From the Human Services Building looking south

When I was 30

I moved from Medford to Salem and moved into an apartment across from the high school.

from the top, middle apartment

I spent my first two years in Salem.

Guess what this is

The Capitol as an abstraction

fotos of my fam

I am downloading all my photos from my cell phone so coming across pix I haven't seen in a while. Here is a nice photo of my bro and sis in law. Hip looking peeps.

Capitol Fountain

Kids enjoying the pool @ Seaside

FW:

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Warm inside on a blustery day

Oh that Art

and note that Ricky got triple -- so 30 points for this.

FW: A game of Scrabble

FW:

Playing scrabble

Spring break 2008

Kim and the kids and friends head to Seaside.
They ran into snow on the drive over.

Sharing a drink with papa in West Linn saloon

Perhaps the first of many in this establishment

Catie through the glass

Hope comes to Oregon

and the whole family gets to see and feel it.

I love Portland

A solo trip to the cabin

and I can't resist McMinns ham and cheese

A bit of red outside my building

Meet Joey -- Catie's new friend

It came from beneath the sink...

Kim is inspecting the new plumbing.

A view from our Portland Office Building

During noon run on Capitol mall

Capitol Mall

Want to come back and try this again with my big boy camera. These structures are stairs to the underground parking. I like the intersection of the clear angles -- but didn't quite get the shot I was trying for. 

Getting ready to head home

After a sunny solo weekend at the cabin. 

Another effort at intersecting angular windows.

Beer art

A chilly day on the outdoor porch of McMinns Lincoln City

sign sentries at the cabin with a fluffy cloud in background

Saturday morning at the cabin

Coffee brewing, candle lit and NPR on the radio.

morning mist moving out of the forest

Friday night: arriving at the coast

Such a comfort creature of habit -- stopping at McMinns.

A sip

Ricky at his ballroom dance class.

A symbolic but oddly accurate portrayal of the Methodist missionaries who founded Willamette U

Hugs

Years ago, when I was a reporter, I interviewed an Eagle Point, OR., principal who was making news for banning 'making out' in school.
He told me of calls he received from big city school principals who wanted to know if that was true — because the biggest problem they had was kids bringing guns to school. They wanted to know what it was like to have this as a problem.


MESA, Ariz. -- A school policy banning student hugging prompted dozens of east Valley students to protest with a giant group hug across the street from campus.

"I think it's ridiculous," said Chelsea Branham, a 14-year-old student at Shepherd Junior High School in east Mesa.
"It's not like it's supposed to mean anything," she said. "It's not like I was making out with him or something."
Branham joined her classmates on Friday for a 20-minute, public hug-a-thon.
"She's taking a stand and I'm standing behind her to do it," said Stephanie Wiegold, her mother.
The "no-hugging" rule had previously been in the student handbook. After many students began expressing concern about public hugging and kissing in the hallways, the school began reinforcing the guideline by punishing huggers, which led to Friday's protest.
Prior to the demonstration, the district said the principal and students brokered an agreement to clarify the "no-hugging" rule. According to the guidelines, small hugs, less than two seconds, are permitted but longer ones and kissing are not.
"We can only hug two seconds? That's ridiculous," Branham said. "It's barely even a hug."
"What we're doing here is hoping to help kids understand what's happening," said Kathy Bareiss of Mesa public schools.
The district said a list of acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors will be handed out to students on Monday.

All along the clocktower

another image from my daily jogs around Salem

Chairs in the sun

mas gas

(CANBY, Ore.) - It took emergency crews two hours to resolve a natural gas leak today in Canby. This is a community sensitive to this danger after a natural gas explosion last year that happened in a home occupied by Canby firefighters.

During this incident today at at 1470 SE 11th, one entire street-side was evacuated, four homes had electricity shut down, and one handicapped occupant and his caregiver had to relocated.

The leak was originally called in to Clackamas dispatch just before 10:30 AM, but a somewhat confusing name similarity in local roads led to an initial bad location.

Canby Fire Spokesman Troy Buzalsky, says firefighters responding to the location found no homes that matched the address.

Clackamas Communication, the fire district's dispatch service, recontacted the initial 911 caller and corrected the address to 1470 NE 11th, which is on the opposite side of Canby.

Buzalsky says firefighters corrected their response and met up with representatives from Northwest Natural Gas for a situation overview.

"Northwest Natural Gas reported high levels of Natural Gas in the garage of the suspect residence. They also found high levels of Natural Gas in the ground in front of the home."

He explains that natural Gas has a "Flammable Range" of 5% to 15%, which means it can ignite in an atmosphere between 5% and 15%. Mixtures under 5% are too lean to burn, mixtures over 15% too rich to burn.

"If gas mixtures are within their flammable range the only thing needed for a fire or explosion to occur is an ignition source."

Canby Fire experienced just such an event in April of 2007 when a home being ventilated to remove excessive Natural Gas exploded with three firefighters inside. (see: Natural Gas Explosion Injures 4 Canby Firefighters)

"After the gas explosion in Canby, Canby Fire has worked very closely with Northwest Natural Gas to better prepare both the fire service and the gas company for these emergencies. One change in policy is that when firefighters monitor Natural Gas levels above 20% of the lower explosive limit (LEL), which is 1% whole gas, they are to 'Control Ignition Sources,'" he said.

With this draft policy in place, the Incident Commander ordered the electricity to the subject home, and three adjacent properties to be shut off. He also called Canby Telcom to secure the low voltage phone line, further reducing possible ignition sources.

Buzalsky says another example of the policy change is that unless firefighters are faced with an evacuation or rescue, they are not allowed to enter environment above 20% LEL, and must use outside ventilation techniques to clear the potentially explosive gas from inside the building.

"Today's gas leak presented itself eerily like the explosive situation that occurred a year prior; there had been underground horizontal boring installing fiber optic lines in the area, there were high levels of Natural Gas in the homes garage, and the ground was saturated in Natural Gas."

He says the area was secured and Northwest Natural took the lead on finding the leak, which was in a T-service gas line feeding the home.

Buzalsky says that most importantly, there was no explosion, no fire, and no long-term inconvenience.

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