Early Taste Of Winter

I'm glad I had already winterized The Pavilion this year. The foundation vents are sealed and the plumbing is insulated. Just a week ago, even while cutting firewood, none of that seemed at all necessary yet.

Then And Now

Just A Summer Update With Pictures

Recently our good neighbor buddy Dale enlisted the help of a cohort, who owns a much needed Hydraulic Log Splitter. An uncommonly wet spring and early summer led to a late start in dealing with the wood from the now deceased, massive pine trees that were previously felled, here at The Pavilion. As of this entry, those trees (their remnants anyway) are still having the last word. Even with the aid of the splitter, it's extremely slow going, due to schedules and the sheer size of the job itself. After one full day and trailer load worth of splitting, the trunk sections from the Ponderosa are still dominating that side of the front yard - and we have barely started on the pine rounds in the back yard! It may very well take the rest of this year to get the job done, but we're making progress. Here are some scenes featuring Dale and his friend Dick (in the yellow shirt) who was so cool to share his gadget with us. Don't miss the exciting video at the bottom!

Before & After

This less-than-effective morphing video below, shows the major difference without the trees. All that remains is a deliberately left behind, standing section of Ponderosa trunk - and lots of potential firewood on the ground... An immense project in itself.

Here are some assorted shots, illustrating the removal process and the ballsy skills of the tree cutter. Definitely not a job for an acrophobic.

Goodbye Old Friends...

With D.T. here visiting on-leave, the decision was finalized to remove the two 100 + ft Pine trees, due to their inherent risk to The Pavilion and other nearby properties. Yesterday, it occurred to me that along with other absurd remarks one never hears like: "Hand me that piano," I can't recall the last time someone said: "Oh, it looks so much nicer now, without those trees there."

Here are some shots of the morbidly interesting 'euthanization' process, up to where the tree 'specialists' left off on Sunday. They should be done with the Pine today and then commence work on the Ponderosa.

(Click images to enlarge)

Happy New Year From The Pavillion Guard

Snow Arrives At The Pavillion

Related Stories:

Portland Tribune

KOIN.COM

Transit Agencies Struggle To Keep Up

Across The Miles

God Jul, Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings and Happy Festivus!

From Port Townsend, Washington

"Bursting pipes cause damage throughout region"

I feel bad for all these people who might have easily prevented this from happening.

Article


Video

In related (also easily preventable) seasonal news....

Firefighter Helps Boy Whose Tongue Stuck To Flag Pole

Update: Brrrrrrrrr!!!

One local friend has reported their water pipes have frozen solid. Here at The Pavilion, the exterior spigots are wrapped and the water taps are trickling in order to prevent the same thing from happening. Temps are expected to drop as low as 12 F. tonight. This is a major event.

Winter - It's Officially Here

With temperatures expected to drop down into the teens, this is quite a cold snap. Portland is currently colder than other U.S. cities known for frigid temps like Chicago, New York and Washington DC. Here are some articles from local news web sites:

Bitter Cold Grips Pacific Northwest

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Bitterly cold temperatures gripped the Pacific Northwest on Sunday as an arctic blast brought in the coldest weather of the year.

In addition to the cold temperatures, unusually strong wind caused problems for many people Sunday. Truckers navigating the Columbia River Gorge were forced to use caution."It's the side winds (that make) this thing take off like a sail," said truck driver Marco Taylor. "It's scary with all the cars around you. You could easily get blown into one."

Wind caused a tree to crash into a home Sunday on East Country Club Loop in Brightwood. No one was inside the cabin when the fir tree hit the home, but neighbors said they barely escaped the destruction."I was standing in the kitchen, and I saw it coming toward me -- I called for my husband," said Michelle Melbourne. "It was scary."

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Portland Prepares For Arctic Blast

PORTLAND, Ore. — Icy winds are blowing through Northwestern Oregon and Southwestern Washington, adding wind chill issues to the already-cold conditions gripping the region.

Monday afternoon's high temperatures managed to reach just about the freezing level. Some places were slightly above, some never made it to 32 degrees, but the differences were slight - expecially if you were outside, with skin exposed to the icy, blustery winds. Those winds should die down overnight, but temperatures will be colder - dipping down into the teens during the dark of early morning. Tuesday afternoon will be similar to Monday afternoon, but Tuesday night's lows could reach down into single digits.

Present conditions and forecasts from
The Weather Channel

Train VS Tornado

With the stormy season upon us, this video seems appropriate. In any case, it's pretty cool.

The back-story behind this clip is it was captured by a surveillance camera mounted on the rear of a train engine, pulling freight cars through Northern Illinois, on January 7th, 2008. Read the official NOAA report HERE.

High-Five!!

HIGH-FIVE INAUGURATION! - watch more funny videos

Buh Bye George....

Don't let the door hit ya' where the Good Lord split ya'...

There is so much I could add to that, but I won't do so here.

As always, history will be the ultimate judge. There's also a thing called Karma....

*(The Pavilion Guard alone, proudly assumes full responsibility for this blog post.)

God Jul

..and Happy Holidays from The Pavilion Guard.

Hoping all is well, wherever you may find yourself at this time.

Another Update

Yesterday a PGE repair crew miraculously arrived to take care of that problem tree limb. Just in time too, apparently, as I was told that the line had become so strained, it was barely attached to the house anymore.

By tomorrow morning we're supposed to be receiving another 2-4 inches of snow. Whoever originally said: "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" probably wasn't thinking of how tedious it could be for regions that aren't accustomed to it. Sometimes there's just too much of the white.

The Looming Ice Monster

First Day Of Winter

How appropriate that is.

The ice arrived last night but now at 7:00 PM, it's snowing like crazy. Present accumulations here and around The Pavilion range from 7 inches to a few feet - and counting. The pictures below, illustrate the conditions and concerns. We still may lose power and one of the likely causes has been identified. Earlier while R.H. and I were wading through the snow around the property, we spotted a tree in the back yard, laden with ice and one of it's limbs sagging down onto the electrical line. This tree is notorious for losing limbs all by itself, in perfectly mild conditions, all year around. The limb in question is already cracked at the spot where it connects to the trunk. Every time the wind gusts, the tree emits ominous creaks and groans. Very unnerving. R.H. and I briefly discussed if there might be some way that we could deal with this: cut the limb off, try to prop it up somehow.. or even cut the whole tree down, but any hare-brained idea that came to mind had "Darwin Award" written all over it. That branch isn't just leaning onto the power line, it's actually tangled in it, as seen below. I called PGE to report the problem but understandably, they're already overwhelmed with trying to restore power to the estimated 45,000 + "customers" who are presently without electricity.

Our secondary concern is an old one. The Ponderosa Pine is covered with snow and ice. The way it's looming over the house, with most of its limbs growing on one side, (the west side of the tree) it almost resembles some giant monster from one of those old Godzilla movies. Ponderosa Pines are known for being more bare on the side that faces the prevailing winds. Looking at this one, it's easy to see which side gets blasted every year.


In other storm related news, The Pavilion Scenic Railway Line. Is out of service until further notice. In the photo below, one can see only a small portion of the track that is still partially exposed near the side of the house. At this time, no comments have been issued by PSR engineers or disgruntled passengers.

Miscellaneous pictures: