CafeLiz

KitchenAid Range

2010-02-06T15:43:00.001-08:00

Oh, and David and I bought a fortress for a new range that promises to last a little longer, hopefully. It'll be here next Saturday....

Sears Gas Stove, continued

2010-02-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

We've never gotten along very well with our Sears Gas Stove. In a blog post two years ago, I detailed out how I melted the back electronic panel while cooking. Sears blamed me for the mishap and they sent a guy out to fix it (which we paid for) and the panel never did light up right from that point on.

Then the door handle kept coming off. We'd screw the assembly together, over and over, trying to make sure it was tight. Finally this week we gave up on this stove as the entire door blew off for some unknown reason, sending shards of safety glass everywhere.

Never buy an appliance from Sears. That's my message here. They're rotten and we gave up on their silly customer service, no more like customer blaming department.

Now, I've got to go drive my Toyota to the store....

Our American Elms

2009-12-24T07:27:00.000-08:00

There's a nice article in today's Oregonian about the American Elm tree and Dutch Elm Disease and what Portlanders are doing to save their neighborhood elm trees. There's even mention of our North Omaha Park Blocks! Read about it here.

It's amazing what our friends in Ladd's Addition have done to help save their street elm trees - we have a lot to learn from them! Happy Holidays everyone!

Did we Dig it or What?

2009-11-14T12:51:00.001-08:00

Ok, folks - we did it! We replanted our lost trees on Omaha Parkway - it was a big success with 25 neighbors coming out to help us plant five trees. We needed everybody, because digging holes and placing trees in them is harder than you think! Here's some pictorial evidence of a great morning planting trees...

Digging was much harder than we anticipated, and we did run into roots from the former inhabitants of these holes, so we had to dig around to find the perfect spots to place these trees. It was a good thing that Karl Dawson from the City of Portland brought pick axes with him - in fact, he thought of everything, including some good soil with which to backfill the holes. We had plenty of mulch (bark chips from the former elms) but good hard soil was hard to come by, so his pickup load of soil was helpful to anchor the trees.

The next project is to wait for Spring - Karl will again gather us together to go over watering procedures for the summer months. We are also going to work on building benches for the parkway so we can sit and watch the trees grow tall! Besides, Quinn & Piper (the young Van Patten/McVee children) need to play in the trees while they're small and remember that they helped plant them. Those two kids were incredibly hard workers - helping to dig the bark shavings out of the holes and then stamping in the good dirt. They're the only ones among us that will still be here when these oak trees are big and bountiful!

I didn't take as many pictures as I should have - if anybody else wants to send me the pictures they took, I'd be happy to post them here. We had a wonderful turnout of folks and we are so pleased to have trees back in their rightful places.

Update: Monday 11/16/09 - take a look at the photo stream (above) to see all the photos I've collected from folks....keep sending them and I'll keep updating the photo stream - it's great to see all the folks who helped out!

Tree Planting Details

2009-11-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

Join your neighbors to help replant the elms lost to Dutch Elm Disease in the Omaha Park Blocks. Portland Parks & Recreation will be working with Neighborhood Tree Stewards to replant five trees. From Rosa Parks south, the trees will be; Oregon White Oak, Oregon White Oak, Accolade Elm, Accolade Elm and a Big Leaf Maple

Please join us to meet your neighbors, have some coffee and donuts, and replant Omaha Blocks

Signing up is appreciated, please call to sign up.
Karl Dawson
Portland Parks & Recreation
City NatureUrban Forestry Outreach Specialist
kdawson@ci.portland.or.us
503-823-1650
http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/trees

Hello Friends of Trees!

2009-10-26T19:29:00.001-07:00

Hey check out the new blog by Friends of Trees called "Growth Rings" - the link is down on the right side of this page and also here:

http://friendsoftrees.org/blog/

Friends of Trees are responsible for creating the new canopy the Portland area has experienced in the last 20 years or so....they are doing a fantastic job of getting the word out: TREES MATTER!!!!

Pruning your OWN Trees

2009-10-25T20:18:00.001-07:00

Yes, we hired an arborist to prune our own trees on our property.

We have an ornamental plum tree in our front yard that was showing evidence of disease: black knot disease to be exact. The cure is to prune judiciously, spray with a fungicide and feed the tree back to good health. We're using an arborist who is certified in the best practices of the industry and who, well, loves trees.

Our fruit plum tree in the back was just overgrown and needed thinning and pruning.

Now they both look MUCH better. Over the next year they will get some fertilizer and they should both do well.

Planting Trees

2009-10-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

David and I attended the "dig it" event at Mt. Tabor Middle School on Saturday and we helped plant trees there with Friends of Trees, Urban Forestry and a bunch of volunteers from different places. We also graduated as Neighborhood Tree Stewards and we even received a certificate!

I tried to get my Mom to travel to Portland for this graduation, but she declined. She started laughing "I've been to ENOUGH of your graduations!"

Tree planting tips: wear your grubbies (you will get muddy), bring gloves, a shovel, some pruning shears and a knife or wire cutters (depending on how the trees are wrapped up). I think that Urban Forestry will bring mulch (we should check with Karl Dawson about that), but it might be a good idea to have some buckets of water or hoses ready as well.

November 14 - are you ready???

Rogue Dawson

2009-10-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our last tree stewardship class and our final speaker was the now infamous Karl Dawson, the man who is going to get our trees replanted on Omaha.

What a nice guy - he's been head of public/private park partnerships for 10 years on behalf of the City of Portland. He organizes volunteers and neighborhood groups to do city tree projects that the neighborhoods want done, and he works to energize neighborhood groups to recognize the importance of trees to their streets, parks and property.

He's having trouble finding trees in the species that we want (and that he suggested) to plant in the Omaha Parkway. He wants trees with a big enough caliper size so that they won't be easily vandalized and will grow quickly. So he's requested a set-over of the planting date until November 14 in order to find the trees he wants.

So: we need at least 7 people to help with planting on November 14. David and I are in - are you?

From Neighbor Mike

2009-10-12T06:41:00.001-07:00

As you can see, I'm finally getting around to blogging and spreading more info. This from neighbor Mike at 6355:

GREETINGS I TALKED WITH KARL AT U.F.. HE GAVE ME LOCATIONS OF TWO TYPES OF TREES SUGGESTED A WHITE OAK LOCATED ACROSS THE STREET FROM BEACH GRADE SCHOOL AT 1710 N. HUMBOLDT IT'S 200 YRS OLD. IT JUST DWARFS THE HOUSE THAT'S UNDER IT...IT'S A REAL PRETTY TREE AND HAS BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED ALOT. THERE IS A BIG LEAF MAPLE ON GREELEY AVE 2 BLKS. SOUTH OF LOMBARD. BOTH TREES ARE HUGE... I'M KIND OF LEANING TOWARD DIFFERENT KINDS OF ELMS, JUST TO KEEP THE BLOCK LOOKING FOR UNIFORM, WITH A SIMILAR SIZE TREE....IT SOUNDS LIKE KARL NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT TO LOCATE BY THE 24TH...

Any thoughts?

Tree Vandals

2009-10-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago some tree vandals went down the parkway and pulled off low-hanging branches off of the Elms. I know that some of the neighbors cleaned up the mess by putting stuff in their garbage.

I asked Autumn Montegna (the elm monitor for the City) about this. She advises us not to clean up elm limbs from the big trees - they are potential dutch elm disease carriers and need to be chipped. We are to call her if branches come down and she will send a City truck out to collect any debris and the City will properly dispose of it. Autumn's phone number at the City is 503-701-7622.

I also pointed out to Autumn that when they pulled out those trees so suddenly, vandalism occurred. This is not random - there are studies showing that places with fewer trees have higher crime rates! I heard this in my tree stewardship class from the Oregon State Forester. Wow, trees are important in lots of different ways.

Trees, Birds, Bees

2009-10-07T05:16:00.001-07:00

This Tree Stewardship class that I'm taking is fascinating. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about good tree management (at least in the urban environment) and tree biology. I always knew that trees were important to the environment, but I didn't realize *how* important. Our goals to reduce carbon emissions and have clean waters and soils in the future are dependent on maintaining the urban canopy in Portland. Our elms on Omaha Avenue are *key* to a clean future.

Last Saturday our class was held at the Hoyt Arboretum where we had this wonderful tour of some of the hardwoods (birch, maples) by the director of the place. Hoyt has over 8,000 trees representing about 1,000 different species from around the world. We learned a little about tree biology, including the key things about trees: they don't heal from wounds like humans, but instead compartmentalize their owies (CODIT)

We got to hear professional arborists talk about prudent pruning methods and how not to prune trees and more importantly, why trees fail. It was a great way to spend a Saturday - David and I loved it so much that we went back on our own Sunday (with the dog!) and went for another walk through the conifers this time and marveled at the amazing array of species right in Portland. With 12 miles of trails, we will go back many times to see it all.

Airplane, circling

2009-10-02T04:34:00.000-07:00

It's 4:30 am. I've been up since 3:00 am because there's a small aircraft circling our neighborhood, relentless, pursuing something. It woke up my dog. Who woke me up.

And at this time of day, there's only one logical conclusion: the Jihad is out there and they're going to get us. I woke up David who said he didn't want to talk about it. Not now, he said. Then I said "yeah, you'll talk about it when the foreigners burst through our front doors demanding our papers!"

He stuck his thumb out from underneath the bedcovers and said "the paper recycling is in the kitchen. They can have all the paper they want."

No one takes me seriously.

Update: there is something going on. See this post from about a week ago in the Sentinel

Tree Stewardship Class

2009-09-30T07:40:00.001-07:00

The first Tree Stewardship class was held last night - and thanks to my husband David Taylor and Allen Wheeland for joining me in this adventure! It was a fascinating evening - and the next four classes are going to be very interesting as well. I thought I'd share with you my initial thoughts after this class.

There are a lot of city bureaus dealing with the issues of ecology and specifically trees. They are trying hard to get along and work together, with varying results. I think what we've witnessed is this disharmony of bureaus with differing raison d'etres working it out in front of us. Thank God Parks is winning!

The tree experts in this town are many and varied. In this class, I think we will meet most of them.

Intuitively I knew that trees are important to our ecology and our public health (both physical and mental) but I had no idea how important they are to all the infrastructure of our environment. More later about this.

I now know why diversity of species are important - we all get that since our elms are coming down. This class got a little deeper into that question and made clear that the City will never plant like they have in the past, putting one species in a row down a boulevard or median strip.

As I came back down Omaha from my walk with my dog this morning and saw the remaining elms standing in their gigantic rows, I started to cry. I love these elm trees, whether they should have been planted like this or not. The fact is that they are lovely and graceful parts of our landscape. And the bad news is that eventually they will all be gone in a few more years, whether we like it or not.

The good news, of course, is that the City will replant trees here. I want to make sure that they're big trees going in - not some puny imposters that will not provide the canopy that the elms have provided us. I think Karl Dawson gets that and so is suggesting the obvious ones that will grow and expand out - the oaks and the maples, as well as some evergreen if we want it (but nobody, not even me wants that right now). This is good. Big trees are important to our landscape (and little ones have their place, too).

It's true!

2009-09-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

We've confirmed it: The City will plant trees back on Omaha Street!

From our neighbor Erika:

I spoke with Karl Dawson from Urban Forestry this morning. He said UF will
plant 6 trees in a volunteer neighborhood planting on Halloween from 9-11am. As
many neighbors as possible should join in the planting. The neighborhood then
needs to set up a watering schedule for 3 years for the summers (May-June) after
the planting. UF can provide hoses or irrigation if needed. He said the city's
sprinkler system would not provide the direct watering the trees need.

Maybe we should have another neighborhood meeting to decide the types of
trees and a watering schedule. Our tree choices are: Oregon White Oak,
Northern Red Oak, Big Leaf Maple or Evergreens. Karl said he will purchase the
trees around Oct 24th for the Oct 31st planting.

...but let's not weaken...

2009-09-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

It is more important than ever that we take a greater interest in our trees and park space in front of our homes, especially given the invasive nature of Dutch Elm disease (or as my friend Emily calls it "Restless Elm Syndrome") To that end I've decided to take the Tree Stewardship class that the City of Portland puts on. I received the class syllabus today and am extending an invitation to all of you to join me in this class - you can register at the door!

The Class times are: 9/29 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm; 10/3 8:30 am-2:00 pm; 10/6 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm; 10/10 8:30 am-2:00 pm and 10/17 8:30 am - 2:00 pm.

It is likely that more of these trees will have to come down and that we will be advocating for their replacement in an ongoing way. So, let's get educated about trees, their care and how best to advocate for them.

Stop the Presses!

2009-09-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor Dan Netter saw City people walking around in the Omaha Street park this afternoon. Dan took an opportunity to talk with them. Dan reports the following: The City Parks guru Karl Dawson was here to look at the crater where the trees were taken out of the park-and he told Dan that the City WILL replace the trees! He said that he wants us to pick out trees to replant from a list of different species that they've put together.

If this is true (and we hope it is!) this means that the City will replant the trees! This is great news (if true) and we can expect trees to be planted evidently in December. Several people have contacted his office and we will wait to see if he confirms this news. Stay tuned....

Contacts

2009-09-23T06:48:00.000-07:00

As promised, Julia has put together her list of people she has contacted in the City regarding the North Omaha street trees.

We're Getting Heard!

2009-09-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

North Portland neighbors have heard our pleas for help! Several good people have asked me "What can I do to help?"

Neighbors: Your participation is crucial to our success getting our trees replanted. Matt McVee is busy putting together lawn signs to put in our yards up and down Omaha Street - can you help him put together these signs and/or get these yard signs placed? Will you take responsibility for your houses on your block of Omaha to alert neighbors to this problem? Let Matt know by either leaving a comment on this blog or by sending him an email at OmahaTrees@gmail.com. Thanks neighbors! You're the greatest!

Julia's Emails

2009-09-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

Neighbors have done a great job zeroing in on who is responsible at the City of Portland for our trees on Omaha Street. As we discovered last week, the median strip is no longer maintained by the Parks Department, but by the Portland Department of Transportation's Bureau of Maintenance (BOM).

Here's the link for reading Julia's emails with the City of Portland about our North Omaha Street trees.

Neighbors Resolved

2009-09-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

One of the things we love about living on Omaha Street is the canopy of tall, deciduous trees which offer shade to our yards in the heat of the summers and wind breaks in the cold of winter.

Years ago, when my husband David hurt his back and couldn't move often or without great pain, he reported to me that relief came in the form of placing himself near a window to watch those great elms sprout and grow leaves, and watch the nest-building activity of the wildlife in the branches. These aren't just trees that are disposable; while disease may bring down the old ones, it's important to plant new ones.

At our neighborhood meeting yesterday, where about 35 people attended, we agreed to the following principles:

1. We want to replant the missing trees.

2. We will do what it takes to buy and plant the trees ourselves even if the City can't afford them.

3. We will care for the trees in their early years, with an agreement with the City until the City can afford their care again.

Beyond these rather short-term goals, we also want to make clear to the City that the Omaha Street median isn't just a median strip, like a strip mall or strip parking or the other ugly forms of that word. The Omaha Street elms are part of a natural park system in North Portland. It's labeled as a park in nearly every guide available online, and people use it as a park for daily activities like walking their dogs or playing games or simply enjoying a nice day of sunshine. Our parkway is a destination for the citizens of Portland.

If you want to be part of our group, or would like more information about the group and our intentions, please send us an email at OmahaTrees@gmail.com .

Omaha Tree Meeting

2009-09-19T12:43:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came to my house this morning for the neighborhood meeting about our Omaha trees! Of course it rained! But we made it through and I think we have a good agenda with which to move forward. (Julia, Rich, Erika and the rest of us will be very busy this winter!) I will post more in the next few hours. Check back often!

We will change this picture below to something more aesthetically pleasing! We can do it!

Devastation

2009-09-15T20:46:00.001-07:00

Our beautiful boulevard has Dutch Elm Disease. They have taken out five trees in the last week and it just uglifies the landscape around here. What hurts the most is that the city didn't notify any of us that this was about to happen.

We're forming a neighborhood group to figure out what to do next. The City says it doesn't have the funds to plant trees back, but I can't imagine this place without trees. At the most cynical, our property values have just dropped a good $50k a piece.

Have you seen this man?

2009-08-20T05:31:00.001-07:00

My brother Michael is on a terrorist watch list, according to his bank. Figures.

More Music....

2009-08-01T09:14:00.001-07:00

My project lately has been to convert the old corroding tape cassettes of Dad's singing to electronic mp3 files....I added two more songs (actually, the last two that I have) yesterday.

http://groups.google.com/group/bill-stevenson-music

It was a hottie outside....

2009-07-31T06:49:00.000-07:00

This morning when I took the dog out the chill hit me square in the face: only 60 degrees?

The soaring temperatures this week have been hard on our lawn, the park across the street, the hanging baskets and the wildlife outside.

But I have nothing to complain about because I live in air conditioning and have a swimming pool in my backyard. But I had to share the pool with the wildlife as even insects swarmed because they needed cooling off as well.

At OHSU the threat was to campus-wide systems that are responsible for keeping the special research freezers going (many hundreds below zero) and enough power and backup power to keep the hospital beds cool. There were problems yesterday, but they seem to have mostly resolved today.

I would rather have this than snow any day.

Summer evening skies full of surprises...

2009-07-24T06:09:00.001-07:00

Have you seen the International Space Station (ISS) pass by overhead yet? David and I wandered out to the backyard last evening around 9:40 pm to see it go....it's traveling very quickly but you see this bright star moving through the sky. You have to know when to look because it moves so quickly, so catch the next dates here.

Good Book

2009-07-21T08:09:00.001-07:00

David is reading a delightful little collection of short stories called "Sum" - 40 tales of the imagined afterlife, each different. We're fans!

Dance Like You Mean It!

2009-07-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

I spent part of my Thursday afternoon at the Chiles Center at the Thunderbird Dance Camp watching the final recital of all of Oregon's dancers under the age of 25! Why? Trisha was there, that's why! She started texting me on Monday to come watch her dance, so I had x'd out one hour of my afternoon from work to be there.

I should have x'd out the entire afternoon because it was mayhem and an extravaganza of sweating dancing girls! I got there and found a seat up high in the nosebleed section. The parents were pretty competitive about the seats - groups from different places were holding seats and I was clearly an outsider, somebody who hadn't been ensconced in these seats all week, and the stares were fierce. "These seats are saved," they hissed at me until I finally reached some top section where one lone small broken seat remained for me.

The back biting and competitive nature of these parents was awesome to witness. It was worse than Little League dads - these dance mothers are fierce! I kept wondering, why don't they have jobs like everybody else? Evidently there exists moms who have nothing better to do than follow their kids around and bad-mouth the competition while munching on barbecue-flavored pringles. One nasty dancing daughter came up to her mealy-mouthed mom to exclaim: "Watch the girl next to me...she's awful! And she has spent the week trying to talk to me! Ick!" The mother replied, "just dance and forget her, don't talk to her, you don't want the judges to think you have anything to do with her!"

So, with baited breath, I waited for Trisha to dance. I could barely see her down below. But when her group of dancers emerged, I recognized her immediately. She was in the front row and she was smiling! She knew her stuff and she danced really well. She twirled and tumbled and kicked and gyrated her arms like she knew what she was doing! It was AWESOME!

My pictures (taken with my iphone because I have no other recording device currently) are pathetic and don't show much except attest to the fact that I, and I alone, watched Trisha in her finest moment shining at the Thunderbird Camp. I also noticed that she had lots of friends around her that she was enjoying. I hope that she had a great camp experience, that she always dances with girls who aren't very good, and that she just had fun.

For Music Lovers Only

2009-07-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

By popular request....

http://groups.google.com/group/bill-stevenson-music

Our Daily Bread

2009-07-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

This all started when I got out of the shower one morning, David had already left for work, and I wandered into the kitchen to make myself some breakfast and found that the kettle was on full blast, the steam whistle was disabled and it was dry. David had absent-mindedly left it there and had I not been home, would have posed a serious hazard to the health of our happy home.

David became alarmed as well at the potential danger to our property and our pets and immediately went about to find another coffee solution so that this wouldn't/couldn't happen again. David found the magic of Macy's! He bought a grinder/binder/coffee maker extravaganza and brought it home that very evening. It's programmable!

Now, with coffee cups in hand, we stand on our new red floor and make obeisance to La Machine in the morning to grant us our daily coffee.

Caught in the Crossfire

2009-07-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

My Dad’s mother Mary Jean died a week ago today, reportedly about 8:30 pm. She died in the same hospital ward where my Dad died almost three years earlier, but she died peacefully in bed whereas Dad collapsed on the floor outside of his room and died with a dozen people trying to revive him, voices raising in anxiety as Mom and I clutched each other in fear. I knew Dad was going, but I didn’t want to believe it. My Mom knew too, and she didn’t want to watch. She went around the corner from him and she sat down on an abandoned hospital bed and sat with her head in her hands.

Grandma didn’t want anyone with her as she died, and I kept her wish until she was unconscious and wasn’t in control anymore. Even then, though, I really didn’t want to be in the room with her; we weren’t close, she didn’t like me, and I really felt nothing at all as her breathing labored, her organs shut down and she passed. I was there to support my brother Bill and my sister Pam, who did evidently care about the event.

It sounds egregious not to care about your grandmother, but it was the truth. She was a difficult human being; she made my Dad’s life extra miserable and I had nothing to say to her in the last few years, and it was mutual.

This grandmother was an enigma to me; I didn’t pretend to know her, but she pretended that she knew me and later in life attributed all sorts of nefarious motives to my actions. I think I saw her about a dozen times, all told, throughout my nearly 50 year history. We didn’t talk on the phone. We rarely exchanged letters.

I never knew when her actual birth year was. Like many in her generation, she was probably born at home and there was no hospital record of her birth. Her birth date was in December, but the year continued to be mysterious. Like many women of her generation she wanted to be older when she was young (so she could get married) and then she wanted to be younger when she was old (to collect Social Security and be on Medicare). Everyone claimed that she was 102 at her death, and that sounds like a good compromise. The range could have been as old as 105 or as young as 100. What it actually was, we’ll never know now. In any event, she was old enough.

My first memory of her was being dropped off at her house on Country Club Road in Eugene. It was a cold, formal, oppressively quiet house with a grandfather clock that ticked ominously in a corner, bursting out in a gonging noise at the top of the hour. It stood a hundred feet tall and mesmerized me until she hissed at me “Don’t Touch Anything!” Everything was white, cold, immaculate, uncomfortable. Our house at home was worn, messy, probably a bit dirty and lived in. We had a noisy chaotic family and no part of the house was off-limit to the sticky curious fingers of young children. To arrive in this mausoleum was a bit much for us youngsters, and it left an indelible impression on me that visits to these grandparents was a hushed event.

A few years ago I read an article in a Catholic magazine disparaging young couples of today for using birth control and not having children – the writer had interviewed one childless couple who reported facetiously that they had just installed white wall-to-wall carpeting and therefore couldn’t have children. When I read that, I burst out laughing because it reminded me of my grandparent’s home on Country Club Road where children really were not welcome.

Mom dropped John and me off to babysit while she grocery shopped, although this was not a normal event. Normally we went with Mom, and why she dropped us off this day is not known to me. Maybe she wanted us to get acquainted. Maybe she was just sick of us. I don’t know. John and me, caught in whatever cross-fire was going on between my parents and grandparents didn’t know what to do or which way to turn. John looked outside and saw a fountain with some sort of stone statuary in it of a young boy peeing in a pond. There were goldfish in the pond. We were country kids and we knew that you fished when you saw fish in a pond. John and I found a string and some sort of paperclip or diaper pin or something and we sat outside fishing in the pond. For some reason I remember John singing a song as he fished. My grandfather appeared about that time bellowing at us that we’d better not be harming his goldfish! I think he was kidding, but he scared the living daylights out of us. It set the tone for our relationship together – John had little to nothing to do with them; I made some attempts to get to know them, but would always be rebuffed.

my new kitchen

2009-06-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

You remember my wretched kitchen before, right?

Well, drool on with my new kitchen: newly painted and most importantly a BRAND NEW FLOOR. It's a thing of beauty.

Beauty, huh?

Trip to Asia....

2009-06-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

...well, at least the Asian part of the Oregon Zoo...

David and I took the train to the Zoo Sunday - a celebration (of sorts) of our 12th wedding anniversary. I wanted to see the new baby Asian elephant that was born there earlier this year.

Kitchen Update

2009-05-25T10:29:00.001-07:00

Here's how far I got with my kitchen re-do in a week. Not bad for somebody who has a bad back, a bad knee and a broken tooth. :)

Kitchen Spruce-Up

2009-05-19T13:25:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to spruce up the kitchen in the Omaha Street house for over 10 years now....and finally I have a week to do it. Unfortunately, my back isn't cooperating with my will, and I have to do everything very slowly and rest lots inbetween. But here's where we start today - and I'm just cleaning lots:

I am taking off the doors and sanding before refinishing them with a new paint color. The same color will go on the woodwork. I am going to leave the plaster walls and ceiling white, I think, just freshen the paint, but honestly I haven't decided yet.

I decided to have a professional do the floor - had a guy measure for an estimate yesterday for marmoleum, which looks like a nice old-fashioned product. My back just won't support me doing any floor work right now.

Thank You Note

2009-05-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Recently our friend Tom Kayser turned 18. Tom is the son of Anne & Jeff Kayser. He had several birthday parties this year and we were invited to one of them. We brought Tom the movie "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" which he hadn't seen. And then we all enjoyed chocolate birthday cake. Anne didn't want to have cake left lying around, so she had me take home the cake.

This week we received a thank you note from Tom. It said the following:

Hockey - My New Favorite Sport

2009-03-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

One night a few weeks ago David and I had the chance to see our friends' son Kyle play hockey at Valley Ice in Beaverton. We were impressed! Beth sent us pictures of us sitting in the stands in the arena - to prove we actually went. Hockey, even in the high school league Kyle belongs to, is incredibly physical and violent. Yes! Loved it! But I found myself saying things like "Watch out Kyle!" whenever I saw these guys come slamming at him with their pads and sticks.

Economic Downturn

2009-03-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

I spied this funny on a blog recently: the caption reads "the economic downturn has gotten so bad we may have to lay off Andre"

Emergency!

2009-02-20T05:38:00.000-08:00

Last night I came home about 7:00 from a long day of work to greet my lovely family.

My little dog had a slightly swollen face. I asked David about it and he hadn't noticed at all. As I sat there and watched, her face grew in front of me, her nose growing in size by the second. I panicked! I called Dove/Lewis Hospital and they said to bring her in.

Evidently she got into something that disagreed with her. We'll never know what the culprit was, but she was having an acute allergic reaction. They think she either ate/got bit by/or otherwise ingested a spider or ant or some other critter that she wasn't used to and her system reacted. After a bit of benadryl and some steroid, the swelling started to dissipate, but she went to bed last night a little lumpy-jawed. She's just a little swollen this morning, but her appetite has not changed. She chowed down her food this morning like normal. Thanks to the excellent service at the emergency room at Dove/Lewis for taking good care of Fergie!

For a virtual tour of Dove/Lewis, click here

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

We are having clam chowder tonight, along with a nice assortment of cheese and crackers for our Christmas Eve supper. Later, we will have a competitive game of scrabble. Other than that, sleep perhaps perchance to dream of a "green" Christmas, like the ones we used to know. Oh, mud. Ah, rain. We miss you so....

Snow, anyone?

2008-12-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

This just isn't going to stop, is it? It's snowing hard this morning and we got about 5" overnight...David is staying home today with me....he's been really good about shoveling a path for us to walk up and down our driveway (a guy from South Dakota has snow manners!). He's going to have to do it again today...

Monday morning update

2008-12-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

Today's weather is something else - each day surpasses the last as weather excitement.

This morning we woke up to another 5" of snow on top of what we had last night. OHSU Ambulatory services closed the outpatient clinics last night and all of my clinics are closed except for one of my downtown clinics.

Then OHSU closed its administrative services except for essential personnel. I guess I'm essential, so I'm at work now. It wasn't easy to get here - walked 10 minutes to the MAX line in ice encrusted snow (in Roberta's pink boots! they're fantastic!) to find that the MAX line isn't running (because the switches are frozen). There is a shuttle bus and I got on that and rode to the Rose Quarter where I switched to a Red Line train to downtown where I switched to the Portland Streetcar. Rode that down to the Waterfront where OHSU has a tram. Got on the tram with 100 other people (100% full!) and off we went up in the snow clouds. There is so much ice on the tram line that as the tram moves the ice chips and cracks and explodes and is flying all over the outside of the tram cabin. Below is I-5 and Terwilliger on part of the route so can only imagine what the traffic below gets hit with. It took two hours to get here. The bad news is at some point I must reverse this journey and go home. I'm not looking forward to the tram ride down the hill.

....yet more snow

2008-12-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

It's snowing again late this afternoon and we're expecting 2-7" of snow this evening. It's these little flakes of snow that are dense and coming hard.

But the dog hates it.....poor Fergie....I keep making her go outside to walk and do her business, and she just looks plaintively at me as if to say 'what in the heck are we doing out here?' I really am enjoying the snow...it never happens in Portland.

Where do People HAVE to be on Sunday AM?

2008-12-21T08:26:00.001-08:00

I was out admiring the landscape this morning and suddenly heard people yelling - I look down towards Rosa Parks from my house and people in SUVs and pick-ups are crashing into each other and causing a ruckus, disrupting my previous observation about noiselessness. Sheesh.

Silver Thaw

2008-12-21T08:17:00.000-08:00

This morning we have about 10 inches of snow with about a .5" layer of ice encrusted on the top of it. The tree limbs are bowed with ice on them; if it warms up we will have that silver thaw we used to talk about when we were kids. I don't hear that term used anymore...I wonder why???

We still have power - last night was so eerily quiet it made me think of Mom's essay on Noise - which she wrote once when her power went out during a winter storm. I'd say we're at Noise - 1. The power is still on, but the snow (and layer of ice on top of it) keeps people in their homes and muffles all other sounds of the city outside. I was up early this morning with dog, and it felt like I was the only person living on earth it was so quiet....

Roberta's Pink Boots Saved My Life!

2008-12-21T08:12:00.000-08:00

Well, not yet, but I expect them to anytime now!

I have a fear (David says an "irrational fear") of being buried alive in this stuff....but I've been wearing Roberta's boots all week throughout this weather, and I'm here to tell you these boots are terrific.

Blizzard

2008-12-20T16:31:00.001-08:00

This has been one heckuva week for weather on Omaha Street!

Today it is literally a blizzard....my back yard is so quaint looking!

I Little Slave

2008-12-05T05:47:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest things about my job as Department Administrator at OHSU is that I have a fascinating faculty. They write books about their experiences and I am trying to read them all. It's a daunting reading list, but always interesting.

This week's read: "I Little Slave" a prison memoir from Communist Laos by Bounsang Khamkeo, a counselor at the Department's Intercultural Psychiatric Program.

"A haunting narrative of undaunted will"

"Raised in the hierarchical society of traditional Laos, Bounsang Khamkeo earned his doctorate in political scinece in France and returned home in 1973 to a country in political chaos in the wake of the Vietnam War. He worked for the government until 1981 before being imprisoned by the communist Pathet Lao government after running afoul of a politically ambitious boss. I Little Slave is the account of his seven year struggle in prison to stay alive and keep sane in spite of harsh physical privation and endless psychological abuse. Khamkeo's story is a moving and important one at a time when political oppression and crimes against human rights are on the rise throughout the world."

Ghosts

2008-11-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

It is a well-known fact that there is a ghost at the Ranch. It's been there a long time. The ghost has been known to be annoying, but not necessarily unfriendly.

Recently, I received this message from my Mother:

Our resident ghost has taken up some new activities. I am wondering if it has anything to do with the political rhetoric spewing from every TV and radio in the country.

Let me recount some of “SHIMS” activities. For the last couple of weeks my alarm clock, which I have never ever used, goes off at around midnight. Most radios and TVs are quiet at that time so guess Shim wants to arise and is looking for a little peace and quiet. That went on for some time until two nights ago when I suddenly awakened at around 4:00 A.M. A lot of talk seemed to be going on somewhere in my vicinity. My thought was maybe Chesley had arisen early for some reason and was playing his radio. I tossed and turned for a while and finally got up, went to the window, and listened. Nobody talking out there. Next, I opened my bedroom door and listened. The talking was loud and clear downstairs. In my half-, nude condition I tiptoed down the stairs to find what was happening. In the kitchen, the radio was playing loud and clear. Looking around I could see no one so quickly turned the radio off and hurried back to bed. I could not sleep so when I got up for the day I checked the radio; the station broadcasting was the same station I listened to earlier in the day. You know I am inept at running the radio so am uneasy about changing stations.

Last night the same scenario occurred. I have examined my clock and my radio. Tampering of the clock seems to be the problem, as the alarm on/off button seems to be stuck to on. Since the radio is not a clock radio I have no idea how it turns on except to blame Shim. Maybe he/she gets lonely at night and wants to hear a little talk Looking forward to your next visit so you can experience the phenomena I put up with every night.

Old Datsun Pickups

2008-11-01T09:02:00.001-07:00

I saw a completely refurbished Datsun pickup the other day; one of the old ones that are small, had round headlights. We had one when I was young and we used to ride around with Dad on the ranch doing chores.

What I remember about this pickup was that we (John and I) would ride with Dad around the ranch doing chores in this pickup. It was sized just right for John and I to get in and out of easily.

I think my Grandfather bought the pickup, but I have no idea what happened to it. (Anybody know? Want to add to this story?) Dad didn't like the pickup; possibly because it was Japanese-made and he was a WWII vet who fought against the Japanese. In those days, anything made in Japan was a joke; it was poorly made and would break down fast. (How times have changed!)

However, John and I loved that pickup. We would sneak away to the pickup because we knew that Dad would sometimes go to the story, buy candy and stash it in the glove box. We would sneak out to sit in it, turn on the radio (which worked without having the engine on!) and suck down those sickly sweet sugar-coated orange slices that Dad was so fond of.

Ahhhhh, now those are great memories....

Tomato Pie

2008-09-25T12:49:00.001-07:00

Here's the recipe for Tomato Pie:

One pie shell (uncooked)

A bunch of tomatoes, chunked up.

Mix some fresh basil into the tomatoes and spread in the uncooked pie shell.

Mix up 1 cup grated cheddar cheese, 1 cup grated swiss cheese and 1 cup mayonnaise.

Spread it on top of the tomatoes.

Arrange some basil leaves around the top of the pie. Bake in a 350 degree (F) oven for about 45 minutes; the top will be all goldy, crispy and the pie crust should be nicely browned.

Let cool for a few minutes before cutting (it will be kind of runny). Then, share it with friends or you will get fat. Enjoy!

Mom's Book!

2008-09-20T18:06:00.001-07:00

I just ordered my Mom's book off of amazon.com! And you can, too!

It's a memoir of her life and since I helped put it together, may I say a rather interesting tale?

I just love the cover....Order it here

Tomato Pie

2008-09-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

I have tomato pie baking in the oven and it's ohhhhhhh......soooooo.......good-smelling! Is everyone making their own tomato pies at home with their scads of ripe tomatoes?

Oregon Loves Canada

2008-09-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

I heard the sad news that our Canadian friend Tricia is being asked to leave the US for awhile, because she's been here "too much" according to the authorities. Well, pooey on them! We love having Tricia around. Why are our dear Canadian friend being asked to leave, while we seem to have a plethora of weirdos from the Middle East here who absolutely hate this country.

So, I have figured out a way to let Tricia stay here as much as she wants and, in return, provide Oregon with great rewards! Oregon secedes to Canada, becoming its next Province. How many Provinces of Canada are there now? I don't know. We gain a decent health care system and Tricia isn't a "foreigner" anymore.

We can call Oregon in the new Canada: Oregon B.C. We'll all take a trip to Ottawa to check out our new Nation's capital. We'll drink better beer. We'll start loving hockey. I've even designed our new flag:

Long Live Oregon B.C.!

Canning

2008-09-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

So my plum tree outside my kitchen window has ripe fruit and I went out picking yesterday morning to do my annual jam test....for some reason I can't seem to make the right consistency of plum jam - it's either too stiff or too runny. This year I am determined to get it right.

I went looking for my boiling water canner, but then remembered what we used it for last winter. It has a pinhole in the bottom (probably from our misuse last winter) and is of no further use to us now.

So I splurged and bought myself a new canner! They're on sale these days, anyway at Fred Meyer's. I canned my first ever six pints of plums off my tree...I just did enough to test out my canner and make sure I was using it correctly. It worked!

We're Done!

2008-08-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone - the deck and fence crew finished officially on Monday, but the trash and extra lumber is still outside waiting to be picked up. But the pictures tell the story - they did a great job. It's a much nicer back yard with more privacy for the pool. We love it!

If anybody is looking for a great fence/deck crew, this is the place to find them!

Storms over Portland

2008-08-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

The weather has slowed down progress on our backyard project, somewhat. The pool is mostly finished, except for one leak in a hose that existed prior to the changing of the pool liner that will be fixed tomorrow.

The deck is going in now. It is a work of art.

Pool Guys

2008-08-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

Since Tricia is so interested in the Pool Guys, I will share with you this little story.

There was a crew leader and two younger men installing the liner. The two younger men didn't have shirts on. One of them had a very dramatic tattoo down his side. I didn't have my glasses on and as I squinted at the artwork down his side, I thought it was a carrot. I said so.

There was a moment of silence and then the guys burst out laughing. "It's a Spear!" the young man protested loudly. The crew leader was laughing the hardest. "These boys are native Americans," he explained, "they get tattoos of warrior images on them."

Halfway Through

2008-08-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend, the workmen are off, but lots has been accomplished in the first week.

The pool has a new liner and is filled again. Although the chemicals haven't been adjusted, the water is swirling and being filtered through the pump.

The deck folks have framed out the steps and garden box that we wanted done.

The Pool is Filling!

2008-08-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

They're Working on the Pool!

2008-08-14T12:47:00.003-07:00

OK - the pool guys have arrived and they've taken out the liner and are preparing to install the new liner. Here's the progress in pictures.

A Beautiful Fence

2008-08-12T18:40:00.001-07:00

So, the first fence installment is done this evening - this is so beautiful. I'll just let you see the pictures.

Construction Day 2 - continued

2008-08-12T17:07:00.000-07:00

Today has been a great day. And we're not done yet, but I wanted to show off the progress made. It doesn't look like much, but I am just so impressed by the craftsmanship of these workmen. They not only know how to build fences, they are really creative about it.

And hard working.

Today they took out this stump by hand, plus an old holly tree that was needing to go.

They filled in the holes these trees left and leveled the entire area.

They are busy rebuilding the fence sections between our house and Karen's this evening.

We tore down and rebuilt the shed on both the East and South sides today and I helped!

And now David (the workman) is putting corner pieces on the shed. I painted them both with house paint I had left over.

Well, back to work!

Construction Day Two

2008-08-12T08:21:00.001-07:00

Today we are taking down the fence between us and Karen's house next door. Her dogs are penned up so we have to work fast to get the fence between us taken down and rebuilt.

As of 8:21 AM the fence is gone. They're grinding some stumps down of trees we had to remove and by this afternoon there should be a fence rebuilt here. Stay tuned...

The Deck and Fence are GONE

2008-08-11T18:43:00.001-07:00

OK - now this is what my yard looks like without a deck and back fence.

Yes, it is a mess. But the die is cast and we are now in motion to make something beautiful!!

Construction Zone

2008-08-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

We are in the midst this weekend of preparing for our two week construction madness. Our back fence, shed walls, deck and pool are scheduled for upgrades. Saturday David and I started readying the area for the contractors to start on Monday.

Yesterday's tasks were to cut back the foliage along the fenceline, and start clearing out the pool accoutrements, as well as start emptying the swimming pool.

By last evening we had the water nearly out of the pool, and things are starting to look bare in the backyard.

The little patch of grass I've been trying to save for the last year is now covered with pool stuff.

But we're so excited to see what happens on Monday when the deck and fence are ripped out!

Memorial For Roberta Pitts

2008-06-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a quick trip to Stehekin to attend a memorial service the community put on for both Roberta and Dr. Bill Stifter, the other person killed in the plane crash. It was a nice memorial and meant a lot to me to hear from people up there what happened and to see how they came together as a community to deal with the tragedy. It's a unique place, Stehekin.

To see the eulogy Ron Scutt gave at her funeral, as well as a wonderful poem written by Liz Courtney, go to www.stehekinchoice.com.

On a lighter note....sort of...

2008-05-22T21:51:00.001-07:00

Have you seen the new website, cats that look like Hitler, or (are you ready for this?)...

Kitler?

(we need some laughter around here this evening)

More information about the plane crash

2008-05-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

There's been quite a lot of press and speculation about what went wrong with the plane that Roberta died in. Both victims died of freshwater drowning, but there's a lot of speculation about why the plane crashed.

The other sad thing about this crash is how many people were at the Stehekin boat landing and witnessed the crash. People responded quickly to try to help rescue Roberta, and those brave souls are now second-guessing that they didn't do enough. That always happens in these tragic circumstances. I'm sure, without knowing what exactly happened, that everyone did all they could.

My Aunt Roberta

2008-05-19T20:53:00.001-07:00

Tragic news to report from Cafeliz - my Aunt Roberta died in an airplane mishap over the weekend. Read about it here.

We think the services will probably be held on Friday in the town of Chelan, but we're not sure yet about the details. She was well-loved and will be sorely missed by everyone. Tributes to her and Dr. Stifter, who died alongside her while he was trying to unbuckle her seatbelt, are posted on the Wenatchee newspaper website here.

New Family Member

2008-05-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

David and I are in love with our latest family member, Fergie.

We rescued Fergie from a shelter - well, from two shelters really.

I first saw Fergie at the Oregon Humane Society - she was in isolation because she was snapping and growling at everybody and seemed in bad shape. Because she wasn't doing well there, they moved her to a second shelter in Clackamas County where I ran into her again. This time she licked David and me all over and charmed us with her old lady eyes.

She is 12 years old, Jack Russell Terrier, has a few medical problems, but is full of love now that she's in a home environment. She doesn't bother about the cat, but Lucy is not happy with her new sibling. We hear that may change, but we're not forcing anything. Stand by!

Epidemic, Update

2008-04-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

You haven't heard from me in a few days because I've been on possum watch....David and I now sit on the stairs to our basement with rolling pins in our hands waiting for the clicking sound which signals the arrival of possums.

We've killed five so far, and the bloodbath isn't over.

Today a faculty member, formerly from the Southern part of the US, informed me that the beasts will keep coming as long as the scent trail into our basement exists. "Get yoself some ammonia and clean that place up!" he yelled at me over the telephone, safe in his hotel room in another state.

But where to begin? We really don't know how they're getting into our basement, but one of us has got to get brave and find out. I keep pointing my finger at David ("you're the man, YOU do it!") and he keeps finding other things to do ("Honey, where'd you put my shoe polish?" which is completely unbelievable given he doesn't own a pair of leather shoes) Maybe we need a dog.

Epidemic

2008-04-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

We have an epidemic playing out in our basement.

First, I thought our furnace was broken because I kept hearing a clicking sound. Every time, however, I went down there to investigate the clicking stopped. Soon I realized that the clicking was coming from an animal (a cricket? grasshopper? chirping bird?) and I was scaring whatever it was as I tromped downstairs.

Then a few nights back I went down to investigate again, but the clicking sound didn't stop and I could localize it to some boxes and my boiling water canner. I picked up the canner and something moved inside it. It was a baby one of these: Yes, a possum. Or Opossum if you're the National Geographic. I started to scream but because my husband is hard of hearing, I had to run upstairs screaming bloody murder like a wild banshee all the while holding the boiling water canner filled with a tame, possum playing....well, possum. David disposed of it. Let's just say that this baby's mother will be reunited with it on the other side of the Jordan.

This morning, much to my horror, the clicking went crazy and David and I went downstairs to the sight of two baby possums in our basement, a clear sign of epidemiologic escalation. I herded one towards David with a broom, while he caught its tail and swung it into the pot. Then the other one walked over David's foot, allowing him to scoop it up and put it with its kin.

I'm here to testify that boiling water canners sure come in handy for a variety of tasks. Without a complaint from our captives, David martyred the beasts, this time without much screaming from me.

But really. We want to be done with the possum hunts in our basement. Whenever it stops snowing we will inspect all crawl spaces to make sure they stay outside.

Snow in April

2008-04-21T10:15:00.003-07:00

Although we had a light dusting of snow over the weekend, my tulips are out full-force this year.

Will the Real Susan Duncan Please Stand Up?

2008-04-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

There are two Susan Duncans in my life.

On the left, Susan Duncan of Hammond, Indiana, Ph.D., research scientist at the University of Chicago. On the right, Susan Duncan of Portland, Oregon, working on Ph.D., educator of science to gifted children in the Beaverton School District. Each living parallel lives in different places. Each with their own stories to tell. But each looking remarkably similar to one another.

Yes, I am rich in Susan Duncans!

Elopement Risk

2008-04-15T21:50:00.001-07:00

I park in the Emma Jones lot behind the North Hospital where I work. Every morning I walk up stairs out of the lot, through a back door of the North Hospital, past the inpatient psychiatric unit until I wind my way up the stairs to the second floor to my office.

Around Valentine's Day I noticed the pink sign on the door to the inpatient unit. It took awhile before I read the sign. It reads: Caution: Elopement Risk.

All kinds of fantasies stirred up in me with this sign. I started having thoughts that if I stood there long enough, somebody would burst out of the secure ward and grab me running as we headed for the heliport and were whisked off to Vegas.

Or there would be overwrought parents standing by the door whilst their daughter's beloved paced nervously outside, heartsick over her entrapment.

I was so disappointed when I finally asked my boss what this meant, exactly. "You idiot," he assured me, "it means that someone will want to escape, so be careful going in and out."

I looked up the verb "elope" in the Oxford English Dictionary. It confirms my suspicion. The first meaning is: "Of a wife: To run away from her husband with a paramour." Then it says "More frequently said of a woman running away from home with a lover for the purpose of being married." Only the third meaning is "to run away, abscond."

Whatever, I find the whole thing very quaint.

Organizing, Day Two

2008-03-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

My birthday present was, Lisa Gooding! Again! I just love working with Lisa - nothing is too big a task for her, and she is a can-do type of person. For my birthday, David gifted her services to me again to reshape my cluttered bedroom. My bedroom, you can see, was a mess; stuff on the floor, the bed rumpled, dirty clothes here and there. My closet crammed full of stuff that I didn't even know was in there.

Now, it is a dream come true. My closet is cleared out; only organized items sit on the floor, I can get to all of my clothes, and my bed has a headboard, rails and baseboard, so it looks nicer.

I bought another bookshelf for the office/piano room, so I moved the smaller bookshelf into my bedroom. It's starting to look pretty nice around here!

The 5th Annual Bull Session

2008-03-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was the 5th Annual Bull Session at Rock'n D Ranch. The day started out cloudy and cool, but by late afternoon the sky turned blue and it was a bit warmer and perfect for selling bulls!

Everyone had a good time, even my Mom!

David was the official photographer, so I've got some pictures to show you of, well, bulls!

Frankly, once I've seen one, I've seen them all. To see more pictures of bulls, go to Pam's website.

I'm Organized!

2008-02-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

Well, almost! Thanks to my Christmas present from David, my home has been beautified. Above is the "before" picture (kind of dark) of the room I worked on Saturday. Below are the "after" pictures of the same room.

We're not done! I have big plans for Lisa, so don't try to poach her, anybody!

Lobotomists

2008-01-28T21:21:00.000-08:00

I was watching PBS the other night when they brought on the documentary "The Lobotomist." This documentary is about Dr. Freeman, the inventor of the lobotomy, and it documents this awful procedure. It was developed in response to bad publicity of overcrowded psychiatric institutions.

From the program:

On May 6, 1946, Life magazine published "Bedlam 1946," an exposé of two
state hospitals: Pennsylvania's Byberry and Ohio's Cleveland State. To a country
shaken by recent revelations of Nazi
atrocities, the pictures were deeply affecting. The crisis in state mental
hospitals motivated Dr. Walter Freeman to devise a simple version of the
lobotomy procedure, one that could be used on a mass scale.

"All of a sudden America sees these photos that look like concentration
camp photos. You see people huddled naked along walls, strapped to benches --
and it really is this descent into this shameful moment. And the country did
say, we have to do something about this." - Robert Whitaker, writer

So Dr. Freeman did something about it. He made patients quiet and easy to control by scrambling their frontal lobes, inserting ice picks through their orbital cavities. I'll spare you the pictures (see the PBS website for the graphic details).

I must emphasize that this documentary puts the procedure into perspective. They were desperate times and there weren't many options for many of these patients. However, now that we've developed many more procedures and medications, it is not a good idea, nor necessary. I've asked all my docs to make a pledge with me: they will not stick ice picks into people's frontal lobes. Nearly all of them laugh at me when I ask them that, which I take as a good sign. One older doc actually said to me quite gruffly "Oh, we haven't done that procedure in a couple of years, at least."

The New Wendy

2008-01-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

When I left the Center for Evidence-based Policy, I created a full-scale book describing how I performed all my duties there. I created chapters, pictures, instructions, etc. I thought it was the best way to leave that job to the person who would eventually land the ship.

When I took my new job, I looked around for the instruction manual. I looked high and low, and there is no manual. Every day is a new experience in bewilderment, as I call around to differing departments looking for the person who's the expert on, say, professional services contracts, getting research dollars out of suspense, or, my favorite, what to do when employees are stealing cash from your clinic.

Everywhere I go around the OHSU campus I am introduced as "the New Wendy." On Day One that was cute. It is now Day Eleven. Its rapidly becoming annoying. Today, at an executive committee meeting some pulmonologist actually said to me, "Oh, you've got big shoes to fill as the New Wendy." Those who refuse to know my real name are getting a return smile that is a bit snarly. The New Wendy has a few questions for the old Wendy; like where the Hell is the operation manual on how to run the department? Also, The New Wendy wants to know the combination to all the safes so that the New Wendy can keep the cash drawers locked up.

The only up side to all this is that there is a proposed revision to the Fiscal Integrity Policy that makes Department Administrators responsible for all cash lost out of the clinics. As long as they think my name is "New Wendy" they won't be able to charge my account.

Psychiatric Hospitals

2007-12-31T14:58:00.001-08:00

For the most part, psychiatric hospitals, institutions that house people for their lifetimes, are things of the past. In Oregon most hospitals are shutting down their inpatient wards. At OHSU we only have 10 inpatient beds for psychiatric patients. This in a hospital of 550+ beds.

One reason: they lose money. Another reason: there's no need for them. It's better for people to stay in the community, even the chronically mentally ill.

Across the country this is true; in upstate New York one mental institution was closed completely in 1995. When they went to clean out the building they found a stack of suitcases in the attic of the main building. These suitcases were the possessions of the inmates, brought with them when they checked into the hospital. A few curious people decided to sort through these things with great care and ended up writing a book about what they found. It is a bittersweet story. There's a display at the New York Public Library, chronicling the lives of some of the inmates. Many of them appear to be immigrants who had some horrible temporary circumstance in their lives, which led to incarceration. Over half of those committed to these institutions spent their entire lives there, and ultimately died there.

Oregon still has two state mental hospitals up and running. One is in Pendleton. The other in Salem. The hospital in Salem is in deplorable physical condition, and is being replaced by a new hospital. Where? Junction City. Stay tuned....I will know more about this when I start my job....

I have a new job!

2007-12-15T14:34:00.001-08:00

This just in: I've been offered (and I have accepted) the job as the Administrator of OHSU's Psychiatric Department! I've been looking around for a new job, as my current gig with OHSU's Center for Evidence-based Policy is coming to an end. I had two serious contenders who interviewed me for days, literally.

I meet with my new boss next Wednesday where we will hammer out the details of the new position. Until then, stay tuned.....

Update: See the announcement on OHSU's website.

Sears stove, update

2007-12-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

Never buy anything from Sears. I'm serious.

Now that the stove works again, I've been tempted to use it. Like today, for example. I'm doing my annual Christmas Cookie Bake, opening and closing the oven door a billion times.\

Until, the handle came completely apart on the oven. No fear, I'm not helpless. I went and got my tools and screwed it back on. But really. This stove/oven sucks.

We're Back...

2007-12-15T14:24:00.000-08:00

....back from our trip to Maui! David and I have made this an annual trek the last couple of years. We go to Maui to get some much-needed sunshine so we can survive the black winters around here. However, this trip to Maui was a little bit stormy. When we arrived, the power had been out on Maui; trees had blown over; the roads were flooded and some were impassable.

We spent the first three days on the island in our room reading books, typing on the computer (editing stories) and eating whatever came our way.

The last two days there were sunshiny and bright, which made it all worthwhile. David and I explored a little bit and checked in at the surfing championships (the Billabong) north of where we stay at Ka'anapali.

It was pretty warm, but not the first few days. I wore everything I had to walk on the beach one day.

Sears and the New Gas Stove

2007-11-11T12:04:00.000-08:00

In addition to the exterior changes we're making, we've updated some interior stuff. Like I re-did the cabana for guests (see the cabana posts from July for pictures.)

David, back in May, bought a new gas stove for our kitchen from Sears. So the evening after my rotten experience with the exterior door I told David I would cook dinner. I was frying up the Chinese tofu dish that Susan Duncan taught me to make. I had my back turned to the stove as I was chopping vegetables for stir-fry. Suddenly I hear a beeping alarm coming from the stove. I turned around to see that the plastic keypad on the stove had melted (!) and a flashing F11 sign was telling me to do something.

I turned everything off, but the alarm wouldn't quit sounding. I had to call David to help me get the stove entirely unplugged to make it stop beeping.

When I called Sears they blamed me for this problem; but the "diagnostician" will be here on Monday am to see how much it will cost to fix. In the meantime, David and I are using the Cabana stove top for making coffee and food; but we have no oven. And that's a shame, since today is David's 65th birthday and I wanted to make him a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Changing an Exterior Door

2007-11-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

David and I have been slowly updating some stuff around the exterior of our house this year, in an effort to make sure all is secure, no water leaking in, etc. We re-stuccoed and painted the Cabana, which made our out-building (and guest quarters!) safe, sound and comfy!

We have been trying to replace an exterior door on the side of our house for several months now. I decided to not do this ourselves, but hire a professional carpenter to help out. We called in August. Made an appointment for September. Went to see about ordering a new door and the first roadblock was apparent: Our exterior door is not a standard size, so the door had to be manufactured specially for the job.

This last week, some two months after ordering the door, our carpenter called to say it was in. I left work in a rush and came home to meet the carpenter. We excitedly ripped off the south side of the house, in preparation of the new door. The new door was a beauty: a nicely made exterior door with tempered low-e glass in a rectangle down the middle, brass hinges and a sturdy threshold that would help keep the inside warm and the spiders outside.

So we prepared to put in the door, but something was wrong. It was too narrow (by about 3 inches) and too tall (by about 2 inches). This wasn't good. The carpenter looked at the paperwork and we ordered the correct dimensions; the manufacturer, for some unknown reason, manufactured a door to the wrong dimensions.

We can't go and buy a door that fits. So we called another manufacturer, played the lottery to see if another manufacturer could use a tape measure, and it will be another month to get the new door.

The WORST part was putting the old door back up, and tacking up all the rotten old trim again. It looks worse than before; I joked with the carpenter that he may want to pay me to be quiet that he put that old door back on (it looks so awful). He wasn't amused.

It's now raining, cold, and the wind is whipping underneath the door. Let's not talk about the spider traffic.

Lights Out, Updated

2007-11-11T11:49:00.001-08:00

Although I seem to think it's a good idea to turn off lights, the City of Portland administration does not. I received this e-mail from an aide to Mayor Tom Potter:

This sounds like something that the Energy Trust of Bureau of Sustainable Development (BSD) might consider. That said, BSD is hesitant to talk about darken the west coast. Darken implies the negative side of conservation...using less at the expense of standard of living. Remember Jimmy Carter and his sweater in a cold room! BSD prefers efficiency and that is the recent direction of national and regional programs, for example, the "change a light, change the world" program which encourages use of CFLs.

All I can to this response is: You couldn't turn off one light for one hour on one day of your life to make a point? Evidently, the city administration isn't ready to make any points. That's too bad.

Lights Out, Portland!

2007-10-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago David and I saw the movie "Arid Lands"a documentary feature about the land and people of the Columbia Basin in southeastern Washington state. The film was done by a couple of kids (well, they're 20-somethings so they're kids to us) and it is exceptional. It captures, in the inhabitants own words, their feelings about the Tri-Cities in Washington, from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation,to agricultural interests, to sport fishing, to environmentalists.

One of the messages of the film is how the folks in the Tri-Cities feel about Portland. (Not positively). At about 5:00 pm the river levels drop up there when Portlanders go home and turn on their lights. That really surprised me; I had no idea that power usage anywhere determined the water level in the river. (That's an admission that I'm really stupid or something, but whatever: I'll admit it)

Anyway, when the river levels drop up there there are serious consequences, not the least of which are the effects on the fish, or more accurately, smolt. They can die easily if they're stranded on the banks with no water.

Then, I started thinking about what it would mean if people in Portland turned their power off for a day. David and I discussed that it was improbable we'd get many people to join into that experiment. A few days later I saw an event posting in San Francisco. A group has picked a date in March 2008 where they are asking San Franciscans to turn off one light bulb for one hour on one day. If they coordinate this right, and people do it, they figure that they will save 15% of the normal power consumed in San Francisco on a Saturday evening.

Why don't we do the same thing in Portland???? Heck, couldn't we turn off TWO bulbs for TWO hours and beat San Francisco??? What's wrong with us if we think turning off a light bulb for one hour is an inconvenience???

Anyway, I'm on a mission now. Come on, Portland, we can do it. Let's turn off our light bulbs March 29, 2008 from 8:00-10:00 pm - let's get our neighbors to the north in Seattle and our neighbors to the south in Los Angeles to join us. Let's darken the West Coast for an hour or two on a Saturday night and let's see how much energy we can save. I would love to see satellite pictures of the West Coast turning off its lights on March 29, 2008 for an hour or two and save some smolt in the Columbia River, and maybe make the people in the Tri-Cities a little less irritated with us.

Italy Update

2007-10-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

My friend Carolyn and her family are back in their routine in Cesena. Recently, Carolyn let me know that her Mom had suffered another setback with her bowel problem, and had been hospitalized again. But all is evidently fine again.

I remember one fall Sunday when my roommate or someone in Munich invited me to go out to Cloister Andechs, a S-Bahn trainride away from Munich. One Sunday we went out and attended a church service, exiting the train and making a trek around a village and up a hill to the castle of sorts. The buildings were right out of the middle ages.

After the service, a monk motioned everyone to go out the side door of the church into a bright courtyard where I was surprised to see a full-service restaurant with a commanding view of the countryside. There were several chickens roasting, a bunch of kegs, and what-not. But what surprised me the most were the kegs of beer. The monks specialized in brewing beer. That blew my North American Protestant mind.

Carolyn took her family to Munich in August and they visited Andechs. Here's a funny picture of Antonio from that trip (and no, he wasn't really drinking beer).

Kindness, People

2007-10-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I drove into downtown Portland at lunchtime to do some errand. I was driving behind a van that had a couple of bumper-stickers on the back. I love bumper stickers and was catching up to the van so I could read one. It said: "When everyone yogas the world will be a better place." A bumper sticker on the other side of the van read "Namaste." I was clearly following a yoga fanatic.

Just then, a mercedes pulled out in front of the van, causing the van to swerve. The van driver shouted angrily at the mercedes driver and shook his fist at him, clearly not practicing loving kindness. Oh, well.

When Mahatma Gandhi was asked what he thought of Western Civilization, his response was "I think it would be a good idea." I would add the addendum, as I am guilty of it nearly every day, that civil people everywhere would be a good idea. Starting now I'm going to practice kindness and see how it goes. I will try to think of one thing I can do every day to be kind in an unkind world. It may be more courteous driving. It may be doing the dishes at work. It may be sending somebody flowers unexpectedly. I don't know, but starting now I'm going to try it for a week. I'll let you know how it goes.....

Communication Skills

2007-09-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

One great thing about my friends Anne & Jeff Kayser is that they keep me up-to-date on communication skills. They are experts at difficult communications, having learned from experience with their autistic son Thomas. Tom is a sweet boy and David and I enjoyed spending time with him and his parents last night at dinner. He communicates so much better than he used to, and is delightful to be around. He tells jokes! And his jokes are funny!

Anne and I are in SpiritFish, a group of writers who get together about once a month to share our writings and encourage each other to hone our craft. One of the members shared a YouTube video with us yesterday that Anne & I watched together. You can see it here. It's about a person who is autistic describing their language processes. Judge for yourself.

But what I found even more delightful was an email exchange between Julia (who is at Stanford) and her little brother Tom.

From: Julia
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 6:19 PM
To: Anne Kayser
Subject: For Tom

Hi, Tom! How are you doing? How is school? Is running on the cross country team fun?I miss you. Today I missed you so much that I hummed Leroy Anderson's "Bugler's Holiday!" What track number is that?

LEIFO EATS WORMS!

I love you! I'll see you on the computer again on Sunday night at five o-clock.~Julia

To which Tom replied:

Dear Julia

Leroy Anderson's Buglers Holiday is track number 13

Mommy's corvax! How are you doing? Do you get sunscreen on the dogs ears ?

I'm running with Matt. Do you miss Julia? I love you Julia. Do dogs get sunburned? November 22 we fly to Florida ! dogs don't get sunburned that's silly! Are you telling jokes!
Julia will be home for Thanksgiving. I like turkey!

Love Tom

I wish any of my four brothers communicated this nicely with me and, at the very least, told me that they loved me.

Julia at Stanford

2007-09-25T19:47:00.001-07:00

My dear friend Julia Kayser, who was a little baby girl not long ago, just started college at Stanford in Palo Alto, or "tall stick" as she tells me that translates. As you can see in her picture she sent, she has come down with an infectious disease which has destroyed her normally beautiful skin. It's too bad she's not having a good time at school. My prayers go out to her that the antibiotic starts working real soon.

Just a few days ago, when Anne & Jeff dropped her off, and before the rash, she seemed happy with her new roommate, especially when I promised to send the sauerkraut that John Stevenson's neighbor in Tenino made and canned sometime in the 20th century, and which I still have sitting in a corner of my basement gathering dust. Wait! I've got to send the sauerkraut soon! It must have antibiotic properties in it that will clear that skin rash up right away!

Deep Water, Sea Disaster

2007-09-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday night David and I visited Cinema 21, a local avant garde movie theater in NW Portland, to see the British documentary Deep Water. This is the disturbing story of an around-the-world single-handed yacht race back in 1967-1968. A single-handed yacht race means that one person pilots one yacht around the world. It takes a little less than a year to do this, and is quite a grueling adventure that only the most responsible, experienced yachtspeople should undertake.

Deep Water is the true story of an occasional weekend British sailor who takes up this cause because he is in desperate financial straits and thinks he can win for the money. As anyone knows who has been to sea in a yacht, there are always problems, either with your boat, the rigging, the food, or with your physical body and/or soul.

As I've always heard: there are two kinds of people in the world. People with the boat dream, and people without the boat dream. Don't head out to sea unless you have an insatiable boat dream. Otherwise, it ain't worth it.

I simply wouldn't do it unless I had absolutely no other choice. The romance of it all wears off pretty fast when the first big swell comes by and washes over you, rocking and rolling the boat underneath you mercilessly. Landlubbers like me need as firm a terra firma as we can get.

The Doctor Is In, If You're Under 40

2007-09-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I work in health policy. I know a lot about the practice of medicine in this country. So this story that hit the blogosphere today struck my fancy: A young doctor in NYC has set up a virtual practice, limiting his patients to the under 40 crowd. He doesn't see people over 40 because they could be *big gulp* actually sick. He charges people with insurance less money than he does people with cash (and they say medical schools don't teach doctors how to make money). Hospitals and clinics aren't "his thing." To get a better idea of this plastic, fantastic doctor, see interview below.

I sincerely hope he is flooded with hypochondriacal phone calls from 20-somethings with major mental illness. Is that mean of me?

How did you get the idea to do this?

Well, I’m not a typical doctor. I get along fine with other physicians, but I didn’t enjoy the hospital or clinic environment. I’m a photographer as well. I shoot for Men’s Journal and stuff like that.

Are there any special hurdles to running your practice this way?

No, not really. You have to have your New York State license. The e-visits are more for things like acne, allergies and follow-up labs. Things that aren’t life-threatening. There’s no way in hell I would prescribed narcotics online. It’s a kind of telemedicine. People have traditionally used it for access [for care in rural areas]. I’m looking at it as a way to practice convenient medicine.
Is your service cash only?

If somebody has insurance, I’ll charge them less and provide them with receipts. You can get cheaper care. But you can’t get it immediately, nor will you get care where people will help you spend your money wisely. I’ve spent the the last two or three months calling physicians associated with the best hospitals in New York City and getting their prices. I called one radiologist and found he’d do a chest X-ray for $75 and another would charge, say, $300. For cash-paying patients the prices are all over the place. I’ll make referrals based on quality and price.
What’s your online process for taking a patient?

I have a few questions that I ask whenever patients contact me. Name, age, that sort of thing. If they’re over 40, I’m not going to see them. The disease profile changes after that. If you’re under 40 you have the same disease profile as an older child, adolescent or young person that I saw during my preventive medicine and pediatrics training. I’m not going to deal with people who have old-people diseases.

How many patients do you think you’ll take on?

I want to keep this small. About a 1,000 patients. It fails in its mission if it’s a large corporate thing.

Without an office, how will you pull this off?

I run this entire thing off my iPhone and a laptop. I can access any patient records from my iPhone. Patients can make an appointment on my website and it’ll text me and I’ll go see them. This is, to me, what’s missing from medicine: personalized attentiveness. Going to someone’s home allows you to get to know them ridiculously well.

Astronomy, Science, The Proving of Theories

2007-09-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

Back in 1919 a famed British astronomer, knighted for his deeds, embarked upon a journey to prove Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington took two teams of scientists to spots on the equator to measure the bending of light from stars during a solar eclipse. This would prove Einstein's theory of relativity, that asserts that gravity is the result of a distortion of space-time by massive objects. Even light cannot ignore this rule of space, so the theory predicts that light rays from distant stars should bend slightly as they skim past the Sun. When blotted out during a total solar eclipse, the bending should be visible, or so thought Eddington.

At the time his conclusions were published, it was a major news story around the globe. According to Wikipedia, when asked by a reporter whether he was one of only three people in the world who understood relativity theory, he quipped "Who's the third?"

His measurements proved Einstein's theory correct: but ever after, people have spent time dismissing his "proof" and claiming that Eddington wanted Einstein to be correct (for several reasons, including political ones) and therefore over-interpreted his findings to come to the conclusion that he wanted.

Today, researchers have found that Eddington is, indeed, correct and that he did not bend his data to find the conclusion that he wanted. Which goes to show, science is not infallible and we all must learn and re-learn the same lessons again. While he was alive, however, his theories were constantly being challenged and he was discredited in a couple of different ways. He died in 1944 in Cambridge, England.

This week's story in Nature vindicates an honorable man. You see, Sir Arthur Eddington wasn't just a British astrophysicist from another era, he was also a cousin to my husband's grandmother (Minnie Shout Wilmott). Eddington met once with David's mother, Mary Wilmott, at Cornell where they walked the Gorges together. David reports that his mother always told him that he was a fascinating man, a Quaker, and a deeply ethical human being. It means a lot to David to see this week's story vindicating his distant cousin's work.

And now we know where David got the astrophysicist gene from!

Oregon's Feeling about Hanford

2007-09-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

It is quite sad, and telling, that the only active opposition to the US Department of Energy dumping more hazardous nuclear waste at Hanford seems to come from Oregon, those downstream from the project. Senator Wyden is up on the issue, and his statement, reprinted below, captures the feelings of those in Oregon who face disaster should Hanford's nonsense and foolishness get out of control.

Statement of Senator Ron Wyden
Opposing the Department of Energy’s Plans to Increase
Radioactive Waste Disposal at Hanford Nuclear Reservation
Troutdale, Oregon
August 27, 2007

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is already one of the most polluted places on the planet. It currently stores more high-level nuclear waste than any other site in the United States and it is not safely managing all the nuclear waste it already has on-site today. And now, the Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to use Hanford as a national nuclear waste dump. The bottom line is the Energy Department should not be adding more waste to Hanford when it isn’t safely handling the waste it already has on-site.

The Energy Department and its contractors have a long history of mismanagement and failures to protect public health and safety at Hanford over the past twenty years. A report by the contractor responsible for the Hanford tank farms, which store 53 million gallons of highly radioactive and toxic wastes, indicates that removal of all these wastes just from the aging and leaking single shell tanks would not be completed until the year 2032. And even that far off date was based on an invalid assumption that the treatment plant to vitrify these wastes would begin operating in 2014. With recent problems and delays, the waste treatment plant won’t start operating until 2019 at the earliest. Hanford is decades away from dealing with the waste it already has on-site. Sending more waste to Hanford will mean more delay of the cleanup and more danger to workers at the site and the one million people who live downstream.

Just last month, Hanford had a spill of high-level nuclear waste while retrieving it from the single shell tanks that endangered workers at the site. I have requested that the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, an independent DOE safety oversight agency, investigate this spill as well as the entire single shell retrieval program.

Given the long history of mismanagement of waste cleanup at Hanford, the Energy Department’s proposal to bring more waste to Hanford is essentially a proposal to turn Hanford and the Northwest into a national sacrifice zone.

According to news reports, DOE is now planning to dispose of an additional amount radioactive waste at Hanford that is equal to the contamination estimated from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown, or about three-quarters of the radiation contained in 177 leak-prone underground tanks already located at Hanford.

The waste under discussion at today’s hearing is the most radioactive in the low-level category. Federal officials concede that some of it is as radioactive as high-level waste, which includes spent nuclear fuel. The inventory is also likely to contain "transuranic waste," often contaminated with plutonium and likely to remain radioactive for thousands of years.

As many of you know, I have long been concerned about the DOE’s history of unkept promises to clean-up Hanford. I say, enough is enough. It’s time to address the current problems and not add additional risks and dangers by adding huge volumes of additional nuclear wastes to Hanford. Over some 45 years, Hanford produced some 74 tons of plutonium, first to make nuclear weapons and later as part of its continued operation of the N-Reactor despite the fact that it was no longer needed. The results are well known to all. Some 1,600 identified waste sites. Some 53 million gallons of high-level waste stored in 177 underground storage tanks. Sixty-seven of those 177 tanks are suspected to have leaked that waste into the soil. The list goes on.

What is amazing to me is that DOE has now been trying to clean up the nuclear waste and environmental contamination for half as long as the site was actually in operation – more than 20 years – with no end in sight. We are now coming up on the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Tri-Party Agreement between DOE, the State of Washington, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that was supposed to set specific, enforceable milestones for the clean-up. Instead, we’re miles away from meeting those cleanup goals.

In March of this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a fine of more than $1 million for the failure of DOE’s contractor to properly manage the existing low-level nuclear waste disposal facility – the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility. This fine shows that DOE is not properly managing the low-level nuclear waste it already has on site. How can the Department be seriously considering sending more of the same waste to Hanford?

The situation with Hanford’s high-level nuclear waste is even more troubling. The high-level waste vitrification plant was supposed to be completed and in operation by 2011 according to the Tri-Party Agreement. It is now being delayed another eight years and construction won’t be completed until 2019 at a cost that has more than doubled – from $5.8 billion estimated in 2003 to this year’s estimate of $12.3 billion. And the plan still leaves no solution for more than half of the so-called low-activity waste that is supposed to be removed from the tanks and which also has to be vitrified. There’s still no plan for dealing with the waste that has leaked out of the tanks. There’s still no plan for dealing with strontium and cesium capsules that have been retrieved from all over the country from another failed DOE program to spin gold out of nuclear waste.

In March 2006, I requested that the Inspector General conduct an investigation into the safety of the waste vitrification plant after a former employee of Bechtel National, Inc – the U.S. Department of Energy’s principle contractor for the Hanford Nuclear Waste Treatment Plant Project – raised concerns about his former employer’s use of unproven and flawed control systems.

Last May, in response to my request, the DOE Inspector General issued report which stated that the control system intended for use at Hanford, “does not meet the stringent procedures, plans specifications, or work practices associated with nuclear quality standards.” I subsequently wrote to Energy Secretary Bodman asking what the Energy Department planned to do to address the Inspector General’s findings. I have yet to receive a substantive response from Secretary Bodman. This hardly inspires confidence in DOE’s ability to safely process the high-level tank wastes any time soon.

My point here is a simple one. DOE has not fulfilled its obligation to clean up Hanford. It’s not clear when it will. But now, DOE is proposing to bring more waste to Hanford – this time in the form of waste from commercial nuclear power plants, medical wastes and other nuclear processing facilities.

Hanford should have less nuclear waste, not more. It should be cleaned up, not dumped upon. So, today, I am putting myself on the record as being fiercely opposed to DOE’s plans to dump more waste at Hanford and I will do everything in my power to fight to keep it from happening.

3:10 to Yuma

2007-09-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

David and I had a night at the St John's Cinema & Pub for dinner and a show. It's a great place to see a movie because you can order pizza and a drink for a reasonable price and sit and eat it while you're watching your movie.

3:10 to Yuma is an excellent, excellent movie. I couldn't believe my eyes, truly. This was made in Hollywood? Has Hollywood come to its senses about the value of a good story, interesting character development and smart dialog?

The answer seems to be 'yes.'

Russell Crowe (Wade) is a truly creepy and brilliant outlaw intent on making a livin' the violent way, along with his sickly devoted psychopathic gang. Ben Foster (Charlie) plays a sociopathic side-kick of Wade's intent on garnering Wade's release from the iron grip of the law, or at least the railroad law intent on having him hanged for thieving. Christian Bale (Evans) is astounding as the quiet, beaten-down one-legged Civil War veteran/rancher tempted by much-needed funds to do what he shouldn't get involved with in the first place.

It's probably a better idea not to read the short story by Elmore Leonard before you see the movie. David had read the story; I had not. I liked the movie a lot; David was disappointed. I caution those seeing it: there's a lot of ways to tell a story. Movie-making and book-writing can be two different experiences, but each is valuable in its own way.

Kudos to the director, James Mangold, who also directed "Walk the Line" (the story of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash).

Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times) gives it a thumbs up and says of James Mangold:

"To remake "3:10 to Yuma" seems an odd choice after such other modern films
as "Girl, Interrupted," but the movie itself proves he had a good reason for choosing
it. In hard times, Americans have often turned to the Western to reset their
compasses. In very hard times, it takes a very good Western. Attend well to Ben
Wade's last words in this movie, and who he says them to, and why."

http://view.break.com/315989 - Watch more free videos

People Disagree on Clean-up Efforts to Date at Hanford

2007-08-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

I know Hanford is a hot-button issue for a lot of people. But I thought others might be interested in the comments left on a listserv I belong to talking about the subject. Here is one person's opinion of how clean-up efforts are going at Hanford:

Sir, I would take exception to the statement, "The federal government has
made scant progress in cleaning up nuclear waste left-over from decades of
dumping at Hanford."

There has been major progress in the cleanup. We would not
be anywhere near where we are now had it not been for the efforts of hundreds
and thousands of individuals and several agencies. Major buildings have been
removed, hundreds of contaminated sites have been removed or cleaned and years
of planning, permit writing and budgeting have been accomplished.

The work ahead is huge, more than 60 more years. For anyone to think that it can be cleaned up in a couple years is terribly miss informed. We will go through more that ten Presidential administrations, twenty Governors and countless representatives in congress all during the period to clean this up. Cleanup should not be a political process, however getting money for the cleanup is.

The foundation for the cleanup was formed with the Tri Party Agreement more than 15 years ago. We have representatives from EPA, State of Washington, State of Oregon, Tribes, Department of Health, City Governments and citizens that will comment, scrutinize and offer advice on how to protect the people and environment.

Respectfully, Rob Davis
However, others are not convinced.

I would like to offer another perspective. 18 years of cleanup $ 25 billion spent and yes there is progress but hardly where would should be by now.

We have had virtually no cleanup of the groundwater, We are leaving large quantities of waste in the deepervadoze zone that will further contaminate the groundwater. We have no milestones for when the groundwaterwill be cleaned up. We have the Tri-Parties switching the intent and legal requirement for cleanup along the River Corridor from unrestricted to a surface cleanup that is only protective for surface use. We havethe most contaminated part of Hanford the 200 Area/Central Plateau now in its beginning of cleanup where444 billion gallons of
liquid waste was dumped and no hard plans to cleanup the soil and more than likely no plansto deal with the deep soil contamination. We have an admitted 1 million gallons of tank waste that has leaked, more thanlikely a lot more has leaked. The 177 high level waste tanks most all of them have exceeded their design life and now USDOE is delaying the start of the vit plant to deal with the 53 million gallons of high level waste until 2019. This is a blue print fordisaster. Pretty Scary!

Yes we can say we have made progress, a lot of muck and truck hauling and tearing down. K-Basins have been a great success with several delays. A lot of surface cleanup has taken place but now the hard part
begins 18 years later.We have an agency USDOE that has proven time and time again that it can not meet any hard milestones that delays after delays will happen. USDOE has constantly tried ways to do less cleanup, like trying to leave Pre-70 transuranic waste buried, like not dealingwith the deep soil contamination and the list goes on.The people of the NW and the laws demand a more protective cleanup. Surface use cleanup is not acceptable and is not legal.The aquifer needs to be cleaned up, the deep soil contamination needs to be stabilized, or removed, treated and disposed.The River Corridor needs to be cleaned up to an unrestricted use level in order to meet the Trust Responsibility to the Tribesand future generations.The vit plant needs to operate now and not later.The vadoze zone in the Central Plateau needs to be fully characterized to understand how deep the contamination is,what are the volumes and how fast is it moving.The waste under the tanks needs to be cleaned up.We need a credible comprehensive cumulative RIver Corridor Risk Assessment not this so called Baseline Risk Assessmentthat is a joke.

Remember the Baseline Risk Assessment was supposed to be done at the start of cleanup, 18 years ago and it is supposed to look at the current risk and estimate future risk.One thing we have learned in 18 years and 25 billion USDOE is an expert at delaying the real hard issues.It is time for all of to ask is it not perhaps time to rethink who is in charge of cleanup. USDOE has proven to all of us including Congress that it can spend $25 billion and you still not deal with the real issues that threaten
the Columbia River and the people of the NW.

And to top it off USDOE is now proposing to ship more waste and make Hanford the defacto Nations DUMP. I suggest that we who track Hanford have a responsibility to the taxpayers and future generations to change the cleanupparadigm, we have to much proof that USDOE does not intend to do what is legally and morally right. We need to create a NW Cleanup Commission for the cleanup of Hanford and not sacrifice the future using an agency like USDOE thatsimply is failing to do a comprehensive cleanup.If you want to disagree with this suggestion than I ask you to tell me why you trust that USDOE will start up the vit plantin 2019, what basis you have for this.

Please remember in your response that the original vit plant was supposed to startin 2007. Also remember that cleanup for the River Corridor was supposed to be 2018 and that was supposed to a level that allowed unrestricted use. Not just surface use.

Respectfully Greg deBruler