Hedge Clippers? in Everyday Ramblings

To get to the office I work in I walk down half a block, go down a public stairway with a bench on the landing (now with graffiti on it) walk one more block slightly up hill and I am there.

This tent and encampment appeared almost two weeks ago. I took this picture yesterday because I was wondering what the purpose of the cans on the yellow rope was. I engaged a passerby and he did not know either.

Yesterday one of the women in my office who is actually quite wealthy and has a bleak and paranoid view of the world had been out with a few other coworkers for a treat at the local convenience store midmorning and came back and reported that there were even more cars in the neighborhood with windows smashed in.

Apparently someone has been going around smashing cars with a hedge clipper. I haven’t seen any evidence on my two streets but apparently a block away there were a number of cars affected.

There are way fewer cars parked out there now than normal. I am wondering if the anarchists down at the end of my block might be responsible. Theft does not seem to be the motive.

In a conversation out in the hall about safety and managing the changing fauna situation around our building I found out that we have 128 vacant positions for police in Portland. Wow.

After all of this I was so heartened to hear this wonderful story about how a couple in Oakland by taking one deliberate action changed the whole vibe in their neighborhood and over time lowered crime (with the help of their immigrant neighbors) by 82%.

99 % Invisible

I don’t know but I am assuming because the tent has been there so long now that it is not on private property. Once it moves I want to do something like this!

We need to take back our neighborhood ourselves, the people who care and live here.

Yesterday I had a heartfelt talk with a coworker I don’t know very well. I was disappointed to find out he was a smoker after he came to work with us, as he is a nice guy. He’s been employed by the state a lot longer than me and has the sweet generous retirement plan and he figured out about four months ago that if he retired at 62 he would make more money than he does working. So he retired last month and went part time.

His wife works for the same institution and is 4 years younger so she has health insurance. A few days ago he had his first appointment in the long process of getting hearing aids and they discovered a lump in his neck. (He says he knew it was there but was avoiding dealing with it).

They think he may have thyroid cancer.

He told me from his perspective he had no clue that anything not good was happening in our area but he said he was totally onboard with the age discrimination thing. He looks older than me for obvious reasons.

He had a ton of questions about my hearing aids and that was fun to talk about. I am finally getting them both in perfectly most days but every once in awhile one just won’t behave. I try to leave plenty of time to get them in in case, say today, is one of those days.

Kes and Most Honorable have a neighbor fostering 5 kittens with issues with their eyes. The family went away for a few days and they got kitten duty. Kes sent me a photo a few days ago with at least 4 of them crawling all over her. She says the eye drops are the most challenging thing and there is a runt they are calling “Pip” who might not make it.

Diego, who is strong and healthy and unique is cheering Pip on from
afar. One runt to another.

Last updated July 31, 2019