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Subject: Postcard from Portland
Dear Family and Friends,
H A P P Y N E W Y E A R !!
We bring you 1997 greetings and a summary of events in our lives during
the last month of 1996. The year certainly ended with a bang. Our power
failed last night around quarter past nine and did not come back on
until half past four this morning. We had a bit of a windstorm last
night (nothing like the 12/12/95 monster) and that was enough to jinx
the juice. Our neighbors on both sides also ushered in the New Year in
darkness, but we could see plenty of lights on elsewhere - including
directly across the street. Obviously, it was a local tap line that took
it on the chin. The timing could not have been worse due to all the
phone traffic from New Year's Eve revelers. I tried to get through to
PGE (Portland General Electric) for an hour before tiring of hearing
"We're sorry, all circuits are busy" and giving up. Liz and I were
awakened by fireworks being set off by local party animals around 2am,
so I gave PGE another try and this time met with success. This was the
second time in December that we lost power, the first one occurring the
day after Christmas. That one was occasioned by a significant ice storm
which I'm sure you saw covered on the national news. The Columbia River
Gorge was the area hit the hardest. Our neck of the woods fared much
better. There was no evidence of ice on the streets. But when we awoke
we were treated to the eerie sight of glazed trees set against a
backdrop of thick fog. Soon after we finished eating breakfast the AC
was axed. It seems the local tap has both an Achilles heel and a glass
jaw. These events make us look forward to being in our new home all the
more. The power lines are underground in Morningside, the development
where our house is being built. Before Liz and I left for work, we
agreed that I should call the Hospitality Inn and make reservations for
that evening. We remembered all too well the prolonged (4 day/3 night)
dark spell we suffered the previous year and determined to insure
ourselves against unnecessary discomfort. When I was finally able to get
through to the front desk on the phone, they asked if they could call me
back since they were so busy. I told them I'd call them once I got to my
office since I was about to leave for work. I then drove into town and
no sooner had I entered the vestibule which houses the elevators than
the power failed there, too. If I had arrived a moment sooner, I would
have been trapped in the elevator! (I guess I hadn't totally exhausted
my luck.) I negotiated the stairs to the 4th floor in the dark. For some
reason, the emergency lights had also failed. From my desk I called the
Hospitality Inn again, and they still were too busy to take the call
right away. I agreed to let them return it this time. Since there was no
power, thus no computers, there wasn't much I could do at ADP. Around 20
minutes passed and we were told to go home for the day. I tried calling
the Inn again, but by then our PBX had gone dead. Since they're on my
way home, I stopped in and made reservations for the evening. There
wasn't much to do at home with no power (or heat), so I curled up for a
nap. Liz was able to come home early - around 3pm. I tried calling the
Inn again and no one answered. Liz was fairly certain that they had lost
power by then since that entire area was dark when she drove past it on
her way home. To be safe, we made reservations at the Phoenix Inn in
Washington Square. They had power. In fact, they never lost it - the
power grid at Washington Square is well configured and constructed. They
were an oasis in the midst of over 60,000 Portland residents who were
waiting to see the light. We left around 4:30 for the Phoenix Inn. The
room was quite nice. King size bed, TV w/cable, small frig, microwave,
desk, sofa, and *two* phone lines (one with data port) with no charge
for local calls! Of course, I had brought my laptop. I was stylin' :-)
We celebrated by going out to eat at The Stockpot at Progress Downs (a
local golf course). The restaurant is just around the corner from the
Inn and is also in the Entertainment Book we got from my Mom for
Chanukah. I had the Dungeness Crab Cakes and Liz satisfied her hankerin'
for red meat with Tournedos of Beef encrusted in garlic mashed potatoes.
Around 9:30pm I called home to see if the answering machine would
respond, indicating the power had been restored. A familiar voice (mine)
answered the phone! Liz was in disbelief, so I let her listen. She
remained unconvinced (must have thought I was a ventriloquist ;-). The
next morning we enjoyed the complimentary breakfast and left for work.
On the way, I stopped by our (rented) home and verified that we did,
indeed, have power. YEAH! In fact, calculating the time it had been
restored from the flashing clocks, we had left for the Phoenix Inn 15
minutes before the lights came back on. Oh well. Better safe than sans
lumens.
We are now getting floods due to the abnormally (even for this locale)
heavy rainfall and warm temperatures. Fortunately, both our rented and
our new homes are on high ground. We also had a small (around 1") snow
storm in December to complete the Whitman Weather Sampler. Attached is
the Climatological Summary for your perusal and amusement.
Earlier in December, Liz spent a long weekend in Huntington Beach with
her parents. She wanted to visit her dad who was recovering (and still
is) from surgery and chemotherapy. He's made remarkable progress, a
blessing for which we are all deeply grateful. In fact, he's returned to
work part-time and sounds like his ol' grumpy self ;-)
Unfortunately, Liz had to work on Christmas day this year. She was,
needless to say, not happy about being unable to spend it with her
parents. But we had our own small celebration and spoke with her folks
on the phone after we all exchanged gifts.
And on the home front, rapid progress is being made on construction -
rain, ice and snow notwithstanding. We saw it yesterday and they had
nearly finished framing the second floor and were starting to put on the
roof! It seemed that construction had stalled after they put in the
foundation. But I guess there's a lot of subterranean stuff to do that
made it appear not much was happening. As you can now see from the
pictures at:
http://www.herring.org/newhouse.html
they don't use slab foundations in this neck of the woods. They pour
islands of cement where they're needed to support vertical posts. The
dirt is then covered with plastic and pipes are put in the crawl space
under the floor. The pictures we've just posted were taken early in
December. We're expecting more back from the lab soon, so keep checking
in for updates.
Until next month, best wishes for a bright beginning to the year.
This PFP was brought to you by letter J and the number 7.
with love,
Sandy & Liz
Portland Daily Climatological Summary
CLIMATIC SUMMARY FOR PORTLAND OREGON
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON
257 AM PST WED JAN 01 1997
...TEMPERATURE...
HIGH YESTERDAY... 58 ** TIED RECORD ** 58 IN 1980
LOW YESTERDAY... 45
MEAN TEMP........ 52 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL... 13
NORMAL HIGH FOR TODAY... 44
NORMAL LOW FOR TODAY... 34
RECORD HIGH FOR TODAY... 60 SET IN 1981
RECORD LOW FOR TODAY... 14 SET IN 1979
...DEGREE DAY DATA...
HEATING
YESTERDAY... 13 DEPARTURE... -13
MONTH....... 717 DEPARTURE... -52
SEASON...... 1774 DEPARTURE... -53
COOLING
YESTERDAY... 0 DEPARTURE... 0
MONTH....... 0 DEPARTURE... 0
SEASON...... 479 DEPARTURE... 108
...PRECIPITATION...
YESTERDAY............. 1.32
TOTAL FOR THE MONTH... 13.35
NORMAL MONTH TO DATE.. 6.13
TOTAL FOR THE YEAR.... 63.56 TOTAL SINCE OCT 1... 28.46
NORMAL YEAR TO DATE... 36.30 NORMAL FROM OCT 1... 14.14
...WIND DATA IN MPH...
AVERAGE WIND SPEED YESTERDAY... 14.0
FASTEST 2-MIN WIND YESTERDAY... 37 FROM 220 DEGREES
PEAK WIND GUST YESTERDAY....... 51 FROM 220 DEGREES
...ASTRONOMICAL DATA...
SUNRISE TODAY...751 AM PST
SUNSET TODAY...437 PM PST
SUNRISE TOMORROW...751 AM PST
SUNSET TOMORROW...438 PM PST
--
Sandy & Liz Herring Portland Peck of Pickled Pisces
webfeet@herring.org Oregon http://www.herring.org/
And that's the news from Portland
where everything is green, rolling stones gather moss,
and the rainfall is always above average.
Most Recent Update: Thursday, 14-Oct-2004 17:16:34 PDT
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