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Just Keeping Up
The Tsunami Tsiren went off the other day. It was Noon, so it was probably a test and I paid it no mind. It's good to know that if the Dam breaks, we'll hear the tsirens and get out of the Tsunami Tzone, unless the Dam breaks at Noon.
Speaking of Tsunamis, that guy who got pulled out to sea at Crescent City washed ashore exactly one ( Read more... ) -
Crazies, Clowns, and Kings! Rainbow Warrior #2
"Naw, I think Rainbow still lives here." I surveyed the sinking hulk of a house before me. "If he'd left, the city would have hauled away the bus and burnt this place down for Vector Control." Besides, I thought to myself, this might be the way Rainbow Warrior likes it. The place looking like this, he don't have to keep propping up the ( Read more... ) -
Crazies, Clowns, and Kings! Rainbow Warrior #1
"My God, it looks abandoned! Nobody could live here, look at this place!" Bob held her breath as we stared into the swamp, which shouldn't have been there on that quiet old street, even if it was Eugene, and a wet spring. Little purple blooming water plants thrived in the wetland that had been a front yard. Moss, which covered the ( Read more... ) -
Our Town #6
These are real houses. This is not a dream. This is not a snow-globe stolen from a snotty child's hand, tho the snow be blowing sideways and it is really quite a storm. The houses here are a lot like houses elsewhere, with fewer newer buildings because Ashland's always been the first to bust and last to boom, and once a family gets here ( Read more... ) -
The End of the World pt. 1
It's only early April and my neighbor's kids are playing in the radioactive rain. I drove four hundred miles over the weekend just to end up here again. I'm watching the evening news and all I feel is pain. Oh, what i wouldn't give just in hope that things might change.
Maybe if I sang a protest song to a crowd of Union Stooges ( Read more... ) -
Our Town #4
Area - Total 6.50 sq mi (16.83 km2) - Land 6.50 sq mi (16.83 km2) - Water 0.0 sq mi (0.00 km2) Elevation 1,895 ft (577.6 m) Population (2007) - Total 21,630 - Density 3,003.1/sq mi (1,160/km2)a
About the size of Medieval London, with one-third the population, and a modern sanitation system, which, during the Flood of ' ( Read more... ) -
Classic Bob Tale #3
"Ok, Terry, when we get up there, be ready to run!" The security guards at the gate were checking bags. Inside Bob's backpack was a Frisbee and a quarter-pound of Columbian Buds, all sorted into quarter-ounce baggies for sale inside the stadium. We were gonna make a killing! If we didn't get busted first. The security guard patted ( Read more... ) -
Our Town #4
My first place in Ashland was a basement room in a fancy house above the Boulevard. The owner had had some trouble with the law. His Corvette was covered and locked in the garage. He was working off his community service by volunteering at a boxing club for angry teenagers. One of them lived in the basement with me. He objected to the ( Read more... ) -
Our Town #3
How high is Ashland? Wikipedia says 1853 feet. I say it depends on who you ask. Some people in Ashland are Very high. i say it depends on when you ask them. Festival season in Ashland can get Really high, especially the Fourth of July. I say it depends on where you ask them. Some parts of Ashland are higher than others. In fact, ( Read more... ) -
Our Town #2
"Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other founders had family connections. It ( Read more... )