water flows to Portland by gravity

here's a shout to everyone or at least to my lovely neighbors, it is on this day october seventh two thousand and six, by natalie law that you can not get out of your bed until after 9 am on a SATURDAY morning. after a long week of getting up at the crack of dawn, the idea of waking up before 8 am is a crime. early this morning, two men outside my bedroom window were yaking away about something. ugh. made me want to run out there and scream 'hello, nat is trying to get some sleep here!' the next thing you know, the sound of someone sanding an old front door was even more unpleasent than the sound of men talking. secretly propping my head up and looking out the window to take a peek, the guy is happy go lucky sanding away with a cigarette in tow. so, i get up, a little on the irritated side, throw some clothes on and am out the door to make it by 10 am for a guided tour. i made a quick stop at trader joe's for some supplies. its fun to ask questions at the cashier counter. i pull out my directions seeing that they were NOT walker friendly (story of my life) and the cashier (a man) and the person behind me in line (a man) both wanted to help out. ;) one says, oh yea, sw tichner and sw wright are yea, you know right up the road, go 23rd to burnside, cross over and you're there. the other said, have a nice hike. i left with a smile on my face. the directions given to me by the computer [stephen h.] instructed us to meet at the intersection of sw tichner and sw wright. right....... where is that you ask? well, don't take vista avenue turn right on park place to get there. talk about killer steep hill! but thanks so much papa for making things right for me on wright avenue. the walk led by laura foster, author of portland hill walks and a very earthy and wealth of information lady, was my very first guided tour in portland. and, i'm now a fan. big fan! from her book, i'm sure we walked - walk #4 washington park to arlington heights loop. did you know back in 1908, the zoo displayed bears and polar bears in pits. and seals, until some nimrod decided to kill them all off by poisoning their drinking water. oh yea, about that, water, you can NOW walk around reservoir 3 at washington park, the sign reads ' notice: anyone throwing objects of any kind into this reservoir shall be subject to arrest under provisions of section 16.1353 of the portland police code. this is your drinking water.' can you imagine if someone were to sabotage our water? after pearl harbor they thought to cover [create domes] over the reservoirs but decided against it. now, you can look right into the swell of water and make a pebble skip three times. fyi -- "most of the water that comes from your tap begins as rainfall in the bull run watershed near mt. hood. a small portion of the water may start as snowfall or fog drip within the watershed. despite its proximity to the mountain, none of portland's drinking water originates from mt. hood, as the watershed is separated from the mountain by a significant geologic ridge." for more, check out portland water.

check out more laura sightings at foster walks :)