You start to reach the point where you need AC in April; things are going strange in Oregon. It was a hot, near 90F (32C), day. I changed my plans as I was worried about the crowds, parking, and temperature in Portland. Instead of heading to the Portland Saturday Market, I did a sunny (blindingly sunny sometimes) drive to Woodburn and back.
Starting with Saturday (writing this between work emails and Slack channel updates), I slept well (unusual for a Friday, but the beers might have helped), and I woke just before my alarm to a sunny but still cold morning. I have turned off the heat (yeah!) and decided to turn off the fans to quiet the house and stop unnecessary wear on the furnace. The usual is to keep the air moving to keep temperatures the same throughout the building, but I decided to try to–so far, I am not having issues with cold spots. The heat will return tonight as we slide back into the 40Fs (4.4C to 9.4C). So I was less affected by this chilly Saturday morning.
Aside: I try to live in the temperatures of my area. I do not want to use heat when it is just cold and cool when it is warm. I use more conventional heating and cooling, so there is no cost advantage to keeping a stable temperature. While I grew up in the American Midwest, I like the cold, and it is hard for me to work and sometimes think when warm; the chemotherapy has made me more sensitive to the cold.
I started with liberal coffee with the intent of making breakfast but found the cold pizza in the frig and liked the craziness of pizza for breakfast–it was good. After that, I had an hour of Zoom meetings. I then headed over to see Susie, as most of the data conversions did not need me to watch; we were on-call support.
Air Volvo crossed Beaverton without issue (despite the hole installation process from The City of Beaverton), and the traffic was light which surprised me for the excellent weather. Unfortunately, Oregonians have a strange herd instinct that has everyone hit the streets about the same time and head in the same direction. Still, I detected that the herd was running late, so I could slide without traffic to Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.
Aside: Grammarly removes unnecessary words for clarity, and I still find my Midwest accent still hits my writing, and Grammarly then steps on it. “And so,” “a bit,” “just,” “even,” run-on sentences, unnecessary “and” usages, and other localizations are flagged, and I remove them. After I finish, I am purified to Chicago-style (but I prefer NYT, but there is no setting for that–thus, I live with Oxford comma updates).
Susie was delighted to see me and ready for an adventure. I decided to go with the most conservative approach. Anassa placed Susie in Air Volvo for me, and we headed out for a drive. I did load the wheelchair in the cargo hold in case we needed to get Susie out of the car. We headed to Interstate 5. We experienced some herding (traffic), but mostly I had to remember to not open up Air Volvo to full speed (it is easy to drift up to 75 mph), and I did see, as this is an Interstate, an Oregon State Police car.
Aside: In the USA, we have Interstates that are for extended travel in the USA, with Interstate 5 starting in Mexico and ending in Canada. It is an odd number, and so it is North-South, and a five number suggests a significant road.
Air Volvo stopped at the public rest stops, as in Oregon, they are park-like and shaded with giant pine trees. I was surprised that the Jehovah’s Witnesses had a stand set up, and the three gentlemen were in suits or dress shirts, sitting in the sun on camping chairs, ready to supply anyone interested with more information.
There we called Leta from Air Volvo and took a photo. I was just stopping to enjoy the park-like and to break up the trip. Leta was happy to hear from us on our journey. We used my iPhone and FaceTime to see each other and had a friendly chat. After that, we returned to I-5, keeping the speed primarily legal, and enjoyed a sunny bright day. Susie nods off a few times.
We end our short drive a Woodburns Shops Mall. A busy place with all the outlet shops and some of the usual tourist items (fudge). Oregon does not have a sales tax, so we get out-0f-state shoppers (literally, bus loads). We just drove through the parking lot and ogled all the shops and outlets. The drivers were fighting for the best parking even though there was plenty on the edges–looked more like Christmas shopping than a sunny spring day! It was fun to be a bystander.
We drove through Arby’s, and I got a regular roast beef (just as average as I remembered) and a shake to share with Susie. Susie got to try some mozzarella sticks and ate about 1/2 of one. Susie loves cheese and enjoyed carefully having a snack with the shake. We were both careful, and no issues–excellent.
I turned Air Volvo around northbound, and we headed back the way we came. We stopped at the other rest area (the areas are at the same place on Interstate 5 but do not overlap), and I left Susie for a moment to prove hydration. A gal was in a wheelchair panhandling, and she was having a good day sitting in the shade; her bowl of money was nearly overflowing with currency–she got a dollar from us.
Air Volvo delivered us, Susie was sleepy, to the hummingbird house. Evan was waiting for us there. Anassa took over, and I kissed Susie goodbye and arranged for Susie to sleep in on Sunday (I am working a shift on Sunday). Then, Evan and I headed to Portland, Rogue Brewery, on 9th SE Street.
We found the outdoor tables primarily full, but a well-lighted table was available indoors, with no AC, and claimed two tables to fit lunch, beers, and a board game. Scythe was Evans’s request. Scythe is a 4x steampunk 1920s board game with a Euro feel, as the most efficient player wins. Each player plays a faction, Poland (white) for Evan and Scotland (green) for me, randomly selected. I have seldom played this faction and so struggled to be as efficient as Evan, who knows Poland (white) well. I lost a relatively short game by more than ten points at the end but felt I had done well with a less familiar faction. Next time!
We drifted away from games and ordered lunch. Evan had amazingly looking beef tacos while I had Fish and Chips but with salmon, which was excellent. We had time for another game, so we set up a basic game of Vindication (I had Air Volvo loaded with games). Evan was pleased to beat me a second time by more than ten points, not quite a crushing defeat–but Evan was delighted with his play. I made some mistakes; next time!
I headed to Richard’s from there, and Kathleen, Shawn, and Richard joined me for a game of Grand Austria Hotel (GAH) at Richard’s house, and I felt bad a few times as I mangled the rules, but once we worked it out–the game started to flow. GAH is a resources management game with so many rules (including a punishment and rewards subsystem) it is hard to learn. Filling your hotel with guests while managing your waiting line for rooms, readying rooms, and providing treats for the guests is just fun (despite the endless rules). Richard won with my score, which was not even close to his; he had found an engine-like process and had good end-of-game scoring staff cards. Shawn was behind me at the end but broke out a few times and took the lead until the final scoring. I had filled almost the whole hotel.
(This is early in the game. The 3D treats are on my hotel card).
I drove Kathleen home after the game. We were still debating the play, and we all wanted another play of GAH and to include one or more of the Waltzing add-ons (I was in the Kickstarter and have the deluxe version with me adding the 3D items). I was home after midnight and managed to sleep well.
Thanks for reading!
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