Welcome to the first and only Wednesday, September 19, 2018, in the history of the world! The weather in Portland and the surrounding country is so beautiful, sunny with highs of 70 and just a little morning fog; then chilly enough in the evening that you pick up your glass of wine and finish it indoors. You can anticipate showers tonight and in days ahead, but it turns sunny and warm next week. The sun seems especially bright, because it’s getting lower in the sky by half a degree every day, blasting at you right at eye level. This causes accidents every year; we need good sunglasses, clean windshields, visors, and awareness of the fact that sunrise is 6:54 AM, and sunset at 7:13 PM. We’re five days away from a full moon.
Three days until Fall..and snow blankets our neighborhood volcanoes.
The California professor who accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party in high school says her life has become a nightmare with threats and harassment since her name became public, and is no longer willing to sit for a grilling on national television by Senators who’ve already made up their minds. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee say they’re not going to wait for the FBI to investigate the charges, and will either hold the Monday hearing without her, or just go ahead and vote.
Clackamas firefighters tweet that they “were able to reunite pets with their owners after the kitchen fire at the Town Center Terrace. Thankfully it appears that all the pets will be okay.”
A shirtless guy who was smoking a bowl of something walked into a Portland cat shelter and walked out with a kitten. The man was arrested last night–and he’d sold the kitten to a stranger in downtown Portland.
Unfinished business: the 13-year old named Jakob who ran away after school in Oregon City on Monday was found around midday Tuesday. He’s OK and back home. They’re not saying where, but it’s usually a friend’s house.
Also: Horses can’t sue, according to a Washington County Judge, who bucked off a lawsuit filed on behalf of a neglected horse against its owner.
Snapshot of the Oregon economy: the state’s unemployment rate fell in August to 3.8%, the lowest since 1976, when record-keeping began (and that was way back when the #1 record was “Afternoon Delight”).
Portland’s try-out period is about halfway through, with the e-scooters that you see zipping around, and here’s an unfortunate way to express opinions: people are flinging them into the Willamette River, or otherwise abusing them, and posting pictures on an Instagram account set up for that purpose. Other pix depict scooters tossed onto roofs, wrapped around trees and disassembled in the yard. It’s annoying to see them cruising on sidewalks, where they’re not allowed, and being driven by riders without helmets, which are required, but still: vandalism is vandalism.
If you’ve never witnessed the spectacle of thousands of tiny black birds swirling into the chimney at Chapman Elementary, now’s the time. We’re at Peak Swift. The Audubon Society counted nearly 12,000 the other night. These migrating birds, called Vaux Swifts (like “vox”), choose tall chimney structures because the old growth trees they’re instinctively drawn to are, well, lumber.
We’ve been meaning to send condolences to Tommy Thayer and family on the passing of his father, General James Thayer. The Portland native was leading a platoon in Austria in 1945 when he stumbled on a Nazi concentration camp–and led its liberation. His son, a respectful young man from Beaverton whom I’ve interviewed on the radio and like a lot, is the lead guitarist for KISS.
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Hurricane Florence has come and gone, but water’s still rising on Carolina rivers, where sewage treatment plants have failed, hog waste lagoons have emptied out, and residents are coming to grips with a new normal. Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina said, “When you have two 500-year floods within two years of each other, it’s pretty clear it’s not a 500-year flood.” President Trump plans to visit today.
Senate investigators say the government is unable to account for about 1500 immigrant children who entered the US alone this year and were placed with sponsors.
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Headlines of a things-are-looking-up nature:
–“Rice University announces free tuition for middle-income undergraduate students”
–“‘This couple has made history’: First husband-wife B-2 pilots retire together”
–“Teen returns purse found in middle of road with $10,000 inside”
–“83-year-old man fights off 3 hammer-wielding robbers”
–“1,500 Animals Get New Homes During Bay Area Pet Fair”
Details at the popular Daily Drip Link Academy, below!
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What I’ve loved about the Daily Drip this week is the worldwide vicarious adventures we’re having, with Dripsters checking in from all over the US and several continents! The pictures, the stories….this time may be the best time to travel, and we love hearing from people far and wide. Here at home, too!
Portland's Daily Drip 