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Author Archives: Pamela
Real People in the Big Trucks
Fall garden and Photographer
I can’t remember how much about then next door neighbor saga I’ve written about here.
The house next door to us turned into a rental maybe ten years ago. I think we’re on our fifth set of renters.
Of the five times, this is now the third time we had a couple of nice people move in, introduce themselves and then the situation changed. Once it was a man and his teenaged son. Once it was a woman and her ill mother and this most recent time it was a newly separated woman and her two small children.
Shortly after we meet the renters there are all sorts of cars all the time. Different people coming and going, moving stuff in and out.
It’s never been a big problem. It’s not like the people are noisy or do the things that terrible neighbors do, but often these extra people aren’t friendly and we live in a neighborhood. You’d like to have an idea who is living in the house next door to you.
It was hard to believe it when it started happening again. And this lastest tenant and her friends have an amazing number of vehicles, many of them huge. I’ve counted at least 5 different sedan type cars that are parked over there regularly. They had an RV for awhile. Then this cargo truck took over the driveway. There’s a regular heavy duty pick-up truck and then just recently another huge utility type truck showed up.
It seemed to be escalating with no end in sight and I was wondering what next. A tour bus? A bulldozer? A jumbo jet? Bob thought we should complain to the rental agent, who is also a neighbor. I thought we should talk to the neighbor but I’m always afraid that’s going to make it worse.
We’ve become acquainted with the neighbor on the other side of the rental house and we’ve commiserated back and forth. She told us she complained and now all the trucks are gone except for pick-up truck. Yay. Hopefully there won’t be some new crazy development.
Pam Against the Machine, Part 627
I finally found the picture of the cucumber plant. It did nothing all summer and then blew up at the very end when summer was winding down. Still, it didn’t make any cucumbers. Then when summer was finished, it finally made cucumbers. So when I was pulling everything out I found two full grown lemon cucumbers and another half dozen that were like grapes. I picked and ate them all while I was standing there.
There’s this service we subscribe to at work. On our most recent invoice they advised that their billing would be changing and we’d only be getting a simplified paper bill. If we wanted a complete bill we’d have to do it via electronic delivery. I do not have a problem with that. The notice said you could sign up for this billing via a URL or by calling customer service and picking #X on the phone tree.
I went to the URL and could not login. I called the customer service number and pressed X and was told that choice didn’t exist and to please hold for customer service which was a multi-level tree where nothing related to my question.
I finally got a customer service person on the phone who seemed a little taken aback by my question. I had to wait on hold and finally she comes back and says we have to set up an electronic invoicing account and can continue to hold while we do this?
What? NO! Are you kidding me?
“This is stupid,” I told her. “I just want to get a complete bill. Now I have to set up another account? Forget it. I won’t do the electronic delivery.”
She was very nice and assured me she’d pass on my feedback. I’m sure “This is stupid,” is written in on a whiteboard in the lunchroom so that they can get right to work making it less stupid.
Pumpkin Crop
This is the single Baby Pam pumpkin that I managed to grow this year. It didn’t even get orange until mid-October. Bob brought it in for me over Halloween weekend because he was afraid some kids might smash it.
I’m going to whack it and use it to make the Serious Eats pumpkin pie recipe. Last time I made a Cooks Illustrated recipe and I wrote an angry note in the margin that says, “Takes all day!”
The Speaking Clock
Downtown Portland. This photo has nothing to do with the post.
There’s a Facebook group for people who grew up where I grew up. This is another source of endless nostalgia that keeps clubbing me on the side of the head.
People have brought up a number of “do you remember …” places and things that I haven’t thought about in years.
One thing was: the party line.
I’m not even sure I can remember exactly how we did it.
This is how I think it worked. It was back when we only had landlines and there was a phone number to call for local time. Oh wow, look here’s an article about when the service was discontinued in SoCal in 2007. The phone number was 853-1212. I remember that.
“At the tone the time will be, 8 o’clock. Beep.”
I can hear the exact tone of the recording. Here’s a little bit about it.
When you called the local time number while the phone was ringing but before the local time lady picked up you could shout out your phone number, or you could write down a phone number that you heard. There would be lots of voices shouting out stuff but you had enough time to get or give a number.
I know it sounds crazy but we didn’t have any sort of computer-derived entertainment. We couldn’t stalk boys on Facebook (which I give thanks for on a regular basis because that would have made me miserable.) Another version of this game was we knew the phone number of the pay phones at the mall and we would call and try to get people to talk to us.
I had several friends that I called the partyline with and we successfully talked to people. Now that I’ve typed this all out I don’t have much for a dramatic finish. At the time we thought this was a fun game we were too young to drive so we never could meet anyone and never invited anyone to come meet us.
I remember doing this in high school while I was babysitting. (So much for exercising good judgment.) I ended up talking to a guy that I didn’t know who went to my high school and as I recall it was a really nice talk. But he was related to one of the popular kids who much have filled him in on my status between the night we talked and the next day we went to school because I never talked to him again.
Portland Timbers We Adore You
Our last regular season game was on October 22, 2011 and I’ve been meaning to do a love letter wrap-up to my Timbers ever since.
I’ve followed World Cup for years and years but I’ve never followed a club team before. I’ve never followed any sports team before. I’ve pretty much avoided going to sports. I have been to a few Trail Blazer games that were fun.
I had seen Timbers a bunch of times since I’ve moved here but I didn’t go regularly until the 2009-10 season before we moved up to Major League soccer. I never paid attention to the away games.
Hannah warned me that I would probably get pretty into it. She was partly correct.
I lost my mind.
It would be impossible to convey how much I loved this season of Timbers.
Here are some things about me: I hate waiting in line. I hate crowds. I hate events at stadiums. I don’t spend my money on random crap.
I did not hate any of these things when it was a Timbers match. Every single home game I was like a kid on Christmas day. I spent time planning my Timbers outfits. I bought plastic pants so I could sit in the rain and watch soccer. I bought two jerseys, a scarf and 5 t-shirts.
I saw 25 matches at home including U.S. Open Cup, exhibition and reserves. I saw 1 away match. I had a blast at every single time. And it’s not like we’re the greatest team. Well, we are the greatest team but we don’t win all the matches. I think we placed 12th out of 18 teams.
Losing to Seattle at home after being ahead was heartbreaking. That giant losing streak mid-season was rugged. I referred to them as the disappointing boyfriend I couldn’t give up on. Losing the last game at home was a bummer.
Winning our first home game ever was amazing. Beating LA Galaxy 3-0 was one of my favorite games of the entire season. And then Futty scored in stoppage time of our last game in Salt Lake to tie it up so we ended on a high note.
I know the team is going to change and every year is going to be different but this inaugural team will always have a special place in my heart.
Can’t wait until March.
California Dreamin’
I managed to bring back a souvenir cough from San Diego. Last weekend I had people coughing all over me in on the plane.
This weekend it was my turn to cough all over everyone. Usually once I get a cough I’m stuck with it for three weeks but this one seems to be on the fast track. It’s barely started and already my abs are sore and I’m doing that gagging cough that sounds like I’m puking up my stomach.
It’s neat. But if means I’ll be done faster, I’ll take it.
That was what was going on at the airport this morning. Unlike some people, I feel bad about coughing on people and was trying to hold it in and chain-eating Fisherman’s Friend. It was a long morning.
I had another reunion in California this weekend. This one was college friends and mostly people I haven’t seen for 25+ years. It was a somewhat spontaneous event. I think they came up with it barely a month ago.
I didn’t really want to jump back on a plane after being gone all last weekend but there were too many people I wanted to see.
It was awesome although my life seems to be exceptionally nostalgia heavy at the moment which is great but also killing me and probably worthy of a longer post if I’m ever in the mood for it.
The flight in this morning was amazing. Mostly sunny and clear. The flight path went over downtown which I can’t remember doing before. Ladd’s Addition really stood out with those giant trees all turning yellow. I could pick out the park blocks and my office and my beloved Jeld-Wenn field.
It’s a good day to get outside and chop down dead dahlias.
Posted in doing it wrong
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Fallout
Every time I walk by this sign I want to take a picture. I finally had my camera with me. Now I wish I could remember where it is. SW 6th, maybe near Columbia? I can see it in my mind’s eye.
Last weekend I was at a rented beach house.
I severely underestimated how difficult it would be to cook in a kitchen that I’m not familiar with and that was woefully under-equipped. There are things that I could make at home blindfolded that were giving me fits in this place. Plus the stores didn’t sell the exact things I usually buy.
At one store I asked about something and he said they don’t stock it because no one will buy it. What is wrong with these people?
I already knew I was a knife-snob but I had no idea such sorry excuses for knives even existed in the world. I had considered bringing my knives (checked bags) but it seemed like a ridiculous idea. I regretted it the entire time.
I’ll know for next time.
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Before and After
I enjoyed my flowers more than usual this summer. Maybe because summer took so long to get here.
At this time of year I know the days are numbered and I keep an eye on them knowing that the first cold snap is going to ruin them.
I have mixed feelings about the end of the garden. I love being outside and digging in the dirt. But I also like being inside and not having to worry about the yard.
The flowers are finished. I saw a bit of sunlight this afternoon and thought I should run out there and try to haul off some of the dead stuff.
It’ll be there later.
Stinker Cat
We have a swinging chair in the backyard with a cushion on it.
During the summer Toes napped on it almost every day. Every time I wanted to sit there I had to take the cushion inside and vacuum it off.
The second I opened the backdoor, Toes would launch himself at me with a bleating whine and he would not leave me alone until he was thoroughly scratched and petted. I had to be seated for this and let him crawl in my lap. I couldn’t get away with just a lean down and pat.
If I attempted to ignore him he would trip me or try to crawl up my leg. This was especially fun when I was wearing shorts.
It was sort-of annoying but also sort-of nice. A pet that I didn’t have to feed or take to the vet. One afternoon I was trying to get a bunch of stuff done and didn’t really want to sit down for Toes time. He insisted so there I was, forced to sit still on my porch. The sun was going down and there was a breeze so all my flowers were waving back and forth and birds swooped around the sunflowers. One of my great summer memories.
Last month when the weather turned cool and damp I brought the cushion in for winter. I looked out the kitchen window and saw Toes sitting on a plastic chair glaring at me. The next time I went outside, he wandered by and ignored me when I said hello. Then he squatted down and peed right in front of me and didn’t even flinch when I yelled.
Watch the Ripples Change Their Size
I was gone for almost a week. I went to San Diego where the weather was mid-70’s with blue sky and bright yellow light and completely amazing. I sat on the sand by the water and practically cried because it was such a treat.
At home I’ve been watching the leaves since the weather turned cool but they didn’t seem to do much. But while I was gone they were busy.
It was still daylight when my plane descended and we did one of those tipping turns going from north to west and I could see changing leaves all over Oregon.
The neighborhood adjacent to ours has lots of huge leafy trees and when they start shedding it’s quite a mass. Looks like its going to start raining any minute to turn it into a yellowish sludge.
Posted in doing it wrong
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