Calling for Karma is a dangerous thing, unless one has a past of unblemishness.
And who has a unblemishinessic past?
I keep reminding myself of that.
I liked the snow. Of course, I stayed home and did some work and reading and otherwise just cozied up.
Memory is tricky, and my memory is trickier, but I seem to remember snow in October was frequent growing up in Bend. Maybe not this much, and maybe not this early. I seem to remember Mt. Bachelor opening up in late October, or at least in early November.
This wet snow should saturate the ground up there, and be a good surface for the next wave of snow.
But, most of all, this is just Bend, and Bend often gets snow, and why would you live here if you didn't know that? Linda and I have always thought it weird that the West Hills have so many steep driveways, and otherwise dangerous roads. We always figured that everyone up there had 4-wheel monster trucks.
I grew up on Roanoke Ave. and I'd often have to park at the bottom of the hill and hike home. Or make a run up 5th Street and circle back down.
So, like I said, memory is tricky -- but I remember snow being a constant presence in Bend. The last 10 years or so have been kind of unusual.
Bemoaning that you can't grow vegetables is just weird. The weather was here when you moved here, folks. Did you think it would change to suit your desires?
**********
I think the booths in front of my store on Saturday weren't exactly crowd inducers. Still, it seemed awfully slow to me. I suspect that two events two weeks in a row is just too much. I'm assuming these booths didn't even show up on Sunday.
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2009
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October
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- A long, cold winter.
- Where's Duncan? Lazy Bum!
- nice deal if you can get it.
- Not the 80's.
- 180 degree turn.
- "Emotional Bookmarks"
- "Cheap"
- All Deliberate Speed.
- What's Really Going On?
- Greenie vs. the Black Dragon.
- Big and Small.
- Openings and Closings Downtown Bend
- Well, duh.
- Brilliant, Mortimer!
- Shoeless banks.
- What if?
- The West is not the Best.
- Back to the Working Level.
- The original smartass
- Openings and Closings Downtown Bend
- Greenie.
- Hello, lamppost.
- Beatles for Sale.
- Singles prices.
- No debt.? Who could have know'ded?
- The tyranny of the skinny women.
- Mom and Pops are Thriving?
- Progress report.
- Headline browsing.
- Hey, OSLO!!
- Dream stores.
- 90 pound weakling.
- Linda headed to S.F.
- Hay, a surprise!
- Snow Karma
- Falls (?!) Here.
- Fraud with a View.
- A Serious Town
- September 2009 results.
- Early Christmas.
- The Dilemma
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October
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About Me
- Duncan McGeary
- I'm Duncan McGeary, owner and/or operator for the last 39 years of Pegasus Books in Downtown Bend, Oregon. These days I'm writing books as well as selling them. I'm the comic book guy. But even more so, I'm a book book guy. Books of all kinds. Big books and little books, children's and adult, fiction and non-fiction, hardback and paperback and trade paperback and graphic novels. Books with more words than pictures and books with more pictures than words. They are all part of the book world to me, and I love being surrounded by them every day.
21 comments:
"But, most of all, this is just Bend, and Bend often gets snow, and why would you live here if you didn't know that?"
I knew it got snow here, and I'm okay with that -- but getting 4-7 inches of snow on Oct. 4 is just ridiculous, especially considering that spring doesn't come until June. Five months of winter is fine, but seven months is too damn much and nine months is intolerable.
But I've only got two more Bend winters to endure, thank god. After that, one way or another, we will be out of here.
"I think the booths in front of my store on Saturday weren't exactly crowd inducers. Still, it seemed awfully slow to me." -- Duncan, Oct. 5
"Had a very good day at the store, yesterday, during the Fall Festival. So good, I thought about opening today." -- Duncan, Oct. 4
So which was it, Dunc? Awfully slow or very good?
"Memory is tricky, and my memory is trickier, but I seem to remember snow in October was frequent growing up in Bend."
I remember that when I was 3 or 4 years old the snow often was so deep it came up to my chest or even my head. It's not nearly as deep now. ;>)
Both? They aren't mutually exclusive.
Sold about 400.00 worth of magic, which really boosted totals and had nothing to do with Fall Fest.
It's not ridiculous, it's just weather.
It's well within the range of weather I remember growing up here.
I sometimes think 50k people moved here without realizing it snows, or that it gets cold.
And I LIKE the snow and the cold.
I like the feel and the smell, and the wafting cloud breathe and the crunch underfoot and the breeze and the whole thing.
I grew up skiing every weekend. Can't afford it these days, but the snow is in my bones.
"Both? They aren't mutually exclusive."
On Sunday you said you had a "very good day" on Saturday, so good that you were considering opening on Sunday until you looked at the weather.
On Monday you said "it seemed awfully slow to me" on Saturday.
Unless I've forgotten how to read and understand English, those statements are contradictory.
"I liked the snow."
Bully for you. I'll send you the bill from the tree service for clearing up all the broken tree limbs on my property. I'm guessing it will run in the neighborhood of $300 to $500.
Driving around Bend this morning it was heartbreaking to see all the beautiful trees that had been wrecked by that damn snow.
"It's not ridiculous, it's just weather."
Yes, it's ridiculous weather.
"It's well within the range of weather I remember growing up here."
Bulletin says Sunday's snowfall was the heaviest ever recorded in the past century for a day in October. So unless you're a hell of a lot older than you let on, your memory is faulty.
"And I LIKE the snow and the cold."
You're a hard-core Bend "lifer" and you'll insist you like everything about Bend, no matter what. If it was 100 degrees here every day you'd say you liked the heat. But that's okay -- whatever floats your boat.
MY boat is gonna float the hell out of here ASAP.
"On Sunday you said you had a "very good day" on Saturday, so good that you were considering opening on Sunday until you looked at the weather.
On Monday you said "it seemed awfully slow to me" on Saturday."
I'll repeat. It's not mutually exclusive. There seemed to be far fewer people downtown -- but some of them spent money in my store.
"You're a hard-core Bend "lifer" and you'll insist you like everything about Bend, no matter what. If it was 100 degrees here every day you'd say you liked the heat."
NOLO CONTENDERE
"I like the feel and the smell, and the wafting cloud breathe and the crunch underfoot and the breeze and the whole thing."
So do I -- anytime from November through March.
"NOLO CONTENDERE"
LOL! That's one thing I like about you, Dunc -- you have a sense of humor and self-insight.
"I'll repeat. It's not mutually exclusive. There seemed to be far fewer people downtown -- but some of them spent money in my store."
Okay, now I get it -- in one post you were talking about how your store did, and in the other you were talking about the size of the crowd at the Fall Festivus or whatever the hell it was.
Bend really needs to think of some new wrinkles to give these endless festivals some variety. Like a public sex show to promote the fertility of the soil at the Spring Festival, or a human sacrifice to the Corn God at the Fall Festival. That'd bring out the crowds.
Dunc, I agree, the snow is in my bones too. It's part of being here.
No, getting 4-7 inches of snow in Bend is not "ridiculous". It simply "is" weather that happened (most likely with a little help from Global Warming / Climate Change). Don't like snow - then pack up and leave. Now - not in two years. I've never understood people who complain about the weather. It is what it is. You can't change so deal with it / get over it / revel in it. Better yet, make peace with it and make multiple plans based on what the weather might provide (e.g. Plan "A", but if not, then Plan "B", then Plan "C" and then Plan "D" which should be something to do indoors). Be happy - or get the hell out of Dodge.
"I've never understood people who complain about the weather."
I've never understood people who get all in a snit when other people complain about the weather. I'm not blaming YOU for it.
I've also never encountered this reaction anywhere but Bend. Back East, when the weather sucks and you complain about it most people will just agree with you. Here, people -- especially the Bend "lifers" like Duncan and, apparently, you -- seem to feel personally offended if somebody complains about "their" weather. Is it because one of their cherished delusions is being challenged, maybe?
"Don't like snow - then pack up and leave. Now - not in two years."
That's an asinine statement. Do you think I can just shove all my belongings in a shopping bag and hitchhike out of town?
Blackdog shoots and scores!
Seriously, sic 'em, blackdog. That whole "don't like it, then leave" line is stale just as it was 7, 8 years ago. No one's saying YOU suck. Just the weather, and, well, lots of other things here. Deal with it. Every place has growth; my home state certainly did (till recently) but never have I lived anyplace where the natives were so easily offended, entitled and prematurely wrinkled.
Bend natives, despite their vast worldview and assumed expertise, are not the only people entitled to critique this place we call home. Just the fact that someone would bother to call him- or herself "bendborn" points to all kinds of smug, annoying, parochial lameness that I was tired of in 2002. Xenophobe much?
You or your ancestors moved here from somewhere else before we did. But quit deluding yourselves into thinking this frozen cowboy gulag is "paradise." There isn't even a Chik-Fil-A or Hooters here.
Kidding. Ha ha! (Jokes are these things people have back east.)
Please stay, blackdog. We need more dissenters from the weird groupthink in this town.
"Just the fact that someone would bother to call him- or herself "bendborn" points to all kinds of smug,"
Ah, you're just jealous.
But sure, you're right, just like me proclaiming I've been in business in downtown Bend for 30 years is smug.
But fun to say.
The liking the snow and cold though, isn't delusional. I really do like it. It's really strange that people can't believe that....
"Bend natives, despite their vast worldview and assumed expertise, are not the only people entitled to critique this place we call home. ...
You or your ancestors moved here from somewhere else before we did."
Maybe we need a rule that only full-blooded Warm Springs, Paiute or Wasco Indians are allowed to make any comments about Central Oregon.
I assume blackdog tzkes his or her name from Winston Churchill's description of his periodic bouts of depression.
Cheer up. The cold weather allows you to curl up in front of fire with a good book; go skiing; snowshoeing; or out for a brisk walk/run. Go get a cup of hot chocolate downtown and talk to someone you don't know. Go harass Duncan in his store and buy a good book while you're doing it.
I don't care if you complain about the weather in Bend, but I prefer to hear about things that matter.
Hey, Wes. How's the weather in Albany? eh?
Give me a call at the store Wes, I'd liked to chat.
Dunc
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