dog on leash

dog on leash
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

sometimes i feel like an urban vigilante. last night, luckily it wasn't crazy hot. we began the evening with the windows open, but around 9pm, we realized a local dog was barking and whining loudly and had been for awhile. i grabbed a flashlight and walked accross the street to check on the dog and it was in the front yard chained to a tree. no one was around. we decided to head to our show, but when we returned, the dog was still there, barking and whining. we called the police, but there wasn't anything they could do since the dog wasn't injured or hurting anyone.
8hrs later, the dog was still whining loudly, so i went out to see if it was ok and it had managed to squeeze through the wrought iron fence and was now trapped on the sidewalk. it was then i called animal control to report this emergency situation. no one was around and the dog has been abandoned for at least 12 hrs tied to the tree. i grabbed some water to bring it over, but spooked the dog and she got out of her collar. this is an agressive and frightened dog, so i scampered back home to await the animal control.
they luckily showed up within a few minutes and corraled the dog and took it away.
a couple hours later, a woman showed up at the apartment screaming the dog's name out and running around. part of me wanted to watch her squirm and get freaked out and sad, but inside, I knew that wasn't right, so i walked over and informed her that animal control had come by to take the dog a few hrs ago. she was distraught, and when i told her the dog was barking and whining all night, she apologized with some bullshit answer about it being her daughter's dog and she didn't think it would be an issue leaving it for the night.
who the fuck leaves a dog chained to a tree in 80 degree weather for 15 hrs with no water or food.

Elephant house- washington Park

elephan house
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

happy three day weekend. hope you enjoyed the pictures of my little walk in the woods with phoebe. we were at a bar-b-que for a friend's birthday at The Elephant House in washington park in the west hills. washington park is the location of the rose garden, hoyt arboretum, the zoo, the forestry center a lot of trees and trails. such a beautiful place. our friend beth told us the elephant house is a structure left over from an original location of the zoo. it's a great place to picnic and chill on a sunny day.

the past two evenings have been spent at a local club called the Towne Lounge over off w. burnside @ 20th. the place is pretty cool with a great small club feeling. we were there to see a band called spindrift. since someone i know loves the brian jonestown massacre more than life itself, we had to see this band as the lead singer used to play with mr. newcomb of bjm. the band was pretty cool - spagetti western like. i fell asleep around 1am on friday night, but we decided to see a repeat performance on saturday night and had a good time. will we go again tonight? hmmmmmmmmmm. maybe.

i've been a busy beaver in the front yard also. i got a yard of barkdust and spread it around the beds and made everything look perty. today, i patronized the home despot for some more plantness and i am really happy with how things are turning out. i'll take some pictures a little later.

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Phoebe likes the trail.

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Walkin in washington park with the dog.

Pioneer square 85 deg.

blowuptoy
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

so, what's up in pioneer square today? it's 85 degrees @ 10am and i'm wandering around looking for coffee (actually on my way to coffee plant, but still wandering.) i came accross pioneer square and there is stuff everywhere - trucks, big movie screens showing some frisbee tournament and these large 20' tall blow up figures. it appears Qwest is up to something, but there was no information as to what that something was. i'm baffled.

the weather has been great the past couple days. yesterday in the 90s and today again in the 90s. a and i went and met michael from bridge city comics for burritos @ Laughing Planet last night on n. mississippi. wonderful food and space. mississippi commons is just the best place to hang and enjoy the evening and watch people go by. i think we were there for over 2hrs.

the weekend is upon us in a few hours. i'll be sending updates from my cell regarding our walks through the city and such. we may get out on our bikes too. i'm looking forward to some good sushi, sleeping in, a good cigar, and cold beer.

update - the city of portland has filed a nusiance claim against harbor frieght for the trash. i'll keep you posted.

Harbor Freight - assclowns

hf garbage 1
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

so, everyone loves harbor freight (heavy sarcasm here.) yes, they have good deals and amazing sales. yet the tools are cheap and won't last long. i live within sigh of the harbor freight in n. portland. actually, i'm looking at the building right now as i blog. today, whilst walking home from the farmer's market via n. interstate, i came within a block of harbor freight and began seeing the trash. THE TRASH was everywhere. warranty cards, packing slips, general packaging trash! i'm pissed off because it's the same in thier parking lot as if they don't care about the neighborhood.
checkout the pictures of the trash.

and their parking lot:

so, if you love harbor freight, tell them you don't love thier garbage. tell them they are responsible for thier patrons actions. they are responsible for the trash even though it's not them leaving it (eventhough we all know it's them.)

N. Portland farmer's market at Overlook park

N. Portland farmer's market overlook park
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

The sun has finally arrived and we have our own neighborhood farmer's market. I had a long day that is probably still not finished (phone calls @ 1 am probably) so I hopped off MAX @ Overlook park to partake in my own neighborhood market. the usual farmer's markter fare - fresh cheese, fresh veggies x 3, organic vegitable starts and plants. also, there were booths supporting neighborhood efforts and some small businesses. i was excited eventhough i was not in the best of moods. now, they just need someone selling a cold beer....
earlier in the day, i walked over to the n. park blocks downtown and walked through the portland farmer's market. i almost bought a tomatillo start, but wanted to wait and give the neighborhood locale a chance. alas, i'm now @ home without a tomatillo start. no loss.

i love simplicity

booyashaka!
schpronk!

Dekum relief

dekum relief
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

smile, you're on candid camera. the guy standing outside his pawn shop gave me a strange look when i was about taking photos of his wonderful building. i'm a sucker for architectural reliefs like faces or gremlins or naked bodies. The Dekum, @ SW 3rd/Washington in downtown portland is just one of those buildings. everytime i come accross the morrison bridge into downtown, i'm put on morrison going west. i usually take the left @ 3rd and BOOYA, there's the dekum. there's probably some amazing history about this building that i should share with you, but last time i did that, others on the web had already trumped me with portland architectural history. so i give you conjecture.

The Dekum was originally a high priced brothel in the height of portland's debauchery of the 1880's-90s. many a portland native dipped thier toes in The Dekum's well.

not really.....

you gotta give the stonemason some credit. this is amazing work. everything about it is perfection and quality. they didn't just pour concrete or use block, they used hammer and chisel to create an amazing texture of relief with faces and smiles and love. yes people - LOVE.

just down the street around 3rd and "the max trax," theres a parking garage with an amazing art display. ever since i can remember (like 3 weeks ago) i have seen "THE FISH!" how many times have you parked downtown and wondered - hey, can i get some fish here? well, go to this garage and you'll get fish:

so, what did you do today? i walked and enjoyed the sun, the breeze, the concrete sidewalk below my feet, the smell of a hot dog stand, the sound of a panhandler, the feel of a camera in my hand, the taste of a nice cold fresh brewed beer, the feel of dirt in my hand while planting, the strain on my muscles while one-handed mowing the lawn, the joy of knowing the problem at work wasn't my fault, a smile from a little dog, and the love of a beautiful woman.

so, what did you do today?

lastly- gotta give props to PUMA truly an amazing display of how the web has transformed our shopping lives - thankyou josh rubin.

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Good morning. Looks like a beautiful day in portland today. Enjoy the sun! Is there not a depeche mode album named validator?

N. Mississippi rising - further...

rebuilding center
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

the rebuilding center, a wonderful place to spend some cash - has grown and come into its own. i remember going to the rebuilding center years ago and picking up amazing wood and fixtures and such. now, you really have to be diligent or imaginative to pick up the good stuff. if you don't know, the rebuilding center is a location here in portland where you can purchase used building materials like windows, doors, light fixtures, hardwood flooring, cabinets, and lumber. when we were redoing some framing on our 1890s victorian, i had to salvage some real 2x4 studs. back in the day, they were actually 2" x 4", today, they are 1 3/8" x 3 5/8".
i digress. i wanted to show you a before and after, but only have the before, so I'll show you some other locations "before" and later, we'll check out the afters....

this is a vacant lot on N. Fremont/Mississippi with amazing views of the freeway overpasses, downtown and the west hills. it appears there were a couple or 3 houses here at one time. according to recent news in the portland tribune, it was purchased by a local developer for condos. i think the price was $300,000. wow, that's cheap. we'll keep you posted on the progress.

not the best photo of this building, but the only one i have. i've been amazed that this building hasn't been snatched up by someone. at n. mississippi/interstate, right in front of the max tracks, it's a large building with parking. i could easily see it as a restaurant/bar/night club. i also think with max so close, it could attract the pre-game/pre-concert crowd going to the rose garden only one max stop away. hmmm, maybe i could make it a chihuahua refuge.....

well, the question isn't what will it be, because it already is.... congrats to Amnesia Brewing on it's 1 yr anniversary this past weekend. well done friends. i feel special in that my buddy and i were some of the first patrons to the new brewery. i love supporting the hood. check out thier new imperial IPA if in the neighborhood.

also, welcome to nopo GNOME - @ Mississippi Commons.
also, welcome to nopo Laughing Planet Burrito - @Mississippi Commons.

lastly, the sun is out and i'm gonna get out and walk. my usual route home from work takes me accross the steel bridge and up n. williams to fremont and then mississippi. i'll have a backpack on, so if you want to stalk me or just call me out, do so. i want to meet my hoodies.

jack baur isn't dead.
but toliver may be.

out of context

i'm not myself this morning. life is throwing me a curveball right now - my own actions have caused it - so, i'm trying to figure out how to work with this weighing on my mind. all i can say is i'm sorry.

cooked dinner last night for our buddy tige who was in town for work. he took us out on tuesday night, so i thought i would return the favor with home cookin'. we had pepper seared tuna with chopped up fennel frawns (farm share), garlic tops (farm share) and fava beans (farm share). a salad of butter lettuce and spinach (both farm share), some bread and steamed kale (farm share.) you seeing a pattern here? yup, we got our bag of veggies from the farm on tuesday and went to town. it was excellent and so fresh tasting. i'm sooooooo looking forward to the next 6 months of eating.

star wars episode III, revenge of the sith.

i just wanted to post that because then i may get google hits. we're going to see it, but i haven't been a star wars geek since my childhood when we hung out outside in line to see empire strikes back. i had the toys, but blew or burned them all up as a kid. oh well. i still think my childhood friend ended up with all my star wars cards......

woke up this morning to a police shooting in downtown. luckily it wasn't down the street from my home (that's happened before.) fox portland had the most coverage with cameras on the scene. i always love to see a body with a tarp over it and pools of blood @ 7am before i've had coffee. way to go tv news!

tonight we're going to a low dough show @ dante's. it's with earlimart, okervile road and climber, a few bands we like and are interested in seeing live. i'll give you the rundown after the show.

enjoy the day. sun is coming.

Peacock @ Maryhill Museum

Peacock @ Maryhill Museum
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

Beauty. and to be so close. another family weekend in the books. wow, that's 4 weekends in a row that involved the fam. i'm worn out. next weekend we are alone - weeee. this weekend took us up north to Yakima (with an I - the tribe is named Yakama). my nephew Henry was babtized sunday.

our trip was pretty relaxing and included a nice drive down I84 in the columbia gorge; lunch in cascade locks; sun from hood river on; a nice walk with the dogs @ maryhill museum; more sun and driving up north through goldendale, WA, topponish wa and then to zillah; wine tasting in zillah and then on to yakima.

the gorge - what can I say. the columbia gorge is truly one of the wonders of our region. we're blessed to be so close. by the time we reached hood river and the dalles, the sun was out and we were getting toasty. by the time we were at maryhill, it was 80 degrees.

maryhill: back in the day, a pioneer named Sam Hill came to oregon and built this amazing home for his lady. Maryhill is now a wonderful art museum and grounds where you can picnic or just admire the gorge. there are peacocks too - they eat the snakes!

and the views:

after maryhill, we began our trek north to yakima. the drive is beautiful. there are a couple of passes to go over - one being Satus Pass. after the forest, you come down into a valley that is dry and arrid and mostly rangeland. i love it because it's where we can see herds of deer or hawks or other wildlife. it's also not usually crowded with autos, so the drive is relaxing. after about an hour, we come into topponish. we've never really spent much time here other than food stops. there is a wonderful industrial plant on the outskirts of town that had been abandoned for the longest time. part of the building is the steel structure style with all the small windows. it's pretty beaten up and grafitti-ed, but we thought it would be a great place to raise a family of chihuahuas.

Zillah - on I82 - probably 10 different winerys on the map, yet my buddy @ southpark (a wine guy) had never heard of the place. we'd been here before doing wine tasting and were looking forward to a specific winery because of thier special "10 buck Red." Paradisos Del Sol has become a fav of ours since the last time we were here. Our first visit introduced us to the vinters and thier small yet casual back room of the house where you taste the wines. there are chickens and turkeys running free and the total package makes you feel welcome and wanting to buy wine. they have a great "10 buck Red" - a lemberger blend that when you purchase it by the case (see where i'm going?) it comes out to around $4.75 a bottle. two cases later, we hit the road.

Yakima - yep, Yakivegas, or "The Palm Springs of Washington." we enjoy coming to yakima because my sis has a ranch with doggies and chickens and horses. this weekend though was all about business and family, so the vibe was a little different. we decided to stay in a hotel since they have two kids and we didn't want our little pups waking them in the night. we would rather keep the hotel patrons awake with the incessent barking @ 2am (yup, that did happen.) yakima is a nice place, but it does have it's challenges. the hotel we stayed at was a nice one, but is at the end of "the strip." 1st ave is where all the fun happens in yakima. it's also the place where you can find some cool stuff:

provacative huh?

sunday came and the babtism was great. all of the kids were antsy and squirmy and it was wonderful to see my brother get all flustered just like my dad did when we acted up in church. hee hee. i jus sat there and watched and chuckled. lutherans celebrate communion with wine and wafers. we decided to partake since i had a tinge of hangover and needed the hair of the dog @ 11am. afterwards, i mentioned to a that I thought i had the body of christ stuck in my braces...

drive home was uneventful. we were tired and it was raining. the house and kitties survived being alone fo the weekend. some photos from the trip:

and lastly - your moment of Zen - in Zilla, there's a church that has a "GOD-Zilla"

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Ok. So how do you open a bottle of wine when you do not have a wine key. I used a metal hanger from the hotel. I am so cool.

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On the way home. Fishing was good. Caught a few, but on keepers.

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Mine

ack from the past

i work in downtown portland and am always seeing people i recognize. i'm horrible with names, so i usually divert my eyes or turn the corner instead of engaging in that awkward moment of - uh, hi, i know you but don't remember you name....

today, while out walking, i saw 3 people i used to work with 8 years ago. i began my current career in the mailroom of a local engineering firm. yep, college educated and working in the mailroom. i see how much it humbled me now, but at the time, i thought i was too big for my own good. i had a manager who wouldn't give us the time of day, nor allow us to grow in our career. in her view, we worked in the mailroom and that's it. when we saw room for improvement, it was usually shot down then later implemented by her or her minions in a slightly different way. we didn't get along and it was challenging. i distincly remember getting sat down and "talked to" regarding my attitude and position. i couldn't risk losing my job at the time, so i caved and listened and stroked her ego and agreed to be a better employee. one month later, i moved into IT and the rest is history.
why am i telling you this? because i ran into her here in my building. ahhhhhhhhhh. and i think she recognized me. i still see her as a manipulative witch and ogre. also, she hasn't aged well.

what does this all mean? it makes me question my own relationships with people who percieve me to be a senior to them. am i one of those assbags who control someone elses future? will peers 10 years from now divert their eyes from me because i treated them bad and didn't realize it? i tend to think i treat everyone fairly if they treat me fairly. makes me wonder.

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Waiting for food.

update - waiting for takeout - not sure why i took this - maybe to show you how cool i am moblogging....

Have the royal Hapsburgs come to town?

remodeled dwntwn building hapsburg yellow
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

you probably don't know what i'm talking about, but i'm not offended. when i was a young lad, about 15 years ago, i spent some time in Austria for school. it was amazing and we had a wonderful time learning about european and austrian history. in austria, the hapsburgs were the royal family for a few centuries. at one time, the austrian empire was an empire where the sun never set. so, how does that apply here? well, in austria, the hapsburgs had royal palaces and the like and everything was painted yellow. beyond the royalness of architecture, others took on the yellow and made it work. today, when you cruise through austria, you see so much yellow like the building to the right, it's crazy. an example.

so, my walking obviously took me through downtown - the usual 4th avenue jaunt. i did veer off to stumptown coffee on 3rd to grab a latte- yummmmmm. back to 4th and over accross burnside to china town/old town. i did photograph the chinatown gate, but the photo didn't turn out as i liked. i think either my eye is a little off or my camera is a little off. either way, i proceeded down 4th, which is under contruction. what do you see is an issue with the following photo:

well, i'll tell you. just a few weeks ago, there were large cherry trees on both sides of the street. alas, the city decided to cut half of them down, tear up the ground with the intention of re-planting "asian specific" species of trees to replace the cherry trees. do they know we sometimes get freezing weather here in pdx? hmmmmm. oh well, i bet the cut down trees were turned into some good mulch for someone's garden.
further down 4th, i came accross the following:

so, is this a restaurant that serves good tasting food or a restaurant that servs food in good taste? hmmmm

next up - my fave - the picture states it all:

i proceeded down 4th, fighting the urge to not take photos of every little thing i saw. i know, you want me to, but i can only blog about sooooo much. another of my favorite china town haunts is Republic Cafe. what i love about it is it's not the Republic Cafe, but just Republic Cafe. they have some great crab puffs and a good atmosphere - traditional and asian.

also, came accross this:

do i continue? are you bored with me yet? well, i'm not gonna stop. i hit the max stop as i wasn't dressed or prepared for the full walk home. there i eyed someone's attempt to fix a tree:

trust me, i don't think it will live. once accross the river, i decided to take max up to mississippi. i wanted to show off some of the new locale that have cropped up in the hood. first up is Gotham Tavern - a great locale associated with Ripe, Clark/Lewis and Meriweather:

and then it was up to N. russell, between Mississippi and Albina - for you uninitiated, mississippi starts down by n. interstate, cruises up through the current mississippi neighborhood, but then transitions into n. albina ave just north of skidmore. on n. russell, we got the building that houses Mint and 820:

down the street is the White Eagle, currently a McMennamin's tavern, but for the past 100 years, was privately owned and operated for the workin' man. it even has a ghost - we know!

at this point, i still haven't climbed the hill up mississippi? i think i'll call it a night though. i have so much more to write about today and my journey up the hill to mississippi, but i'll sleep on it and let it all marinate for a better experience tomorrow.

anyone readers out there been to Montreal? if so, drop me a note off the blog. we're heading there in july and i need some sleeping recommendations. thanks.

good night from the little ones and all.