When Knitting Was a Manly Art

Another week and still no knitting done. Sigh..

Eileen and the boyfriend are off to far eastern Oregon (Sumpter, Oregon) for a long weekend and won’t be back until Tuesday or Wednesday. I have the house to myself, but I’m hardly alone. Between the cats, dogs, horses, goats and our one lonely old ram, I’ll have plenty of company.

Changes at work again. One fired, one quitting, a couple new faces. I’ve been asked to take on another weekday lunch shift which will mean I’ll only be closing once a week now. And I’ve been officially designated as “Shift Lead”. We’ll see if there’s any extra money along with the title… I’m spending 6 hours tomorrow in Alcohol Servers training and then a 6 hour shift following. Another long day.

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Now that I’m back to regularly scheduled days off (Wednesday and Saturday), I’ve been able to plan things a bit better.

This past Wednesday I went to see Body Worlds 3 at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

It’s a mostly interesting, sometimes bizarre exhibition of human bodies. Dr. Gunther von Hagens invented a process called Plastination that basically replaces soft body parts with plastic like substances. There has been a bit of controversy in the past about where the bodies were obtained, but OMSI seemed to be satisfied enough with the exhibition to promote it.

My use of the term bizarre is mostly on the way that some of the bodies were posed. Hard to explain, but if anyone has seen this or any of the other 2 Body Worlds, you probably know what I mean. One of the exhibits was of an adult camel. The body’s sides were open to show internal organs — ok — but the head and neck were split in thirds, with one third touching the ground, one third fully raised and the middle third at a halfway point between the two.

One of the most intriguing was a display named ‘The Skin Man’. A skinless cadaver, standing with his right arm outstretched and his complete skin draped over his right hand. Really, not as disturbing as it sounds.

Overall, I enjoyed the exhibition. Even with the sometimes strange poses, the bodies were treated respectfully and I actually learned quite a bit about our inner workings.

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A mostly nice day yesterday and I took my bicycle and new camera for a ride along both sides of the Willamette River through downtown Portland. I earlier posted some detailed pictures of the St. Johns bridge at river mile 5.8.

Yesterday I made a quick tour of nearly all the remaining bridges connecting the east and west sides of the city.

At river mile 11.1 is the Fremont Bridge. Opened for traffic in November, 1973, it’s currently the newest bridge crossing the Willamette. The main span was assembled on land and barged and then lifted in place with 32 hydraulic jacks. At 6,000 ton, it was the heaviest bridge lift ever at the time. The lower deck is 175 feet above the water.

At river mile 11.7 is the Broadway Bridge. Opened for traffic in April 1913. The Broadway was the longest double-leaf bascule drawbridge in the world when it opened. It is the longest Rall Bascule drawbridge still in existence.

At river mile 12.1 is the Steel Bridge. Opened for rail traffic in July 1912 and other traffic in August 1912. The Steel carries train traffic on it’s lower deck and automobile and light rail on it’s upper deck. It’s the only double-deck vertical lift bridge of it’s type in the world. The lower deck can be lifted independently of the upper deck.

At river mile 12.4 is the Burnside Bridge. Opened for traffic in May 1926, it as one double-leaf Stauss bascule movable main span.

I love the details added by these old builders. This is one of two bridge operator towers. Note the curlicues at the bottom of the tower and the filigree below the windows.

At river mile 12.8 is the Morrison Bridge. Opened in May 1958, it has one double-leaf Chicago-style bascule movable main span. Note the bridge operators towers resemble airport control towers. Oh so modern…

At river mile 13.1 is the Hawthorne Bridge. Opened in December 1910, it is the oldest of the current bridges. It has a vertical lift movable span.

At river mile 13.5 is the Marquam Bridge. Open in October 1966, it carries north and southbound Interstate 5 on it’s upper and lower decks. There have been many complaints about the Marquam for it’s lack of style and grace, but it was built for utility rather than beauty.

At river mile 14.0 is the Ross Island Bridge. Opened in May 1926. The Ross Island Bridge is a 5-span steel cantilever deck truss with arch-shaped main span. This is generally the same type of bridge that collapsed in Minnesota recently.

A couple more bridges further south down the river I haven’t gotten to yet and I really want some more detailed pictures of the bridges I’ve recorded so far.

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Life has had it’s ups and downs the past month and a half.

We lost Eileen’s favorite Uncle (her Father’s youngest brother) - and my favorite Uncle, too. That was a hard week for everyone involved. Stan and Elma had just celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary and I don’t think I’ve seen two people so in love after so many years.

Work has been the craziest of the time. Wars among employees, threatened resignations, real resignations, the busiest summer the owner has ever seen. Through it all, I seem to have found myself in the middle. Both sides come to me to complain and/or look for support. The owner has dumped more responsibility on me, including having to interact with displeased customers. My hours have increased until I’m continuously cruising the edges of a full 40 hour week — and occasionally drifting over the edge. Luckily, I’m only closing two nights a week, but I’m also working 2 full 8 hour shifts and usually a 9 hour shift on Sunday.

The Great Oregon Steam-Up occurred the last weekend in July and first weekend of August. Prior to that I was spending nearly all of my free days in Brooks, Oregon helping to get things setup. Then both weekends were completely consumed from about 9am until past 5pm each day. But it was all fun..

The Sawmill Crew

Someone mentioned the ice cream in yesterday’s picture. Every year a family from Washington state arrives at Steam-Up with their steam powered ice cream machines. They’re one of the big hits of the show.

I also had a couple of opportunities to steer a *big* steam powered traction machine. Built in 1911, I steered in a traditional tractor pull demonstration (the sled never stood a chance) and through the daily parade. Hot, smoky, dirty and oh so much fun…

Knitting — RSN. I’m finally finding the time and all I need is the desire.

Personal life — Big ups and downs, but I *think* I’ve finally come to terms with the situation. I hit my lowest point in months in the middle of July, but Eileen and I have had a couple of really good talks and while I still love the lady, I understand now that she still cares for me, but things just aren’t going to return the way they were. Not happy, but content to continue my current situation.

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If there’s anybody still reading the blog, I’m still alive.

It’s been a trying, tiring, sad, busy, overwhelming, overworked, (and many other adjectives) month and a half.

Too much too explain, some that I don’t want to talk about and some I may post about later.

I think the worst is over and if there’s still anyone interested I hope to return to posting (somewhat regularly.. )

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