Thursday, March 21, 2019

Good morning, and welcome to the first purely Spring day of the year! It’s Thursday, March 21, 2019; the equiknocked right on schedule at 2:58 PM yesterday, the sun cooked us up to a record 72 degrees, and now we learn what. the new season has in store: a chance of a stray shower with steady clouds, cooler and typical temps and highs around 60. Looks that way most of the weekend and next week too–Spring Break, Oregon! BTW…ODOT just reported black ice at Government Camp and Timberline. Sunrise 7:12 AM, sunset 7:24 PM.

What an evening…what a moon…thanks for all the pics, Dripsters! And now several folks report seeing a meteor or something in the sky late last night. Said one: “Was driving south near Tigard and I saw a solid green trail and flash for 3-4 seconds maybe 30 degrees up in the sky.” Others say it was amazin

We could use a little rinse from the heavens, and maybe we’ll get it. Small wildfires are popping up all over. Crews jumped hard on the Santiam Park fire, and have it 80% lined (which I think is the new word for “contained”), at 189 acres, and all evacuation orders have been lifted. “Some folks seem surprised to see this fire on the landscape in March, but as firefighters, we are trained to consider the conditions, not the calendar,” said Incident Commander Blake Ellis dryly.

Wanting to add more sparklers and groundblooms to our landscape, two of Oregon’s legislators, one from each party, have brought forth a bill to invite the sale of fireworks…not only before the 4th of July, but from December 15 to January 2, and five days before Chinese New Year and the Hindu holiday Diwali, which is kind of around Halloween. Uh, why? Cultural inclusivity. What? Not Cinco de Mayo or St Patricks’ Day or any other celebration specific to the incredible diversity of cultures here? Plus–one of the originators of this brainstorm represents a district just an ember’s hop away from the burn zone of the Eagle Creek disaster. Wait til firefighters weigh in. This bill is DOA.

There’s a move in the works to give Oregon legislators a pay raise of 63%, to over 50K a year. Senator Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, says she realizes it’s unpopular (just check the minefield of the Oregonlive comments) but it’s the only way to attract a diversity of lawmakers who aren’t either retired or financially independent. They currently make $31K. That’s a quarter of what you’d get on the Portland City Council.

If you saw an Amber Alert for a little girl who was kidnapped by her noncustodial mom in Idaho and maybe brought to Oregon…she was found safe.

Glad to say that podcaster Greg Nibler has his laptops and keys back, after Tuesday’s carjacking. All well, bad guy in jail.

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The Blazers beat the Dallas Mavericks last night 126-118. And the Seattle Mariners are leading the Oakland A’s 3-0 in the bottom of the 4th, as I write this at 0400, in a game being played in Japan. But the big news is the expected postgame announcement that it was Ichiro’s last game. Cooperstown, here he comes.

Say..when’s the last time you had dessert at the Rimsky-Korsakofee House? The place is, like, enchanted…I’ll let Atlas Obscura give you a taste: “…each table is named for deceased composers. Some have been known to exhibit strange behaviors, like growing and shrinking by 18 inches, or rotating so slowly that, deep in conversation, one reaches down to find that his torte has defected to the person on his left!” I bring it up because Google has lately left the impression that Rimsky-Korsakofee House has closed. It has not. It might say “closed” when you Goggle it, but It opens at 7 PM just like it has for decades, at 707 SE 12th at Alder in the Buckman neighborhood. My friend, all of our friend, Margie Boulé, who told me of the Google confusion, is a longtime friend of Rimsky’s owner, Goody Cable. Maybe Margie’ll share the story here of how they met. She heartily recommends the chocolate cake.

Want some toccata on your fugue? Speaking of deceased composers, it’s the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685)

Twitter began tweeting on this date in 2006, and continues to lavish us with enrichment and enlightenment.

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Now, the Smile File! Tell Me Something Good! A spoonful of sugar!

–“Fridge full of beer magically appears in flooded field just as tired guys pass by”

–“‘Super smeller’: Woman can sniff out Parkinson’s, leading scientists to create early detection test”

–“Bodycam shows heart-stopping moment officer catches kids dropped from burning building”

–“Dad’s Adopted Daughter Turns Out to Be Perfect Kidney Donor Match”

–“Horses Change Lives in Film ‘The Mustang'”

(Speaking of which: Did you know that over 50,000 mustangs are in BLM holding facilities? These horses need homes. Click on this sentence to find out how you can help. )

Links to these, and anything else that occurs to me, at the Daily Drip Coffee Cup!

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Let’s sign off this way:

“If the salmon and steelhead are running, then as far as I am concerned, God knows that all is well in His world…the health of the environment is good if the salmon and steelhead are around. It is that simple.”–Tom McCall

Tomorrow is Tom McCall Day in Oregon! I will celebrate by taking it, and Monday, off work, and going forth to absorb some of the environment that McCall and all who think like him have worked so hard to protect. But the DD will go on.