When we lived in California in the ‘50s, we had a friend and neighbor who was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. As most of you know, Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay region were famous for their crab. I think these were called Blue crabs. It was here that crab cakes were invented. Our friend shared her recipe with us and we have never found it’s equal, even in well known sea food restaurants.

In fact, the crab cakes we tried when dining out were quite inferior. It is an easy recipe and with crabbing being close to excellent in the bay and good from the docks right now, as well as reasonably priced in the market, now is the time to enjoy. 1 lb. crab meat 7 slices white bread, coarsely crumbed 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. dry mustard Scant 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped 1 egg 1 stick (4 ounces) butter or margarine, melted Mix everything together but the butter. Then mix in the butter, and form 2 to 3 inch patties. Fry in olive oil or butter in a medium hot skillet for 2 minutes (approximately) on each side. If you have ever eaten a better crab cake I'd like the recipe! I like to have plain boiled white rice and a salad with the crab cakes. Happy Holidays, Mike

I am grateful to be having such wonderfully diverse weather this holiday season. I sure enjoy the occasional sunshine this special time of year when the sun is low in the sky. I appreciate the unique opportunity to see sunlight where any other time the sun never reaches. What else am I excited about this time of year? Roasting chestnuts. For practical purposes however, I usually roast them in a wood cook stove rather than over an open fire.

 Those open fires tend to get the house a little smokey… I planted some chestnut trees in my “Nut Forest” plot last year. Chestnuts’ foliage appears to be quite a sought after delicacy for deer, as they don’t seem to mind penetrating through my brush fencing to have a nibble of leaves. Good news is chestnut trees coppice. This means that when anything happens to their tops, the roots grow new trunks. This is handy for both the occasional nibble of deer, as well as being able to cut the trees for wood, and have them grow right back. Chestnut wood happens to be quite excellent. It is rot resistant so can be used for outdoor applications, like cedar.

 Chestnuts are different from other nuts in that they’re starchy and sweet, rather than fatty and high in protein. This makes them more perishable, which is why chestnuts are only found in stores in fall and winter. A species of chestnut called the “American Chestnut” used to grow on the east coast up until 100 years ago when the introduction of a blight nearly brought it to extinction. Fortunately, because of our dry summers here, the blight cannot survive and thus we are able to grow the American chestnut here. Contrary to European and Asian chestnuts, these trees grow much larger and have an upright form, which makes them much more useful for their wood. The nuts of the American chestnut are sweeter although smaller than their relatives, and considered superior in flavor.

 I’ve planted some of these in the Nut Forest where their upright form will be utilized, providing a forest-like setting. So far I have personally only seen isolated trees in Coos County. Chestnuts require at least 2 different trees for pollination. They appear to be susceptible to post hole beetles, for which I recommend planting comfrey right underneath chestnut trees. Comfrey provides habitat for over 100 kinds of spiders, some of which will gladly eat any beetles in sight. A few years ago I had such spiders living in comfrey save an apple tree by eating beetles that were infesting it. This year I will be planting a few more chestnut trees, this time inside the deer fence, with comfrey underneath them, of course. Happy holidays and happy planting!

Photographing in the Cold

Photographing here at the South pole can be quite a grueling endeavor. With temperatures that range between -80 and -9 degrees F the photographer runs into many problems. Everything from cameras freezing up to frostbite

The cameras down here seem to last about an hour to two hours before the actual shutter mechanisms begin to freeze up and stick open in the case of my film cameras or begin to make a horrible screeching noise in the case of the digital cameras.

 My understanding is that this is due mostly to freezing lubricants. My lenses and tripod head become very stiff as well. Outside, the photographer has to deal with the cold while being able to operate a camera. This often means that some of your ECW (extreme cold weather) gear has to be removed. I have found this to be brutal on the fingers and face. In fact the tip of my nose and a spot right above my eyebrow is constantly raw or scarred from the skin touching my camera body and freezing to it. Fingers become cold because of wearing thin gloves so I can manipulate camera controls. This is on top of simply trying to stay warm while standing still to take photos.

When I can no longer photograph, I take a short break before coming inside to place my camera gear inside a plastic bag that I twist shut. This keeps the cold metal and glass cameras from having condensation form on and in them. It is the same effect as pouring a glass of ice water in a warm room. Not so bad on a glass of water or beer but horrible for electronics!

While photographing outside here at the pole has its difficulties, it is an incredible opportunity to make photos of the frontier station and the scientific work being performed

Take Care, Ryan

"Things I Know"
by Joyce Sutphen

I know how the cow's head
turns to gaze at the child in
the hay aisle;
I know the way the straw
shines under the one bare
light in the barn.
How a chicken pecks gravel
into silt and how the warm
egg rests beneath
the feathers—I know that
too, and what to say, watching
the rain slide
in silver chains over the
machine shed's roof. I know
how one pail
of water calls to another and
how it sloshes and spills
when I walk
from the milk-house to the
barn. I know how the barn
fills and
then empties, how I scatter
lime on the walk, how I
sweep it up.
In the silo, I know the rung
under my foot; on the tractor,
I know
the clutch and the throttle; I
slip through the fence and
into the woods,
where I know everything:
trunk by branch by leaf into
sky.

QUESTION: I was awarded a judgment in small claims
court in September for $1,500. The court order did not make
it a lien. The court said it could be made into a lien. How do
I go about making it into a lien? The defendant shows no
interest in paying off the judgment.
ANSWER: If a small claims court judgement is less than
$3,000 and you want a Judgment Lien which attaches the
debt for the payment of money to the real property of the
judgment debtor, you should go to the court clerk, pay the
required fee and request that the clerk note in the register and
the judgment record that the judgment creates a judgment
lien. ORS 46.488. This lien is good for real property in the
county of the judgment, but if the debtor has real estate in
another Oregon county, another lien must be created. ORS
18.152.¤
Stephen Abbott has a law practice in Coquille at the Old
City Hall building, Second and Adams, and has practiced
law for over 30 years. He is a U.C. Hastings Law School
graduate, a member of the Oregon State Bar, as well as a
(currently inactive) member of the California State Bar.
He’s a native born Oregonian and has a general practice of
law in Coquille and Port Orford. His emphasis is on civil
litigation, criminal defense, and estates.

Editor’s note;
You will remember Ryan Deuschle from his days at The
Sentinel. He was our photographer and writer. We have
never had such nice photos as when he was about town,
taking them for us.
Ryan has taken a job at the South Pole and is going to
keep us informed about an environment foreign to us. If
you think we have been cold for the last couple of weeks...
read this.


Living at the South Pole has sunk in and it is wonderful. I feel quite at home in this harshest of harsh environments. Soul food is daily life. Last monday marked my first full day at work. It was a mellow day after a station tour that took us into the underground ice utility tunnels, and we spruced up the non-smoking lounge. Our work has to be mellow for at least a few days so we can acclimatize to the high altitude, which has been hovering around 10,400 ft. the last few days.

 The extremely dry air is something else that continually effects us. There is a constant need to be drinking water, which, by the way is some of the purest and ancient water you could drink, all being made from frozen ice. The ice is melted with hot fluid from the large diesel engines that heat and power the station. Ice is melted down, forming a long cylindrical shaft that once empty, will be turned into a human waste repository.

This has been the method for storing human waste for a long time if not always, but there are plans for a waste treatment facility sometime in the future. Frostbite is something we all deal with here. It can be difficult to be covered up all the time. On Wednesday, after shoveling snow all day clearing out drilling equipment for the Ice Cube project, I had a white spot on my nose. There was little that could be done, but after work when I was taking photos my nose froze to my camera and tore off the skin. So double bonus! I am pleased with the photos so it was worth it. The week has been a hard week of shoveling snow off and around various buildings and equipment.

The weather has been fluctuating from the balmy negative 13 degrees to negative 43 or colder. Today has been windy with wind speeds up to 25 knots. This makes being outside a bitterly cold experience.

Sundays are most people’s day off, so the station has a much more relaxed atmosphere and there is a lot of movie watching and game playing going on. Most people end up sleeping a lot as well. Something about being down here just wears you out a little.