1 Day, 2 Planes, 3 States, 4 Airports

Left Portland today. I'm always sad when I leave the city I call home, but especially leaving my love and cats for such a long time again too. However, with sad departures there are also happy and exciting adventures, new sights to see and new friends to make! I can only be positive about leaving to make the time I am gone go by more quickly.

I'm leaving, on a jet plane. From Anchorage since Portland was all icky and rainy today.

Flying away from Anchorage.

Mountains!

Lots of snowy mountains!

So, the adventure begins! Again! What a beginning it was. I traveled to and from three different states and four different airports, on two planes, all in one day! Portland->Seattle->Anchorage->Fairbanks I think my itinerary flying back is quite similar.  So after being cramped in close quarters with friendly, not-so friendly and often times smelly strangers, I have made it to Fairbanks. I'm not too sure if there will be too many new areas to explore, but I will do my best to find them and report here. Round two, here we go! 

Arctic Bound, Again!

I spent a long time trying to decide if I wanted to go back to Alaska this summer.  And now I have made it so.  I will be going back to Prudhoe Bay for the months of June and July, this time as the Field Crew Leader for the Artificial Nest and Pad Rehab project.  I have a feeling that being in that position will provide for some interesting self-reflection as I was the technician under Erica previously.

This will be good for me to get experience as a leader in a field job, it has the potential to help with possible future field jobs as well as grad school (eek!).  I have also been itching to write in this blog again (and renamed it accordingly) and this is the perfect opportunity to do so.  I welcome you all to take the journey with me again, and I do hope that you enjoy reading.

Another shameless self-promotion in this blog, for my Etsy store, Troglodytes Gifts!  I named it after my favorite family of birds Wrens or Troglodytidae.  I started it in November at the encouragement of friends and family to sell the bird ornaments that I make. (Zombies to come soon as well!)  I have had a few other sellers and buyers favorite my shop and items, which is pretty exciting.  I have only sold one, but I am working hard to have more posted soon, and am open to requests of birds to make!

Last Huzzah!

Last Saturday, Joey and I had a little get-together at our place as a sort of "going away" party.  It was wonderful to have so many caring and generous friends join us.  A special shout-out to our friends Josh and Gloria for bringing not just one, but two grills over for the food!  You two are amazing people!  Of course, thanks to all that attended as well!

One of the highlights of the evening was when we had a visit from Walter Cronkite, the cat.  Walter is one of the neighbors cats and he is adorable and sweet, but he decided, since we had our door open, he could just waltz right in and join the party too.  He was shortly chased out after he was making moves to spray... bad kitty.  We played "Pin the Mandy-Face on Alaska,"  and much like "Pin the tail on the Donkey," atendees had to take a Mandy-Face and tape it as close to Prudhoe Bay as possible after being spun in circles whilst wearing a blindfold.  The winners received a Sports Illustrated calendar, with a Joey and Mandy "twist."  Congratulations to Matt and Eli for winning, we hope that you enjoy your prizes.  We sure had fun making them!

I set up the Reconyx camera that will be part of our research in Alaska, in the house to try to get some candid shots of friends.  I figured this would be a fun way to use it, especially since I will not be allowed to share pictures in the field as they belong to WCS.  I told most people that we had a "Robot Photographer" in the room and did not tell (most) where it was hidden.  The truth is, all those candid shots were pretty boring, and the more interesting ones were when people noticed the camera and made faces at it.  Below are a few of the ones I really liked. (Click images to enlarge!)  More will be on Facebook.

Joey in action! 

Misech playing it up for the camera. 

Talking about how Walter Cronkite attacked Matt. 

Gloria making kissy-face at the camera. 

Gloria playing with my goggles. 

Drew with a turtle on his head. 

Matt sneer. 

Cute Dan, real cute...

Skyra and I dancing it up for the camera. 

More dancing. 

Skyra and Dan cute before they left. 

What's on the ceiling Chris? 

Matt cuddles Dee Dee. 

I tried making this gif for Matt of him dancing but it didn't work out too well...

It was either too fast, or too slow...

Here are a few cute ones of the cats, and some that were outside, to demonstrate the difference between normal and infrared.

It is so sensitive that it even picked up a crow across the way.

The elusive Joey monster. 

Neko!

Dee Dee!

Dee Dee monster. 

Aaaaahhhh! She found the camera!

Well, I fly out tomorrow.  Today was pretty emotional.  The realization of leaving didn't really hit me until yesterday, and I will miss all of you!  Keep an eye out here for all the adventures (as much as I can post at least) and see you in August!

Brooklyn Neighborhood History

Brooklyn neighborhood painting on building on Franklin Street.
credit: oddly some real estate site

This weekend, Joey piqued my interest in the history of the Brooklyn neighborhood.  We have lived in our new place a little over two weeks, and it has been fun exploring the area.  It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Portland.  In fact, it was originally called Brookland not Brooklyn because of all of the rivers and creeks that were originally on the property purchased by Gideon Tibbets in 1850.  It became a largely residential area when Tibbets allowed the railroad tracks to cross his property, bringing in a large population of German-Americans.  These "settlers" had named the streets but they were renamed during World War I.  However, many German-American businesses still exist.  (I am guessing Edelweiss; German market, deli and restaurant, is one. Yumm.)  In the '60s the neighborhood was known for being poverty-stricken.  Since the '80s it has completely changed and is classified among Portland's most desirable residential neighborhoods.  There is even a community organization, Brooklyn Action Corps (BAC) that is largely responsible for the turnaround, providing a community organization invested in the betterment of the neighborhood.  In fact, the little pedestrian/bike bridge that goes over Powell has a mural that was a BAC project to deter graffiti.  Oregon Live Article about the project.  Information courtesy of  Wikipedia. 

View of West Hills and Ross Island Bridge from the
pedestrian/bike bridge across Powell.
credit: cyclotram

The front of the Poulsen House. Credit: Wikipedia 

A solitary giant, this large beautiful Victorian house sits right on Powell and McLoughlin (two very busy streets).  Walking by it many times we have learned that it is a historical site and is listed as the Poulsen House.  According to our friend, when a place is listed as Historic, they are obligated to open it to the public once a year.  I must find out more information on this so I can tour inside this beauty!  It is actually a Queen Anne style built by Johan Poulsen in 1891.  Poulsen never really lived in the house.  He rented it out or "sold on a mortage", shortly after it was finished and then he sold it "outright" in 1894.  Directly across Powell was the identical Inman house.  It was torn down in 1956 to make room for a parking lot for the Darigold factory, which I also just noticed this weekend.  Sad. 

Picture of Inman house being torn down.
Taken by Dick Farris and featured in Life Magazine in 1959.
credit: Cafe Unknown

The Ross Island bridge was built in 1926 creating a major thoroughfare between the two houses.  Then ten years later the connection to McLoughlin was built.  So that is part of the mystery as to why such a beautiful house is at the corner of these two busy streets.

Ross Island bridge, SE Portland in 1948. You can see the Poulsen House on the
left and the identical Inman house on the right. Apparently, the strip club,
Lucky Devil Lounge, is the octagonal building at the bottom.
(But it wasn't the Lucky Devil at this time)
photo credit: vintage portland

Johan Poulsen and Robert Inman were partners in the Inman-Poulsen Lumber Company that was located not too far from the house on the east side of the Willamette River.  By 1903, it was the largest lumber company in Oregon.  In fact, a power plant was built near the mill, and Inman-Poulsen gave their sawdust to provide a fuel source for an electric railway that was built to run from Portland to Oregon City.  This doesn't exist anymore, but there is talk of a MAX line to Milwaukie.  Proposed by Trimet, the line would go through the center of the Brooklyn neighborhood on 17th avenue.

Inman-Poulsen Lumber mill. Notice the huge piles of sawdust.
Also notice in the bottom right corner the front of the Inman house
and back of the Poulsen house.
credit: Cafe Unknown

An interurban electric railway car.
 Behind is a large pile of sawdust, from Inman-Poulsen lumber,
used to power the electric railway.
credit: Cafe Unknown 

Most of this information and beautiful old-timey images came from another blogspotter, Dane Haneckow. His blog, Cafe Unknown.

In other news, I got an email the other day and WCS offered to hire me for the month before and the month after the field season in Alaska.  Woot!  Now, I'll actually get paid to do data entry and proofing!