Boo! There. Welcome to Halloween, Thursday, October 31, 2019. Portland’s weather is sunny, with double-nickel highs, and clear, cold skies at night with lows down to 30. Or lower; I’m at 29. Sunrise 7:48 AM, sunset 5:59 PM. Oh…a pre-6 PM sunset tonight for the first time since….March 2!
Lots of people in the nation’s capital have been too excited to sleep, following the Washington Nationals 6-2 over Houston Astros in Game 7 of the World Series. So much fun!
Also, the House holds a formal vote this morning on going ahead with the impeachment process. Just for reference, the 2020 election is one year from this Sunday.
New wildfires have exploded across California overnight. Flames now surround the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. And the Hillside Fire is burning Into San Bernardino neighborhoods, where evacuations are underway.
While fires flare across California, Oregon now has 22 comparatively infinitesimally minor fires in the Willamette Valley. These are mainly prescribed burns from weeks ago that were rekindled by high winds and in bone-dry conditions. Firefighters are stomping out embers near Molalla and Detroit, and using aircraft to fight new blazes near Sheridan and Gates.
A message to me from Melanie that I will pass along: “One of your dripsters, Nancy Conner, was out for a walk this morning and was hit by a car, in St. Helens. Unfortunately, she didn’t survive her injuries. The world was a better place with her in it. ” So very sad to hear that, and my deepest sympathy to her family and friends!
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Say, I know a lot of folks here are thrilled about the Washington Nationals win in the World Series, and I was one…even though I picked Houston in 6…anyway! The Nationals/Portland connection has some history, and it’s well summarized in this Wikipedia article from 2002:
“After MLB made it official the Montreal Expos were going to be relocated, Portland was named as a potential candidate.[1] Then-Portland Mayor Vera Katz and other officials went to New York City to address the committee that was in charge of the Expos relocation.[2] In 2003, the Oregon State Legislature passed Senate Bill 5, which provided US$150 million towards a new stadium.[2] If the Expos did move to Portland, under the proposal set forth by the then-mayor would use PGE Park as the team’s temporary stadium.[2] The Expos were eventually awarded to Washington, D.C. and now play as the Washington Nationals.”
So we were toyed with and used as leverage to bring the Expos to DC, where they’re partying in the streets of Georgetown instead of the Pearl. But there’s a connection, right? And: our day will come.
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If you go rolling onto SW Main St. between 1st and 2nd, don’t be shocked by the shocking red paint in the bus-only lane…right next to the glimmering green of the bike lane…nobody’s rushing Christmas (yet)….it’s the beginning of what the city calls “the effort to make it blindingly clear for drivers, in particular, that the lane belongs to transit.” So they’ll be rolling out the red paint on MLK, Lloyd, Grand, Burnside, Couch, Everett, Madison…
Portland taxpayers–thanks to a 4-0 vote by City Council yesterday–will soon be the proud landlords of a 6-bedroom, 4-bath, 3,825 square foot home at 35319 SE Carpenter Lane near the Sandy River east of Gresham, listed at, and sold for, $799,900. The city bought it for the land, because they might need to run water pipes under it someday. The house itself? They may just rent it out. Looks pretty nice. Comes with a barn, a chicken coop, and an “auxiliary dwelling unit” for when hubby is in the doghouse.
A tree fell along SW Jefferson…winds? No. Garbage truck backed into it.
To newcomers, that sure looked like smoke rising from the summit of Mt. Hood. Actually it was a lenticular cloud.
What’s that delectable fragrance wafting through the mist near Forest Grove? Mmm…bet it has something to do with Saturday’s annual Verboort Sausage Dinner!
While fans of the Washington Nationals celebrate the afterglow, and the Blazers feel happy about their 102-99 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, there are more thrills in the months to come. The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team is ranked No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time in school history. And Oregon State is #7!
When the little family tykes go out in their goblin costumes tonight (gobblin’ up candy), take a gander skyward and behold the crescent moon making a move on bright, bold Jupiter. And that’s Saturn, chaperoning from above and to the left. You might be able to spot Venus and Mercury, down low on the horizon after sunset. Clear skies on Halloween nights are rare around here, and this is a chance to do some planet-spotting!
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Let’s see what we can find in the Great Pumpkin of Good News!
–“Prineville dog lost for 3 weeks finds her way home”
–“Tiny kittens reunite with firefighters who saved their lives when they were swept down a drain”
–“Amazon makes grocery delivery free for Prime members”
–“Friends recognize Austin homeless man as former classmate and old friend, give him place to live”
–“Extraterrestrials may have explored the Milky Way galaxy and visited Earth already”
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From the Daily Drip one year ago today: “Halloween! Have you ever met a ghost? Did you ever have a drink in the bar at the Benson Hotel and have the glass just tip over? USA Today says the Benson is one of the most haunted hotels in America. There are those who believe that old Simon Benson himself is lurking in the hallways from moaning till night, wearing a dark suit and knocking over drinks. He hated alcohol, hence the Benson Bubblers. And the Heathman? Scary stuff too. Rooms ending in ’03 are said to be haunted because some soul went off the roof many years ago and passed those rooms on the way down.
“Or maybe, like me, you’ve met the departed in non-frightening ways: I recognized the scent as my dear grandmother’s perfume swept through my Oregon home shortly after she passed in Illinois. And when my parents died, all four of us children began noticing dimes–yep, shiny dimes—turning up in odd places. I mean, again and again. Dimes in the laundry, on the sidewalk, in odd pockets of pants unworn for years. I did some Googling and learned that the phenomenon of the dead greeting the living with mysteriously-placed dimes is quite common. A comfort, a hi there, be good, be careful. It’s good news.”
Portland's Daily Drip 