Tuesday, September 30, 2014

99W in Autumn

When we drive to Corvallis, we frequently take 99W.  It's the older highway system that was in place before Interstate Five, which runs to the east from Eugene to Albany.  

99W  runs through farmland which grow mostly grass and mint.   Hazelnut groves are my favorite because of the moire patterns made by the regular trunks.  There are a few windmill-pumps along the way, too.  The buildings are often shabby, unfortunately:  one-story rancher-bungalows that have seen better days and paint jobs.  The oldest have had all the paint peeled off, and the rain and sun bleaches the wood underneath.   At least the old, once-red barns look picturesque as thy decay in the distance.

For the longest time, there was a great haunted house candidate, an old gothic looking farm house with two stories and an attic under a steep roof.  A bramble was taking over one side, and parts of the porch were sagging.  For a while ten years ago, it looked like it might it might be salvagable, but it simply became more and more weathered.  Some time last year it was knocked down, because it's gone now.

The rain has returned for the autumn, and the clouds scud the grey clouds skud over the coastal hills.  As we get closer to Corvallis, Mary's Peak comes into view, its top in a white cloud.   We drive past old oaks, toppled in last year's storm.  There aren't any raptors visible today.

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Sunday Workout:  It's a rest day or two, I'm not sure if mowing the lawn counts.

Project:  Finishing up the OTP "Property" challenge story.  I have the ending roughed in.  Now I need to polish it up.  I wrote the majority of it in SimpleNote on the iPad.  There's something to be said for being able to work on something where ever I have the iPad, but there's also something to be said for working on a larger screen, too. 

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