Locals
Co-worker A, describing a local legend:
She was a great big tall horse-faced woman, mean as a snake, swore like a longshoreman.
July 19, 2007
June 28, 2007
The Cotton Trade
An old man walks into the office where I work:
Clerk: Good morning!
Old man: Good morning.
Clerk: How are ya today?
Old man: Fair to middlin'.
---
That's one of my favorite old phrases. Making a mental note to use it more often. I'd never really known its origins, though, until now -
From World Wide Words:
Fair and middling were terms in the cotton business for specific grades — the sequence ran from the best quality (fine), through good, fair, middling and ordinary to the least good (inferior), with a number of intermediates, one being middling fair. The phrase fair to middling sometimes appeared as a reference to this grade, or to a range of intermediate qualities — it was common to quote indicative prices, for example, for “fair to middling grade”. The reference was so well known in the cotton trade that it seems to have eventually escaped into the wider language.
May 17, 2007
So, So Far From the Savannah
Overheard in the Planning Department offices today, from a customer:
"He sure was a talented athlete. Could jump like a giraffe!"
May 7, 2007
Accident-Prone
Late afternoon work break, chatting idly with some co-workers, the conversation takes on a new tone:
A: Yeah, I broke my back when I was 9.
S: Ooh, that sucks.
A: Uh-huh. Then I broke my neck when I was 25.
S: Boy, between you and J y'all sure are a healthy office! Both diabetic to boot!
J: My brain aneurysm... they don't have any record of what they put into my head. Can't have an MRI.
A: Then there was that time I broke both my feet.
J: Once I accidentally put eight holes in my stomach with a shotgun.
S: ...
May 5, 2007
"But What I Really Need is One of Those Boom Boxes"
Standing outside the county library, unlocking my bike. Another patron, owner of the only other bike on the rack, comes out and starts putting his helmet on.
Bike Man: Hey, uh, I was wondering, I have a question for you.
Me: Ya?
Bike Man: Do you own a tape player?
Me: Not anymore.
Bike Man: Oh. OK. I've got this tape I'm looking to sell, see...
Me: Oh?
Bike Man: Phil Collins. Genesis. You know him? He's real good.
Me: (speechless) Uh, yeah...
Bike Man: I'm looking to get a CD player. But what I really need is one of those boom boxes.
Me: And then you could play tapes AND CDs!
Bike Man: Yeah!!!
May 1, 2007
Overheard
There's a foreclosed property auction going on today in the county. My desk is in the tax office, so I hear about these things. People have been coming in this afternoon to put down payments.
Cash Man: (looking at other guy) You must be from the new school.
Other Guy: Huh?
Cash Man: (points to the pile of cash he's placed on the counter) I'm from the old school myself.
Other Guy: (sheepish) Oh, yeah, my wife won't let me carry that much cash around!
Cash Man: (riffling bills) Mine wouldn't either, but she's dead!
Other Guy: Heh... heh.
Cash Man: (adjusts cowboy hat, goes on to riff about how his kids want him dead so's they can take his money to pay off their cars and RVs)
November 9, 2006
Good People
Funny how sometimes when you meet someone you just know she's a kindred spirit. I spent this morning at a pandemic flu workshop (more interesting than you'd think!), talking with some firefighters about tanning hides and hog hunting and fishing and the like. Then I drove way out down to Adrian, which is a little blip of a town down south of Nyssa, to meet the coordinator of one of the local watershed councils. We met at The Mirage, which is Adrian's restaurant/bar/water cooler. The kind of place so local that the waitress didn't even write us a check - we just went up to the register on the way out and told them what we'd gotten.
But anyway. Had a great conversation with this lady about the watershed council and life in rural Oregon and, oddly enough, Dartmouth, as she had a friend who went there years ago (she's married, probably late 20's in age). I couldn't really tell you the details but it was just really nice to talk to someone with whom I felt I could communicate easily and honestly. I love most of the folks I've met out here, but for the most part I'm putting on my Southern charm and wearing my lacers and dredging up various humorous redneck stories to, uh, keep it real out here.
(My lacers are kinda less fancy than these. But I looooove em.)
Same goes for Z. Talking to him after a day in the office makes me realize just what I miss out here in Ontario. More on this later, but hey - it's 5 o'clock and we don't stay late 'round here!
November 3, 2006
Hot Springs
This piece about hot springs, written in reference to Montana, is pretty accurate about Idaho too.
J.J. is the closest natural hot springs to Missoula when heading west from Lolo on Highway 12, and also the most accessible of the nearby soaking spots (hence the random assortment of naked people). After a mellow walk through a mile of lush cedar and fir trees, my roomies and I came upon the first pool at the bottom of a waterfall. The hottest and most exotic pool, it was of course filled with folks. We moved past the crowded next level, too, which features a large hot pool and then several “cop-a-squat” puddles.This left us with the cooler pool with the coolest view. Though the scenery and sun were nice trade-offs for the luke-warm water, we actually chose this pool because the couple lounging in it seemed the least threatening of the other options down below: two large hairy hunters or the three patchouli-wafting hippies. This Helena couple exuded PLU vibes (people like us).
October 13, 2006
A Lava Tube! Also, RARE Orientation
This here is the entrance to a lava tube out in the Cascades. These long tubes - caves, essentially - formed as flowing lava cooled on its surface and continued to flow underneath the cooled shell:
Lava usually leaves the point of eruption in channels. These channels tend to stay very hot as their surroundings cool. This means they slowly develop walls around them as the surrounding lava cools and/or as the channel melts its way deeper. These channels can get deep enough to crust over, forming an insulating tube that keeps the lava molten and serves as a conduit for the flowing lava. These types of lava tubes tend to be closer to the lava eruption point. (Wikipedia)
Click on the pic to see my set of photos from the cave, the Cascades, and RARE Orientation.
UPDATE: just added some photo descriptions for those pics. I'd forgotten to do that.
Sunrise over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
Here's sunrise down south of Burns at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Gorgeous - and freezing cold and windy! Click the pic to see the set of photos at flickr.
State Tartan
Hey, who knew that New Hampshire has a state tartan?
It's actually quite pretty:
Also, the county in which I'm now living and working is almost exactly 1,000 square miles larger than New Hampshire. And it's a similar shape. Funny, huh?
October 11, 2006
Burns-Hines
Hello from scenic Burns, Oregon. Well, technically Hines, but Burns sounds better.
Here for a work training. Not a lot of time right now - we're going out to dinner soon. But here is a sweet flyer for an event that I would totally attend if it weren't 2 hours away (and maybe I will anyway, actually):
October 10, 2006
FIRE TOWER
Told you RARE folks are awesome:
Greetings all- I have a proposed camping trip if anyone is interested. The local coffee shop bum told me the public can rent old fire lookouts. He said that the one at Steens Mountain was pretty cool, right at the summit. It's something like $25 a night and can sleep about 4 people with cots, but we're all friends by now and I bet we could squeeze more. It would be sweet if we could get a group up there for a weekend before the snow starts to fall and blocks the roads.