A waterfall doesn’t quite make it down. It returned to the road instead.

Unbelievable! Driving along the old U.S. 30 east of Mosier, I spotted the blowing wind reversing a waterfall back onto the nearby roadway near Rowena Crest. This was remarkably cool, except now that I am soaking wet and so is my camera.

N8082U: The aft section of the United DC-8 fuselage in a lot near E Burnside and NE 157th Ave. My longtime friend, Elliott Schofield, shot this print photo. I was four years old when the crash occurred.

Thirty years ago on this day, United Airlines flight 173, a Douglas DC-8 aircraft departed from Denver and bounded for Portland. In the end, the flight would stop short from the Portland International Airport a few miles away after running out of fuel. The plane went down at 6:15 pm Pacific Time. Ten people died from the crash, mainly from impacting the trees.

I was four years old then when my Grandmother and I played a game of Solitaire at the kitchen table at her house in Southeast Portland near SE 168th Ave. and SE Stark Street.

The lights went out. We lit some candles and continued our card game.

This magnified and cropped shot from the previous photo shows the fuselage detail, tail number “N8082U” and the damaged tree bark. Photo courtesy of Elliott Schofield, December 1978.

A short time later, my grandfather saw several helicopters hovering overhead a short distance away. We had no idea why the helicopters were buzzing overhead, but we were curious.

My father arrived the following morning to pick me up from my grandparents’ house. We drove north on SE 162nd Ave. towards Marine Drive where we normally would cross back into Vancouver via the Interstate Bridge.

While we crossed the four-lane East Burnside intersection, I saw to my left an aircraft tail fin with a large U painted in red and blue and the power line poles with the triangular-shaped support arms lining Burnside.

Being four years old then, I thought it was a spectacular sight to see. I didn’t know or understood then why the plane crashed or knew that ten people died. One thing I knew for sure is that I have a photographic memory and it is still vivid, just as I still remember seeing the May 18, 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption when I was six years old.

Today, East Burnside near NE 157th Ave. is a two-lane road with a light rail train speeding down the center and bike lanes on the right shoulder. An apartment complex now sits at the crash site and there isn’t really much memorializing the deceased.

Thirty years later, I still remember that plane crash like it was only yesterday.

(Thanks Elliott for the photo!)

Mini mountain: Snow pile from shoveling snow off the driveway. That’s only half of it!

A total of 16 inches of snow fell at my house in Milwaukie this week. The good news is the temperature is now 40 degrees with light rain. The bad news is that the roads are sloppy slush.

I’ve been in Les Schwab since 10:30 this morning. Two and half hour of listening to their phones ringing off the hook. More so, there are many customers coming in that they are forgetting those waiting to be billed and go on their merry way.

Ice and snow are not the only road hazards. Tire chain remains lying on the roads are also a problem.

I found one of my tires with abnormally low air pressure. I also found a piece of tire chain embedded into the tread.

It seems that I have a long wait at Les Schwab Tires to have this tire repaired.

For those of you who read my story “Nature’s ice sculptures form in the Gorge” probably noted the travel note at the bottom. One thing I did anticipate for the upcoming winter weather is that if the road conditions became unbearable, the roads in the Gorge, including I-84, would be closed.

The story was written and published last Friday. Oregon Department of Transportation closed the highways in the Gorge between Troutdale and Hood River on Sunday. It was a good call.

An unidentified man walks his dog at the snow-covered Ardenwald Park on Saturday.

Instead of driving out to Neverland in the snow, I decided to take a walk around my neighborhood and snap some photos of the four inches of snow blanketing our neighborhood.

I stopped by to say hello to one my neighbors. I jokingly came up with a “Calvin and Hobbes” idea to make a few psychotic and insane snowmen at the end of Balfour Street. Maybe later when more snow falls, me can build a secure residential treatment igloo for those insane snowmen.

Moving along, I snapped some photographs from around the neighborhood, such as Ardenwald Park. One subject I found quite emotional photographing was the historic Ardenwald Elementary School because it will be demolished in the fall. The new school is being built right behind it and its design is based off the old school so I think that’s fine.

Meanwhile, ATV riders were speeding up and down Wake St and Roswell St, which is illegal anyway because they weren’t street legal. Traffic laws are the same regardless whether the pavement is bare or snow-covered.

The Springwater Trail pretty much turned into a cross-country ski trail. We need a chairlift at the 37th Ave. bike path.

An unidentified man snoozes along SE Van Water Street in Milwaukie. Aug. 27, 2008.

Many times I will see homeless people snoozing on the park benches along the Springwater Corridor Trail. Today on my way home from my bike ride to Portland, I found a white male crashed out at the 2800 block of SE Van Water Street in Milwaukie, located one block away from the Springwater Trail. Beverage cans spilled out from the two bags beside him. He wore a pink girl-like backpack on his back. He laid on the grass in a fetal position while his head rested on a red duffel bag. I shouted at the man several times, asking if he was alright. After the seventh shout, he finally awoke and responded with “I’m okay.” The reason the man was crashed out was unknown and I won’t speculate or assume anything. At least he appeared to be fine but tired, so I let him be.

A stray cat found on my bathroom shelf where cleaning supplies are stored. It also left a stinky mess, thus destroying the shelf.

“Meow.”

I hear a cat’s meow, sounding like it’s coming from outside of the bathroom window. The sound was actually coming from the shelving area, so I looked around for this cat. I also smelled a very foul odor in the bathroom, somewhat like the smell of dog poo. My two dogs were inside the house, but I saw no evidence of poo. I was outside in the backyard minutes earlier picking up dog poo, but I had already taken off my shoes.

In fact, the stench was strong enough that I knew it wasn’t “memory” odor, the odor you can still smell but it no longer exists. Then I glanced up on the top shelf. Lying on the top shelf was a white cat bunched up in the corner, avoiding the pile of diarrhea it left behind.

I ran downstairs to grab the gardening gloves for hand protection (in case it scratches or bites), then went back upstairs to rid the cat from my house. I grabbed it from the scruff of its neck and tossed it out the front door and into the front yard. Then I went to begin work on the clean-up.

The cat’s mess saturated into the particle board, therefore destroyed the shelf.

This was one cat that left behind one stinky mess. I don’t know how in the world those cat people with hundreds of cats defecating and urinating in the house can live with the stench.

What a way to start off on a new slate, too.