Let’s open the cage on a Friday, OK, and see what scampers out? Today is December 6, 2019, the 340th day of the year with a scant 25 waiting their turn. Portland’s weather takes a pivot, with rain picking up late in the day and highs of 48. But nothing like the dunking California’s been getting. Sunrise 7:35 AM, sunset 4:27 PM.
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If you’re still selecting today’s sartorial blandishments: lots of us are wearing our Ducks gear today, as the team and a whole slug of fans heads to Levis Stadium in Santa Clara for what is sure to be a struggle against the powerful Utes of Utah for the Pac 12 championship. Utah is favored to win by a touchdown, but the weather favors Ducks, because it is Fowl, with a Pineapple Express slinging pretty much all of California with hard rain and gusts to 50 MPH. Expect a wobbly windblown kickoff at 5 PM on Fox 12.
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The price of registering your wheels in Multnomah County will pop to $56 from $19 beginning in 2021. The money is earmarked for the Burnside Bridge quake-readiness project.
Today’s rain–much lighter in Portland than in the state that generously keeps us replenished with population–should knock some of the soot out of our O2 supply today. But shallow air is stubborn, and the air stagnation advisory now scheduled to expire at 4 PM today may have to be extended. At the moment (0400), the Portland AQI is a moderate 68.
Portland will say a long goodbye to its 300 gas-powered, smog-emitting leaf blowers. City Council’s voted to phase them out starting a year from now.
Portland-area students stage another climate walkout today, confronting mayors and such in Portland, Beaverton, and Lake Oswego about what they’re doing on the local level to help the planet–inasmuch as the federal government’s policy is to deny that there’s even a problem.
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Say the Christmas Ships have hit the river! What a great Portland tradition. According to their Twitter feed, “Tonight, 12/6, we have a combined fleet parade on the Columbia River (no Willamette Parade). The parade starts in the Saltys/Gleason Boat Ramp area and goes down through North Portland Harbor.”
An autumn’s worth of Friday Night Lights ends Saturday at noon when Central Catholic plays Lake Oswego for the Oregon Class 6A football state championship at Hillsboro Stadium. A couple of great schools and great programs.
The Blazers host the too-hot Lakers at the Moda Center tonight.
Chip Davis’ Mannheim Steamroller rumbles into the Schnitz tonight with its Christmas rock show.
Portland’s world-famous Dandy Warhols, with my Schoolhouse Supplies Celebrity Spelling Bee pal Zia McCabe at the main keyboards (left hand) and bass keyboard (right), rock the Crystal Ballroom tomorrow night at 8.
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Also underway this weekend is the Providence Festival of Trees, a feast for the eyes under the twin spires of the Oregon Convention Center, and a benefit for all the good things Providence does for children who require intensive care.
Happy birthday to Channel 8 super-anchor Laural Porter! Long may you prevail!
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Good news links for Friday 12-6!
–“Stray dog found sheltering five kittens from the cold”
–“This School Is Ditching Homework For Acts Of Kindness”
–“Boy Kicks Cancer’s ***, Gets New Leg, And Starts Playing Football Again”
–“Dad Spends 1,200 Hours Renovating ‘Back to the Future’ Car So He Can Use it to Pick Up His Kids From School”
–“Kind Scandinavian lady saves a moose trapped in ice… …with an axe”
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From the Daily Drip of one year ago today:
Ex-Michigan football player Jerry Ford became Vice-President of the United States on this day in 1973, upon the plea-bargained exit of the corrupt Spiro Agnew. Ford was one of the Greatest Generation good guys. I had a conversation with him once when he was campaigning in Portland in May, 1976; he gave a news conference at the Red Lion Lloyd Center, followed by a meet-and-greet photo op, and I happened to be first in line for that. Press Secretary Ron Nessen’s camera jammed, and Ford and I were left to make chitchat while he fixed it. I too directly asked Ford how he could pardon Nixon after all he’d done; Ford winced and said he had to do it so the country could move on. And that he hated to talk about it. So to make conversation while Ron fixed his camera I told the President about my Dad, who resembled him so strongly that someone at a store wondered what POTUS was doing in the express checkout line at King Soopers in Arvada. Ford laughed, we shook hands (he about broke my fingers, payback for the hardball), the picture was taken, and my Dad chuckled for years over both the photo and the story. Which was much more important to me over the years than hassling Ford about the pardon.
I’ll explain all of this delving into the archives…early next week!
Portland's Daily Drip 