Friday, May 24, 2013
Yesterday was the first summer market downtown. We scored fresh leaf lettuce, spring onions, strawberries, some ground beef, lamb shoulder, and beef bones for stock. This is going to be fun – market on Thursday, market on Saturday. I love markets! It rained buckets as we shopped. Fortunately all the stalls had covers and we had umbrellas.
Today is another gloomy, rainy day. The azaleas are finishing and the irises are looking tired,. But the trees are all fully leafed out and the roses are starting and the many, many berry canes along the roadsides are getting ready to bloom.
I walked to the yoga studio this morning – south on Michelbook, east on Wallace, through City Park, and to the intersection of 4th and Adams, the edge of downtown. We walk this route into town quite often, and I always have trouble at this crossing. A street should be flat … but this one’s not. I’ve learned that I should pay attention here and watch my footing.
Adams and Baker Streets are the south and north-bound legs of Highway 99W. Baker Street is not quite as uneven as Adams, but it, too presents its challenges.
One day last week, when it was rainy, rainy, rainy, I drove to the yoga studio. As I made a left from 2nd onto Baker, the car settled itself quite nicely into the northbound “ruts”, and it all clicked.
The culprit – log trucks! We have seen logs going both north and south, and have yet to puzzle out the logic of it. Presumably it depends on which company owns the lumber and where its mill is. The truck you see here is headed south to be reloaded. Timber is no longer king here, but it is still big business.
As to how the mind works, now that I’ve figured out that there are two ruts in each lane, I no longer have trouble crossing Adams Street. My expectations have been adjusted to fit reality. If they ever repave the street and make it flat, I may once again have a problem.
And, in case you’re interested, the downtown streets are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. east and west, and A-B-C north and south: Adams, Baker, Cowls, Davis, Evans, Ford, Galloway, (Hembree, but it doesn’t go through downtown because the railroad tracks are in the way), Irvine, Johnson. A tidy little grid.
