Canada Goose.

When I was just a lad in the 1950s, this time of year we would often hear flocks of Canada Geese flying overhead in a kind of elongated upside-down V pattern; one leg longer than the other. Loud honks moved  through the lines of geese overhead.  It was a sign of fall. School will be starting soon, dad would be preparing for hunting season. Dad told us that the area west of Woodburn where I-5 cuts through, used to be a lake. Canada Geese used to drop in to linger for awhile before returning to their migration. Over the years a small population of Canada Geese have become resident in the Salem area. Why not? There's grass seed fields, and  grain fields all over, without the bitter winter cold, and rivers, streams, and lakes, usually. Part of their adopted territory is in SE Salem, in the field where The Data Hyperstorage construction is planned. 

I don't know if our resident goose population is ready to turn back to the nicer country from which it is named, it would be a shame if they did. I once saw a goose lead a couple of younger Geese (yearlings maybe), from the Tesla dealership across Mission street to the airport, aggressively honking the whole time as if she were scolding. "IM WALKIN' HERE! YOU SIT STILL AND WAIT FOR US TO CROSS!" Traffic was stopped in both directions.  People don't do that for squirrels, and squirrels are cuter.  

I wish I could join those Geese on their northward migration. I grew up with the idea that, in the realm of foreign policy, we wore the white hats. As I became more aware I learned that we were as often, the villain. This took a while to mature in my young brain, not yet opened by Marijuana and  and the blandishments of Timoth Leary!. This was also in that interregnum between Vietnam as a "police action", and Vietnam as declared war. It was also in the moral center of the Civil Rights struggle. Followed later by the women's movement. So, even though we were on the wrong side of the Vietnam War, still supporting apartheid South Africa, undermining governments in third-world countries for purely strategic reasons, we were still doing some things right. We can build on that. Before the 1980 election another foreign policy muck-up happened when the much-hated Shah of Iran came to the great medical beacon of the United States, to treat his cancer. In his absence, the people of Iran rose up and overthrew him. They held our embassy hostage 444 days. They were lead by Islamic Mullahs, chief among them, Ayatollah Komahnei, like most religious zealots, the kind of guy you would not wish to eat a pork loin with. Or share a prized bottle of Moltepucciano da' Abruzzo They might have had a better future if different people had led their revolution, people less doctrinaire. That was nearly 50 years ago and came some 28 years after the CIA and British Petroleum overthrew an elected leader of Iran for stating the simple fact that Iranian oil should be under Iranian supervision. Our ICE in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s was the CIA. The CIA was a bit more sophisticated in the execution of its underworld realm, especially in its "wet-work", but maybe we've been out of practice in the dark world of espionage these many years since. The Tech Bros, who own the Republicans have a "philosopher of the dark Enlightenment". You can't expect much of this group made whole from from the mine tailings of capitalism. 

Those Geese bring up thoughts of emigrating to Canada. As if I ever could. A high school friend of mine has duel citizenship. He has dreams of selling his home and buying a fishing boat. He wants to run charters out of the Canadian San Juan's, a very pretty place, and in a warm spot, even in winter. He also should not be riding a tri-cycle. Alcohol-induced dementia. My family has ties to this country from the mid-1800's. My parents are buried here, my aunts and uncles from Chehalis, Washington to Eugene. My friends are here, I want to spend my remaining years here. So, after all of those opportunities to resist in the 60s and 70s. And 80s, and 90s, and the aughts, and 2010s, on up-down, I mean- to the Trump attempt at stealing a country, I am forced to continue resisting for the expressed goal of re-imagining that country when we at least did some good things. I am that goose leading her yearlings across Mission street in front of the Tesla dealership.