Rain does Gene Krupa paradiddles on the roof deck, waking me up at 2:45 a.m. Passing rain belts get louder and change from discrete patterns to one whoosh of sound like a freight train through a rusty silo town.
The power went out in the morning. The outage map says the cause was “bird/animal contact.”
Bird poop and nests can damage electrical structures causing outages. When birds fly away, their excrement can sometimes be a conductor between transmitters and the bird. Dead birds are found near the damaged structures.
We drive to a bagel store in Wallingford, where there is power. Residents continue their Sunday morning routines, unaware of the city's outages. Our lives are so fragile when our modern conveniences are interrupted.
Streetlights go out, food spoils, businesses close, the internet is disrupted, and anything on the grid stops. We fumble for flashlights and batteries in junk drawers. The power comes back within two hours, and there is palpable relief.
A 6.1 earthquake hit off the Oregon Coast. It was far enough in the Pacific not to trigger the tsunami alert system. One summer, we vacationed in Manzanita, and tsunami signs directed residents to higher ground if evacuation was necessary. The problem is that, depending on the proximity and strength of the earthquake, you may only have minutes to get to safety.
I imagined an escape route in case a tsunami hit at 3 a.m. Kiteboards float in the surf like dead pterodactyl.
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A PNW terrorist is setting fire to ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. Someone with soldering skills made the explosive devices. When caught, they can teach Metal Shop from prison.
Happy Halloween!
