Audrey Bentz

On December 17, 2016, Dona Taylor left this life, and High Prairie lost a very special person whose place was at the heart of our community. A memorial service honoring Dona was held on December 23. We are pleased to reprint here an article written by Audrey Bentz for the White Salmon Enterprise at that time. To learn more about Dona’s life and what she gave to the community, go to http://www.whitesalmonenterprise.com/obituaries/2016/dec/29/dona-taylor/.

Probably 95% of High Prairie residents have “immigrated” here from other Northwest areas over the past years. But one couple, Doug and Dona Taylor, likely hold the record for being “original” to this area.

Romance solidified their Lyle High School friendship and their marriage lasted over 60 years. No one knew most everybody that moved to High Prairie like they did  And they helped make High Prairie a welcoming place for so many over all these decades.

On December 23, a memorial service was held for Dona at the High Prairie Community Center, and was attended by over 150 people. We celebrated her life watching pictures of her and family from birth and on. There was music by the “High Prairie Larks” (of which Dona had been a key singer) doing four of Dona’s favorite songs that she sang almost up to the day that she passed on.  Rev. Myrin Bentz spoke of Dona’s life and what “place” is that God has for her now, including, as one listener suggested, “a place where no weeds grow!”.  

A wonderful meal for all those who attended was provided by the family with help from Beneventi’s and many volunteers.

Doug now has some assistance with his daughter from Alaska, and many High Prairians as he adjusts to a life with special memories of his beloved Dona.

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Some Sage (Bug) Observations

Gwen Berry

It’s like something out of a Hitchcock movie. On a warm autumn afternoon, you turn the corner of your house, and suddenly you’re confronted by hundreds of crawling insects. Yaaaaaa! They blanket your wall, seeking to infiltrate your home. Some fly up as you approach. You brush them out of  your hair and clothes,  but you know you won’t find them all and they’ll ride into your house with you. One by one the whole persistent mass will find the weak spots in your home’s defenses. They’ll be inside before winter. 

Then, all is quiet, you don’t see them anymore. You breathe a sigh of relief. 

Until spring. Until one day, one warm spring day, you’ll see a few on your windows. Now you know you haven’t escaped the horde after all. They’ve  been silently waiting, hidden in holes and crevices, waiting to emerge en masse to blacken your windows and drop from lamps into your food, and they smell terrible! Once again they’re massing for movement—this time on the inside trying to get out so they can mate and come back even stronger. They are the brown menace known locally as SAGE BUGS.

Or grass bugs, or grey bugs. Entomologists call them “Over-Wintering True Bugs,” of the Hemiptera order of insects/suborder Heteroptera/infraorder Cimicomorpha/superfamily Miroidea/family Miridae/possibly of the genera Irbisia or Ahryssa—which clearly explains why entomologists also call them Plant Bugs. 

Entomologists have a lot to say about them. They love bugs!  Take these items, for example:

• Many Hemipterous true bugs over-winter as adults in shelters. Duh!
• Although many insects are referred to as “bugs,” only the insects in the order Hemiptera are “True Bugs.” I guess the others are just faux bugs or wanna-bees. . .
• The Miridae are the most species rich family-level grouping of true bugs, with approximately 10,000 described species recognized as of 2000. I’ll skip the family reunion, thanks.
• True Bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis, with their young looking much like adults, but without wings. This is probably important…

What makes a bug a True Bug? First, the wings. If it’s a True Bug, the outer pair of its two sets of wings have leathery sections at the base and thin, membranous ends. Plus, there’s almost always an obvious triangular structure at their base. You can easily see these features on our beloved Sage Bugs. (Use a magnifying glass if you’re old enough to remember the Viet Nam war.)

Second, True Bugs have little piercing-and-sucking mouthparts, which work like a straw. The clever design of the proboscis allows it to be conveniently folded under the body of the bug when not in use. While most True Bugs use their drinking straws to suck the juice out of plants, a few use them on other animals, including (uncommonly) mammals. Think bed bug. Fortunately for us, Sage Bugs are strictly of the plant juice persuasion. 

If you went looking for True Bugs you’d find them everywhere, with an amazing range of appearances and life habits. The ranks of True Bugs are filled with sage bugs, stink bugs, assassin bugs, cicadas, aphids,  planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, bed bugs, giant water bugs, and lots of other unusual insects. There are tiny ground-dwelling True Bugs less than 1mm (1/32 inch) long and huge 110 mm (4 3/8 inch) water bugs!  

Sage Bugs are one variety of Plant Bugs, which are one variety of True Bugs. Plant Bugs are special because they only have one pair of bug eyes, the faceted kind; while many bugs have two. A couple of closed wing cells also set them apart. And Plant Bugs are small, less than 1 cm (3/8 inch). The University of Kentucky Entomology Department adds, significantly, “. . . plant bugs are able to secrete foul-smelling, foul-tasting fluids from pores on the sides of their bodies.” No kidding!  “These secretions help to protect plant bugs from predators. Plus, many species are camouflaged with brown, green, and gray markings. Even with these defenses, plant bugs are often eaten by birds, spiders, assassin bugs, and other predators.” This is good to know. Think of Sage Bug population numbers if the predators were more fastidious. Heroic local birds have actually been seen gorging on them. 

And, finally, WSU offers these observations: “[Sage Bugs] seek layered places such as shingles, newspapers, firewood, folded fabric, etc. They are social and like to be together. Individual grass bugs emerge on warm, sunny, winter days to seek water droplets or house plants to obtain moisture. They do not feed while hibernating, but live off of their body fat.” Bugs have body fat?

All this information may make Sage Bugs marginally more interesting as individuals, but it still doesn’t tell us what to do when they’re mobbing our homes. Local wisdom says you can put a pan of water on the ground below the wall where they are massing and bunches of them will dive in and drown (knock them off and they fall straight down). A suggestion gleaned from an online forum is to spray them with a solution of detergent and water. It’s supposed to kill them. Bug spray works, too. One technique is to set off a bug bomb in your house after they’ve all come inside in the fall, and then again in six weeks. Should result in a bug-free home next spring. But the experts at WSU Entomology warn, “They are easy to kill with products labeled for use in dwellings. However their little smelly bodies are still there! Our WSU suggestion? Vacuum them up in your home! Change vacuum bags because they stink after being filled with bugs.” Experienced bug-snuffers insist you should seal up the bags or burn them. They’re taking no chances! Sage advice.

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Jake Jakabosky

Elsewhere in this issue is an article about the Firewise Program by Tom McMackin. I highly recommend your attendance at the meeting titled “Living with Fire” ob March 18. Learning and applying what you learn there can make a big difference in your local fire department’s ability to protect your home when our nasty Gorge winds whip some small fire out of control.

Just how serious can it be? Just look at the raging fire that swept through Alberta, Canada’s towns last summer. Or, more recently, this month’s multiple fires in Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. As of March 9, at least six people have been killed, over 1.2 million acres burned and thousands evacuated. The number of homes and other structures burned has yet to be tallied.

Every summer our Klickitat County volunteer firefighters witness the forces of nature that blacken large acreages. There are areas of this county that have seen devastating wildfire and there are those that have yet to see and feel its effects. High Prairie is one of the latter. The fuel loads have been building for decades and all the moisture we have seen this winter will spur the heavy growth of dry grass and weeds that will carry a fire rapidly through that fuel, up the ladder fuels and into the tree tops. It might not happen this year, but what about next year or the next?  Why not get prepared now?

I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of managing that fuel load in a manner that reduces the impact of inevitable fire sweeping through your home and property. Some of our neighbors have already cleared their fire hazard and serve as an example of what can be done. Please find the few hours necessary to become informed by attending the meeting on Saturday, March 18, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the High Prairie Community Center on Struck Road. If you really cannot attend, please go to the links at the end of Tom’s article soon and seriously consider a plan of action to start managing the threat to your home.

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What has six legs, but is not an insect; moves around by flipping itself from place to place with a forked “tail;” lives with hundreds of thousands of its neighbors in a square meter of soil; and appears with millions of its buddies on late winter snow looking like a sprinkling of pepper or a stripe of soot?

Answer at the end.

New Neighbors?

Audrey Bentz

If you know of anyone who has recently moved to High Prairie, please send information to Audrey Bentz, amsong@gorge.net or 509-365-3600.  We’d like to send an official welcome to them.

Heard Through the Grapevine

Thank you, thank you, thank you! to the intrepid local snow plow operators who spent long hours opening up roads and driveways this winter. Everyone on the receiving end of their services is extremely grateful. It may inspire even greater appreciation when you realize that the operators’ costs can push $1000 or more for fuel, maintenance and repairs.

Animal Care Needed

Carole Garner

We are looking for someone to come to our place on Centerville Highway when we are gone, to feed our animals. We do not need someone to house sit; rather, just come over once a day in the afternoon to feed 3 horses, a dog and 2 cats, and some chickens. The horses have on demand water so it’s a pretty easy tasks to come over once a day. We pay $15. Interested parties can email me garner.carole@gmail.com. 

Attracting Pollinators

Debbie McDonald

Hello, neighbors.  I can’t wait to find my garden under the snow. If you’re in a planning stage like me, you might find this publication interesting and educational on attracting pollinators to your garden from the Forest Service.  Can’t have too many pollinators and their free labor working in our yards. Enjoy! https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/AttractingPollinatorsV5.pdf

Oda Knight Road Party/Meeting On March 19

Audrey Bentz

All Oda Knight residents (full time or weekenders) are invited to Morning Song Acres [6 Oda Knight Road, Myrin and Audrey Bentz residence] on Sunday, March 19, for an evening get-together. There will be a “happy hour” between 5 and 6 to get better acquainted, especially with the newer residents, followed at 6 pm by a potluck meal. Afterward we’ll discuss our horrendous road, due to the snow! It will also be a way to thank Dan Hartford for his road work a year ago, and to Ray Lindsey for his continual snow removal for all. For RSVP or questions, call 509-365-3600.

Good Neighbor Lighting

Audrey Bentz

From Time magazine, May 30, 2016:  “For centuries, people gazing at the sky after sunset could see thousands of vibrant, sparkling stars… In the U.S. so-called light pollution has gotten so bad that, by one estimate, 8 out of 10 children born today will never encounter a sky dark enough for them to see the Milky Way.”

Here on High Prairie we are privileged to see the Milky Way most summer nights, UNLESS we have an outdoor light nearby that shines its light upward to the sky.  If you need to have an outdoor light during nighttime hours, please be sure it is the newer variety that simply (and more effectively) lights only toward your ground and/or your building.  Home Depot and other such stores have a good choice of “Good Neighbor Lights.” Thus you will save on your PUD bill by being conservative on outdoor lighting, and keep our amazing sky show available for all.

Toilet Ring?  Here’s What Works

Deb Hansen (and Karen, too!)

Hello, neighbors! My husband, Ken, and I moved to High Prairie from Alaska a year and a half ago. We LOVE the area and the people. Only two things have really frustrated me… the bugs that seem to invade our home twice a year (sometimes more frequently) AND the mineral rings in our toilets. I haven’t found a way to keep the bugs out, but I HAVE found the miracle “cure” for the toilet ring dilemma! I wish I could take credit for this discovery, but the kudos (and my undying admiration) go to Karen, who resides in Goldendale and is a friend of Judi Strait.

The “miracle,” non-chemical cure is… wait for it… drywall sanding screen!!! Who knew???? (Besides my hero, Karen!) This product comes in sheets that can be cut to any size. It is a water proof silicon carbide material that won’t damage porcelain, plastic, metal, wood or painted surfaces. You can find it in any hardware store.

Here’s to sparkling toilets! Happy house cleaning, my friends!

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David Strait

On January 19, 2017, High Prairian Paul Strait celebrated his 100th birthday! How’s that for a milestone! Although a small birthday party was planned, it had to be canceled due to winter weather (and son David’s broken ankle); but people came up when they could to wish him a happy birthday, and friends and neighbors mailed him cards with birthday wishes. Below, David Strait shares a little bit of his dad’s amazing life:

Dad was born in Newberg, Oregon, in January 1917. He had four brothers and one sister. His brothers would often take him along for good luck because they could always count on him to get everyone home. Considering some of the adventures that he took his family on—there were five of us kids, plus Mom—I believe this to be true.

Dad was never big, but anything lacking in size was more than compensated for in agility, speed, cleverness, and personability. His father was a teacher and his mother immigrated from Germany before World War One. They had a small farm and first commuted by horse and wagon. He studied welding, diesel mechanics, and machining after high school. He built several saw mills, and designed machinery for plywood production. I remember watching him build his own ham radio station, telescope, and sailboats. Before starting his own business he had worked for 17 to 19 different outfits.

Coastal Machine Works in Tillamook led to Climax Portable Machine Tools in Newberg, Oregon, that now employs around 150 worldwide. They build all kinds of machine tools that go to work sites instead of residing in a shop. Things like big turbines, submarines, and large equipment are very difficult to disassemble and return to a shop for repairs so Dad, with several clever ideas and hard work, retired a bit earlier than most. He has just in the last several years stopped working every day in his shop. He tells me that his get up and go has departed.  

He sold Climax to his son-in-law in the early 70’s; then he built a 32 foot sailboat, which he sailed to British Columbia and to Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific in 1989–1990. He taught himself celestial navigation. This trip was pre-GPS. He returned home without the boat but returned to Pitcairn ten years later to help the islanders celebrate the bicentennial of the burning of the HMS Bounty. For this trip he converted a 26 foot Navy whale boat with an 8 horsepower diesel and a 320 gallon tank. My son Jason went with him and they arrived with 15 gallons to spare.

He and Mom were married 74 years. I have many fond memories of family vacations and time spent with Dad in the machine shop. I’ve only mentioned a few of his many adventures, but if you can catch him awake you might ask for details. 

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