Last Saturday's "Pearls Before Swine" comic strip:
Rat: "Hey Goat ... I was reading your blog at home today, but I got distracted."
Goat: "Yeah, that can happen with even the most compelling writing ... What distracted you? A phone call? Person at the door? TV show?"
Rat: "A beige wall."
I'm not taking it personally.
A few weeks ago, in a modest celebration of dw's birthday, we took an overnight trip up the Columbia Gorge. We drove to Goldendale for lunch at the Glass Onion, which is a surprisingly good restaurant -- for such an out of the way place. I had a grilled chicken breast sandwich -- on focaccia with a black olive tapenade and goat cheese -- really excellent. And dw had a tilapia with caponata dish -- also excellent. For dessert I had a piece of apple pie and dw had chocolate cake with a berry sauce. The deserts were good but not up to the standard of the meal.
After eating, we drove back roads west of Goldendale to find the end of a rail-to-trail bike ride we have been thinking about doing. After finding it we have reconsidered the ride. The trail is 35 miles long (packed gravel) and it ends 15 miles from Goldendale. We had considered riding it from Lyle to Goldendale, spending the night and then riding back to Lyle but neither one of us is in good enough shape to ride, back to back, two 50 mile days, particularly on gravel. We might do a two car relay and ride it one way.
After that, we returned to The Dalles where we spent the night. The next day we returned to the Washington side and took a short hike at The Dalles Ranch State Park (An old working farm/ranch that was deeded to the state and turned into a park -- Farm house, barn, out-buildings, assorted horse or tractor powered farm machinery scattered around)
One site was very happy with California Poppys.
Further east, we stopped at Wishram to look at a locomotive that is sitting there. (I didn't get a decent picture) The thing is HUGE. (If there's a steam engine fan reading this, it's a Baldwin 4-8-2 P-2 Mountain class.) The engine, plus tender (which is designed so it looks like one unit) is 90 feet long and 17 or 18 feet tall. The eight driver wheels are each over 6 feet in diameter. A modern diesel might be more powerful, I wouldn't know, but the Baldwin looks like the sumo wrestler of train engines. Strictly by appearance that big boy could kick sand in the face of any modern diesel around. (It also weights 260,000 pounds)
After staring slack-jawed at the behemoth we stopped at the local tavern (The Pastime) for a burger and a beer. The burger was good and since we were sitting at the bar with the locals, we had a Bud so we would fit in. The Bud was a Bud. The Pastime has a bar cat who sleeps on it's own bar stool. With any provocation the cat will walk the length of the bar -- lap to lap -- stopping wherever it gets the most attention. When everyone shoos it away it returns to it's stool and goes back to sleep. The tavern has all the classic small town elements: A pull tab game (not for gambling purposes) Seemingly designated stools -- Local elementary school booster stuff -- Classic tavern signs: Our credit manager is Helen Waite. If you want credit, go to Helen Waite. and: If you need credit, you don't need a drink, you need a job. We loved it -- and the burger really was good (the fries, not so much)
After that we stopped at Maryhill, looked at the new addition and wandered around the grounds.
Back at The Dalles we found that you can't get a flat tire fixed on Sunday afternoon. I finally got a can of fix-a-flat which was good enough for the rest of the day.
Another night at The Dalles and then we came home via Dufur and a back road that led to Hood River. We got an ice cream cone at the Dufur ice-cream emporium and listened to the young woman complain about how dead Dufur is and The Dalles isn't much better. Which seemed to fit with what we'd seen, and finally we stopped at the Dufur Grocery Store. It's an amazingly well stocked grocery / deli with really cool ceiling fans.
The nearest (top of photo) thing is the electric motor, and all of the fans are belt driven. The store has three banks of fans. After a good Thai lunch in Hood River, we came home. The mountains were in splendid view all weekend (Mts. Adams and Rainier)
Books: I've read a bunch, but I'll just mention a couple: Packing For Mars (Mary Roach) Which is basically about the nitty-gritty of long and short term space travel. Pee, poop, no bathing or change of underwear -- things get pretty foul. Anyway, a really entertaining book.
Just My Type (Simon Garfield) -- "a book about fonts" -- about the history and design of various type styles. A lot more entertaining and interesting than might be imagined.
And finally, in response to the beige wall -- a new blog feature: odd words. These will be words I come across in various places and which I never use and can't imagine anyone else using either.
For starters, I'll just quote from Packing For Mars: SCURF --- "A.k.a., shed skin. Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines scurf as 'a branny substance of epidermic origin' --- an evocative pairing of dander and breakfast cereal. Try new Kellogg's Dandruff Flakes!"
And NAUFRAGOUS --- causing shipwreck -- If the Baldwin P-2 Mountain class locomotive is ever found floating unhelmed in the Pacific, it would potentially be: nafragous.
And so it goes. DJA
Rat: "Hey Goat ... I was reading your blog at home today, but I got distracted."
Goat: "Yeah, that can happen with even the most compelling writing ... What distracted you? A phone call? Person at the door? TV show?"
Rat: "A beige wall."
I'm not taking it personally.
A few weeks ago, in a modest celebration of dw's birthday, we took an overnight trip up the Columbia Gorge. We drove to Goldendale for lunch at the Glass Onion, which is a surprisingly good restaurant -- for such an out of the way place. I had a grilled chicken breast sandwich -- on focaccia with a black olive tapenade and goat cheese -- really excellent. And dw had a tilapia with caponata dish -- also excellent. For dessert I had a piece of apple pie and dw had chocolate cake with a berry sauce. The deserts were good but not up to the standard of the meal.
After eating, we drove back roads west of Goldendale to find the end of a rail-to-trail bike ride we have been thinking about doing. After finding it we have reconsidered the ride. The trail is 35 miles long (packed gravel) and it ends 15 miles from Goldendale. We had considered riding it from Lyle to Goldendale, spending the night and then riding back to Lyle but neither one of us is in good enough shape to ride, back to back, two 50 mile days, particularly on gravel. We might do a two car relay and ride it one way.
After that, we returned to The Dalles where we spent the night. The next day we returned to the Washington side and took a short hike at The Dalles Ranch State Park (An old working farm/ranch that was deeded to the state and turned into a park -- Farm house, barn, out-buildings, assorted horse or tractor powered farm machinery scattered around)
One site was very happy with California Poppys.
Further east, we stopped at Wishram to look at a locomotive that is sitting there. (I didn't get a decent picture) The thing is HUGE. (If there's a steam engine fan reading this, it's a Baldwin 4-8-2 P-2 Mountain class.) The engine, plus tender (which is designed so it looks like one unit) is 90 feet long and 17 or 18 feet tall. The eight driver wheels are each over 6 feet in diameter. A modern diesel might be more powerful, I wouldn't know, but the Baldwin looks like the sumo wrestler of train engines. Strictly by appearance that big boy could kick sand in the face of any modern diesel around. (It also weights 260,000 pounds)
After staring slack-jawed at the behemoth we stopped at the local tavern (The Pastime) for a burger and a beer. The burger was good and since we were sitting at the bar with the locals, we had a Bud so we would fit in. The Bud was a Bud. The Pastime has a bar cat who sleeps on it's own bar stool. With any provocation the cat will walk the length of the bar -- lap to lap -- stopping wherever it gets the most attention. When everyone shoos it away it returns to it's stool and goes back to sleep. The tavern has all the classic small town elements: A pull tab game (not for gambling purposes) Seemingly designated stools -- Local elementary school booster stuff -- Classic tavern signs: Our credit manager is Helen Waite. If you want credit, go to Helen Waite. and: If you need credit, you don't need a drink, you need a job. We loved it -- and the burger really was good (the fries, not so much)
Back at The Dalles we found that you can't get a flat tire fixed on Sunday afternoon. I finally got a can of fix-a-flat which was good enough for the rest of the day.
Another night at The Dalles and then we came home via Dufur and a back road that led to Hood River. We got an ice cream cone at the Dufur ice-cream emporium and listened to the young woman complain about how dead Dufur is and The Dalles isn't much better. Which seemed to fit with what we'd seen, and finally we stopped at the Dufur Grocery Store. It's an amazingly well stocked grocery / deli with really cool ceiling fans.
Books: I've read a bunch, but I'll just mention a couple: Packing For Mars (Mary Roach) Which is basically about the nitty-gritty of long and short term space travel. Pee, poop, no bathing or change of underwear -- things get pretty foul. Anyway, a really entertaining book.
Just My Type (Simon Garfield) -- "a book about fonts" -- about the history and design of various type styles. A lot more entertaining and interesting than might be imagined.
And finally, in response to the beige wall -- a new blog feature: odd words. These will be words I come across in various places and which I never use and can't imagine anyone else using either.
For starters, I'll just quote from Packing For Mars: SCURF --- "A.k.a., shed skin. Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines scurf as 'a branny substance of epidermic origin' --- an evocative pairing of dander and breakfast cereal. Try new Kellogg's Dandruff Flakes!"
And NAUFRAGOUS --- causing shipwreck -- If the Baldwin P-2 Mountain class locomotive is ever found floating unhelmed in the Pacific, it would potentially be: nafragous.
And so it goes. DJA
