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Triplet Reportlet

Trip outside Portland, OR, by Ed Sullivan

6:00 a.m. Tuesday. At the ramp below Sauvie I. bridge (just outside Portland OR). Don fuzzy rubber vest, poly pullover, blaze hunter cap, neoprene booties in 48 deg. drizzle. Fish seem to have died in booties, but can't find them. (Mental note 1: lie to P/W about wearing shorts.) Launch; head up Multnomah Channel to the river proper. Startle Great Blue who squawks and startles me. They always seem to creak when they fly off.

See log chugging upstream. Recognize log as really big beaver. Snap bungee on deck removing flashlight to light him up startling Mr. B., who slaps tail and dives. (Mental note 2: reconsider vegetarian status; he looks delicious.)

Cross river to breakers yard to see what new stuff they are munching up. Dite bon jour to the wire frame lady and tiger atop the huge crunching machine. (Mental note 3: try to find bluecollar Leonardo who made it.) Find kelp frond. Ship and behead same; affix under foredeck bungee for camo. Heck of a long way from the ocean, that. Remember finding coconut nearby last February and worrying about global warming.

Cross river; find coconut. Probably not the same one. Worry about global warming. Rain picks up. Head back to port. Load up and hit the office by 9:00. Thank stars for casual dresscode.


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