O.C.F. Caretaker's Journal O.C.F. Caretaker's JournalIt is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer
of
deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to he man who is actually
in the arena; whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and
comes short again and again; who
knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in
a worthy cause; who, at the best,
knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails,
at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew
neither victory nor defeat.
---Theodore Roosevelt
Wednesday 31 May The Human Powered Vehicle project is offically past my unoffical schedule for being complete and it still has a long way to go. I still have every confidence it will be done in time so long as I throw bodies at it, including my own. Anybody who can volunteer some time at the Center for Appropriate Transport would be most welcome at this point. What this means is that the ultra busy season has now arrived for me and will last at least another month and a half. Let the games begin.
Tuesday 30 May In 1937, after some enterprising grocer realized that customers only bought as much as they could carry around the store, the shopping cart was invented and the shopping revolution was thus born. Since that time shopping carts have become practically ubiquitous and have been steadily getting larger. In fact, the average modern shopping cart is almost three times as large as its 1975 counterpart. Theories abound to explain the growing shopping cart phenomenon, which has become to be regarded as some kind of oddball economic bellwether. For example, the entry of women into the work force meant trips to the store became less frequent and shoppers wanted to buy more per trip. Another reason might be that people are a wealthier now than they were thirty years ago and are willing to pay higher prices for the luxury of shopping in wide aisles. Once you've got the wider aisles it is said, you might as well get the bigger carts. Or maybe it is that they live in bigger houses with bigger pantries; or they're more likely to cook several dishes for the same meal; or they're more likely to eat separately rather than as a family, and hence to cook more meals per household per day. Perhaps since the advent of the credit card more and more shoppers are willing to fill up a big cart by shopping on credit. This one makes a lot of sense in a perfectly nonsensical kind of way. My personal theory is the huge amount of advertising and packaging that goes into a vast new mindboggling array of products. People used to by a sack of potatoes, now they buy sacks of potato chips. While good old tap water used to be the drink of choice, now bottled water, soda, or other containerized beverages are purchased. Products are routinely double or even triple wrapped. Try buying just a single item and the clerk will inevitably put it into a bag. Americans have poorer nutrition habits and are eating more than ever, all the while expending less energy. Fifty-two percent of Americans weigh at least twenty pounds or more over their recommended weight according to the latest government survey. The point I make is just this: Today's huge shopping carts symbolize much that is wrong with today's society---the manipulation by corporations and their advertisers to urge "consumers" to buy as much as they possibly can---and worse the public's sheep-like acceptance of it all. Resist. Pick up a basket (or better yet bring your own shopping bag), and buy only what you absolutely need.
Sunday 28 May It seems we are ahead of the game this year, the Kitchen getting pressure washed and cleaned, picnic tables brought down. Several small jobs such as changing the oil in the two John Deere mowers, a backboard for Lobstra, and a new roof on the pumphouse toolshed were accomplished. Traffic was getting their area ready and the new loft on their desk finished. Lots and lots of people just out walking. Bucket and I took the six barrels full of cans and bottles that have accumulated since the last Fair over to the deposit return machines in front of Ray's Food Place. For an hour or so we had our own miniature Recycling Dock scene, bottles and cans clattering, clanking, and flying around---much to the bemusement of the local populist. After dinner a few lucky ones took the first Sauna of the year. Hot as the Devil it was and felt just great. It truly feels pre-Fair, that undescribable humming buzzing electrical energized all encompassing whatever-it-is thing, is now happening. I am like Jello and off to bed.
Saturday 27 May One of my analogies for this job is the lobster put in a pot of water with the heat turned on, not even realizing it as the temperature climbs to boiling. Right now the water is still tepid around here and it is hard to realize that full on Main Camp will be here in two weeks. Communications and some construction folks as well as crew at the Sauna were getting things started out here. People wanting to get on crews have been showing up this weekend as well, which is not a bad way to do it in my experience. Although on the face of it getting on staff seems hard to do, anybody actually willing to show up often and work hard, no questions asked, will get in. Palmer and Bucket showed up this evening and together with Steve, Arrow, and I, sat around a fire at Entertainment Camp and dreamed of the days ahead. Sierra was there too but this will be her last weekend. No dogs will be allowed on site starting June 1st.
Thursday 25 May Spent the morning plumbing a new line through the wall between the office and communications alley in the Ware house. The In the afternoon Clif was here and we worked on mounting heavy duty wheels on a couple of carts---his energy cart and the new cart that I built. Towards evening there was a small stream of people inspecting their booths and such.
Wednesday 24 May If you've just been transfered to my new cyberhome via the miracle of HTML, then welcome---and please remember to update your bookmarks. Today after going to Jerry's for plmbing parts, to the office for a brief chat, and to the Keystone for breakfast with James, I ended up at the Center for Appropriate Transport to begin working on the Human Powered Vehicle. Phillip and Devo joined me but perhaps not totally unexpectedly the supplies had not yet been procured. Part of the deal is that we will do a certain amount of the grunt work and so each went out and got stuff to bring back and then began cutting up steel. It didn't feel like we got a lot done but it was good to start getting the project off the drawing board (actually a CAD program), and into the third dimension. Hilary and I went and saw SMALL TIME CROOKS*** the newest Woody Allen movie which is really quite funny. His movies always come from a unique perspective that I come to appreciate that more with each movie. This one is a spoof on the nouveau riche, a likely stab at all the freshly minted dotcom millionares running around these days.
Tuesday 23 May It's the calm before the storm here and we're starting to get things ready. Yesterday I did things like pressure wash the inside of the reefer truck and air and gas Mothra and Godzilla. I had to get to the bank in town and made it in the last munite. I checked out U-571* which wasn't very good, an awfully lot of camera rattling to simulate depth charges, water and steam spurting all over the place, and that was about it. Today was some lock and other security stuff. Out of the blue mud a water line burst down by Stage Left, probably caused by one of those phantom depth charges you know, and we had to turn off that part of the system until the Water Crew can dig it up and fix it. That crew will certainly have their work cut out for them this year.
Sunday 21 May Spent the day as Barn Boy as the duty has now affectionately been named. Steve, Dennis Todd, and some other members of the LUMP Committee did a fairly extensive survey of part of Indian Creek using a GPS locator and laser level---in order to begin planning the restoration of meanderings and habitat from the straight-line canal canal possibly dug in the 1940s. I, on the other hand, straightened out some crooked wheels on a cart and a trailer. Man by his nature attempts to make things straight, while Nature inevitably prefers and eventually returns everything to organic forms. Part of the construction philosophy here at the Fair is to design that randomness in from the start---avoiding right angles, building with driftwood, and working asymmetrically, for example. While harder to actually do successfully than might at first be imagined, after a few years our structures generally weather into that certain state of beautiful decay that blends them in such perfect harmony with their surroundings. Talking with Vic Parkinson today, I finally realized why I have not had an entry in my Guestbook since February. My permissions got scrambled by the current server with out my permission, and not the first time this has happened either. Here all this time I kind of figured nobody was bothering---at least I feel better about that. Clif Cox has often offered to host this website on his new server and I have decided to take him up on it. Although I will continue to use EFN for my email and dial-up service, this latest glitch has finally pushed me towards something more solid and reliable. I will mirror this site here for a few more days before moving over to my new home at http://www.eugeneweb.com/~andyman Please update your bookmarks now---and sign in the Guestbook if you want!
Saturday 20 May I can't remember the last weekend day that I was off site, and it could be a while before it happens again now, but today I headed over to the ERB Memorial Union Lawn to have a little fun. Mixing business and pleasure though, I attended the Eugene Celebration's Creativity Workshop. This year the Downtown Events Management Inc, organizers of the Celebration, in an attempt to breath some needed life into the parade, are borrowing some beautiful giant puppets, and encouraging the community to get into the act with more creative floats and puppets of their own. I have already volunteered my services to facilitate our own entry in the parade this year. The only thing I know for sure at this point is that we will not be fielding the usual truck float and spirit flags. It is high time the OCF shows some of the creativity that it is justly famous for. The theme for this year's Eugene Celebration is Uniquely Eugene and we are practically the poster children for that concept. Anybody that wants to brainstorm ideas and perhaps form a small committee to help with this endeavor after the Fair will be most welcome. Afterwards, enjoying the music and the crowd, I am reminded of that interesting dynamic that seems to happen when people are assembled at large gatherings such as this one. There is a sense of congeniality and cordiality between old friends and strangers alike, an indefinable energy perhaps, that resonates through the music and unites the participants in a common unanimity. Or something like that anyway.
Friday 19 May The Williamette Valley Folk Festival is in full swing over at the U of O, so things are likely to be pretty slow around here this weekend, as they were today with absolutely no visitors. I just might try and slip down there tomorrow myself. This is the traditional kickoff for the Summer festival season and the beautiful weather bodes well for our own event, I think, because starts gettting people thinking about it---unlike last year when the Folk Festival was rained upon and the weather didn't really warm up until right before the Fair.
Thursday 18 May My face now looks like the aftermath of a bad sunburn, dry and flaking---which is in fact a good thing. Pretty soon I'll shed my skin like a snake and be back to normal, although perhaps a little wiser. Yesterday I felt well enough to start the cleanup in Killgallon Acres, which could much more accurately described as the cesspool of the Fair. This is were the floods exit and deposit much of the loose debris from other parts of the property, as well as where the drainfield for the Sauna resides. After huge multi-year efforts to clean the vast dimensional deposits from this area, it makes perfect sense to maintain it by fishing everything out on a yearly basis. Radical Bill was helping out around here for the last several days and in the evening took him to the Greyhound Station to continue his journeys. He will go to Port Townsend to catch a ferry to Alaska and return here in about a month to work on Site Crew. Today I got the lawn mowed in the morning and then Cilf brought around the redwood trailer that we usually beat to death prefair. We replaced a leaf spring, straighted and reenforced the tongue, mounted the spare, and did some other minor repairs. Bear Wilner has just finished his Master's Thesis and rode his bke all the way from town and that made himwell qualified to screen compost and fill bags for the Labyrinth. I still need a lot of help on this project but the pile of burlap tubes, which are the building blocks for this project, is slowly starting to grow. This evening I took the tractor over to Zenn Acres and cleared out a space for a new garden for our tenant Jason. We also took the opportunity to clear away yet more residue from the Hubbard occupation, and I mowed the back "lawn" with the tractor's brush hog attachment in anticipation of the new camping area there this summer. On warm Spring Days such as these there is a steady trickle of folks out checking on their booths.
Tuesday 16 May Woke up with my eyes glued shut, face swollen like a balloon, and somehow knew right then that it was going to be a long day. Call me a wimp if you will, but I called up the Applegate Clinic and made an appointment for 1650. Mostly I hit the shower every two hours as I waited impatiently, but did go for a site walk as naturally it was a most beautiful day. I spotted those ugly offending vines thirty feet up in a tree and I will eventually get my revenge. In the meantime it was off to the clinic where the receptionist informed me that I had the wrong day, to come back tomorrow sir---whereupon I raised my sunglasses and gave her my best you've got to be kidding stare from behind those oozing, puffy, red slits in my head. Fortunately that quickly got the desired results and they managed to fit me in. I recieved a prescription for Prednisone, in the Cortisone family---and that is definitely helping me keep my sanity at the moment. Better living through chemistry.
Monday 15 May Yesterday there was quite a bit of activity around the site, including some treeplanting of cedars at the nursery by the VegManECs. Among other things I took a small crew to the Far Side to recover the hemp tipi, which has be too wet during the last week. Finally we were able to take it down, freshly laundered by Nature's rains. Tommy Rhea was putting up the new 50 pair telephone cable from the terminal at Chickadee Gate to Communications Alley in the Ware House. We assisited by moving the tall ladder and pulling cable, and I even ventured up several times. In the evening there was a long succession of thunderclaps, which rattled the windows and then went ripping and tearing across the Sky. Common to the East Coast and Midwest, thunder is rarer here, in part because weather originates in the Pacific Ocean and interacts to a greater degree with the hot, dry updrafts rising from the plains. Thunder is air getting super-heated from a lighning bolt causing it to expand explosively. Around 2230 I am watching SPARTICUS on video when I start to itch. To my horror I realize that I have come in contact with the dreaded Poison Oak during the day. It is on my arms neck and all around my eyes, and while that is bad enough, that isn't all. I valiently try to raid the office for TecNu without success. Today I am looking the loser of a bar room brawl. Part of the day is spent at the intown office in meetings after which I mowed the lawn. I have taken over the landscaping duties there, reminding me of the days when I was Andyman. When I get back Tommy is here and has finished stringing the cable through the trees. He too has contracted the dreaded rash but for him it is only on his arms and theorizes that we got it off the rope, or we could have gotten it from a vine while we were up hanging on for dear life---which in either case makes sense since I am usually super careful about getting anywhere near this truly noxious and evil weed.
Saturday 13 May Today was the annual pre-fair site cleanup workparty. Because of the recent rains, the wetness of the paths prevented driving in trucks, but we stockpiled rotten dimensional lumber and plywood around the Eight to be picked up later. Not as big a huge turnout as we may have wished for, but still an enthusiastic group of fifteen or so people makes a a lot happen in a short amount of time. Also, the cumulative effect of several years of aggressive cleanouts is definitely beginning to have its effect. Previous pockets of resistance are gone and new areas can be swept out. Radical Bill, an old friend of mine from my Gainesville and member of Site Crew last year, arrived today and will be staying here for up to a week and helping me to get a lot more prefair site cleanup done. A big thanks to the rest of you folks who showed up, you know who you are. I would like to end today's entry with a quote from Helen Nearing, who was born on 13 May 1904 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. In the early 1930s she and her husband Scott Nearing, a radical with socialist and pacifist views, bought a run-down farm in Vermont where they began growing their own food and living simply. Their writings about what they called "The Good Life" attracted many visitors to their farm. Laying the groundwork for what would eventually become the Back to the Land Movement, they continued their life together for half a century without any need for doctors or the refinements of the modern society. The following is an extract from Helen Nearing's speech to the world vegetarian congress in The Hague at the age of ninety: "We are all in this world together - people, plants, and animals - and we had better make the most of our opportunities. We are all here for some purpose: I believe that it is to live a good life, individually and collectively. That means for us humans to do as little harm as possible; to other humans, to animals, and to the whole environment, and to do as much good as possible; to live simply, not elaborately, to consume the least possible, not the most possible. If you have any religion, let it be helpfulness, love, and unity. We will then fulfill the purpose and take our part in the great plan. It is as simple as that."
Thursday 11 May There has been three and a third inches of rain on Site since Sunday, two inches in the las two days alone. The Long Tom River has risen six or eight feet and Indian Creek is spilling out of its banks in places. This is the type of weather more typical of Winter, rather unexpected in the middle of Spring---but in fact there is an interesting bit of folklore concerning this time of year. May 11th, 12th, and 13th are the feast days of Saints Mammertius, Pancratius, and Gervatius respectively. They are known as collectively as the Three Chilly Saints, because these are traditionally the coldest days of the month. English and French farmers believed that these days would always bring a late frost. Indeed Steve tells me that they are worried tonight about a killing frost in the vineyards of southwestern Oregon. In Germany these days are called das Icemanner, or the Icemen Days, and people used to believed it was never safe to plant until the Icemen were gone. Yet another bit of folklore claimed, "He who shears his sheep before St. Gervatius' Day loves more his wool than his sheep." I helped Nancy and Carol of Flower Crew rebuild some of their flower boxes this morning, worked on starting and maintenance of several pieces of equipment in the afternoon, then took a long sitewalk as the Sun finally reemerged towards evening, to see if there was any damage from the latest storm. Other than the aformentioned minor flooding everything seems fine.
Wednesday 10 May Unrelenting rain all day. The reward for a job well done is (as we all well know so well) more work, and so to that end Nancy Hafner and I have been rewarded with a second Water Quality Monitoring site starting today. The new site is about ten miles upriver at the Alderwood Wayside, near the junction of Poodle Creek Road and Highway 36. I got pretty soaked while doing that and figured that Nature was telling me to stay inside for the rest of today, which is pretty much what I did. It is the start of Tori no Mawari, which is Bird Week in Japan. Rapid deforestation there is causing the loss of bird habitat and therefore of the birds themselves, and people are being encouraged to spend the week getting to know birds. Ornithologists, birdwatchers and other experts give lectures and students work on bird related projects, such as planting trees and building nest boxes. There are also many birds listed here on the WatchList which are endangered in the United States. DDT, which has a half-life of over a hundred years, is still present in the soil and is even still presently in use in some South American countries---where some of our birds migrate to and from. DDT causes thin shells and birth defects. Household cats take a major toil on small birds and chicks. Non-native birds compete with indigenous species for scarce food and shelter. But by far the greatest threat to endangered and other bird species is the loss habitat as a result of our human activities. The Oregon Country Fair is refuge and habitat for some of these birds. While onsite please remember you are here for a relatively short period of time and that, in a way, you are actually their guests---and as such please treat their home with the respect due to any host.
Monday 8 May It rained buckets last night. Steve and I finished clearing up after the weekend activities with the exception of striking the tipi--since it is now soaking wet. I was going to work with David Peek this afternoon on the Labyrinth project but when he couldn't make it, and considering the weather, I decided to get out of Dodge and take myself to a movie. I saw GLADIATOR****, which was well beyond my expectations. Filled with plenty of bloody decapitations and other great gladitorial mayham, this movie packs a wallop and might not be for the squeamish, but will be a rollickingly fun ride for others. Russell Crowe, who was recently nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the INSIDER, does a fine job starring as the fictional General Maximus. Ridley Scott, whose previous outings include ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER, directs this visually stunning epic. As it turned out to be almost three hours long, I ended up missing the Board work session.
Sunday 7 May It's been a busy weekend here the Site. Yesterday we made preparations on the Far Side for today's dedication, including the setting up of the hemp tipi. Then in the late afternoon I headed in with Steve to the Spring Fling at the WOW Hall. Ashbury Park played and a good time was had by all. Sensory overload occurs as many of the old faces that I haven't seen since last year reappear. Check out the Fair's website for a look at the new poster. Today was the Far Side Dedication and there was a good turn out as Nicky Scully and Matoe led grounding ceremonies. Well over a hundred and fifty people were on Site today for various workparties, meetings, and just plain old visiting. Things will calm down a bit before the energy curve starts to build for real. Exactly two months until the first day of the Fair!
Friday 5 May The planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are more or less positioned in a line with the Sun, occupying a span on the Sky only 27 degrees across. Additionally, the Moon was also in line. We can't see this alignment because all the planets are on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth. While the planets in our solar system will never be in a completely straight line with each other in the foreseeable future, according to the world's most sophisticated computer models, even such planetary arrangements such as this current one are rare, although they must of course occur from time to time. The last one happened in 1982, and a lot of misunderstanding and fear was created with the 1976 publication of The Jupiter Effect. It predicted that the alignment of planets would cause solar flares, and that that would change the rotation of the Earth, which in turn would cause earthquakes like the Big One. Obviously that never happened---but this did nothing to prevent the supermarket tabloids from predicting another certain Doomsday with the melting of ice caps, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and all associated death and destruction--- and yet we have somehow miraculously survived again.. In fact each planet has a minute and virtually undetectable gravitational pull on the Earth, and with the planets on the opposite side of the Sun, the force from each body is actually be at its absolute minimum during the alignment. Gravitational effects do not somehow magically multiply due to some geometric arrangement. Probably a more interesting phenomena to note is the fact that, for the first time in about 38 years, no planets will be visible in the night sky at all---until Mercury reappears towards the end of the month.
Thursday 4 May In the town of Cocullo, Italy, on the first Thursday in May, the annual Snake Festival is held. It is in honor of San Domenico, a Benedictine monk, who was born in Umbria in 950. Well before San Domenico arrived in these parts, the early Etruscans worshipped the goddess Angizia, who also protected people from serpents. During those ancient times snakes were thought of as symbols of wisdom and healing, which is the reason why they have come to appear on the caduceus ---(pronounced "kuh-DOO-see-us") symbol of the medical profession. Because of the way they shed their skins they are also associated with rebirth. It was only after the coming of Christianity and the telling of the first book of Genesis that snakes acquired their evil reputation. Snake handlers catch the snakes during the Equinox as they begin tp emerge into the warmth of the Sun and then store them in jars of bran. On the feast day they haul them out and people get their photographs taken with a snakes draped around their necks. They then carry the snakes in procession through the cobbled streets, wrapped around images of San Domenico. Ciambellone, a special bread shaped like a snake biting its tail, is made to decorate the poles which which support the statues. The festival used to end with the snakes being killed to be made into ointments and cures, but fortunately for them, they are nowadays released. It was a back and forth rain, sun, rain, sun day around here---the kind of weather that the grass loves and we are barely able to stay ahead of it. Despite being cut recently it took me three passes to cut the Dragon Court, as Security is having a meeting there this Sunday.
Wednesday 3 May On Monday I gave the "lawn" at Zenn Acres a first cut which seemed like hard work even on a riding mower since we let it get out of hand. I suppose we were waiting for the tenant to do it but--- big surprise---that never happened. I sharpened the rather dull blades afterwards. During the Board Meeting I made an announcement about finding a few good volunteers for the Labyrinth Project (see above). Yesterday Steve and I shuttled the Peach Truck into town for some transmission work, and I met again with Jon at CAT about the HPV which, although still in the design phase at this point, should be operational in time for Main Camp. Later I went to see the Mystical Arts of Tibet show at the WOW Hall with Hilary and Anne. Today Dave Peek and I worked on cutting and sewing burlap tubes for the aforementioned Labyrinth project. The Fair's new 1951 industrial Singer sewing machine, which we were initially having a few problems with, was working perfectly.
Monday 1 May The month of May was named for Maia, the Roman goddess of growth and fertility. Her name seems to be related to a Latin word that means increase or growth. The ancient Romans held ceremonies in Maia's honor on May 1st and 15th.. The Floralia, a six day festival of the Goddess Flora, patron of flowers and Spring, was also celebrated at this time. Known as Chloris to the Greeks, she was the beautiful and serene Queen of Spring, married to Zephyrus, the West Wind. Although Mayday can be traced back to its origins from many pagan sources, its main source is believed to be that of the Floralia, which began around the year 258 BC. It was a time a great merriment and rejoicing among the ancient Romans as Spring had arrived anew. It started with theatrical performances and climaxed with athletic games. Flowers were gathered to honor Flora and were used to bedeck temples and houses. Hares and goats, symbols of fertility,were let loose in the Circus Maximus prior to the games. Beans and lupins were thrown into the crowds. Bright colored clothing, especially green, was worn instead of the usual white togas. Singing filled the air and dancers stomped the ground to awaken Nature. Prostitutes considered Flora their patron goddess and so the Floralia was especially important to them. They participated in many of the activities---anything from performing nude in theatrical events to actual gladiatorial contests.