A Romantic Farm House and a Couple of Rants in Everyday Ramblings

For our Saturday morning walk yesterday with Frida we started at a park not far from the last house Mr. Finch lived in; an area that used to be mostly farmland before it became mixed residential. This is an overgrown surviving farmhouse that still has an extra plot of land next to it. Very romantic.

We found a rather amazing tree house nearby too but although I took pictures they don’t really do it justice. Mrs. Sherlock picked up a free Monopoly game at a garage sale and we had a snack and gave Frida a treat at another gorgeous park sitting on one of those (slightly rusted) playground merry go round things that kids love so much.

The temperature later in the day rose into record-breaking territory for June and we were glad to be out an about early. We are having a short intense summer interlude here.

I heard on the news today that in Boise Idaho they are moving this giant sequoia tree a block or so to make room for a hospital building. It is this huge operation and they say, (the professional tree movers!) it has a 95% chance of surviving. We saw a huge old tree that had been cut down yesterday on a fenced lot where there are clearly high-end condos going up. I paused and expressed sadness at the sight.

If you have been reading here for awhile you know that folks that considered themselves forward thinking back in the late 50’s and 60’s tore down a whole vibrant neighborhood of shops and houses with a large immigrant and diverse community a few blocks from where I am now in an urban renewal scheme.

They put up a new auditorium for plays and performances and high-rise apartment blocks (high-end, meaning expensive) and this pedestrian corridor with lots of fountains and public art. This all backs up onto the Portland State University campus.

During off business hours, the weekends and campus breaks no one uses these public spaces except our homeless, drug addicted or mentally ill populations and walkers of small dogs.

There is no green space.

The fact that there is a liquor store (we have a limited supply of liquor stores here and you can’t buy hard alcohol anywhere else) in this complex is a bit of a draw for them. Next to the liquor store in this sort of funky courtyard with a wig store and a hair salon is a convenience store that takes bottle returns.

Yesterday in the early evening in the blasting heat I walked over there for a treat. It was a mistake.

There were a number of men struggling with addiction and other issues around the area and in the store flirting with the friendly female clerk serving a sort of bartender role in the only publically available air conditioning in the area.

A courtly tattooed pierced vagabond who looked like he had survived a lot of experience with multiple drugs and had seen better days but hadn’t forgotten his manners opened the door for me as I was entering and then went out, came back to get some ice while I was paying and then I saw meeting up with another fellow that looked relatively healthy and as he might just be passing through as I was leaving.

Right behind a post also as I was leaving a man that I could not see very well burst into a screaming rant of violent invectives.

This happens. Tourette’s or something but this is very similar to the rant the man with the knife went on a few weeks back on our light rail train. I moved swiftly away from him and went around the corner of the building on the other side.

And he came around behind the building into the narrow area back there where I was screaming and at first I thought it just general madman screaming but it became apparent he was screaming at me.

Mr. Courtly came in around behind me in the open area attempting to calm him down and telling him to leave me alone. De-confliction, the word for the hour everywhere, this week He was attempting de-confliction. I was attempting to get the hell out of Dodge.

I believe his problem was with women in general but at that moment me in particular. Mr. Courtly distracted him enough for me to slip through an opening and get out into the middle of the street where a van (gratefully) stopped to let me jaywalk and get away.

It was terrifying.

I am fine but who knows what happened to the next woman that came by? The statistics just out this week say that while we are getting better at providing services for these folks our homeless population is up 10% this year. There was a surly guy sleeping on the studio doorstep again on Friday. He moved just enough for us to get in and then the security guard finally made him leave for good.

Of course, really we don’t have to worry right, because the Transfer of Wealth to the already comfortably off enough folks to hire private security and build fortified enclaves bill that we are jokingly referring to as the American Health Care Act is going to (over the next six years) take away mental health care, overdose protections and availability of Emergency Room care and the flood of cheap fentanyl on the streets will kill off all these people anyway?

And bonus, all the older folks that are such a drain on the system for those worthy bros that have created the wealth they are personally swimming in and live in nursing homes are going to die too!

I wonder if Warren Buffet is looking to invest in the funeral industry? Me thinks there will be an upsurge shortly.

Whew. Sorry. Maybe I am being narcissistic but I think there is a relationship between what my government does and my experience out in the world.

I am so grateful for the ability to go for a curious walk with a close friend and a beloved poodle on a clear and easy Saturday morning and the freedom to choose to stay away from this scary area in off hours forever more.

Last updated June 25, 2017