This is sampling I can get into. Here is a music video which modulates Carl Sagan's voice accompanied by images from Cosmos(with a refrain from Dr. S. Hawking). Most important are the words: all by Carl Sagan.

* Marvin spent the day at the vet's yesterday and came back sans 3 teeth (no more snaggle tooth) and loopy on drugs. He also has high blood pressure, so danceswithfish is going to buy medication for that today. Today Marvin is in pain (he is sitting in "beetle position" and barely responsive) so we need to give him more pain meds.
* danceswithfish is going to get her eyes checked today for a new prescription. I need to do this eventually.
* A procedure on danceswithfish meant to help diagnose certain things did not work in an office visit on Monday, so she has to go to Pill Hill where they are better equipped. The earliest we could get in is right after my birthday anniversary in early January.
* We went to the Goodwill on Tuesday and came back with books for both of us, clothes for danceswithfish and various "display items." It has been some time since we have had a thrifting expedition.
* My vacation this week was not a complete success in that I didn't get my office completely clean, which was the point. However, all the steps taken were needed and necessary, so the books, photos and magazines on the first floor was reorganized and shelved properly and a clothes closet was reorganized. Yesterday I even began to sort out stacks of things in my office and can actually see my turntables and mixing board! There is at least hope now.
* Star Trek is released on DVD on Tuesday, Nov. 17, less than a week now! I am only 4 episodes away from finishing Stargate Atlantis, so I can finish that series off and re-enter Star Trek again!

This is Memoloose Island on the Columbia River in Oregon...Years Apart.


1896 by B.W. Kilburn



2009 by B.V. Caloz



Obviously the 2009 perspective was from higher than that of the 1896 picture. Also the 2009 shot was from the right a bit. You will also notice the water line is much higher in 2009, thanks to the Columbia River dam system, no doubt.

The island was used by the American natives as their burial ground. You might say "oh, look, isn't it nice they put a monument up to commemorate the spirits of tribal members." But, of course, the monument is for a white settler who thought he would be better in death with the natives.

Besides the navigation light at the end of the island and the water level, not much has changed in more than 100 years.

Just brought the total number of books catalogued on my Library Thing on-line database to more than 1225 books. These were books that I have had for a while but were hiding in a tall dining room bookcase which was removed yesterday and replaced with a new Maple finish bookcase with an extra shelf. danceswithfish says the new bookcase brings more light into the dining room: a happy accident as that was not the reason for changing out bookcases.

( switching out bookcases... )

A friend today said "There is more and more darkness in the world today."

In one sense I agree: there is no shortage of problems and difficulties faced by life on this planet today.

However, to me darkness is the baseline. Sometimes more light is added, sometimes it is diminished but the darkness is always there. I tend not to think of it that much except to resist it and try to hold it back in favor of the light.

So this is what I do: Fight the darkness. Look for the light.

Things are, as an elementary school teacher of mine always said, "moving right along."

Today was one of my better days:
( work bullets )

All of this means I am clear to a good vacation this weekend and will be able to focus on finishing some things at home.

I have maintained what I have cleaned so far in my office, so it is one step forward and no steps back.

In control of paying bills: am completely up to date now!

Just got a DVD of Genesis II in the mail today and have pre-ordered a DVD of Star Trek for delivery some time later this month!

Wearing ties to work on occasion (I have hundreds: I decided after visiting with my Dad that I should wear them when I felt it). danceswithfish captured images of me yesterday with what I think was one of my best tie-shirt combos.

Looking forward to entering the final weeks of the year with comfortable surroundings at home and the ability to celebrate...something I have not really felt able to do for quite a while. This means, among other things, making cookies, a nice Thanksgiving meal and getting our holiday mail posted on the weekend of Thanksgiving!

* Two Gene Roddenberry pilots have been located on Warner Bros. Archive: Genesis II and Planet Earth, both concepts featuring his character Dillon Hunt who awakes hundreds of years later. In the first pilot television movie, Alex Cord plays Hunt. It is one of my favorite TV movies. With the failure of that pilot, Roddenberry tried again with Planet Earth, this time John Saxon played Dillon Hunt (yarg!). I think I have seen part of this movie and was not impressed. However, I ordered both anyway (BTW, you may find the name Dillon Hunt familiar. The concept lived on, loosely, in the series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, produced by Majel Roddenberry). WB Archive DVDs are a bit more expensive than mass-produced DVDs and have no special features but they are created from the original material, albeit with no restoration. Has to be better than the VHS tapes I recorded off of television years ago!
* Now, if only The Questor Tapes would be released on DVD (it was on VHS) and, also, Spectre would also be nice (as far as I know never released). There are some homegrown copies around but sincerely doubt they pass the quality test. Those were two other television pilots Roddenberry did which went no where: The Questor Tapes starring Robert Foxworth and Spectre starring Robert Culp.
* I have an interesting DVD coming which has a Halloween theme. The intent was to get a 1908 French short film of about 10 minutes produced by Pathe called The Red Spectre. The silent film is apparently well regarded. Also on the DVD are a number of shorts and cartoons through the 1950s.
* Today I watched a bit of Edison's Frankenstein from 1905 (via you tub). Most of it was pretty bad, although the creation scene was actually pretty cool! The monster's look was interesting, although certainly not as good as the classic monster created in the 1930s.
* Viewed the entire Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? movie last night. It was a pore movie. ;) Ha! When I say that, I mean it was a black and white movie that had some very close-up shots of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and definitely showed the pores of their facial skin...which was quite appropriate. The movie's acting, cinematography and dialogue is outstanding: just didn't find the content personally appealing in any way. Glad to have seen it once, though.

Sad to report that Vic Mizzy died recently. Vic Mizzy wrote the Addams Family theme (and sang it!). He also wrote "Don't cross the street in the middle in the middle in the middle in the middle in the middle of the block". Anyway, he is one of my faves. Not too long ago had a new CD out so was quite active until he died at the age of 93.

Talked with M and R last night and they got here on US 26...not cold enough yet for winter weather concerns...and as it is a shorter route than US 197, I think I will head back that way.

Will still see if I can check out Peterson's Rock Garden in Redmond on the way back.

At the Old St. Francis Hotel: great place! I am in the Mike Breen room: each room is named and dedicated to a different student who attended the St. Francis School. Each room, at least by example of mine, has a painting of the student from some class picture, and a biography of him or her. Mike Breen's painting has him in 3rd grade, I believe.

The trip through Portland and through to the Dalles on the Interstate through the Columbia Gorge was harrowing. My fastest windshield wiper blade speed could not keep up with the rain. There many lightning flashes a long the way, a little hydroplaning and a lot of cars which followed way too close (especially in Portland).

Once I got to the rest stop shy of The Dalles it had cleared up and the rest of the drive was fine. I got some shots of Maupin which I think will work as a "Years Apart" photo pair with photos I found on-line.

Also stopped at the Crooked River Gorge US97 crossing. US97 no longer crosses the old 1929 bridge, but they left that one as a pedestrian bridge as part of a park. I got some great shots of the 300 foot gorge.

Madras has a couple of thrift stores. I stopped in one directly across the street from the Shell station where I filled up. That was a an utter waste of time! A few blocks south there was the Opportunity Thrift shop which looks more inviting, but went past it too fast to make a convenient stop.

Redmond, too has a thrift store: run by Goodwill. Like the Opportunity store, I passed it before I realized I couldn't get to it!

Redmond and Bend are in danger of becoming a single urban sprawl community. They are only about 20 miles apart and the boundaries of both urban areas are getting closer and closer to each other.

Meanwhile U.S. 97 looks more and more like an Interstate Highway all the time and there are some really ugly subdivisions hugging it along the way.

Driving to Bend today via The Dalles, Maupin, Redmond. Staying overnight at The Old St. Francis School (another McMenamin's site) then driving home on Sunday. Occasion: an elementary school friend (the blond boy in the center)is celebrating his 50th birthday anniversary.

The BBC introduced me to a map service which, among other things, does not have rights restrictions, OpenStreetMap! While many of the things you can find on other mapping services are not there, it has many features the others don't have. For instance, I looked at the map of my community and it showed all the rail spurs and junctions. Also, it detailed the alley behind our house as if it was a street!

Of course, the best thing is the export feature: any part of its database can be copied as an image file or even a data set file and saved on your computer to be used as you see fit!

You can even add map features to it so that others can benefit from it. Atlanta, Georgia has about 200 volunteers doing this. All features will have their coordinates found using global position devices then those coordinates and object descriptions uploaded to OpenStreetMap.

When I was an enthusiastic bicyclist (I still WISH I could ride a bike to go everywhere I need to go), I wanted to have a map with all the pay telephones (back then people did not have portable phones), public bathrooms, water fountains and free air pumps (back then the gas stations let you pump your tires for free!) marked. The technology is finally here which would make this not only easy to do accurately but also easy to share!

* Just south of Cottage Grove, once dubbed "The All-American City", there is a small hill which has been polluted with cookie-cutter houses, peering over the freeway. It looks really bad.
* Between Eugene and Grants Pass, numerous clear-cuts are now looking much better with the dense growth of evergreens. Finally replanting is starting to show positive signs.
* Fred Meyer logos on those info signs at exits are new: sort of an oval with red, blue, yellow green insets within. Guess Freddies is not going to be replaced by Kroger anytime soon in the Northwest, but it is certainly moving its marketing drive in competition with Wally World and Targe (first Targe had the concentric circles, then Wally World responded with its "*" and now this for Freddies).
* The Salvation Army store in Sutherlin is gone. Maybe it moved? The location I always stopped at for a brief visit when on I-5 was sort of a shoddy building. But it may have succumbed to the powerful Goodwill. In fact, just a block away was a new Goodwill store. Coincidence?
* The Salvation Army store in Medford looks to be barely hanging on. It is still at the same location it was in since it first moved there in 1976 or 1977, but their stock is severely depleted.
* The Redwood Inn on Riverside Dr. in Medford is really cheap, its rooms are comfortable enough, it has free wi-fi but no complimentary coffee, no continental breakfast and it has a lousy attitude. Definitely it was better than the Tiki Motel which was probably the worst motel I have stayed in that I can remember. Next time I stay in Medford I will try for yet another motel.
* A once open field near where my Dad lives, near Providence Hospital in Medford, is fully subdivided and set up with utility lines and streets. However: no houses. The depression hit just as the development was set to begin building. Wonder how long it will stay this way?
* Total (approximate) cost for my trip: $40 hotel, $70 gas, $22 thrift store, $15 lunch at Cobblestone Village on Riverside Drive in Medford and $15 breakfast at Marie Calendar's on Biddle Rd. in Medford, $2 donation to a bedraggled Vietnam Era veteran at a south-bound rest stop, $2 donation to a sun-burnt woman with her Labrador retriever at a north-bound rest stop. Total: $166.

* Yesterday got my first annoying "floater" in my left eye. This is a little piece of the retina which broke off and now floats in the otherwise clear jelly which surrounds the eyeball. For near-sighted people these are common, especially after the age of 40 which I am well past. This is really difficult for me because it is like a gnat following me around everywhere I go. Supposedly these eventually float down and out of vision but for now it is driving me crazy.

* I am driving to Southern Oregon today to see my dad, staying at the Redwood Inn in Medford and then driving back tomorrow.

* Work is getting me down. I am trying to get into new areas and am frustrated at every turn. Yesterday I was happy to find and fix a bug in some of my code: that made me feel good. And last Monday I finished basic development of a new program...and that was an achievement. The rest of the week though was not very fulfilling.

This year I discovered, during one of the rare times when I could sit down in quiet (no fans, no ventilation, no television, no radio, no computer), that it was impossible to hear silence anymore. My right ear has tinnitus (although yet to be confirmed by a doctor). In silence it can drive me crazy because I can't turn it off!

I hope I can deal with it for a bit longer until they find out more about it and come up with effective treatments (there is none today). The news is good though that researchers are beginning to understand it and find ways to treat it. It seems to be based in the brain, not in the ear...so if scientists can discover how it starts, what triggers the neural activity...maybe they can find a way to stop it without severing the nerve.

In the most extreme cases for people with tinnitus in one ear doctors have been known to severe the nerves. I don't particularly want that.

Forget jet packs, ray guns and flying cars, what I want in the 21st century is a voice controlled audio-video server! ( geek dreams ahead )

Going to the waste transfer station today with a truckload of styrofoam peanuts, rags, moldy cardboard, mildewed 45 rpm record albums, bags of crap swept up from the basement floor, insulation batting that used to cover our old water heater and an Onkyo amplifier that stays on only ten minutes at a time

With the stuff I removed from our basement last weekend and more stuff I pulled out this week, I have enough to justify making the trip 'cross the Willamette and paying the load fee.

The basement is looking better and better.

While down there I also removed the wet-dry vacuum that I have had for 9 years sitting in its original box, assembled it and then hoovered the return duct to our furnace. After getting 3-67 cent 16 inch by 25 inch by 1 inch filters at Freddy's (they were on sale from the normal $1), I installed one of them and then started the gas furnace for another heating season.

The thermostat I installed at the end of the last heating season works great! I am hoping the set-back round digital unit will help us better manage home heat for both comfort and energy use. The wake-up time I programmed, though, was too early (5 a.m.), so moved it to 6:30. When the heater goes on, it wakes us up.

I brought the wet-dry vac to the first floor as I intend to use it to vacuum the needles and leaves that have matted our front bushes for a while. It's the only way: beating with a broom is not good enough.

There are now 1200 entries in my Library Thing database. Many of the recent entries are related to my quest for materials on Theda Bara and from obtaining cheaper "photoplay" books for possibly "lost" silent movies. I rounded the number to 1200 by adding some recently re-discovered books from basement storage and a Star Trek novel (most of my ST paperbacks I have not yet added).

Others have mentioned this, so this is mainly for my own records: today was the first day I needed or wanted to wear a sweater. I am holding back from turning on the pilot light for the furnace because the longer I can hold off the lower the gas bill. However, I know I will have to turn it on sometime in October.

Anyway, for me, it is now really Fall. That was a very short Indian Summer!

Last few days have been weird, but every thing's fine now.( possibly Too Much Information follows )

But today, danceswithfish goes in to the dentist to get her permanent crown. And tomorrow we have our wedding anniversary! Maybe we do something this weekend to actually celebrate it, for now I am just happy to say we have each other!

For months we have stacks of storage boxes here and there. Recently I got them all to the first floor but needed a full day to clean up the basement enough to accept all the boxes. Today was that day and the deed is done. ( details )

"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his ass." --U.S. General Joseph Stilwell, sometime in the 1940s, in China.

U.S. General Joseph Stilwell (1883 – 1946), best known for his service in Burma and China, was nicknamed "Vinegar Joe" because of his blunt honesty. This harsh manner landed Stillwell in political trouble with President Roosevelt when Stilwell repeatedly clashed with America's ally, the corrupt Chinese Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek.


However, to be fair, his quote is actually a modification of a much earlier quote by a guy who would later be proclaimed a saint by the Roman Catholic church!

"An example from the monkey: The higher it climbs, the more you see of its behind."

also translated as:

"A lesson from the monkey: The higher it climbs, the more you see of its behind."

-- Saint Bonaventure aka Giovanni Di Fidanza (1217-1274), theologian, minister-general of the Franciscan order and Cardinal Bishop of Albano, from the Conferences on the Gospel of John

----

"If you don't know how to fix it, don't break it." -- Environmental Activist Severn Cullis-Suzuki, at the age of 12, speaking before a UN sponsored Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 1992.

Turns out that the real estate listing for Bad House 2 was pulled last week but then resurrected yesterday. But now it's online as MLS 9072117.

This is one of the two attached houses in the lots next to ours which I call Bad House only because I wish they had never been built. I just hope nice people move in. The former residents were fine: for one thing they liked cats. For the moment, though, I am enjoying the easier parking in front of Zolacmanor.

Price they want: $280k. Price they bought it for just last year: $269k. Price it was marked at originally last year when first sold: $290k.

Went back through old Live Journal entries by tags and I see sort of a pattern of colds for me:

End of January (almost always)

End of April (infrequent)

End of August or early September (almost always)

Middle of October (although this may be more of a flu)

In addition there has become an annual bout of Sinusitis in early January which starts with teeth pain and ends with taking an anti-biotic.

I told my doctor about this and he said NEXT time I should see him and they can do x-rays to confirm this and lead to some longer term solution besides annual antibiotics. The last two times it was dealt with by visiting first my dentist, then my endodontist.

For the record, I had a cold which lasted basically a week, ending last Friday. Actually, it still lingers, which is why after a week of not kissing danceswithfish and then doing so, she now has a cold.
( record of my cold )

Today I still feel some congestion, but don't feel drained or sick as I did a week ago. Unfortunately, not so with danceswithfish.

danceswithfish and I spent most of the day trying to get the battery fixed in her 2000 Ford Focus station wagon. ( tale of tools )

So, I am pretty discouraged with the internet how-to pages...and with people who supposedly are there to help in stores.

* The www pages are overloaded with ads, too general to be of help, sometimes freeze your computer and often require payment for additional information! Someone needs to do useful wiki pages with links on details, pictures and videos on useful how to steps.

* Ignore the people meant to help you. Look around and if what you want isn't there, leave and try another place. If someone does ask to help, explain exactly what is needed and if they don't immediately have an answer, say you are leaving to try another store.

I could have really used the help of a friend to get to the truth, but M.F. is away. I guess I feel accomplished in that I finally figured it out.

I'm no MacGuyver, but I get the job done.

Byron said, on the radio, "Bang bang bang. Bang bang. Bang bang bang, bang bang."

CNN was listening and immediately dispatched 10 reporters, 10 camera operators, two sound trucks and a chopper to his home, followed by emergency alerts, police and firefighters. Portland International Airport shut down all flights.

Twenty-two minutes later CNN said "oops" and everyone went back to their ordinary lives and work.

Ridiculous, crazy, fictitious? Yes. But pretty much what happened on September 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

Pigeons may be faster than broadband in South Africa but maybe all SA needs is Bill Curtis.

The two neighboring newly-built houses (attached to each other) were sold only last year. Just this week though the first of the two to sell was back on the market, with a sales sign put up by Keller Williams But the sign was up for maybe two days and even this morning but at 10:25 p.m. this evening the sign was down. I didn't even have time to find the listing online! Could it have sold that fast?

I simply don't see what the attraction is for a skinny lot shared wall house, especially with neighbors like us...unless the buyers are drug dealers. (I believe drug deals go on all the time on our street, although don't think the folks on this side of the street are at all involved...at least not until someone much less reputable moves in to Bad House 1...).

Well, I will watch what is going on anyway.

Tammy L. Jackson and Sherry L. Dean bought it on July 25, 2008 for $268,900...have now definitely moved out (the moving trucks were here last week and the clean-up occurred on the weekend). After only 2-3 days on the market it may have been sold again after just over a year.

Arg! We have had some adjusting to do in the past several days: all necessary but none we really wanted to do.
( root canal, stuff and furniture )

Oh, well, more adjustments to make on more things.

Turns out the high potassium scare was just that. The second test showed my K well within a normal range. Whew!

Now I am curious what will happen in 11 days when I get an every-decade procedure. Will I be clean as a whistle, will there be some little "removals"...and if so, will they indicate anything of concern?

More importantly, how weird will I behave when under the morphine cocktail they'll give me? I won't know because they tell me it also wipes out my memory so will have to rely on what danceswithfish reports back to me.

If this all checks out, next steps for better health: find out about what I can do, if anything, to deal with tinnitus, and see if I can start on allergy treatments.

Oh, and then there is my interest in trying out the drug my doctor gave me to try.... :)

When I went in for my check-up, the lab results came back with an elevated level of potassium. This could be a sign of early kidney disase. I went back yesterday to get a re-test to confirm this. Without additional word from my doctor, of course, I try to look ahead: but he is on the case and I wait to hear what's next.

( but for now, turn to Dr. Internet... )

Perhaps I am just like Barclay in Star Trek The Next Generation when he thinks he has every disease known to man as he reads through the symptoms for each in the Enterprise's database. On the other hand, Kidney disease sounds likely to me. You might say I have a gut feeling about it.

After the 6 1/2 hour drive home on Sunday, I caught up with the mail, watched a couple episodes of Stargate Atlantis from the second disc of season 3, fed the cats and then hoofed it over to St. Johns Pub to watch most of the movie "TAR TRE". ( huh? )

Heading back from Grand Coulee Dam where we had a nice family get-together at my cousin's home right behind the dam! Stayed the night at the Willows Motel in Wilbur: a nice little room on a first floor (there is no second floor). Drove Southeast from Coulee City past wheatfields to get here. Wilbur appeared as if an island in the sea of wheat with its water tower and trees. I can hear birdsong waking up today.

Nice that both motels I stayed at during this weekend journey have free wi-fi. These days it is like a room phone: a requirement.

Drove solo for about 3 1/2 hours today from Portland to Yakima on the way to a family gathering at Coulee Dam, Washington Saturday afternoon. ( snippets )

For those of you into urban chickenry (or interested in it), here comes an announcement from the City Club of Portland
( details here... )

Why were beards so popular for men in the late 19th century?

I have theories:
* Abraham Lincoln became a popular martyr. He wore a beard and for a good reason: it hid his gaunt features.
* Likewise Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederacy and General Lee was his top general: both wore beards. Why, not sure....
* Civil War heroes all wore beards (perhaps by necessity, perhaps because their highest ranking leaders wore beards).
* Prince Albert I believe could not shave because of fear he would be cut (his blood did not easily clot). Royalty set fashions, even for Americans, in the 19th century.

Then again, beards on men virtually disappeared upon entering the 20th century (except for British royalty). Why? That I simply attribute to people just moving to new things and getting away from the old fogies...

After researching June 1905 Oregonians I have downloaded a couple of books from Project Gutenberg. One of the books is the one the paper was serializing in every Sunday edition, Raffles The Amateur Cracksman. The other was another Raffles book by the same author, E.W. Hornung.

I'll be reading from these on my HP Jornada.

Why am I bothering to mention this? Because I'd like your help.

Do you have any favorite books you would recommend to me which are on Project Gutenberg? Most books published before 1910 probably qualify and popular ones are already on PG: mysteries, horror, adventures...probably not romance.

I figure before I ever buy recent e-books I should tap the interesting books which have already been digitized and are in the public domain!

If I get into this, I will contribute to PG and may even volunteer as an editor!

My truck got another $1000 car wash today. I actually am quite pleased. For years I have been running around with a "pinging" engine and the folks at Royal Moore Mazda in Hillsboro, Oregon took a quick look around and identified the problems. When I drove home, it was washed on the outside...but the engine and ignition system were considerably cleaner and newer...so the hills were a breeze rather than a struggle.

Work went well today: got two important things done and had no meetings or argumentative conversations.

And weather: overcast and cooler. Yay!

My foot is still bugging me. Should still be bugging me when I see the doctor tomorrow morning.

Dusted myself off and took care of things today and feel much better. ( the 'run-down' and comment )

The day started well but ended without achieving the two things the day was supposed to be about--obtaining useful information about the history of my house and riding the new Green line MAX line.

( well,not everything was bad... )

I am ambivalent about the U.S. "Cash for Clunkers" program. ( pros and cons )
I am waiting for the big leap to plug-in hybrids before moving to another vehicle or vehicles.

I'm excited! Today I successfully completed tasks at work and tomorrow will continue my home research and peek at the new Tri-Met MAX Green line (opening in September).
( on and off and on and sort of on and off )

At least it is not Celsius.

After going to work yesterday morning without breakfast and no dinner the night before, I was feeling a headache come on. So I went to the vending machines and purchased trail mix, raspberry-filling shortcake cookies and coffee. The headache wasn't going away, so after 1 p.m. tried to get in lunch and purchased some berry-kiwi juice (something like that) and munched on matzos and ate a little of a peanut butter sandwich. The headache grew stronger and then, as I was working with someone on programming issue, I started getting very hot. Once we solved that I went on to solve another issue and I became feverish, followed by stomach lurches.

Contamination! Food poisoning. Could have been how I fixed the peanut butter sandwich that morning, the dirty kitchen table or any of the items I purchased from the vending machines...or something else. But I definitely was in trouble. I finished up work as soon as I could, made sure I was fairly stable and left the building to drive home.

Was most of the way home on the 12 mile drive when I had to pull over. The stomach churning began again and felt like I might throw up. So I sat for ten minutes, trying to relax and cool down. When I felt stable enough to drive, I continued the rest of the way home.

After bringing in the mail and feeding the cats, danceswithfish arrived and I went straight to bed. Woke up about five hours later at 12:14 am and was fine, albeit weak from hunger.

Trying to get back into the usual work week thing now, but must eat something first...and hope it is not contaminated with nasty bacteria!

This is a home at 632 NE Going Street in Portland, Oregon years apart.

1917	June 2009
Zolacmedia collection, (c) 2009 Byron Caloz	photographer: Byron Caloz, (c) 2009 Byron Caloz

This is the Liberty Theatre in Astoria, Oregon years apart.

April 1925	May, 2005
source: The Liberty Theatre	photographer: Byron Caloz, (c) 2009 Byron Caloz

Got the pitch this evening from some guy who called the day after we were told we would get a call (Does not give me a lot of confidence in them).

The cost of eradicating carpenter ants and wasps seemed too good...but after I heard about what the company does I realized it seems the wrong thing to do. ( pesticides )
Of course, if you have other thoughts, I am all ears. It is not like I have a lot of background in this!

I found the first ripe blueberry on our three bushes on Sunday, June 28. Okay, well it was blue anyway. Just a bit tart, so could have stayed a little longer before picking, but it almost fell into my hand. So I need to watch the early bush now. ( plus blackberry, wasps, ants )

Getting to some sort of stability in my life...and it makes all the difference to me: three squares a day, waking and sleeping hours, cleansing routines. ( younger vs. older )I take what I can get.