making it across the western plains, through the Rocky Mountains and finally to the Pacific Northwest, you have shipped to you your favorite quilt, a reminder of your home back in New York. That quilt, which belonged to Eliza Spalding, is among the quilts in an exhibit that opens Saturday.
  
  Patterns from the Past: Pioneer Quilts brings together the works of emigrants heading west, settling in small farming communities as well as large cities. The artistic and utilitarian aspects of these quilts reflect the economic status of their makers. For example, you can see that a pioneer patchwork quilt from the Museum’s collection was created for warmth. It is thick with wool batting and is made from old clothes and blankets – whatever the quilter had available.
  
  A Victorian era “crazy quilt,” a patchwork of irregular shapes of velvet, satin, or silk, embellished with lace, ribbons, or embroidery reflects the leisure activity of women of higher social status. (They weren’t spending their days working on a farm!) Women in cities, usually with affluent husbands (such as government officials), usually would be those who made crazy quilts.
  
  “In viewing these quilts – including one that is so fragile it will be on display in a glass case –you can see how, during a period of 50 to 100 years, the patterns and techniques were moving from England and France to the East Coast settlements and on to the West,” said Curator of Collections and Exhibits Tracy Johnson.
  
  The exhibit runs through August 1.
• June 18, 2010
• 15:48

  Historic Sawmill Fired Up This Weekend!

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  It's whistle blowin,’ blade whirrin,’ sawdust flyin’ fun when our 100-year-old sawmill starts up Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. When the whistle blows, permeating the forest on the Museum’s 135 acres, you can get a rare glimpse into the region's timber industry from a century ago.
  
  The journey of High Desert trees as they are turned from timber into lumber is clear as you get up close to the sawmill’s huge whirring blade. The scent of fresh pine fills the air as massive logs are milled.
  
  The sawmill turns 100 years old this year, and the team of volunteers who run it demonstrate how logs were worked by hand. You can also try sawing timber with tools from 100 years ago.
  
  The sawmill is a working exhibit, used for certain projects at the Museum such as the barn at the re-created 1880 Homestead ranch exhibit.
  
  The sawmill operates only on special weekends this summer. It's a great place to go on Father's Day, especially because admission is free for Dads if you bring him here on Sunday. After this weekend, the sawmill will run July 3 - 4, 17 - 18 & 31; August 1, 14 – 15, 28 – 29, and September 4, 5, 6, 18 & 19.
• June 16, 2010
• 11:59

  Brownies Adopt Otter!

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  One of the badges that a Girl Scout Brownies troop in Bend earned this year showed that they learned how to care properly for pets and other animals. So, when their annual cookie sales of more than 1,800 boxes exceeded their goal, they decided to use $100 of the proceeds to “adopt” the Museum’s river otter, Thomas.
  
  They visited the Museum today to visit Thomas, learn all about him from one of our educators, and receive their Adopt An Animal package. Adopting an animal at the Museum allows you to help provide the food and care needed by more than 100 animals that live here.
  
  After the 12 girls, ages seven to nine, discussed their favorite types of girl scout cookies (Thin mints! S’mores! Tagalongs!), Erica Benton, assistant curator of education, brought out a river otter pelt (from a wild otter that died of natural causes), so they could touch real otter fur.
  
  The troop received Adopt An Animal buttons, an adoption certificate, a color photo portrait of Thomas and information about him, and their troop is included in our album of adoptive parents on display at the Museum.
  
  This troop are helping to support the Museum’s work of caring for rescued animals. Here, people can meet them close-up – from raptors, porcupines, and badgers to a bobcat, lynx, fox and otter. And, when people learn about these animals and their habitats, they are inspired to help protect them.
  
  The troop headed outside to the Autzen Otter Pond exhibit to meet Thomas and left us knowing that they are helping an animal that cannot survive in the wild.
  
  Animal adoptions start at $20 and make great gifts. It’s easy. Visit www.highdesertmuseum.org/get_involved/Adopt_an_Animal/
  
  
• June 10, 2010
• 15:28

  Baby Porcupine a "Natural" ... And, Needs a Name!

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  Well, it turns out that our new baby porcupine is a "natural" when it comes to meeting visitors close up. Just like people and other animals, each porcupine has its own personality, and we didn't know how this one would react to guests.
  
  We let the baby (we don't know the gender yet) decide whether it wanted to come out in front of an audience. And this little guy (or gal) walked out in front of dozens of people last Saturday without hesitation. Since that stellar debut, the baby continues charming visitors.
  
  Behind the scenes, the baby (called a porcupette) is just as happy, and likes sweet potatoes and carrots (broccoli and green beans are rejected as being yucky).
  
  Now it’s up to you to vote on its name: Q’will, Juniper, or Nettles. The name with the most donations by July 4 wins! (By then we also will be able to tell whether it’s male or female.) Come and cast your vote for a name by making a donation of any amount in our ballot boxes. Proceeds support the porcupine family and the Museum’s wildlife programs.
  
  You can meet the porcupette weekends through June at 1:30 p.m., following the Desert Dwellers show featuring live animals such as Bonnie and Clyde, badgers that demonstrate their amazing digging abilities; Pinecone the porcupine, hawks, barn owls, snakes, and more reptiles. Starting in July, the porcupette will be among those animals who may stop by at the daily shows at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
• June 07, 2010
• 10:46

  Help name our baby porcupine! The primaries have begun...

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  Thank you, members, for submitting names for our new baby! We received a ton of wonderful suggestions, both in person and via our website.
  
  We've narrowed the list down to three potential names. We still don't know if it's a boy or girl, so these are "gender-neutral" names.
  
  And the candidates are:
  

  • Juniper
  • Nettles
  • Q'will

  You can help pick your favorite by coming down to the Museum and voting in the ballot boxes. Oh, did we mention that you vote with $$? The name that garners the most money by July 4 is the winner! Pennies or big bills, they all add up. (The proceeds will go toward caring for our porcupine family.)
  
  We'll keep a running tally and will let you know how the votes are going before the big day.
• June 04, 2010
• 13:40

  Drill with Musket-Toting Soldiers (Or… Just Churn Butter) – Saturday and Sunday!

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  It’s 1865 and musket-toting infantrymen are trying to recruit you into defending the citizenry from hostile “Indians.” (Check out the video below.)
  
  Sure, these guys’ tents may seem cozy, and their cornbread, beans and salt pork over the fire may look tasty, but chat with them and think again. These “sagebrush soldiers” of the Oregon volunteer infantry have endured starvation and thirst, living in mining camps they were sent to protect.
  
  A recruiter will give you a quick physical... (do you have most of your teeth and 10 fingers?) demonstrate fire starting, and drill you in marching.
  
  The cadre has stopped by Mrs. Sarah Blair’s cabin to camp before heading back to the valley and civilian life. Mrs. Blair is happy to see them. A war party has been seen in the area recently. And her homesteading family welcomes any visitors here at the edge of 9,000 square miles of high desert.
  
  Children (who aren’t recruited) can discover the fun of pioneer games such as hoop-and-stick races, pumping the well, grinding grain, washing laundry in a bucket with a ringer, doing leather crafts, gardening, building a log cabin, churning butter or getting a lesson from a schoolmarm, spinner or seamstress!
  
  To the right face-March! The Sagebrush Soldiers are here 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, June 4 and 5, and the homestead cabin is open every day, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  
  
• May 28, 2010
• 16:41

  Dress Rehearsal (for a Skunk, Owl, Badger and More)

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  Starting in the spring and right through today, wildlife specialists have been preparing our animals to meet guests in a special daily show that begins Saturday. The wildlife staff has been helping our raptors exercise and strengthen the muscles they use to fly, and simulating the surroundings of the Desert Dwellers show.
  
  Hundreds of hours are dedicated to helping animals to get used to being around people. None of the animals here could survive in the wild, and that is why they are here, but they still are wild animals. And, sometimes they don't feel like meeting people. We found that out during a dress rehearsal for the show yesterday. Daisy the skunk was feeling shy, and preferred to stay behind the scenes, but George the barn owl gave a stunning example of his flying abilities.
  
  In the show, you get to meet lots of live animals close up and learn all about them. Among those who stop by are: Bonnie and Clyde, badgers that demonstrate their unrelenting digging abilities; Pinecone the porcupine, Gus the red-tailed hawk, Shasta the Swainson’s hawk, a gopher snake, king snake, and other reptiles.
  
  The show is what the Museum is all about – having fun while learning about the area's animals. It happens 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. daily through August.
• May 24, 2010
• 11:05

  Retro Characters, Messages Endure

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  Who would have thought that retro icons Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl would have as much appeal today as ever? A new generation took to them (with lots of high-fives and hugs). And their conservation messages, (Smokey's "Only you can prevent forest fires," and Woodsy's "Give a hoot – don't pollute!") endure.
  
  It was all part of the Fun in the Forests weekend, a kickoff to the recreation season with leave-no-trace camping activities. Kids as well as parents had a lot of fun meeting the U.S. Forest Service firefighters, touring their cool truck, and our new exhibit Year of the Forest: Respectful Recreation.
  
  Miniature mock forests were set on fire in a fun, hands-on educational program that clearly illustrated factors such as wind in forest fires. And at our 1930s ranger station, the "OldSmokeys" (U.S.F.S. retirees) chatted with visitors about wildfire prevention and the evolving roles of the Forest Service.
  
  As the weekend came to an end, firefighters got ready for the fire season awaiting them, and visitors were better prepared for it.
  
  You can see KOHD's coverage of it at [kohd.com]
  
• May 20, 2010
• 16:00

  Smokey ...

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  Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl may seem like charmingly retro characters, but in a rare double appearance at the Museum Saturday and Sunday, a new generation will take in their relevant conservation messages during the "Fun in the Forests" kickoff to the recreation season.
  
  Outdoor leave-no-trace camping activities, U.S. Forest Service firefighters showing off their cool truck, and tips for forest recreation all dovetail with our new exhibit, Year of the Forest: Respectful Recreation.
  
  Get fired up with our hands-on educational program about forest fires too. (Yes, matches are involved, and it's cool!) And explore our 1930s ranger station, where "OldSmokeys" (U.S.F.S. retirees) will talk about wildfire prevention and the evolving roles of the Forest Service.
  
  It's all from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and below you'll find Smokey and Woodsy's schedule.
  Remember: only YOU can prevent forest fires, and, give a hoot - don’t pollute! (To quote Smokey and Woodsy, respectively.)
  
  11 am - Woodsy Goes Wild with Leave No Trace Camping Activities
  11:30 am - Smokey
  12:30 - Woodsy Does Leave No Trace Camping Activities
  1 pm - Smokey
  2 pm - Woodsy Does Leave No Trace Camping Activities
  2:30 pm - Smokey and Woodsy Together!
  
  Check out this 1970s Woodsy Owl public service announcement at [www.youtube.com]
• May 14, 2010
• 10:27

  Free Senior Day on Tuesday

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  The Museum is opening the doors for seniors 62 and older next Tuesday May 18, with free admission, special talks and live music. Come join the fun!
• May 06, 2010
• 13:50

  When (Really) Old Feces Makes You Famous

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  You know how some people think their old stuff is really worth something? Well, for world renowned archaeologist Dr. Dennis Jenkins, his discovery of 14,300-year-old human feces in Oregon gained global attention because it shed new light on how and when the first people came to North America.
  
  He’ll be at the Museum on Saturday at 1 p.m., presenting “Oregon’s Earliest Inhabitants: Archaeology and Genetic Studies at the Paisley Caves,” the Earle A. Chiles Award Lecture.
  
  In 2002, Dr. Jenkins found evidence that humans were living in the Paisley Caves in south central Oregon 14,000 years ago. That challenged the theory of how and when the first people came to North America.
  
  His revolutionary findings attracted worldwide media attention. It involved interdisciplinary research, and an international team of scientific experts. It was a milestone in archaeology and in his long career, throughout which he succeeded in finding common ground with diverse groups of Native American tribes and other interest groups in Oregon through sometimes complex and sensitive negotiations.
  
  He also has shared his knowledge, traveling throughout Oregon, enthusiastically educating the public about the meaning of archaeological findings in the High Desert. The High Desert Museum chose him for the annual Earle A. Chiles Award last year, recognizing his more than two decades of research into human ecology and cultural history dating back 14,000 years in the High Desert.
  
  “It is a tremendous honor and it recognizes my persistence, and my love for Central Oregon,” Dr. Jenkins said. “I am just deeply moved by having the recognition for 20 years of hard work out there, and it certainly will help me in many ways to further my research and certainly to stimulate me to greater efforts.”
  
  Dr. Jenkins has spent most of every summer for the past 20 years teaching at the University of Oregon field school at Fort Rock, Paisley and Catlow Valley. “And, I’ve been reaching out to townspeople and ranchers through the Chautauqua lectures (for the Oregon Council for the Humanities) at schools and libraries around Central Oregon,” he said. He also teaches archaeology at the University of Oregon campus branch in Bend.
  
  In Paisley, he and his students discovered camel bones and signs they had been butchered by humans. Atop the bones they found what rigorous DNA analysis revealed to be more than 14,000-year-old human feces, called coprolites. Dr. Jenkins has called this “the perfect human signature… the perfect artifact.”
  
  The discovery challenged the prevailing belief that humans first came to this continent 13,000 years ago across a land bridge from Asia. Dr. Jenkins’ findings establish that people were here 1,000 years earlier. That suggests that humans could have first arrived here by boat to the Pacific coast, or could have come down the coast on land in a way that researchers have not determined, or that an ice-free corridor to North America could have opened earlier than most people believe. Jenkins believes that his continuing research at the Paisley Caves will reveal more important clues to the secrets of North America's ancient heritage.
  
  His work includes writing eight books, numerous book chapters, articles and professional reports, and work on three documentaries including the History Channel’s “All About Dung” in 2008.
• April 29, 2010
• 13:50

  Porcupine Born at Museum!

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  A new baby porcupine born is getting ready to meet visitors in June. See the newborn in the video below! In honor of this happy event, the Museum is extending free admission to mothers who visit with their children or grandchildren on Mother’s Day, May 9.
  We discovered the baby porcupine with its mother, Honeysuckle, in her natural habitat
  exhibit at the Museum on March 31. Since then, the mother and baby have been behind
  the scenes to ensure that the baby would get a good, healthy start.
  The porcupine, now weaned, will meet visitors on every weekend in June at about 1:30 p.m., following the Desert Dwellers show, in which visitors meet live animals, from owls to badgers close up, and learn about them. After that, the baby will appear in educational programs.
  The day that the baby porcupine was born, a wildlife specialist discovered the newborn, which weighed about a pound, while giving a daily talk to visitors at the porcupine exhibit. It is difficult to tell if a porcupine is pregnant, and the birth was early in the year for porcupines.
  “Having a new baby porcupine is not only exciting, it is also a great teaching moment,” said Vice President of Programs Dana Whitelaw. “When one of our animals gives birth, we can’t help but see a connection, even between porcupines and humans. This goes to the heart of what the Museum is all about – to excite, inspire, and teach.”
  A contest for Museum members to name the new porcupine will be held in June. Around that time, the porcupine will have grown enough for Museum wildlife specialists to see whether it is male or female.
  In the meantime, visitors can see Honeysuckle daily in her habitat. The father porcupine, Thistle, is at a behind-the-scenes wildlife area so that Honeysuckle can have a space all to herself for awhile.
  
  
  
• April 26, 2010
• 12:38

  In Life-Size Lincoln Logs, A Lesson

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  Last week, school children from around Oregon were here packing (pretend) wagons for a journey across the Western frontier, chatting with settlers at their homestead in the year 1880, crosscut sawing, working with raw wool and leather, rug hooking and even building with life-size "Lincoln logs."
  
  The Frontier Days festival that drew nearly 900 children here goes to the heart of what the Museum does: creating learning experiences that prompt people to discover their connection to the past. This lets them see their role in the present from a new perspective, and gain insight into their responsibility to the future. And, everyone was having so much fun, they weren't immediately aware of all that they gained.
  
  The level of learning and discussion was at an all-time high. Second-graders' eyes widened when they realized they would have had to wash one of their two pairs of jeans on a washboard on the Oregon Trail. One boy exclaimed that his Lincoln-log cabin would be great if he just had an axe. Another boy jumped up and down when he saw a photograph of the Native American drawing "She Who Watches." He was thrilled to tell his class that his father had taken him to see the real thing and he knew all about it. He shared his experience and learned more as he walked through the Spirit of the West exhibit.
  
  It was all part of a lifelong learning experience that will live on in the hearts and minds of each child who visits here. That is how the Museum makes a difference.
• April 23, 2010
• 12:02

  Live from 1831: Frontier Fur Traders!

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  Ever wondered how you would have fared as an early American explorer and entrepreneur? You can find out this weekend as you meet frontier fur traders and their wives at their encampment.
  
  It’s the year 1831 here, and they’ll talk with you in the jargon of the day, demonstrate their firearms, fire-starting techniques and cooking over an open fire.
  
  For instance, you can talk with Suzanne Crawford, the wife of a fur trader, who is of Native American and Scottish heritage.
  
  “The women in the encampment were responsible for setting it up, tearing it down, and packing it on horses,” said Linda Evans, a senior living history interpreter who portrays Crawford. “They would snare rabbits, make moccasins and all of our clothes, chop firewood, do the cooking of game such as deer, elk, rabbit and turkey.”
  
  Fur traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company and North West Company frequently married Native American women, and it was accepted for them to have more than one wife. Wives traveled with their husbands along their trapping route for eight months, and then on to the Columbia River forts to trade beaver pelts for beads, kettles, ironware, coffee, tea, blankets, cloth and good rum.
  
  Check out what awaits you here in this video.
  
• April 14, 2010
• 16:50

  Backpack Explorers - Rockin’ Art!

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  Our Museum frequently becomes a classroom without walls. That is the case today through Saturday, when ages 3 and 4 will engage their senses learning about rocks and creating art with their parents. They will don special backpacks and go outside to explore strange and beautiful rocks.
  
  This is just one way that the Museum inspires even our earliest learners to become good stewards of High Desert nature and culture.Children embark on their sensory-filled learning journeys by donning backpacks filled with owl egg replicas, real otter fur, Native American tools, clothing and other real and replicated artifacts. They visit science, art and body movement stations at areas throughout the Museum related to a monthly theme about High Desert animals and nature.
  
  “This program is developmentally appropriate because it provides free-choice learning for young children, and gives them the opportunity to be creative through art and science – to touch real things like raptor feathers and skulls,” said Linda Rhine, the Museum’s curator of education programs. “For all ages, especially for young children, play is a really an important factor, and Backpack Explorers gives children the opportunity to play while learning about nature, science, culture or themselves.”
  
  9:30 a.m. April 15, 16; 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on April 17 $20 per child, $15 for each additional child, plus admission for accompanying adult. Museum members: $15 per child, $10 for each additional sibling. Reserve your spot: 541-382-4754 ext. 329
  
  Sponsored by: US Bank
• April 07, 2010
• 16:50

  Inspire Others: Volunteer!

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  Every day people are inspired by their experience at the Museum, which couldn't operate without our dedicated corps of nearly 300 adult and teen volunteers.
  
  Their work ranges from helping visitors meet magnificent raptors closeup to reading High Desert stories to preschoolers, portraying pioneers, barkeepers, and gamblers in a frontier town and leading tours.
  
  Every year these passionate supporters donate a combined total of about 35,000 hours here. One of those volunteers, Ann Aines, who dedicated her time here for the last 28 years, working with raptors and giving tours, is retiring.
  
  “I saw it change from an idea, to a clearing where it was to be built, to the structure that became the actual Museum,” she said. “It can be a special day for kids and adults to learn more about the history, the animals and people of the High Desert."
  
  Sally Walker has volunteered since 2001. She developed an iconic Living History character, Grandma Walker, at the outdoor 1880 High Desert Homestead cabin exhibit. She was named Volunteer of the Year in 2008, and retired last month after volunteering more than 6,140 hours.
  
  It is dedication such as this that helps make the Museum unlike any other.
  
  
  If you'd like to discover the fun of teen and adult volunteering at the Museum, from working in wildlife areas and giving exhibit tours and talks, to working behind the scenes, join us on May 7 at 1 p.m. for an orientation. Or, call 541-382-4754 for more information.
• April 01, 2010
• 11:58

  Stories of Western Adventure Saturday

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  Come and meet Western adventure writer Rick Steber Saturday April 3 as he speaks and signs books at 12 p.m. and 2  3 p.m. (moved from 2 pm)
  
  This dynamic storyteller and prolific author of travel books to Western adventure novels reads from some of his works, which have titles such as Forty Candles on a Cowboy Cake, Buy the Chief a Cadillac, New York to Nome and Wild Horse Rider.
  
  Rick Steber has gained a well-deserved national reputation and is best known for writing honest stories about the strong people and the open landscapes of the Old West. His gift to all of us is saving the stories of people that otherwise would be lost and forgotten.
  
  In addition to his skill as a writer, Rick Steber is and engaging Western personality, one of a handful of writers who can make characters come alive as he tells a story. Rick writes in a cabin tucked away in the timbered folds of the Ochoco Mountains of Central Oregon. He is married to Kristi and they have two sons, Seneca and Dusty.
  
  Some praise for his work:
  "Steber's writing is plain, picturesque, almost Hemingwayesque; the measure that lends dignity and understanding to the colorful past." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
  
  "Rick Steber captures beautifully the mood of the times and of the sturdy people who lived it." ( St. Louis Post- Dispatch)
  
  "Steber's words remind you of Hemingway or Fitzgerald...." (LA Times)
  
  " The stories spun by Steber prove that history can be not only interesting, but entertaining." (The Oregonian)
  
  "Steber evokes an era that you need not have lived through to regret its passing." (Sports Illustrated)
  
  "His (Steber's) prose is deliciously entertaining ... I shouted out passages to anyone in earshot. I simply loved it." (Gannett Westchester Newspapers)
• March 30, 2010
• 11:45

  The Otter Den: New Romping, Learning Play!

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  The Otter Den, a new play and learning space for children ages two to five, offers another way for parents to take advantage of hands-on educational fun at the Museum.
  The program features new themes each week, and this week we're filling the room with lots and lots of bubbles!
  Each theme is designed to foster creative, imaginative play. This kind of experience plays a strong role in building skills in many essential developmental areas.
  “Self-directed play is learning cognitively, socially, and physically,” said Linda Rhine, curator of education programs. “The Otter Den allows parents to bring their child to the Museum to play and learn at the same time – both the parent and the child.”
  The themes also build on learning experiences throughout the Museum.
  For example, children get active on our mats and in our colorful, flexible tunnels, pretending to be a badger or a burrowing owl. They can dress up and imagine they are one of the Museum’s keepers take special care of our rescued animals, creating pretend meals for our wildlife.
  Next week's theme is tires and tubes! Sit in a tire, roll a tire, stack the tires! Tires have endless possibilities. Play with them, and then discover the machines and vehicles that use tires in the Museum!
  For each theme, parents receive a booklet called a “Paw Packet,” detailing what their children are learning as they play, and how parents can create more learning opportunities with their children though discussion and open-ended questions.
  The Otter Den is open weekdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., September through June.
  Museum members can access The Otter Den for $25 per year for the whole family.
  Non-members: $5 per child, $3 for each additional child (plus Museum admission for ages 5 and up).
• March 25, 2010
• 10:10

  Meeting Snakes Today!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Every creature has its place in nature, including snakes. Snakes are unique and mysterious and many people fear them. Our goal is for people to understand them better, and to have fun doing it!
  
  At 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. today through Sunday, people will be meeting and handling snakes and even a giant python as they learn about some of the most beautiful and exotic animals on our planet. This fast paced program is visiting from Brad's World Reptiles, a refuge in Corvallis, Ore.
  
  Tickets: $7 plus admission. Members: $5 and special, early seating.
  Purchase tickets at the door, at [tinyurl.com]
  or call 541-382-4754 x 241.
• March 23, 2010
• 9:39

  Kids Day tomorrow!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Come on down for Kids Day tomorrow!
  
  This year’s theme: Reptiles! Learn all about reptiles through live reptile encounters. Make reptile crafts to take home and even see reptiles being fed.
   
  Plus, meet pioneers from the year 1880 live at the homestead cabin. Depending on the weather, we may have goldpanning outside. Take home a bottle with gold flakes and a mining claim certificate ($2.00 additional fee). 
  
  Wednesday, March 24, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
  Winter rates apply.
   
  Presented by:
  
  Oregon College Savings Plan
  With support from:
  
• March 19, 2010
• 16:31

  Trees Inspire Learning, Discovery, Creativity!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Here at the Museum we know that you're never too young – or too old – to be inspired by nature, culture and play.
  Our Backpack Explorers program lets children ages three and four engage all of their senses as they explore on their own as well as with the help of a parent or educator. This program supports the Museum’s mission of inspiring even our earliest learners to become good stewards of High Desert nature and culture.
  Children embark on their sensory-filled learning journeys by donning backpacks filled with owl egg replicas, real otter fur, Native American tools, clothing and other real and replicated artifacts. They visit science, art and body movement stations at areas throughout the Museum related to a monthly theme about High Desert animals and nature.
  It was developed by Linda Rhine, the Museum’s curator of education programs, an expert in the field of early childhood education.
  “This program is developmentally appropriate because it provides free-choice learning for young children, and gives them the opportunity to be creative through art and science – to touch real things like raptor feathers and skulls,” said Rhine. “For all ages, especially for young children, play is a really an important factor, and Backpack Explorers gives children the opportunity to play while learning about nature, science, culture or themselves.”
  Backpack Explorers: Trees!
  Saturday, March 20, 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
  Ages three and four engage their senses while learning about trees and creating their own artistic forest to take home. Don special backpacks as we go outside to explore pines and aspens. 90 minutes of hands-on fun!
  $20 per child, $15 for each additional child, plus admission for accompanying adult. Museum members: $15 per child, $10 for each additional sibling. Reserve your spot: 541-382-4754 ext. 329
  Sponsored by: US Bank
  
• March 12, 2010
• 15:19

  And the winner is...

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Kelli Neumann of Bend correctly identified Farrah as a ferruginous hawk. The word ferruginous comes from the Latin ferrum, meaning iron, and refers to the species' iron-rust colored feathers.
  
  Thanks to those who guessed, and stay tuned for more guess-the-animal fun.
  
  Better yet: come by for a wild mini-getaway this weekend, and meet our raptors close up!
• March 10, 2010
• 15:48

  Guess That Beak!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Can you guess the beak of this raptor? She is one of more than 100 animals who live at the Museum because they cannot survive in the wild.
  
  Amazing fact about this bird: she is celebrating her 32nd birth(hatch)day this year. One detail that dates her is that her name is Farrah. She was named after the late actress, Farrah Fawcett.
  
  She cannot survive in the wild because she was "imprinted" on humans, after having been raised by humans. Farrah thinks she is human, and does not know how to hunt. She came to the Museum in 2005 from the animal rehabilitation center Wildlife Images in Merlin, Ore.
  
  ... And, hey – there's a prize! The first person who guesses her species correctly can stop by and pick up a wild Museum poster!
• March 03, 2010
• 11:51

  And the Answer Is...

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  ... Mount St. Helens is the answer to last week's question "Can you name this rock?" This stunning image was shot by photographer-geologist Michael Collier as he flew over it in his small airplane.
  
  It is just one of 45 aerial photographic prints in the new exhibit Stones from the Sky. You don't need an airplane to get the same lofty views as this artist. Come and see! (The exhibit runs through June 27.)
• February 26, 2010
• 16:59

  Can you name this rock?

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Send us your guess. Or, come and find out at the new exhibit Stones from the Sky, 45 aerial photographic prints of canyons, granite peaks, and land sculpted by glaciers, captured from a small airplane by photographer-geologist by Michael Collier.
• February 23, 2010
• 16:56

  Meet the "Working Girl"

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Enclosure: [download]

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  In the video below, you'll meet one of the “working doves” at Julia's bordello and hear her tell about her line of work on the 1880s frontier. She and other "sinners" from the frontier are waiting for you at the Sin in the Sagebrush exhibit. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day, you'll encounter a miner, or gambler, or saloonkeeper or other “working women” at Julia's.
  
  Discover how early settlers of the High Desert dealt with the universal need for community and connection on the harsh, lonely frontier.
  
  As one dove tells it, she says, “I am proud that I am the top earner at Julia's, although I do split all of my earnings with the madam, but she is good to me. I work at maintaining my beauty to keep up my earnings. I take Dr. Rose’s Arsenic wafers to keep my eyes bright and my skin pale.”
  
  “Now, this job ain’t so bad with a sippin’ whiskey in my hand and a pretty dress on. I dream of working in a parlor house, one with mirrors, velvet curtains and a large piano. Then I’d only have to entertain men of a certain quality.”
  
  So come and meet these folks. Ask how they fell into their professions, and you’ll discover the human stories behind the stereotypes.
  
• 16:32

  [nt]

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Enclosure: [download]

  Tags:    [edit]

  
• February 19, 2010
• 15:03

  Meet William, the Professional Gambler

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Every day, you can meet a range of people from the frontier – live – in the Sin in the Sagebrush exhibit. Chat with them about why they came to the Western frontier and what brought them to this saloon, gambling hall or bordello.
  
  For example, in the exhibit's re-created gambling hall, you'll meet William, the professional gambler, who's dealing three-card monte, faro, and other games of the late 19th century.
  
  "I'm disdainful of fools, but if you are the desperate sort, because of uncontrollable circumstances, I’ll have compassion toward you – unlike those in dire straits because of their choices,” he says.
  
  “Gambling is much more personal here out west. Unlike some gaming emporiums in a few big cities, there is no ‘betting against the house.’ Most of us small-town gamblers rent table space in a saloon or gaming house. Play twenty-one, faro, or three-card monte with me, and you’re competing directly with me – the dealer – my money’s on the line,” he says.
  
  Come on in and discover more about what it was like to live on the High Desert frontier by meeting William and others from the exhibit's frontier saloon and bordello.
• 10:44

  Experience frontier saloons, gambling halls, and bordellos of the Old West

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Sin in the Sagebrush is our newest exhibit, examining the lives of those who sought opportunity, fortune and community on the Western frontier.

    You can step up to an 1880s roulette table, game of faro, chuck-a-luck or poker, and take in the cheating devices and refined attire of a professional gambler, as well as the bowie knife and derringer he might use when challenged.
    The exhibit also features live, authentic portrayals of those who worked at these establishments, including the “sporting men” running the games (they’ll invite you to play – and even reveal how to cheat). Ask the saloonkeeper, and “working women” of the night how they fell into their professions, and discover the human stories behind the stereotypes.   Become immersed in the atmosphere of the re-created Stockman Saloon, with its oak and mahogany bar, polished nickel cash register and cut-glass bar bottles. Illustrations of prize fighters, racehorses, the local militia, ladies, and a gilt-framed oil of a nude adorn the walls. Piano tunes, gleaming kerosene lamps, and the aroma of whiskey and cigars evoke the exuberant good times and comforts which Western saloons offered to cold, weary patrons.   Curator of Western History Bob Boyd says, “You can imagine how the nameless men of the frontier found refuge from toil, loneliness, boredom and unfulfilled ambitions, and how they fulfilled their needs and desires. It is a humanities theme as much as an historical account.”   Come discover Sin in the Sagebrush, the way the west had fun.
   
  
  Presented by Schwabe Williamson and Wyatt, and sponsored by BendTel, Chubb, Deschutes Brewery, Horizon Broadcasting and Pepsi of Bend, with additional support from Oregon Heritage Commission, Oregon Community Foundation, Oregon Cultural Trust, The Bend Foundation, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Pacific Power Foundation and Deschutes Cultural Coalition.
  
• February 02, 2010
• 11:37

  We're on the Map!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  From Travel Oregon's website:
  The National Geographic Society has collaborated with community members of the Central Cascades – from Mt. Rainier to Crater Lake National Park -- to illuminate the places and experiences that residents think are special.
  
  We're proud to be included as one of the highlights of the Central Oregon region:
  [thecentralcascades.com]
  
  You can download the map or find out more here.
• January 29, 2010
• 11:02

  Daisy Mae doesn't stink!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Among our many mammals here is a skunk named Daisy Mae. She was a family's pet until she made it clear she wasn't interested in the role. (Skunks, like most wildlife, cannot be domesticated successfully.) She's now here at the Museum as a "program" animal. That means she's not on exhibit but lives behind the scenes, appearing at wildlife shows, keeper talks and informal encounters with our visitors from time to time.
  
  Daisy is also not interested in wearing a harness, something most of our education animals learn to do comfortably for animal and audience safety. So the wildlife staff are working with her to follow verbal and visual commands. They've found her motivation: food, and it appears to be working great!
  
  The staff use a "target," a ball on a stick, to give the animals a visual cue to follow. The animals are trained to touch the target with their nose to get a food reward. Daisy has got this down and came by the offices recently to show off her skills.
  
  Here she is, "free range":
  
  
  Now Tauna shows her the target:
  
  
  She follows it easily:
  
  
  And happily enters her kennel for another snack.
  
  
  Look for Daisy Mae and our other program animals at the Museum, especially as spring comes around and they shake off their "torpor" (semi-hibernation state).
  
  PS: Daisy Mae really doesn't stink, as her previous owners had her de-scented.
• January 22, 2010
• 15:34

  Mid Oregon Family Free Day at the Museum tomorrow

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Enjoy the Museum with your family for free this Saturday! Hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  
  Overflow parking and shuttle service from Morning Star Christian School all day long, just off 97 at Baker Road exit.
  
  Please do not park on Highway 97 - it is illegal and you will be cited.
  
  Sponsored by:
  
  Shuttle courtesy of Morning Star School
  and Wanderlust Tours.
  
• 12:51

  Snowshoe in the snow

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  P1011189
  Originally uploaded by The High Desert MuseumSnowshoe, our lynx, doesn't actually like snow.
  
• January 15, 2010
• 16:27

  The Forest's Crucial Role in Your Life

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Think about what affects your life. You may not immediately think of forests, but Year of the Forest: Human Connections, a new exhibit that opens Saturday, Jan. 16, will make you do just that.
  
  It’s crucial to take an interest in forests because we depend on them for most things that we need to live – primarily water. Most of the water in the western U.S. comes from forested watersheds. And in the our region, most of those forested watersheds are national forestlands.
  
  The national forests are, after all, your land. They are not “forest service land” but
  “national forest land.” You and your fellow Americans are the citizen-owners and beneficiaries.
  
  The exhibit panels explore the value that forests provide to people in the Intermountain West – starting with Native Americans who hunted game, gathered plants and relied on forests for firewood and shelter materials for 10,000 years. Today, people rely more and more on the forest, be it water for miners and agriculture or grazing areas for sheep and cattle.
  
  The exhibit continues all year with two other installments. Starting May 14, Year of the Forest: Respectful Recreation, will examine a major modern use of forests – recreation. And, on Sept. 11, Year of the Forest:Healthy Habitats runs through Dec. 12.
• January 08, 2010
• 15:04

  Downtown Dressing (Hint: Don't Look Like a "Floozy")

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Behind the scenes here, staff and volunteers are working on every detail to re-create where communities were formed on the frontier – in saloons, gambling halls, and bordellos. The exhibit Sin in the Sagebrush opens on Feb. 13, and will feature live, authentic portrayals of people you'd meet in a frontier town.
  
  And the authenticity of their clothing goes right down to the pleating of a working girl's dress sleeve. Linda Evans, senior Living History interpreter, is directing volunteers Lora Fenter and Jane Lind, on sewing the shoulder of a dress. "To make it period correct, there should be fewer pleats," Evans said. "More pleats was the style in the 1890s, not the 1880s."
  
  Intern Alexis Eudy was being fitted for the dress made of lightweight brown wool based on actual 1880s dress patterns. Each character will be fitted six times for each dress, which takes about 40 hours to make.
  
  "In the exhibit, we will be talking about the lifestyles of women in sinful occupations," Evans said. "A woman of 'negotiable affections' who worked in a bordello had to carve out a way to mix in society with women as well as men. If she was in Virginia City, Nevada, and was going to the mercantile to get her Harper's Weekly, she would not have looked like a floozy."
  
  By the 1880s, industrialization standardized most men’s sizes, so the men portraying people from that era can buy clothes from historical clothiers. But the women’s clothing is all sewn here by hand using natural fiber fabrics – authentic right down to the undergarments!
  
  Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes details. Next we'll tell you how we’re loading the dice.
• December 31, 2009
• 14:01

  Resolved: Be Connected to Wildlife, Nature in 2010

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Right now, many of us are envisioning a happier, healthier new year, and what we will do to make it so. Feeling connected to the natural world is a key part of physical and mental well-being. And it's easy to do.
  
  At the Museum, the fresh snow offers a great way to track the deer, squirrels and racoons all around us. Wildlife Curator Nolan Harvey recommends grabbing a copy of the guide Scats and Tracks at the Museum store and marveling at the winter activity around here, as well as in our own backyards.
  
  Take some time on our tranquil, meandering paths along the snow-lined ponds and streams. Notice how the bright pink and green colors of rainbow trout gleam in the dark water. Listen to bald eagles calling out. Look into the eyes of our Northern spotted owls, Polka and Dot. Stop by the wood stove at the 1880 Homestead cabin to take the chill off.
  
  Every small step toward positive change counts. Come and kick off the new year starting January 2 with a day of discovery at the Museum!
• December 24, 2009
• 11:52

  Exploding Gingerbread + More Cool Fun Dec. 27-30

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  OK, had enough of gingerbread? Then let's blow some up! And, as the icing flies, you'll also be learning the cool, weird, materials science of the High Desert. And more wild experiments with expanding, gooey and exploding stuff is the best way to wrap up a great year. It’s Back: Science Party, Dec. 27-30, 11 am and 2 pm. (Dress warm for this one in our outdoor pavillion!)
  Tickets at www.highdesert.org or call 541-382-4754, ext. 241. $7, plus admission. Members, $5
  Presented by:
  Vernier and Bend Research
• December 21, 2009
• 15:43

  Last-Minute Gifts of Fun, Meaning

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  It's right about now that you're thinking you're out of options for cool gifts. Not true! Come in for fun and 20% off at the store for members through Jan. 1: great unique books, jewelry, toys and more.
  
  Or, give a Museum Membership, Behind-the-Scenes Tour, or Adopt an Animal online or by phone.
  
  Museum Membership offers a year of free admission with exclusive events and privileges! $75 for the whole family all year – about 20 cents a day.
  
  When you adopt an animal –a bobcat, owl, otter or other rescued creature, the gift helps provide food and care for them. It comes in a gift package of a cute animal "carrier,” with an adoption certificate, button, animal photo and more.
  
  Behind-the-Scenes Tours and Store Gift Certificates are great options.
  Give an hour-long tour – a special look at how we care for wild animals.
  $15 per person plus admission. Members, $10.
  Buy instantly at 541-382-4754, ext. 271.
• December 17, 2009
• 15:01

  Preschoolers Discover Nature Friday and Saturday

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  When 3-and 4-year-olds don little backpacks for a nature adventure around the Museum tomorrow and Saturday, they will be having so much fun, they may not realize how much they are learning. They will be engaging their senses with exciting activities created just for them and their parents.
  
  What they observe in nature will inspire the stories and pictures they create. And in many ways, that's what the Museum is all about. Children who discover the beauty of nature grow up to be good stewards of it.
  
  The 90-minute program happens at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, and at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday. $20 per child, $15 for each additional child, plus admission for accompanying adult. Museum members: $15 per child, $10 for each additional sibling. Dress for weather-permitting outdoor and indoor exploring!
  Advance registration encouraged. Please call to register, and to confirm times: 541-382-4754.
  Sponsored by US Bank
  www.highdesertmuseum.com/.docs/record_id/10482/pg/10039
• December 15, 2009
• 11:38

  Animals Outwit Humans in Sub-Zero Temps

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Animals here handled the below freezing temperatures last week a lot better than we humans did!
  
  Many of our visitors asked the wildlife staff here how our rescued animals – from eagles and owls to the porcupines, fox, otter and bobcat – dealt with the extreme conditions. When animals sense cold weather approaching, they get out of any direct wind, hunker down in place, and don’t move. Conserving energy and body heat is the most efficient way of staying warm.
  
  Our raptors stay in one place and fluff up that nice down jacket they wear all the time and that keeps them nice and toasty.
  
  Our badgers deal with it another way: they sleep. It's called “torpor,” a type of semi-hibernation in the winter. They live off their body fat part of the time, and get food from us daily too if they are hungry. This means they are usually curled up in a little ball, sleeping off the cold weather in their kennels, and only coming out if they need to.
  
  Lastly, some animals stay warm by eating more food, and raising their metabolism rates… kind of like us during the holidays!
  
  So, come and visit the animals, and learn how to stay as snug all winter.
  
  Have a great holiday season,
  The Wildlife (and Wildlife Staff) at the High Desert Museum
• December 11, 2009
• 16:46

  A Santa Visit You'll Never Forget...

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Let's face it, many of us have fond memories of visiting Santa when we were kids, but not all of us like the commercial atmosphere involved in re-creating the experience for our children.
  But at the Museum on Saturday, children can visit with Santa – in his 1880s incarnation, Father Christmas. You can have your picture taken with the Victorian-era icon who was the period's Santa Father when homesteaders were celebrating the holidays on the frontier.
  With his flowing emerald robe and white beard, this Santa visit will be remembered forever. Tell him what you want this holiday season, write your name in icing on gingerbread, and take home a photo!
  All proceeds benefit the nonprofit Museum's educational programs.
  $10 plus admission. Members, $5. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. With 1880s music live from the Thorn Hollow String Band: live mandolin, banjo, fiddle, guitar and vocals. 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.!
• December 08, 2009
• 16:44

  Which Gift Is Better? A Sweater, or a Year of Fun?

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  This is the time when we might be resorting to default gifts: the sweater – yawn. Socks – zzzzzzzz....
  
  But you don't have to be a gift-giving bore. You could give someone or a whole family on your list a year of:
  - wild eagles, a furry bobcat, frolicking otter and other wild animals
  - cool, new fun programs and exhibitions that make learning about the nature and stories of the High Desert a lot of fun.
  
  The gift of a High Desert Museum membership gives a year of free admission and exclusive events and privileges. At $75 for a whole family all year, that's about 20 cents a day.
  
  And, it feels great to give as well as to get a membership because it supports the Museum, a nonprofit that cares for more than 100 rescued animals, thousands of priceless artifacts, and inspires people every day.
  
  It's easy! You can buy one at highdesertmuseum.org, e-mail membership@highdesertmuseum.org, or call 541-382-4754 ext. 244.
  
  Happy (and wild) holidays!
• December 02, 2009
• 15:49

  Porcupine Performance Pleases Post

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  You know those couples – the ones that have you wondering if it's going to work out? Well, it was sort of like that with our porcupines Thistle and Honeysuckle, until one day last summer, when we discovered they had a porcupine "pup" (that's the technical term) last summer.
  
  And that pup made her first public appearance last week at an elementary school in Virginia, and was featured in The Washington Post.
  
  The porcupine was named Magnolia in a contest won by third-grader Leo Higbie, 9, of Purcellville, Va. The winner was announced during a surprise special assembly with the porcupine and 400 students at Emerick Elementary School in Purcellville on Nov. 24.
  
  Magnolia’s mother, Honeysuckle, came to the High Desert Museum last year because she was too shy to leave her cage in front of big crowds during school programs offered by Wildlife Ambassadors of Paeonian Springs, Va. Becky Shore, executive director of that nonprofit, sent her to the High Desert Museum with the understanding that any of Honeysuckle’s offspring would go to Wildlife Ambassadors.
  
  Shore didn’t know how Magnolia would behave in her first public appearance. According to the Post article, Shore was relieved when Magnolia walked across a table and started sniffing and chewing on antlers Shore brought as part of the show-and-tell assembly. Magnolia returned to her cage, and nibbled on an apple. The kids cheered collectively. Then in unison, they said, "Bye, Magnolia."
  
  Visitors can meet Magnolia’s parents, Thistle and Honeysuckle, daily at the Museum. Like all of the wild animals at the Museum, the porcupines are here because they cannot survive in the wild.
• November 27, 2009
• 14:52

  Becoming "Sinners"

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  As the Sin in the Sagebrush exhibit opening approaches, the Living History department is creating the characters of miners, gamblers, saloonkeepers and “working women” of the High Desert frontier. They will portray how these people dealt with the universal need for community and connection.
  
  Research for male characters focuses on two roles: gamblers and saloonkeepers. The gamblers will know all the “tricks of the trade,” including several card and dice games – and how to cheat at them. When the exhibit opens on Feb. 13, visitors should be sure to ask how these men fell into their professions. Or, you can tempt Lady Fortune yourself at Chuck-a-luck or faro.
  
  And, if you don't win big, you can find a sympathetic ear with the saloonkeeper. Barkeeps in mining towns were known for their genial nature. Saloons were the most common retail business in mining towns, and each sold the same product, so a saloonkeeper’s welcoming personality was the only way to beat the competition.
  
  Here are some stats about the typical saloonkeeper in the West in 1880:
  Average age: 33
  Job history: Most likely tried his hand at other occupations before opening a saloon. The most common previous occupations were mining (45 percent) and working as a clerk (25 percent).
  Martial Status: Unless extremely lucky, single.
  Origins: The ratio between native-born Anglo-Americans and immigrant saloonkeepers was nearly 1:1 and 30 percent of all saloonkeepers were Irish or German immigrants.
  
  So come and sidle up to the mahogany bar and have chat. We'll be waiting for you. Sin in the Sagebrush will run through September.
• November 19, 2009
• 9:22

  LOOK OUT! Cool, Exploding, Expanding & Gooey Stuff Nov. 23, 24 & 27

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  OK, let's admit it - it can be lots and lots of fun to blow stuff up, strrrrrr-etch globs of slime, and make a big, gloppy mess.
  
  And, who would guess you could learn serious stuff at the same time?
  
  That's what happens at Science Party. Come and see what a blast it is - literally!
  
  Exploding a pumpkin, jumping into a big bucket of ooblek, mixing stuff that turns into weird expanding "elephant toothpaste," and playing around with liquid nitrogen (we're talking TONS O SMOKE) is not something you get to do just anywhere.
  
  We get to because it's all related to our region's obsidian glass formation, lava flows, and volcanic eruptions. Come on down while school's out!
  
  November 23, 24 and 27, 11 am and 1 pm.
  $7, (plus admission - check out the new low winter rates!).
  Members, $5.
  Tickets and info at highdesertmuseum.org or call 541-382-4754, ext. 241.
  
  PS: It's presented by Vernier and Bend Research. We couldn't have done it without them!
• November 11, 2009
• 12:02

  Screecher Feature: Owl Goes to Class

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  School can be a scream – or at least a screech – when you have someone like William visiting.
  William the Western screech owl recently met first-graders at John Tuck Elementary School in Redmond, and it was – ahem – a hoot.
  
  The class learned that the name screech owl is actually a misnomer. These owls don’t screech at all. They give a small hoot or whistle if the need arises.
  
  Western screech owls are a common nocturnal sight year round in the High Desert. They eat small rodents, insects, tree frogs, and bats. Western screech owls weigh only one-third of a pound, but these raptors are still fierce hunters of the night. They have been known to hunt in groups to attack larger domestic fowl, such as chickens.
  
  William was born in the wild. He came to the Museum in 1998 because he has a wing injury that prevents him from hunting, so he couldn’t survive in the wild. Museum wildlife staff estimate he is about 12 years old. The average life span of Western screech owls in the wild is about seven years. William has surpassed his life expectancy because of the care he receives here at the Museum.
  
  If you’d like to have William or another High Desert animal to visit your classroom or organization, go to our school programs page at www.highdesertmuseum.org.
• November 06, 2009
• 12:21

  "The Making Of..."

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  We're shooting a new TV spot for the Museum right now -- here's a behind-the-scenes peek! We'll post the spot when it's finished.
• October 28, 2009
• 16:08

  Wayward Raccoon

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  baby raccoon
  Originally uploaded by highdesertmuseumBy Erica in the Education Department
  
  While the museum is home to many rehabilitated or imprinted animals, we still have visitors of the wild variety that find the museum grounds to be a good place to make a home.
  
  This young raccoon was found taking a mid-day snooze in the pond grasses opposite the By Hands Through Memory exhibit earlier today.
  
  While this little bundle of fur is undeniably adorable, it’s also undeniably wild and certain precautions are needed to keep all of the visitors, staff, and animals safe from this wild animal.
  
  Raccoon Fun Facts::
  Medium size mammal native to North America.
  Omnivores whose diets primarily consist of carnivorous substance.
  Generally nocturnal and engage in gender-specific social behaviors.
  Life expectancy in the wild is 2.5 years. This low life expectancy is often the result of human activity (traffic and hunting).
  
  Based on these general characteristics of all raccoons, our young solitary sleeper throws up some red flags to our wildlife staff.
  
  According to Otis Powell, Senior Wildlife Specialist, the location of this young raccoon's resting spot is unusual, as it should be more comfortable in a den-like hideout during the day. Also, this solo lifestyle is not generally seen with wild raccoons -- but when your bachelor pad comes with a stocked pond and a cleaning service can you blame the little guy for not sharing?
  
  For now we’re watching from afar. This is a good reminder about the importance of keeping a safe distance between yourself and wild animals, even if they encroach within a domestic space.
  
  Raccoons, especially, have exhibited aggressive behavior toward humans and domesticated pets, and all of us at the High Desert Museum urge you to be cautious if you should find yourself in the presence of a wayward raccoon.
  
  We'll keep you posted!
  
• October 23, 2009
• 13:56

  Meet Jason, 1880 Ranch Hand

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  Greetings! My name is Jason Thomas, and I just arrived here on the Blair Ranch a few weeks ago. It seems Aunt Sara has been having some trouble with the hired hands around the ranch lately – they’ve been eating too much and not working nearly hard enough – so she sent a letter to my mother asking if I’d come help out. She believes that family is more reliable than some itinerant workers.
  
  Now, I’ve never thought that I was lazy or anything, but let me tell you, life on a ranch is hard work. I grew up in Eugene City where my parents owned a mercantile. Mostly my days consisted of stocking the shelves, checking inventory and doing some arithmetic.
  
  Life’s much different here in the Ochocos than it is in the valley. Yesterday, I spent six hours chopping wood and kindling. We use the wood stove for heating and cooking, and as the weather cools, we’ll need to have a fire burning continually – which means a lot of work for me. But, as Aunt Sara reminded me, chopping wood in exchange for getting fed isn’t that bad of a deal.
  
  Come and check out how Jason is faring at the homestead and taste life on the frontier in 1880. Help Aunt Sara with the cooking, Jason with the wood chopping, fetch water from the pump, or tend to the goat and chickens. They love having visitors! You might meet one of the Blair’s guests from Prineville too.
  Jason and Aunt Sara are at the ranch here at the Museum on weekends, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• October 22, 2009
• 16:19

  Live, from 1860: It's the Civil War!

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  Enclosure: [download]

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  It is October, 1860 in Oregon's desolate High Desert. Members of the 1St Oregon Volunteer infantry have been sent to insure peace in the region. A column of blue clad soldiers step in cadence as they make their way into the sagebrush on their way to a distant post.
  
  This Saturday and Sunday, the Sagebrush Soldiers will be firing muskets, gambling, doing drills, Dutch oven cooking over an open fire, and trying to recruit you, from 11 am to 3 pm at the High Desert Museum.
  
  The infantry is out looking for bands of Indians committing “depredations” – from stealing settlers’ cattle and horses to burning settlers’ homes. Settlers’ retaliations have created increasing hostilities along the Santiam Wagon road that serves as a route to the John Day mining country to the east.
  
  The troops have stopped at the cabin of one of the only settlers in the region; the family welcomes the military presence as a war party has recently been seen in the area. The 1St Oregon Volunteer infantry has experienced hardship including, starvation, thirst, and a largely Southern sympathetic population living in the mining camps they have been sent to protect.
  
  The patrol will bivouac, repair and rest before proceeding east across the sagebrush on its last patrol and then over the cascades to muster out and return to civilian life.
  
  Established in territory considered hostile to settler and soldier alike, the homestead family welcomes any visitors to their remote home situated on the edge of 9,000 square miles of High Desert.
  
  
• October 09, 2009
• 16:29

  Explore! Discover! Go Wild! (Even if you're a preschooler)

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  Where else will you find three- and four-year-olds: soaring like eagles, singing, sharing stories, donning backpacks stuffed with owl egg replicas, real otter fur, Native American tools and other cool stuff?
  
  That's Backpack Explorers, a new learning adventure program for preschoolers and their parents or guardians each month at the High Desert Museum.
  
  It's all about how children learn best – exploring on their own or the help of a parent or teacher. In September, preschoolers explored the Desertarium, home to live reptiles, for some hands-on fun.
  
  And this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 15, 16, and 17, explorers will uncover the fascinating secrets of everyday materials. Tapping into the Strange Matter exhibit, it's fun, science-based crafts and activities, all designed to amaze.
  
  It is the only program of its kind in Central Oregon, supporting the Museum’s mission. Even children this young can be inspired to become good stewards of High Desert nature and culture.
  
  9:30 a.m. Oct. 15-16; 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Oct. 17.
  $20 per child, $15 for each additional child, (plus admission for accompanying adult)
  Museum members: $15 per child, $10 for each additional sibling.
  
  Register now! Call 541-382-4754Sponsored by US Bank
  
  
• October 06, 2009
• 16:39

  Museum Success Detailed on Statewide Radio News

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  On Monday, Oregon Public Broadcasting radio did a news story on how the economy has dealt a major blow to Central Oregon’s arts community. The Museum was included in the story as an example of an organization that is doing well in these challenging times.
  
  Here are some excerpts from Correspondent Ethan Lindsey's report:
  
  The real estate and construction boom earlier this decade provided millions in corporate
  dollars for the arts in a region that some say was lacking artistic and cultural support. As quickly as it appeared, that money has now vanished.
  
  Last year, the Cascade Festival of Music announced it was shutting down just two months before it was set to open. And yesterday, the Working Wonders Children’s Museum closed its doors for good after a last-ditch fundraising effort failed to rake in the necessary support.
  
  The High Desert Museum opened in 1982 when Bend was home to just 17,000 residents. The city’s growth has been reflected in the museum’s size, reputation – and budget. The museum now features wildlife exhibits, a bookstore, and classes for school groups.
  
  This class of sixth-graders from High Desert Middle School in Bend is learning about wildfires and forest health in back of the museum. They’re watching a forest made out of shredded paper go up in smoke.
  
  The museum says despite the economy, there are some positives. Attendance was up 14-percent last year – and the museum’s new president Janeanne Upp, says a new game plan has helped bring in new visitors. “First what we did is we identified that we have three seasons: summer, fall, our shoulder, and spring which is school groups. So this summer we tried to do a blockbuster: Masters of the Night, true stories of bats. And that has really brought people in.”
  
  Still, attendance is only a piece of the museum’s budget.More than half of the organization’s budget comes from donations or other fundraising activities, and that number dropped 19-percent last year – or $400,000.
  
  Janeanne Upp: “We’re seeing what other organizations are seeing. Giving is down across the board, whether its corporations, foundations, or individuals.” Upp took over last year. And under her leadership, the museum has laid off employees and cut the budget by
  half-a-million dollars. She says that’s put the museum on a much better foundation going forward.
  
  Robin Antonson is the manager of individual giving with the High Desert Museum. “When we go on corporate calls they are very excited about what we’re doing and our exhibits and they want to sponsor and support them. At the same time, the first thing they say is we’ve just had to cut staff and pull back.”
  
  To listen to the full report or read a transcript of it, go to www.opb.org/radio
• October 01, 2009
• 10:49

  As of Tuesday October 6th, the High ...

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  As of Tuesday October 6th, the High Desert Museum will honor Working Wonders Children's Museum Golden Tickets for free admission to the Museum until the passes expire at the end of 2009. Working Wonders Punch Cards will also be honored for free visits through April 2010.

  The High Desert Museum will have the current Golden Ticket information cards at the Admissions Desk and will admit the names currently listed on the cards.

  No other High Desert Museum Member benefits such as discounts for guests, at the café and store will apply. The High Desert Museum is not responsible for missing or incorrect card information. For more information, contact Working Wonders at 541-389-4500.

  
• September 29, 2009
• 10:37

  Weird, Cool, & STRANGE...

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  OK, who knew that foam – just like the stuff in your sofa or floating on top of your microwbrew – also is used by NASA for exploring outer space?
  
  And, c'mon, what the heck is a compact disk really made of?
  
  Is a sea sponge like a dish sponge?
  
  There’s no way of knowing about these everyday materials until you get up close – and we mean really close – to discover they are made of "strange matter."
  
  Strange Matter, our new exhibit, really gets you thinking about the molecular makeup of everything around us.
  
  And, what's really fun is you get to play around with weird stuff like:
  - a growing column of foam!
  - ball bearings that bounce on one of the world's hardest metals!
  - an awesome microscope camera that lets you see stuff magnified a bazillion times!
  
  Hey – did you know your audio system rocks because of teensy, tiny, suspended iron particles inside of it?
  
  How does the salt on your french fries look – we're talking at the atomic level.
  
  And how does that cool touch screen phone work?
  
  Come and check it out at Strange Matter!
  
  Now through January 3.
• September 18, 2009
• 9:34

  An Icon of the West – the Mustang. Adopt One Saturday!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  What image could possibly be more romantic – and symbolic of the American West – than wild mustangs galloping across the open range.
  
  Today, thousands of these beautiful horses still roam the wilderness, but what many people do not realize is that some areas don't have enough water and vegetation to sustain them.
  
  To protect these animals, each year the U.S. Bureau of Land Management gathers some for adoption.
  
  The High Desert Museum is one of more than 25 locations across the nation that will host wild horse adoptions on Saturday, September 19. Whether you want to take a mustang home or simply experience seeing them close-up and learning about them, this event is for you.
  
  10 a.m. to 2 p.m., trainers show off wild mustangs and answer questions.
  
  11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., Learn about the horse and its family tree in a talk with a John Day Fossil Beds National Monument ranger, and examine horse fossils.
  
  12 p.m. to 12:45 p.m., Gary McFadden, Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro expert, talks about the history and current issues surrounding wild horses and burros in the West. Bring a bag lunch or purchase one at the café. Examine horse fossil experiences throughout the day.
  
  2:30 p.m. or 3:00 Silent Bid Mustang Adoption
  
  Mustangs came to America with the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century, and
  have since roamed free or helped settle the West, put to work by the American cowboy. They were a quintessential part of the West, yet they once were thought to be extinct on the range.
  
  Join us for a celebration of a Western icon – the mustang.
• September 08, 2009
• 13:01

  Go (Way) Back to School – in 1880!

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  Ok, back to school may be all about new backpacks and laptops, and a broadcast address from the president.
  
  But here at the High Desert Homestead ranch, where it is the year 1880, we're talking chalkboards, ink wells and being dropped off by a horse-drawn carriage. (News from president Rutherford B. Hayes could take weeks to reach the classroom.)
  
  Schoolmarm Ruby Borden is welcoming back students on the Western frontier.
  
  She shows young children how to use the chalk and slate. Older children who know how to write in cursive use the dip pen.
  
  "Using a dip pen is not as easy as you might think," Ruby says. "You must hold the pen just right to get the ink to flow. The ink dries quickly in our climate, so one must be quick and use a light hand to glide over the paper."
  
  Just like teachers today, Ruby loves to see children excited about what they are studying.
  
  "I hope they will become good, voting citizens, successful in their chosen path and kind to those around them," she says.
  
  She doesn't like disciplining misbehaving students, but that's a whole different scene.
  
  "If I have to punish them, I make them sweep the floor, empty stove ashes, or wash the writing slates," Ruby says. "If that doesn’t work, I make them clean the outhouse. That does work. I also send notes to parents of children who misbehave."
  
  So, all you modern students, come down to the homestead and try out the dip pen, chat with our schoolmarms and peruse the 1880 American and world maps (quite different than today). Our mustangs, chickens and goat are there too, waiting for students to come back to school!
• August 26, 2009
• 11:40

  One From the Vault

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  It was inside the Museum vault, with thousands of artifacts, where inspiration struck.
  
  Native American artist Pat Courtney Gold was examining baskets made by tribal people in the Northwest. She is one of three artists featured in the latest exhibit Art through Ancestry, along with two other widely recognized Native American artists – Rick Bartow and Lillian Pitt.
  
  They were invited into the vault to study artifacts. The aim was to trigger ancestral connections which would inspire new works. A Klinkit tribe basket with bear and salmon images amazed Gold with its beauty.
  
  "My father is Klinkit, so many pieces inspired me," she said. "I really enjoyed the salmon imagery on the basket because that’s what connected my father and mother’s family. Salmon was very important to the Klinkit culture and to the Wasco people."
  
  It inspired her to create a basket with geometric faces (one depicts her grandmother), dentalium shell, salmon designs and waterfowl of the Columbia River.
  
  "I wanted to emphasize our connection not only to the river and our ancestors, but also the salmon living in river and the waterfowl," said Gold, A Wasco elder who grew up on the Warm Springs Reservation in Central Oregon. "The river is very important to support the life salmon and waterfowl and connects all of us."
  
  This Saturday, August 29, Gold, of Scappoose, presents examples of her work and raw basketry materials, and talks about the Art through Ancestry project. 12:30 p.m. at the Museum.
• August 25, 2009
• 16:35

  One From the Vault

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Tags:    [edit]

  It was inside the Museum vault, with thousands of artifacts, where inspiration struck.
  
  Native American artist Pat Courtney Gold was examining baskets made by tribal people in the Northwest. She is one of three artists featured in the latest exhibit Art through Ancestry, along with two other widely recognized Native American artists – Rick Bartow and Lillian Pitt.
  
  They were invited into the vault to study artifacts. The aim was to trigger ancestral connections which would inspire new works. A Klinkit tribe basket with bear and salmon images amazed Gold with its beauty.
  
  "My father is Klinkit, so many pieces inspired me," she said. "I really enjoyed the salmon imagery on the basket because that’s what connected my father and mother’s family. Salmon was very important to the Klinkit culture and to the Wasco people."
  
  It inspired her to create a basket with geometric faces (one depicts her grandmother), dentalium shell, and on the base, salmon designs. On the top is waterfowl you see at the Columbia River. All these images are tied to the Columbia River.
  
  "I wanted to emphasize our connection not only to the river and our ancestors, but also the salmon living in river and the waterfowl," said Gold, A Wasco elder who grew up on
  the Warm Springs Reservation in Central Oregon. "The river is very important to support the life salmon and waterfowl and connects all of us."
  
  This Saturday, August 29, Gold, of Scappoose, presents examples of her work and raw basketry materials, and talks about the Art through Ancestry project. 12:30 p.m. at the Museum.
• August 20, 2009
• 15:53

  vicious animal must be kept behind chainlink fence

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Is he biting off Eileen's finger?
  
  Oh, it's a strawberry.
  
  Note: our baby is no longer on exhibit, as he's being weaned and prepared for his trip back to the wildlife refuge who lent us his mother.
• August 10, 2009
• 16:41

  Tortoise Death Spurs Intrepid Investigators

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  By Aryana and Dan, HDM teen volunteers
  
  It’s 9 a.m. at the High Desert Museum. A scream shatters the silence of the cool summer morning.
  
  Teen investigators from the C.R.I.T.T.E.R.S. (Children Researching In To The Ecology of Rotting Stuff), Dan and Aryana, review the facts. Dunn the desert tortoise has died, apparently of natural causes. Or DID he?
  
  We set out to investigate the body. We check in with Museum education staff Linda Rhine and Erica Benton, who are distraught. We go to the gruesome scene and find the dead tortoise on top of an ant hill. It is in a cage to protect it from scavenging animals. The staff are having the ants clean out his shell which they'll use for education programs.
  
  We do some research on desert tortoises. The Gopherus Agassizii live in dry rocky areas, especially hillsides and canyons in Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California. Desert tortoises can grow up to fourteen inches long.
  
  We are not sure of Dunn’s age. The Museum got him from a rehabilitation specialist when he was fully grown. These tortoises can live up to 50 years.
  
  Being C.R.I.T.T.E.R.S. agents, we know a thing or two about dead stuff.
  
  Decomposition in the desert occurs more slowly than in other environments. The dry, hot air means that fewer bacteria can survive, so bodies tend to decay more slowly.
  
  Dunn apparently died on June 22. He is not decaying quickly. There are some holes in his skin, and his eyes are completely gone. Enzymes and chemicals inside the body break down the cells. That makes dead bodies all discolored, squishy, stinky and bloated!
  
  We talk to the Museum’s senior wildlife specialist, Otis Powell, about the death of the tortoise, and conclude that Dunn died from calcified kidneys. That’s when the kidneys solidify and can’t process waste.
  
  Well, that wraps up another successful investigation from the C.R.I.T.T.E.R.S crew. Stay tuned for more intrepid intrigue.
  
  And, come and check out all of the wild – and very alive – animals at the Museum!
• August 04, 2009
• 13:41

  Unlock the Secrets of Prehistoric High Desert Animals

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  By Aryana and Nathan, Museum teen volunteers
  
  Did you ever have Indian Jones-style dreams of uncovering the secrets of the past with buried clues?
  
  Well, that's just what awaits you at the paleontology dig pit outside at the Museum's Dig! Crawl! Climb! exhibit.
  
  Using various tools such as brushes or shovels, you can excavate pre-historic animal bones buried in the earth’s crust (OK, the bones are replicas, but they're just like the real thing!)
  
  Under a layer of sand, you'll discover the remains of extinct creatures such as Caenopus, which is similar to a rhinoceros – a cousin of the Saber-toothed tiger. Check out the huge fangs – totally cool.
  
  We sat down with a few young visitors at the dig pit to discover what they liked most.
  
  “I thought it was exciting,” said Noah, one of the diggers at the pit. “I did not know what all the bones were, but I was interested in learning what creature they belonged to. I would be interested in paleontology as a side job."
  
  Now is a great time to come in and dig!
  
  The pit is open through October 12, so don’t miss out on a chance to explore the wonderful world of High Desert paleontology!
• July 31, 2009
• 11:55

  Baby Porky Video

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Enclosure: [download]

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  Here's the first video of our new little one!
  
• July 30, 2009
• 14:18

  It's a Baby!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  High Desert Museum welcomes baby porcupine Posted by Terry Richard, The Oregonian July 30, 2009 12:38PMHow do you know whether a porcupine is pregnant?

  Wait for her to give birth.

  The baby porcupine born at the High Desert Museum south of Bend came as a surprise today because the parent porcupines didn't seem as if they liked each other.

  The father porcupine, Thistle, came to the museum when he was less than a year old, in 2004. The museum introduced the mother, Honeysuckle, to him in January.

  To the surprise of museum staff, a baby was born this morning, July 30. Museum staff discovered the softball-sized porcupine walking around its outdoor habitat at about 7 a.m., still wet after being born just a few hours prior.

  Both parent porcupines came from wildlife rehabilitation facilities. Like all of the wild animals at the museum, the porcupines cannot survive in the wild due to their life history.

  The birth of the baby porcupine is evidence that these animals are thriving at their outdoor habitat at the Donald M. Kerr Birds of Prey Center, open to visitors daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  Female porcupines bear one young after a pregnancy of seven months. Newborns typically weigh 12 to 20 ounces and have all of their quills _30,000 of them _ and four teeth.

  When the museum's new porcupine is bigger, it will be sent to a wildlife facility where it will be used for education programs for school children.

  In the wild, porcupines leave their mothers when they about 2 months old.

  The High Desert Museum is a five-minute drive southy of Bend on U.S. 97; 541-382-4754, www.highdesertmuseum.org.

  -- Terry Richard; terryrichard@news.oregonian.com
• July 28, 2009
• 14:02

  Last Chance: Be Inspired By Historic, Cool Quilts

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  You may not think that looking at a quilt could tell you so much about the past – and about yourself.
  But that is just what happens when you get close up to the never-before-seen, centuries-old quilts at the Museum in the exhibit Patterns from the Past: 19th-Century American Quilts. Check it out before the exhibit closes August 5.
  The quilts date back to the Revolution and Civil War eras, and reveal a lot about women in a time when they weren't free to express their views openly.
  Quilts this old are not often shown, because they are just too fragile.
  Some reflect the prosperous era with eagles, shafts of wheat, grapes and ribbons. Economic booms mean houses get fancier. Think mansion, not “McMansion.” We’re talking Scarlett O’Hara stuff here, with bigger beds and more elegant quilts.
  Get lost in imagining yourself in Victorian times. Then, realize that quilts symbolize undying truths.
  Whether you lived then or now, some things you just can’t control, like the weather, housing prices and the stock market.
  You have to do the best you can with what you've got. The material passed on to you, or what you can afford – that’s your fate.
  In life, as in quilts, what you make of it is up to you.
  Come to the Museum, and get inspired.
  
• July 23, 2009
• 10:05

  Go Teens!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  The Museum teen volunteer program is off to a great start!
  
  Having the added number of volunteers is proving to be a great asset for the museum during the popular summer season. Due to the positive response to the Live Bat Experience last week, our teen volunteers are eager to help out anywhere that they are needed.
  
  In addition to greeting in the lobby, working in the café and gift shop, and interpreting various spaces, our teen volunteers are on site to alleviate any added pressure on our dedicated volunteers and staff during this busy summer season. We couldn't do it without them!
• July 15, 2009
• 10:23

  A Batty Experience

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  this video has no sound
• July 13, 2009
• 9:27

  Live Bat Encounter!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Tags:    [edit]

  
  
  Come learn about fascinating, rare bats and see them close-up!
  
  From today through Sunday the 19th, the Museum has two shows a day featuring a bat expert and some very cool bats. Presenter Rob Mies from Bats Conservation International will be here showing off some bats and talking about their lives, habits and environment.
  
  Meet some of the world’s rarest bats close-up, including the Malayan flying fox, the largest bat in the world with a 6-foot wingspan; the endangered golden bat and more.
  
  Shows are noon and 3pm each day. An additional charge is required: $7 for members, $10 for non-members, $5 for kids 2-11, and under 2 years, free. You can buy your tickets in advance or at the door.
• July 07, 2009
• 16:29

  Seski the Sasquatch to Stomp Around High Desert Museum

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  A nearly seven-foot-tall hairy beast will be visiting the Museum Wed. at 2:30 p.m.
  
  Seski the Sasquatch, Oregon's 150th birthday mascot, is a curious, lifelong learner who also likes to have fun, so he wouldn't miss visiting the Museum!
  
  At the 1880 High Desert Homestead Ranch, he will meet the Blair family of homesteaders and Mrs. Blair will be glad to have two extra hands (albeit big and furry) to help out around the ranch with the chores, but hopefully he won't eat too much.
  
  He'll have to be careful not to singe his long, brown, hair while stoking the fire. Pumping the water should be easy for such a burly guy.
  
  Noah the goat will likely take to him, but the chickens and mustangs may react skittishly.
  
  Come and check out Seski's visit!
  
  Seski has updated his blog to reflect the latest itinerary and he's tweeting all of his experiences, too!
• June 25, 2009
• 15:01

  Newly Restored Historic Ranger Station Opens for July 4 Weekend

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  Imagine helping to manage a half-million acres of U.S. Forest Service land.
  That’s what Les Joslin did, starting back in 1962. Now he's a Museum volunteer and helped to move the station here.
  Lovingly restored and furnished to look as it did in the 1940s, it will be at the center of telling the story of America’s national forests, their role in western American life and the policies that shaped the High Desert forests of today.
  The Ranger Station opens on July 1, the culmination of five years of efforts to save the station. The Museum moved the station here from 550 miles away in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.
  This station and its stories will be brought to life as U.S. Forest Service retirees, the "OldSmokeys" of the agency's Pacific Northwest Region, will be on the here throughout the summer, talking with visitors about wildfire prevention and the evolving roles of the Forest Service.
  Joslin said his time at the station shaped his personal conviction for caring for the land and serving people. He will be at the station, talking with visitors July 1 - 4 and throughout the summer.
  “Those five Toiyabe patrol summers stand out as one of the great adventures of my life,” Joslin said.
  Museum Curator Bob Boyd said, “Across half a century, this station served as a base for Forest Service work ranging from managing bands of desert mustangs and grazing allotments for cattle ranches to creating and servicing campgrounds and recreation sites.”
  
  Come visit and learn about the life of a Forest Service ranger!
• June 22, 2009
• 13:07

  Egg Watch is on!

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

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  The whole Museum family is anxiously awaiting the outcome of our spotted owls' latest clutch (batch of eggs). Dot is staying in her nest while Polka, the loving father, brings her mice and stands watch.
  
  We don't yet know if these eggs will hatch into chicks. To not disturb the pair, we have set up a camera focused on Dot in her nest and are checking it on a regular basis. We are hoping for good news to share soon!
• June 18, 2009
• 10:27

  "I lost half my body weight!"

   » ‎ High Desert Musings

  Tags:    [edit]

  As told by Bonnie Badger
  
  Before
  After
  
  When we last checked in with Bonnie, she was a bit zaftig, tipping the scales at her winter weight of 23+ pounds. The summer show season was coming up, and she could barely fit into her skinny harness. What's a mustelid to do?
  
  Seen today, she's a svelte 14 pounds and is looking sleek and toned. Or at least less like an ottoman with claws.

  How did she do it? Let's hear her describe the process:

  "I emerged from my winter torpor and got more active. I actually ate more than I did all winter and I still lost the weight! I kept to a steady diet of fruits and vegetables, raw meat for protein and dead mice for variety. The pounds just melted away!"

  "I upped my digging regimen with daily workouts with my trainers. If I can do it, anyone can!"

  Let's hear it for Bonnie and her fabulous new figure. She's showing it off daily at the Desert Dwellers programs at the High Desert Museum.

  
• June 14, 2009
• 11:49

  Our latest arrivals

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  One live, two in ovo (i.e.: eggs!).
  
  Our two northern spotted owls, Polka and Dot, are sitting on two new eggs, after just saying goodbye to their grown-up chicks from last year. We’ll find out if these eggs will produce chicks by early July. Our birds are the only spotted owls in America that have bred in captivity. Fingers (and talons) crossed!
  
  We just received a very young barn owlet, too. This owlet was born in captivity and depends on people for food, so can't be released in the wild.
  
  It is growing rapidly and has already changed dramatically over the last few weeks. We don’t yet know if we have a boy or girl – when his/her feathers grow in, we will send them for DNA testing. Right now the little guy/gal is in quarantine, but will be available to appear in visitor programs later this summer.
  
  Here are some more wonderful shots from Tauna, one of our wildlife trainers.
  
  "Who dat?"
  
  The awkward tween stage
• June 09, 2009
• 16:04

  Gearing up for summer

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  Though the first week of June has been relatively quiet, you can feel the excitement in the air here as we prepare for the summer season. Our attendance more than doubles starting this weekend. Kids are out of school, families are on vacation, and everyone wants to visit the High Desert Museum.
  
  Our summer lineup includes live animal programs, pioneer activities, our new Bats and Quilts exhibits, bluegrass music, Civil War soldiers and more. Come on by! We're ready for you.
• May 21, 2009
• 17:00

  Masters of the Night: Bats! opens!

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  Exhibit opens May 22!
  

  Enter through a neo-Gothic portal and learn about the upside-down world of bats! The exhibit includes multi-sensory interactive displays, and lifelike models. Lose your misconceptions about these night creatures and discover their ecological importance as well as the true wonders of the bat world.
  Listen through giant, bat-like ears and maneuver a bat model with a joystick to hunt food. Use laser-simulated sonar to understand bat “echolocation.” At the bat nursery, learn the nurturing traits of mother bats. Flex a giant mechanical wing and see how similar bat and human bodies are.

  Tauna Powell, a senior wildlife specialist at the Museum said, “Bats have a bad reputation and are misunderstood by many, but they play an important role in the ecosystem. In the High Desert, some species of bats eat 600 to 1,000 mosquitoes in just one hour.”

  July 13 through 19, meet live bats in a fun, entertaining, interactive program.

  The exhibit runs through Sept. 13.

  Sponsored by :
  
  
  

  
• May 07, 2009
• 16:25

  Teen Opportunities at the Museum this summer

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  YES Teen Science Institute

  The YES Teen Science Institute at the High Desert Museum is an opportunity for teens to gain a deeper understanding of science while discovering the behind the scenes details of the Bats: Masters of the Night exhibit. Click here to learn more about this new program starting in June.

  Teen Volunteer Program

  The High Desert Museum Teen Volunteer Program is a high quality, service - oriented program designed for teens with a desire to share the message of the High Desert Museum through educational activities and service for guests of the Museum. The program requires a year long commitment. Click here to learn more or apply for one of the many opportunities.

  If you have questions, contact The High Desert Teens Program coordinator at 541-382-4754 or edu@highdesertmuseum.org .

  
• April 15, 2009
• 16:15

  The Wolves Are Coming!

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  What makes a man take an old bus, retrofit it for wild wolves, and crisscross the nation with a message?
  
  That’s what Kent Weber, founder of Mission:Wolf, has been doing for years, and he returns to the High Desert Museum in Bend April 18 and 19.
  
  The traveling program from Colorado allows people to meet live wolves face-to-face and even touch them. Some wolves even lick the faces of audience members.
  
  “Some folks’ lower jaws drop to the floor when they learn that a live wolf is about to visit their school or business,” says Weber. “The first response is shock: ‘What?’ The second response is, ‘Do they bite?’ and the third response is, ‘Can I touch it?’
  Weber lets people get to know these legendary, charismatic predators, and learn about their crucial role in a diverse, balanced ecosystem.
  
  The reintroduction of wolves in the West continues to stir controversy. The Museum presents programs such as Mission:Wolf so that people can gain knowledge to make informed, balanced decisions about the future of our region.
• April 10, 2009
• 15:52

  We're blogging!

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  Welcome to the High Desert Museum blog.
  
  This is Bonnie, one of our badgers. She's kind of plump right now, as she's just coming out of torpor. (Torpor is like hibernation-lite.)
  
  We'll be showing many more of our critters, programs, exhibits, history characters and more on this site. Stay tuned!