Category: To Occupy my Time

The weekend plan. And some ice.

Apparently there wasn’t much work to do during my work-from-home day.  Good thing I could fill the time with tasks.

That 11:00 list?  Library, x-mas stamps, grocery shop?  That was optimistic.  I thought the ice would have melted off by then, but it was just as slick as it was first thing in the morning.  I made it to the library and back home, but it was no 20-minute round-trip journey.  I made it to New Seasons, but Fred Meyer had to wait until the next day.  The Christmas stamps weren’t bought until the next week.

Here’s a backyard visual.  It doesn’t look bad, but man, it was tough to walk on.  I used my trekking poles and they kept me upright.

Silver Falls Hike

One of the things I love about the digital photo area is that you can take photos of the map to refer to later in the hike.

We chose to do the big hike, seeing the maximum number of waterfalls.

Matt poses before a graphic warning sign.

Here we are at Upper North Falls. 65 feet.

A “twin” falls.

The view from behind the falls.

Lots of rain means lots of white water.

Matt consults the map.

That mass of white behind us is a waterfall.  It was powerful stuff.

Another view of the water.  We’ve done this hike in the summer and it’s fun, but it was a totally different experience in the winter.

Drake Falls says hello.  All 27 feet of it.

A double layer of falls.  Also: look at all that moss!

Matt looks at the sign for Lower North Falls.

This is a pretty one.

There was a very large amount of stairs near the end.

This was the first hike with my trekking poles and I was pleased with how well they worked for me.

Terrible and intriguing flyer

This flyer appeared at my Max stop this morning.  What an unfortunate story.  Martha Marie Morrison was murdered in 1974.  Her siblings assumed she was reported missing, but she never was.  I’m curious about the details of the story. As a 17-year-old she was already living with her boyfriend.  She also suffered from psoriasis, which is something we have in common. This Wikipedia page has more information.  It sounds like she had a hard life.

Mediocre chain restaurant is now gone from the Pearl

At my previous job, it wasn’t unusual to end up at Noodles now and again, just because it was so close.  The food was always so-so.  It seems that others in the area might have felt the same.  I can’t say I’m too broken up.

Also, I’m amused that “not far” to them means Washington Square.  By my reckoning, they are very far away.

Now, let’s not be naive. This is not a 5 minutes active-type meal.

I’m not sure when they start the timer on the “5 minutes active” portion of this recipe.  Chopping the onion, garlic, carrot and celery take far longer than that.  I would estimate 25 minutes of active time, and that’s with me buying bulk sausage, and not having to remove the casings.

It was a good soup though.

A citizen responds

As part of a US Department of Justice settlement, my company is conducting a survey of the Portland Police and their community relations.

We sent a postcard giving residents the option of filling out the survey online.  That was followed up by a paper copy of the survey, complete with postage-paid return envelope.

This respondent wasn’t having any part of our postage-paid return envelope.  They supplied their own.  The return address moniker amused me.