I live about a three hour drive to the Portland Oregon LDS temple, which pretty much limits my visits there. So when I feel the need to go to the House of the Lord and serve therein, I go to the Stake Center on Saturday and help with the cleaning, whether it's my turn or not. Like today, where I spent a half an hour washing and rinsing floor mop pads.
Afterwards, I went to Discovery Park and walked the perimeter. Except for the dog park and two or three other people, the park was empty. I discovered that the south part of the park is missing part of its trail, so I had to gingerly climb down a sandy slope to get over to the paved path. The wind was blowing strong, and there were few people there. I asked one woman how long the perimeter was, and she didn't know. She walks it with her friends regularly "and it does wonders," she said. She told me that people who wear Fitbits know, and then told me of a friend of hers, who, when a smoke alarm went off in the hotel they were staying at, ran to the stairs with her husband. He stopped and ran back for his Fitbit, so that his going down the stairs counted on its register.
For me, it took me a little over 40 minutes to walk the perimeter one and a half times.
The park opened earlier this summer, and has a pond in the center of it, which is fed by a well and by run-off, and has a water pump to circulate the water to avoid mosquitoes from plaguing the area. Countless families brought their kids and dogs to play in the water in the hot ninety degree plus days.. The signs went up for dogs to stay out, but people have their special exceptions. My supervisors groused about lack of water safety: "What do we do if someone drowns? or just drops off a dead body? Don't we have any "closed" signs ready? What do we tell the media?"
A few weeks of this, and the Bulletin newspaper put out an article about something or other of water safety, with a side bar, announcing that Discovery Park's pond would be tested twice a week for e-coli, salmonella, and other bacteria. The rest of the week, only two or three families were there, and then they heard the news, and afterwards only an occasional paddle boarder or two were at the water. Today, there was nothing but the wind-churned water.
Afterwards, I went to Discovery Park and walked the perimeter. Except for the dog park and two or three other people, the park was empty. I discovered that the south part of the park is missing part of its trail, so I had to gingerly climb down a sandy slope to get over to the paved path. The wind was blowing strong, and there were few people there. I asked one woman how long the perimeter was, and she didn't know. She walks it with her friends regularly "and it does wonders," she said. She told me that people who wear Fitbits know, and then told me of a friend of hers, who, when a smoke alarm went off in the hotel they were staying at, ran to the stairs with her husband. He stopped and ran back for his Fitbit, so that his going down the stairs counted on its register.
For me, it took me a little over 40 minutes to walk the perimeter one and a half times.
The park opened earlier this summer, and has a pond in the center of it, which is fed by a well and by run-off, and has a water pump to circulate the water to avoid mosquitoes from plaguing the area. Countless families brought their kids and dogs to play in the water in the hot ninety degree plus days.. The signs went up for dogs to stay out, but people have their special exceptions. My supervisors groused about lack of water safety: "What do we do if someone drowns? or just drops off a dead body? Don't we have any "closed" signs ready? What do we tell the media?"
A few weeks of this, and the Bulletin newspaper put out an article about something or other of water safety, with a side bar, announcing that Discovery Park's pond would be tested twice a week for e-coli, salmonella, and other bacteria. The rest of the week, only two or three families were there, and then they heard the news, and afterwards only an occasional paddle boarder or two were at the water. Today, there was nothing but the wind-churned water.
No comments:
Post a Comment