Musings from Mark

Last weekend we were doing laundry when something smelled like burning plastic. We assumed it was the belt on our old, got-it-for-free washing machine, so we didn’t take much notice. But the smell persisted, and soon we had no hot water. We killed the power to the water heater and called the landlord, who came the next morning to discover that a water leak had caused a short and a small insulation fire inside. He removed the offending melted plastic, rewired the circuit, and left. After that we had hot water for the first minute after which it was merely warm. And it still leaked. So today the landlord returned and, in an uncharacteristic move, installed a new hot water heater. When I got home Ebba had just returned from picking up our new rooster and complained that we had no hot water, as in no water coming out. As it turns out, the landlord neglected to fill the tank before turning the power on. I filled the tank, but the heater drew no power and heated no water. So after considering calling the landlord again, I shut off the power, drained the tank, and pulled both heating elements. The bottom one was shiny and new, but the top one was corroded and cracked, a victim of being heated in an empty tank. After a trip to Home Depot and a $10, hopefully reimbursable purchase of an element, we now have hot water again.

Ebba had quite an adventure with our new rooster, who was not particularly excited about being uprooted and quickly set off across the neighbors’ land. With some help from the neighbors, she finally got him corralled and into the coop, where he is now getting along quite well with our hens. He is an Ameraucana, so now we can hatch our own purebred blue-egg-layers if we ever want to.

A very strong low-pressure system centered on Chamberlain, SD (barometer 28.96″ there) is spiraling and sucking in air from 3/4 of the lower 48. Minnesota, ahead of the system, is seeing rain, thunder, and 45 degrees, while Oregon, far on the backside, is seeing a cold day, beginning with ice and snow showers and ending clear, with a chilly northwest breeze. It is not too often in the winter that Minnesota is warmer than Oregon, but this is one of those rare days.

I am feeling much better, almost as if my fever never happened. My test this morning went well, and now I have tonight to study for my Biosystems Modeling test tomorrow. One problem with taking four classes is that tests come around too often…

Yesterday I felt like I was getting sick, and when I went to be last night my temperature started rising, reaching 100.6 by morning and 101 later in the day. I spent much of the first part of the day in bed, feeling extremely tired but otherwise not too miserable. I’m not sure what I have – flu maybe? – but as of tonight my fever has mostly gone down and I feel much better.

Ali followed through on his promise to kill our rooster today. We were all much in favor given his constant crowing and attacks on anyone who ventured too near. After several escapes, we managed to catch him, behead him, pluck him, and gut him. Or rather Ali did these things while I spent most of the time in the house since my fever gave me chills whenever I ventured out. We have him soaking in brine in our fridge at the moment, and we plan on inviting friends over and eating him tomorrow.

I have tests coming up on Monday and Tuesday, so tomorrow will be mostly a day of studying. If I feel well, I may also squeeze in a trip up into the National Forest land.

If this were Minnesota, today might rate a “7” on Ed’s enjoyment index, if there were such a number. Out here it is probably a “5”, inasmuch as days like today can and do happen. I am surprised by how much the weather feels like Minnesota – some of the same smells and the sounds of giant flocks of Canada geese overhead – but it feels like late March or early April. We started at a frosty, foggy 27 degrees this morning, but the fog burned off before noon revealing a cloudless sky, a light south breeze, and a high temperature of 53 degrees. I came home early from school – postponing my work until this evening – to work in the garden. Already I sense a quickening in the birds, the flocks overhead, and the plants – making it clear that we are now on the upswing toward spring and warmer days.

We got only 2.77 inches of rain in January, about 40% of average. Half of that fell on the New Years Day storm, so overall the month has been very dry. Folks tell me that January averages two clear days and five partly cloudy days, with the remaining 24 days overcast. This month we had 13 partly to mostly sunny days, including some perfectly clear such as yesterday. An additional five days were foggy with clouds in the valley and sunshine in the mountains. Some parts of the coast range saw 70 degrees (!), but here in the valley the inversions kept us cooler, and the clear nights often dropped into the 20s. The month’s high was 56.6 degrees, the low was 22.7 (though it got close to that on about five nights), and the average was 38.9, 0.5 degrees below the long-term average for January.

My blog postings have fallen off recently – sorry to all who have been checking. I have been busier this term with four classes and some work in the lab. I think I will try to avoid spending much time in the lab for the rest of this term, since fitting it in seems to require late nights and long hours.

On my first weekend here I drove down to Eugene for a sing-along circle with Lily and some interesting folks and stayed for a contra dance and a night at Lost Valley. I also brewed a batch of beer that should be ready in early March. The next weekend – MLK day – Ali and I drove to the coast for an amazing clear 60-degree day on the beach, with the requisite stop at Rogue brewery in Newport. The past two weekends I have been working around the yard, first attacking our overgrowing blackberries last weekend, then expanding the chicken run this weekend. I bought a utility trailer in Sweet Home last weekend, and today I used it to haul a load of oak firewood that should keep us warm for the rest of the winter.

I have returned from my three-week journey to LA, Phoenix, and Minnesota. My trip report is now a new photo essay at http://www.luterra.com/essays/journey0809.html.

Our chickens are now laying eggs! They are small but delicious.

Parts of the Washington Cascades are getting 10+ inches of rain, causing avalanches, landslides, and near-record floods. I-5 is flooded, as are all rail lines to Seattle. Here in Corvallis we are south of the big rain, with occasional showers, south winds, and temperatures in the 50s (56 today!). Starting Friday we are supposed to enter a stretch of clear, relatively warm weather. I will have to get out and enjoy it!

My classes will be more work this term, but they should also be more applicable to my interests, especially the genetics/biotechnology class.

Today I drove the 85 miles to Breitenbush Hot Springs, where I relaxed in the beautifully-crafted pools as cold rain and snow pelted down. I rather like the feeling of soaking in hot water in cold rain or snow – something I first discovered in Wyoming. To be fair, the soaking is almost as pleasant at non-commercial springs that cost much less or are free. So why go to Breitenbush?

1. Food! Amazing vegetarian meals served buffet-style every day. Not exactly cheap at $11 each, but delicious! I nearly bought a Breitenbush cookbook, but I found a book I wanted more and good recipes just weren’t worth 20 bucks for me today.

2. Serenity. Other hot springs have all sorts of folks, from day-trippers in bathing suits to heavy smokers to creepy old men, and the atmosphere is that of a campground – diverse outdoorsy folks having fun. At Breitenbush, everyone is naked in the springs, conversation is limited, and serenity is encouraged (silence is even mandatory at the hot “sacred pool”). This may have been magnified today since most folks were there for a weekend yoga workshop.

3. Sustainability. The springs is entirely off the grid. Geothermal wells provide heat to all of the buildings and cabins, and a small on-site hydroelectric plant takes water from the Breitenbush River to provide all of the necessary electricity.

4. Community. A 60-member intentional community is based across the river and owns and operates the springs. It is a fully autonomous small town with engineers to operate the physical plant, kitchen staff, healing/massage practitioners, administrators, etc. The community remains somewhat isolated from the visitors, and I wish that I had a friend there as I do at Lost Valley so that I might have a chance to see more of the community and meet its members.

The effect of these things, and perhaps some conscious energy work, is to create a bubble within which fears, external instabilities, anxieties, etc. simply do not exist. This bubble was particularly apparent today, since it felt like a day in which instability and uncertainty ruled the larger field.

My drive to Breitenbush was entirely in heavy rain, and as I climbed to 2500 feet it began to change to snow. I arrived in a heavy fall of snow, but it quickly changed back to rain. The rain continued steadily until the front arrived, at which point the wind picked up and the rain briefly stopped to be replaced by frequent heavy rain/snow showers. When I left, the snow had made a small coating of slush, and the wind was blowing needles, twigs, small branches, and other debris from the trees. I drove the first ten miles beneath a shower of tree debris, dodging the larger pieces, until I reached the highway. From there the road was clear, but with occasional snow squalls accompanied by high winds that changed to heavy rain showers as I dropped lower. As I reached the valley floor, the rain and wind stopped, and the instability seemed to have ended.

I speak of the instability because it extended beyond the weather. At 5:30, just as the high winds were hitting, a bomb detonated at a bank south of Portland, killing a police officer and injuring the chief of police. It seemed like a day on which disruption was likely, except perhaps at Breitenbush. I sense a disturbance in the Force…

I am now finished with my first term of graduate school! In the next years my work will be less tied to class schedules, and the end of the term will mean less to me. But for now it feels like I am back in college, and it feels as good as ever to complete a term. Since my last final yesterday, I have spent some time in our lab learning about our mass spectrometer and worked on developing my program of study. Tomorrow I will be visiting Breitenbush Hot Springs – an intentional community/spiritual center/hot springs resort east of Salem.

A major storm is scheduled for tomorrow, with blizzard warnings and winter storm warnings covering all of the Cascades and coast mountains. They are predicting 2-3 feet of snow and winds to 75 mph in the high mountains, followed by a rare intrusion of arctic air that will bring snow to the valley floor on Sunday and lows down to 13 degrees, the coldest since 2004. It looks like Minnesota will be seeing the same storm on Sunday followed by cold, and I shouldn’t complain since the “cold” predicted in Minnesota is 9 below zero.

I moved the chicken enclosure today to give them some new grass. Our rooster has now come of age, and he is constantly mounting our hens. Now if only our hens would reach their chicken-puberty and start dropping edibles…

The past three days here have been completely cloudless – quite unusual in this winter-rainy climate. With no fog or clouds at night, the temperature is free to drop down to 26.3 – our coldest of the season. Now I realize that 26.3 is approximately the average high in Minnesota this time of year, but out here in our uninsulated house, 26 is the equivalent of zero in Minnesota, and we have been alternating our alarms to keep the fire burning all night (otherwise we would wake up to a 50-degree house).

I have a differential equations final on Monday, biochemistry on Tuesday, and physics on Wednesday (at 7:30 am!). I feel pretty good about physics and math, so most of my studying will be for biochem. Today I am going to help Liz construct a metal-free hydrochloric acid feed for our bioreactor and also study some biochem. And probably go to the contra dance tonight as well.

It is 50 degrees here as I write this at midnight, with a stiff wind from the south. A bit of rain today after a clear morning. November finished two degrees above average, with precipitation about 75% of normal. After nearly continuous rain for the first 12 days, the skies cleared, and we had only one rainy day for the rest of the month. Rather unusual for here, I believe.

I just posted a new photo essay with pictures of our henbox project, another Marys Peak sunset, Thanksgiving with the Roseburg family, and camping in the Cascades on the way back north. Check it out at http://www.luterra.com/essays/umpqua2008.html.