Bees have returned to the orchards around The Dalles after a historic snowfall on Monday, April 11. Orchard View Farm’s Mike Omeg was right. They’re showing up for work.

Sal Reyes, 35, of The Dalles cuts through an 8” x 6” beam this morning in the Port of The Dalles. The Framer was working on the RBR Construction’s fourplex. Rain, Schmain. Reyes kept on working. Weather prognosticators are calling for more rain through the weekend with temps never jumping out of the 50s.

Entertainment abounds this month with shows on tap at Working Hands Beer, Zim’s, Bargeway, Ruins, TD Civic, Grateful Vineyard, Everybody’s Brewing, Easter Bunny, Mid-Columbia Car Club Cruise-in, Double Mountain, River City Saloon, Cider Fest, Paint Night, Rockford Grange Hall, Granada, TD Library.

Conservation District is ready to unveil Farm Tool Library in White Salmon on April 20, just in time for Earth Day. The collection of tools will be loaned out to spur small-scale agriculture in the local area.

The Baldwin Saloon reopens today with a lunch service that goes from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The crew at the Baldwin along with Executive Chef Joe Kosarek have been working their tastebuds off for the past several weeks in preparation. And it has paid off in their fresh lunch menu.

Tough Enough? Mike Omeg said neither he nor any of his workmates can remember a snow when cherry trees were in blossom in the past 50 years. Local cherry trees hit with snow during the blooming season avoided freezing temperatures. Omeg said that bodes well for this summer’s crop. But it’s a long road to June.

Taylor Morehouse clearing the bar at 14'. The Dalles High School Senior is on a tear besting his state performance a year ago by increasing to 14’ 10” of late. And there is a whole lot more where that came from. Check out what’s happening with track and field athletes before they hold their final home meet on Wednesday, April 13 at 3:30 p.m. It’s senior night.

Council will hear about or consider items that total more than $1.9 million tonight, April 11th, at their regular meeting. The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce’s budget, a new contract for future City Manager Mathew Klebes, and money requests from Parks and Rec. as well as Mid-Columbia Community Action Council are in the mix.

A freak snowstorm hitting Oregon brought inches of fluff to higher elevations in the Columbia River Gorge while prompting school closures, downing some power and capping cherry blossoms with ice, this morning, April 11th.

Darcelle XV & Co. will perform two evening drag shows at Route 30 in The Dalles on Monday, April 11th, to sold out crowds.

Jeff Carrell celebrates his Birthday today, April 9, after an epic show with friends at Zim’s Brau Haus on Friday night. It was so great to see a four-piece putting screws through the rock again. Carrell, Victor Johnson Jeff Minnick and Kenny Olsen put together a 2-hour jam on Friday with some dark play on Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. Happy 57th Jeff!

This week’s local poetry spotlight features a poem by Rebecca Sonniksen, which was inspired by her daughter Sofia.

In this weeks question of the week we take a stroll through White Salmon on a windy, rainy day to ask our neighbors about their ideal vacation destinations.

The Wasco County Commissioners Meeting held their regularly scheduled meeting at 9 a.m. on April 6th, 2022.

“It has helped me to process things when I’ve submitted my own stuff,” Colleen Ballinger said about her occasional contributions to the Poetree, which change in response to seasons and current events and depending on the amount of work she receives from others, including strangers.

North Wasco County School District’s Stephanie Bowen put together this series of photos of staff and students jumping into spring activities during the past few weeks.

Swift action and an inclusive cleanup process were the two main takeaways from a meeting between the Yakama Nation and officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Army Corps of Engineers about the Bradford Island Superfund Site. At yesterday’s meeting, EPA and the Army Corps committed to finalizing a federal facilities agreement within a year, expediting cleanup actions where possible, and fully engaging the Yakama Nation in all processes.

Columnist Jim Drake takes you through music, culture and entertainment options at Zims, Route 30, The Pines, TD Civic, 64 Taphouse, Granada, HR Library, Bargeway Pub, Thunder Island, Everybody’s Brewing, MoCo, Double Mountain, Grateful Vineyard, Easter Bunny, River City Saloon, Wine Tasting, TD Eagles, Cider Fest.

Cary Lowe’s love of flight now has his family also elevating the vehicle that was at the center of so many great family memories. His 1963 Piper Cherokee 235 is being passed on to local college students for the expansion of their mechanical minds in the wake of Cary’s passing.