You're Doing It Wrong

Here’s a clip I took the other morning of the crows downtown. This accompanies my post from last month about the crows in Portland.

I keep finding notes for posts I intended to write last month but apparently never did.

I have a really old sourdough that I bake with pretty regularly all year long. Over the summer I really noticed how much more robust the sourdough is when the weather is warmer. I understand how sourdough works and I know my kitchen is cold. I have never successfully come up with a trick to help in the winter.

Tips often say to put in the oven and turn the oven light on. My oven is ancient and has no light. I’ve read other tricks and they seemed fussy or created other complications that didn’t work for me.

I thought I would just buy one of the fancy bread proofing pads but when I went to buy it, it was over $100 and I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much. In the process of searching for that I found another gadget that’s like a little plastic tent you unfold and can use for proofing bread. I went to put that in my cart and that was over $200!

Then I heard that there are heating pads for dogs and cats that aren’t as strong as the ones for humans. I went to the pet store and couldn’t find anything so I found someone to ask for help.

Him: What kind of pet is this for?

Me: Sourdough.

He did not miss a beat and took me to the reptile warmers that seems like they might be too warm so I settled for a terrarium heater for insects. I’ve only used it once and I need to refine my technique but it might work.

My friend Hannah said: That’s the most Pam story I’ve ever heard.

I might also try a seed warming mat.

This is a very old box of ornaments from my parent’s Christmas stash. I think some of the classic ones have been broken over the years, mostly by pets, and have been replaced but there are few nostalgia ornaments in the box.

I don’t have strong feelings about Christmas either way these days. It’s not my favorite but I don’t hate it.

I enjoy a lot of holiday movies and I love Christmas lights. There are a bunch of foods that we love around the holidays and I have plans to find some new ones.

I have made my goal of 30 posts in 30 days. My final word count was 16,002 of a goal of 15k new words on the project of forever/new romance. I wrote 25 out of 30 days. I will do an updated word count of the whole project when I get things sorted. I need to review my progress and put things in order.

Happy December — here we go.

This photo is actually a few years old. I took it while waiting for the bus one evening.

The Portland downtown crows are a thing:

The Downtown Portland Crow Roost

For more than a decade, crows have been gathering throughout the fall and winter to roost in downtown Portland. This roost has been gradually growing over time to the point where today, at its peak, it can exceed 15,000 birds. The sight of thousands of birds converging on the downtown area is truly spectacular.

I first wrote about the crows in January and February of 2013. And in 2018 I posted this same photo.

I remember one time Bob and I came out of an evening event and the crows were in full force. There was a guy with a hawk or maybe a falcon (?) who was part of a project trying to scare them off. I guess that was an early strategy. Now it’s just part of the landscape and a lot of blocks use pressure washers.

PDX Crow Roost.

WINTER (November-February)

Peak Urban Roost
Nov-February- Counts observed between 6000-22,000

Many mornings when I get off the bus they are going full tilt. I kinda like it but I also walk fast and tell them: Don’t poop on me. Don’t poop on me.

Sometimes, on the bus going home, if it’s near dusk I’ll see groups of crows headed back to downtown for the night.

I was going to celebrate 10 years this month of the first romance novel I self-published.

Except when I looked, it was actually last year that it was 10 years. Happy 11 years!

I remember at the time it was terrifying. Then I did 4 more plus a book of short stories.

This book sold 1 copy in 2025 but I have removed most of the links to it. You can’t even buy the paperback anymore. At least, not from me.

The Crooked Rock books still sell so readers are finding me. I’m grateful.

The next one is coming along. I think I’m over halfway. I am currently writing out of order which I don’t normally do, so it’s hard for me to tell where I’m at.

Image sourced from the Public Domain Image Archive / Harvard University

According to the information with this image — this is “a Weroan or great lord of Virginia” The artist is Johann Theodor de Bry and the date is 1590.

From the amazingly named: Briefe and True Report.

I don’t have the energy to research further. I’m sure it’s your standard colonizer analysis.

I had a plan to cook all the standard dishes and then fix plates to take and eat with Dad at the retirement home.

But, turns out they are doing a Thanksgiving dinner there this year. You’d think I would be thrilled not to cook but actually one time a year I want all those foods the way I make them.

The plan is to make the traditional thanksgiving over Christmas. Just for this weekend I’m going to make the rolls (here’s a photo from 2010.) They are just Betty Crocker dinner rolls but a very nostalgic for me so I have to have them. Somehow I heard about Cookie Butter Pie so I have try it.

Happy Thanksgiving.

It has come to my attention that I am cropping my photos at all different kinds of settings and not always fixing that in the posts.

Oh well! Please see the manager for a refund.

This is an old shrinkflation that I don’t think I ever posted.

When I was in middle school I got this acrylic thing to hold a box of tissues.

I used it for years and years and years and it finally broke and I tossed it. Whatever we spent, we got our money’s worth.

If you can’t see the shrink, look for my helpful yellow arrow and little bracket. The box got smaller and left a gap in the holder.

It’s not even worth it to get made about shrinkflation because everything is smaller. Except I can hardly buy ice cream anymore because it makes me so mad how small the cartons are.

You have to wonder how much further companies can go to make things smaller and poorer quality and more terrible. Like restroom paper towels getting smaller and thinner. And now, at our office, it seems like they are made with added plastic or something weird. And soap is now a whisp of foam.

Industrial Vancouver Washington at sunset.

I’m running out of steam on these daily posts but we are so close to the end.

How are you doing on your requests for donations?

Giving Tuesday came early this year! I actually had emails about donations last month.

I have a spreadsheet with the dates so I can see when I last gave and how much. I give 1x a year at the time I want to give. No one gets monthly access to my bank account.

If the organization has a complex online donation system — if I have to create an account, if there are popups trying to squeeze a little more out of me, or extra amounts tacked on at the end — this is cause for termination.

I love supporting organizations that are meaningful to me but if the process is a turnoff, I can always find someplace else that needs it.

Image sourced from the Public Domain Image Archive / Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg

I grabbed this image because it’s with crayon and reminded me of an art project we did when we were kids. (Except ours looked like it had been done by kids.) Artist: Hans Prinzhorn (1922) from Bildnerei der Geisteskranken.

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I remember a few years ago I read a column by some young people talking about a work “uniform” like Steve Jobs always wore a black turtleneck and jeans. The idea was that you had the same general clothes and it reduced decision making plus you found something you liked and it fit so it was an easy wardrobe.

I remember finding it funny in a mocking way except I realized I have pretty much created a uniform for myself. My general work outfit is: Ann Taylor slacks (all ancient. They fit. I hate shopping. I’m going to retire soon. Why buy new work clothes?) Together with a long-sleeved Eddie Bauer t-shirt and a cardigan. In winter I wear a long-sleeved Uniqlo heattech under my tee. Closed toe shoes with wool socks in winter. Open toed shoes in summer.

I do have some dresses to throw in the mix. And for the coldest winter days I have some lined pants. But mostly I wear the same thing.