Doug Saldivar

Place of birth: San Diego California

How long on the Mountain: 35 years

If you were not brought here as a child, what brought you to the Mountain? After our kids left home, my wife and I decided it was time to get out of town. She agreed and said she wanted to move to Welches. In 1925, her grandfather built a cabin on Plaza Trail right on the Salmon River. She, her mother, and her brother stayed in the cabin every summer from the early 1950s until she was 18 or 19. We looked at several places and finally, in June 1990, made an offer on a tumble-down house on 13 acres at the end of Plaza Trail. It became the place we had always dreamed of. The house was built in 1929 and needed many major repairs. There was also a nice guest cottage and several outbuildings. We spent a lot of time and money fixing it up and moved in on February 1, 1991.

Profession: I was General Manager of the Finished Vehicle Division of VASCOR, an Automobile Logistics Company.  I worked all over the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Asia. People asked what I did, and I said I got on airplanes usually in a first-class seat, I rented nice cars, stayed in nice hotels, and ate at fancy restaurants. It was a fun job when I was younger.

Other professions: General ne'er-do-well Bohemian, YIPPIE, Operations Manager at Portland Recycling Team. Now in my dotage, I am still a ne'er-do-well Bohemian old guy.

Favorites:

Hobbies: Reading, writing, philately, pulling blackberry vines in my yard, MS Excel, MS Access, and driving fast with the top down in my 2004 Thunderbird.

If offered a dream vacation, where would you go, and why? That’s a hard one. My wife, Barbara, and I, traveled the world quite a bit, and each place had its own charms. Perhaps my new dream would be to visit Caltanissetta in Sicily, the home of ancestors on my father's side.

Best lesson learned as a child: Make sure your pants don’t get caught in the drive chain of your bike.

Defining moment in your life or your greatest accomplishment: Chairman of the group that organized the Hoodland Sustainability Fair in 2011, getting and staying happily married for 39 years, writing/publishing a novel, and building a greenhouse.

A memorable dinner: My wife and I sitting and talking at our kitchen table, with our dog and cat lying next to the wood stove. Drinking red wine, eating one of her wonderful soups, and afterwards for dessert, her "Marriage Proposal" cheesecake.

A funny moment from your life that you can share: Lots of funny moments, maybe the funniest one was when my wife and four other people were in a Grand Taxi in Morocco. We were sitting in the back seat of the taxi with two other people and a very young baby. They were the native people of North Africa, Berbers. The Berber man and I were sitting on the outside and Barbara and the Berber woman with her baby were sitting in the middle next to each other. They seemed afraid of us. They may not have ever seen people like us before. Barbara was smiling, looking at the baby and making typical baby noises. The woman held the baby tight and moved closer to her husband. Soon the baby fell asleep. After a while the baby woke up. Barbara smiled at the woman, the woman finally smiled back. Then she handed Barbara the baby. Barbara was very happy and then the baby, who unbeknownst to us had no diaper, wet all over Barbara. Everyone in the car laughed including Barbara, we shared some apples, and we were all friends, for the next 30-40 miles to our destination.  

If you could invite anyone (past or present) to dinner, who would it be, and why: My wife Barbara, who passed away about seven years ago, and my stepson Damon, who recently died. Why? Because I miss both of them a lot and would love to see and talk to them again.

Describe yourself in one word: Centered.

When you're not reading The Mountain Times, what book/author/magazine/other do you read: Novels with a history theme and non-fiction History,

If your life were made into a play or movie, what would the title be: “The Inexplicable Life of an Interloper”

Pet peeve: Loud music played outside by neighbors

Bad habit you’d like to break:  Procrastination

Famous person(s) you have met, and the circumstances: I met several famous people on airplanes while sitting in first class. I sat next to, and talked politics with Walter Mondale (who many of your younger readers will never have heard of), sat across the aisle from Linda Ronstadt, and talked to her a bit about her album, “Canciones De Mi Padres”.

Favorite quote: "Venceremos!"

Favorite part of The Mountain Times: Local News, Steve Wilent and Gary Randall  Columns, CPO news, letters to the editor, and the ads

 Movie/and or Musical: McCabe and Mrs. Miller, My Cousin Vinny, the Godfather, and of course Dr Strangelove(a Peter Sellers comedy about nuclear war)

Actress and Actor: John Wayne, Marisa Tomei

TV show: WKRP in Cincinnati                  

Books:The Grapes of Wrath, For Whom the Bell tolls, The Patrick O’Brian Novels, and Entertaining Ourselves to Death (this is an important prescient book written in the 80s; it goes a long way to explain our current situation)

Type of music:  almost everything between 1955 and 1975. Rock, folk, country, Sinatra, Dean Martin, and (and composed earlier)  Chopin’s Nocturnes

Food: I am a true omnivore and like about everything, maybe Sichuan style Chinese food is my favorite.