Like Flies on Speed

       I remember walking out to the playground to assist Miss Shelly and Miss Lynda as they were supervising the 15-18 preschools that happily buzzed around running here and there;  I swear that the amount of preschoolers had doubled.  They were everywhere!  And yet none still enough to be in one place too long.  It was overwhelming - I thought.  How in the world were Miss Shelly and Miss Lynda able to do it? 

       I was reminded of the innocence and each taking a turn in the spotlight and how none of them felt they were superior or inferior to one another.  They were just happy and played well together.  Each one encouraging the other.

       We've had a few really hot days and tons of rain.  Now there's the combination of "preschoolers in the spotlight" as each element takes its turn to be on stage - all present at once, and yet none still enough to be in one place too long.  It's been quite bizarre.

       Take the other day, for instance.  It was overcast and clouds were thundering - but wait.  Where's the rain?  And where is the cool air that comes with the thunderstorm?  Storm?  Did I say storm?  More like a misguided parade. 

       Our air conditioners have been on - which I know is eating away at our power bill.  If I opened the windows, I could have nature send the coolness for free.  Hey, I had seen the trees move.  Surely there was a breeze causing the trees to move.  Why does it feel like death valley in my front yard and there is a light breeze going on in my back yard?  They're not that far apart.

       Overcast and hot.  No, wait.  A drop of rain.  a little drizzle.  A flash of sun.  A bright flash sun.  I know it was sun - it held on too long to be lightening.  I saw it come in through the kitchen window.  If I had been outside, I would have needed my sunglasses - for about 20 seconds. 

       Jenna had been watching TV annoyed at the flash flood warnings for counties across Washington and Oregon.  I'd seen flashflood warnings when we had lived in Salt Lake.  It was always for surrounding counties.  I don't remember there being multiple states.  When the warnings came on in Salt Lake, it felt serious as the skies were dark, it really had been raining.  I've even heard the thunder and sometimes have seen flashes of lightening.

       When the warnings came on the TV the other day, it was bright out - although each of the elements had briefly made a "star" appearance - except for snow.  I don't recall there having been snow.  But we saw everything else as it paraded across the stage - some seeking more attention from the audience than others.

It reminded me of the preschool class just happy to be there, encouraging each other, performing a show - no one preschooler outshined one another.  They all took their moment to perform. 

       The other day each of the elements took their moment to perform.  Although after the forecast we had more sun.  Our A/C had been on for two days and yesterday we went back to blowing heat.  Oh, come on!

        

Michaela's story

            There is a small group of us who meet at the local coffee shop once a month as we wait anxiously await for the pool to open for the summer so that we can get in our water aerobic workout.  This morning someone had made a comparison of rounded mountains compared to jagged mountains (I personally refer to the rounded as hills and the jagged as mountains) and how different the landscape appears from inside of a helicopter.

            Michaela had come out to clear the dishes as we were taking and casually joined in our conversation.  17 years ago she had been living in the bay area and got to be pretty good at driving around Oakland and San Francisco.  She delivered documents and had earned quite a reputation for her ability to have her deliveries made on time.  But over the years she realized that she was bothered by the amount of time it took to get from point A to point B.

            Here, in Myrtle Creek (actually all of Douglas County) they talk in minutes.  Point A to point B is 5 minutes, not 5 miles.  But in San Francisco, Salt Lake, and Portland, I would imagine, they talk in miles.  Because even though common sense tells you it should only take a certain amount of time, the time is actually not consistent from day to day or even hour to hour.

            Jenna's school was two miles south of where we lived.  Some days it would take me 20 minutes to get there.  For the most part it took longer coming home.  Same distance.  Not same time.

            Michaela decided she had had enough.  Three hours for under 30 miles.  That's not right.  One day she said she had had enough.  She and a girlfriends decided to pack their bags and head north - though they didn't really have a destination.  She said she obviously wasn't taking the "time" into consideration as they had left at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday.  Perhaps just the reinforcement she needed to "escape".

            I can't remember what town she said they were at when she got off the exit and pulled over to the first vacant lot.  It was after 2:00 in the morning and she had to close her eyes - even if it was just a few minutes.  It was longer than that.  She had fallen asleep.  When she woke up, she looked around - not fully knowing where she was but believed she was somewhere in Oregon.  She wanted to continue a little further north.

            When they had passed Seven Feathers casino in Canyonville, she made a mental note of it.  She had worked at the casinos in Tahoe so she had the experience.  They kept on driving until she saw a bridge (I'm guessing the one that leads to the 108 ramp to/from I5.  She said that was the place, and they crossed the bridge and found a place.

            She ended up not working at Seven Feathers because they felt she was overqualified (From what I understand Seven Feathers is not a great place to work for;  almost everyone that I've talked to has labeled them as "too cheap to pay much more than minimum and lay off workers left and right so that they don't have to deal with pay raises" so I believe that's why they told her she was overqualified; they didn't want to pay her what she was worth)

            She landed a job as a bartender for six months, but when she refused to serve an underage drinker who threatened her job, she got let go and so was hired by another who had been watching her and knew that she had been let go unjustly.  She said she's been working at the coffee shop ever since.

            It is gorgeous here.  Clean.  No traffic.  Awesome!

           

So Here's the Scoop

            We live in an area that was highly productive in logging and timber.  There is still production in some cities such as Riddle, but I don't think there are as many employed in the entire logging/timber industry as there had been 45 years ago.  That is when Myrtle Creek Saw Mill closed from what I understand.

            I did not understand why it had closed down, or why the entire operation seems to have dwindled and why the railroads have almost a deserted feel.  As we were visiting with a native Oregonian who had remembered generations of her family living in Myrtle Creek though she now lives in Winston. 

            She had remembered a time when the community thrived and when there had been more logging and timber related jobs.  I've actually met others who remembered the thriving industry as well. Apparently it was the entire state of Oregon that voted on how to save the spotted owls which were on the endangered list in 1969. 

            What I got out of her explanation was that  the city folk of Portland voted to "save the trees and therefore save the spotted owls"  No one had bothered to mention that when trees are cut down, they are replaced.  Fresh young trees are planted and the loggers move to an area of older trees.  After they are cut, new trees are planted. 

            All they were told were trees were being cut down leaving the spotted owls without homes and if the bill didn't pass, the spotted owl would become extinct . . . . perhaps not in that exact content . . . but that is how it was explained.  My understanding is that because the bill passed to save the owls, many lumber companies were forced to shut down.  Now, that is really sad.  But perhaps if I hadn't been given all the facts, I would have voted differently also.

         Better for a logger to cut it down than have nature start a fire due to overgrowth and age.

May the Fourth Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day

I'm not actually an avid Star Wars fan, but I have relations who are.

That Was a Less-Than-Productive Day

                Roland had asked Troy if he would like to earn some extra money by cutting the grass on our hill.  What a chore!  Troy came by about 9:00 the other day and Roland showed him what we were attempting to do outside.  Troy said he could return the following morning to remove the debris so that we can continue our garden.

                So yesterday, Troy showed up with his wheel barrow and worked hard.  Fortunately the sun was not blazing yet.  Troy is a good worker.  He was the most productive yesterday.

                Ike is a retired electrician but had told Roland he would come over to check out some sensitive spots that we would like to change.  I had been on the computer attempting to listen to a recorded lecture.  I played it several times but had allowed myself to get distracted.  The subject of perfect competition and the price floor and ceiling.  Boresville . . .

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

                The lecture was still playing when Ike arrived.  I was also in the middle of writing an email.

   I went into the living room and turned on the TV to keep me company while I folded laundry. 

               

                The TV kept shutting itself off - or so it seemed.  It took the third interruption before my slow mind figured out that it must be related to whatever Ike was doing at the other end of the house.  I thought I had created a post about the power source in our current house, and how occasionally the front of the house has been without power though the back of the house was not affected.  It was shortly after we had moved in.  Roland lost power in his office but was able to run an extention chord from our room to his office and operated the remainder of the day with no electricity at the front of the house.  That was weird.  We had the same problem yesterday.  I don't know for certain if it's been corrected or not.

                Roland worked with Ike as he was unable to do any of his school or work.  I took my laptop onto the back porch - though the Internet was down. It was cooler outside than in our hot house - during that particular moment anyway. I pulled up my textbook (which I had saved on a PDF and so was able to view it) and struggled through chapters 8 and 9 - understanding a bit here and there, but most of it was/is quite foreign to me.  It's a wonder I've been receiving not just passing but actually good grades.

                I got a message on my computer indicating that the Internet was back up and running.  I finished my email and sent it off.  When Ike left, I shut down my laptop and got in the car so that I could run a few errands - which had taken  longer than I had predicted.  Meanwhile, Roland realized that by turning the bathroom switch off or on effected his computer.  That's not a good thing.  Thus Ike's car was in the driveway when I returned. Boy, was he ever frustrated.  I don't know who is responsible for the idiotic wiring that was already there before we moved in.

                 So far no problems.  It's a new month.  April was wet.  May has made a 20 degree jump.  I am wearing shorts.  The A/C is up.  Roland actually put it up last night before going to bed.  Once again, I don't know how I'm going to survive this summer. 

Expressions and Gardening

          As a child, I can remember my dad planting a garden each year - not that any of us were avid gardeners mind you.  I don't even know where his interest had come from as it didn't seem as if his family had gardened.  Perhaps it came from his grandparents or church.  I'd never even thought about it until now.

          Dad was not one to express emotion. 

          I honestly don't know if he felt joy with planting a garden, apprehension, pained, or what.  I never questioned it.  Perhaps my mom did, but I hadn't connected the dots and perhaps was not aware of expression.  I think Kayla and I perhaps express more emotion than our brothers, but not much.

          Take Saturday, for instance.  Roland has wanted to plant a garden every year.  I think we had attempted two different years of gardening in Kearns, two or three in West Valley, and now our first one in TriCity - which I think may account for the biggest challenge of them all because there are so few spots of level or flat land.

          Not only does he wish to grow our own food, but spruce our yard's appearance by adding flowers.  I'm not against flowers or gardening - but I'm certainly not excited about it.  Hey, if you want to replace every single juniper with a flower, be my guest.  But don't ask me what I want or to show excitement over something I very well could be allergic to.  I don't know about plant life nor have the interest to explore my options.  I know for a fact that I'm allergic to chrysanthemums and poinsettia - not that either one was an option.  But still.  I AM ALLERGIC TO PLANTS.  MY ALLERGIES REACT TO DIRT AND DUST THE SAME.  I'm NOT excited.

          So we ended up at two different nurseries in Winston, and I sensed that Roland was annoyed with me because of my lack of interest.  Well, I'm sorry.  It's a hereditary thing, I would guess.  I can't visualize Patrick getting excited over the flowers that Sunny tremendously loves.  I can't visualize Corey "ooing" and "awing" over anything that Joh has planted - even though Corey helps, even though Patrick assists . . . we just aren't expressive people I guess.  Kayla lucked out as I'm guessing Bill has even less gardening ambition than I do.

          We ended up with Marigolds, geums, amaryllis, and irises.  for the vegetable garden we planted two blueberry bushes and seeds for beets and spinach. 

On the side of the house we have three tomato plants and some peppers. 

Looks like the rain has stopped and so we will have to water the plants.  We should get more rain when Roland puts up the air conditioner.  It always rains right after we put it up.  I really don't want to feel scorched this summer.

post for my class discussion

    Shortly after I finished my last post on this blog, I decided to get a jump start on this week's discussion post (for class) which I posted this morning.  I remember hearing this song parody on the radio.  This was my inspiration: