News from Tualatin
News from Tualatin
One of the things we love about our house in Colorado Springs is it's proximity to the "wide open spaces" - Garden of the Gods, Rockledge Ranch, etc.
As it happens, this apartment complex is also right adjacent to a nice little park which runs along the Tualatin River. The park is set up with a picnic area (and the boat rental I mentioned earlier), but it is mostly a walking trail loop with some picnic tables. The trail meanders through some woods along the river and around a nice pond set aside as an example of what a wetlands can do to support wildlife.
Yesterday, we saw a blue heron (I think ... I'm not real up on wading birds, but is was long-leggedy, pointy beaked, and kind of grey-blue, so I'm guessing it was a blue heron), lots of ducks, and a large swimming mammal that I think was either a beaver, muskrat, or maybe a really scary wharf rat.
There is a marker in the park showing the flood stage of the 1996 Tualatin River flood. It's hard to estimate relative elevations without a transit or a level or something, but it need only be said we're glad we live on the second floor.
Real, True, Actual Headlines
... and the comments taken right off the teletype in my head.
NYTimes.com
U.S. fraud charge for top lobbyist
Can you imagine what would happen if these people got past the lobby?
Oh, yeah, they'd be Senators!
Guarded optimism in Gaza
Don't get too optimistic or the guards tend to get jumpy.
U.N. agency urges Iran to halt its nuclear activity
The United Nations Committee for Futile Gestures makes a firm pronouncement.
Growth stirs a battle to draw more water from the Great Lakes
Locals fear they will suffer the same fate as the Great Inland Sea of Kansas.
Cabbie recounts fugitives' 115-mile ride
... and demands his fare and a proper tip.
Officials see risk in release of images of Iraq prisoner abuse
Not in doing it, you understand, just in the pictures of it.
Woods feels the Wrath of Baltrusol
The missing book of the Lord of the Rings saga.
MSNBC.com
Iraq timeline unclear
Iran timeline nuclear.
Airline strike strands 70,000
Boy, those jumbo jets are just getting way too big.
Intel to shift microprocessor technology
New computers to have tiny little clutch pedals, shift levers.
BBC.co.uk
Experts 'decipher' Inca strings
Variety: Thinkers Ink Links to Dinky Inca Strings
Jolie given Cambodian citizenship
She's just Phnominal.
Stone fined for drug possession
Fines stoned from drug possession.
Physics enlisted to help singles
They must give their relationships proper gravity.
News from Tualatin
News from Tualatin
Thursday 8/11/2005
The weather here has cooled off substantially, and the last few days have been quite pleasant.
Morgan came over yesterday to go for a swim. It was fun ... we could see the baby kicking and stretching in there.
We've been driving around in Portland and the surrounding cities/towns, getting familiar with all the highways and local roads. Like Colorado Springs and Denver, the roads are all torn up (to "solve" the traffic problem, of course), and anyway, traffic appears to be at rush-hour tempo all the time. Where the hell are all these people going, anyway? Why don't they all go home, and let me drive around in peace?
I like driving around on non-highways ... i.e. plain old city streets. It is alarming how the ubiquitous franchises have made this area look like the Front Range, and I suppose every other town and city in the country. We went in a mall the other day, and I had a kind of head-spinning deja-vu sensation that I was back in Chapel Hills. Can the people of America really buy so much stuff?
On the other hand, we've been to the store every day since we're here, so I guess I'm in no spot to pass judgment. Except, of course, I'm ME, and the others aren't.
Looking down the street in front of our apartment complex, you can see the snow-covered top of Mt. Hood - very conical and volcano-looking. It's a little dis-orienting, though, 'cause that's straight east from here, whereas I am used to the Front Range in Colorado, where the mountains are always to the west. Little practical effect, except maybe a little dizziness.
Real, True, Actual Headlines
... and the comments that appear on the screen like magic.
NYTimes.com
TV ad attacking court nominee provokes furor
Oh, have we stopped calling him "president" now?
To woo students, colleges choose names that sell
Like "I-Pod College,"Coca-Cola Tech," and "Nike University."
Foiled bid stirs worry for U.S. oil
Competing bids for the Unocal Corporation were set aside in preference for an offer by a French restaurant wrapped up in an aluminum-foil swan, reports say.
ABC is sued over plan for show
Amnesty International says pilot is so bad, show would be torture.
City in a dispute over recruiting police officers at $25,100 a year.
$25,100 a year in NYC doesn't seem too bad. they'll be certainly interested in offers of "supplementary" pay from pharmaceutical dealers, adult companions, and other concerned citizens.
MSNBC.com
Early Iraq pullout unlikely
Unlikely? That boat has sailed, I'm afraid.
Advice to help manage your arthritis pain
Don't move.
BBC.co.uk
Pakistan fires new cruise missile
... for repeatedly being late to work, blowing up at co-workers, and flying off at the handle.
Malaysia haze triggers emergency
Sad. But wouldn't "Malaysia Haze" be a great name for a rock band ... or a soda pop?
S. Korea and US split over North
Was he a hero or just an evidence-shredding toadie?
News fromTualatin
News from Tualatin
Today was a two-Edsel day. Apparently the Pacific Northwest is where all the old Edsels come to die, because who sees more than one in a day otherwise?
I guess I never thought of this area a wine-growing part of the country ... too far borth, not hot enough in the summer. Well, I was quite wrong about that last part, anyway, because it was plenty hot the first few days we were here ... in the 90's with humidity high by Colorado standards (i.e. in the positive numbers.) And I was apparently wrong about the "too far north" part, too, 'cause they've got lots of vineyards here, with lots of cute little wineries and tasting rooms all over the place. Something to do for Karen and me until the baby comes, maybe? "Oh yes, dear, those are your grandparents ... the sots."
Real, True, Actual Headlines
... and the comments that come to me in my dreams.
MSNBC.com
Police hunt fugitive couple
Easy enough to solve ... stop hunting them & they won't be fugitives any more, will they?
Back-to-school season a test for retailers
How do we exploit "back-to-school" to sell Buicks, Dish TV, and Viagra?
Angels take undisputed possession of first
Beelzebub concedes the point.
Meth's youngest victims are children
Well, yes ... otherwise, what?
NYTimes.com
Microsoft in Spam settlement
Village made entirely of potted meat product serves as host to high-tech company.
BBC.co.uk
Iran removes UN's nuclear seals
Glow-in-the-dark pinnipeds scaring away fish, Imams say.
Walt Disney secures court victory
Dead animator wins tennis' "Zombie Cup."
Interesting related headlines:
#1: S. Korean dies after games session
#2: Games to be tested in classrooms
Either cash-strapped schools are trying to pick a bit of spare change by offering up their students as guinea pigs to save Koreans' lives, or they've stumbled onto an innovative way to solve chronic school over-crowding.
News fromTualatin
News from Tualatin
The Tualatin River would qualify as a major river in arid Colorado, but here in the hustings of Portland, it's hardly noteworthy. It's a pretty little river, though, and right next to our aparment complex is a canoe and kayak rental concern. I was afraid the location might be buggy, but it doesn't seem to be at all.
To get to our apartments from I-205, we pass through a busy four-way intersection called "Wanker's Corner." I leave it to your imagination to picture what I expected to see there. There acutally is a farmer's market, a U-Haul place, a saloon (their description), and "Wanker's Corner Store." In the store, which is a non-franchise convenience store specializing in fried chicken, wine, and cigars, there was not a wide selection of adult magazines, as one might anticipate.
More News from Tualatin tomorrow; for now, back to:
Real, True, Actual Headlines
... and the comments that justify this whole effort. Almost.
MSNBC.com
Oil prices steady after hitting new high
We're reduced to being grateful that they didn't go up any more than they did, I guess.
BBC.co.uk
Bush hails 'landmark' energy law
... and energy companies responding by severe marking of the land.
Canada snaps up high-tech radar
Units work much better since zippers replaced.
Teens urged to be future thinkers
... 'cause thinking right now is just depressing.
