RPG: Diadem of Water Elemental Control

RPG: Diadem of Water Elemental Control

The Diadem of Water Elemental Control is only useable by Druids.

Description: A plain gold Diadem with no ornamentation other then a wavy line running the length of the band.

Usage: The wearer can control up to 3+Wisdom bonus (if any) number of Water Elementals at one time.

He can give them all the same command, a successful Will roll must be made to give one a different command then the others unless it is a dismissal command.

Water Elementals must be within line of site for initial commands. They will carry out their last orders though when out of site.

Until issued a command, Water Elementals are free willed and will act and react as normal. Hostile actions towards the Water Elementals before a command is issued, will result in a -3 Penalty to the Will Roll.

Hole in the Yard

Hole in the Yard

The City of Beaverton recently started putting in new sewer mains and pipes all the way up to each house in my neighborhood. The contractor for this was Dunn Construction, who have been extremely professional in my opinion during this whole time. They have taken extreme care not to block my driveway unless absolutely necessary, and the foreman has been forward with all my questions.


But they were just not able to take down a tree that was in the way. They at first told me that they would only need to dig a 2 foot by 2 foot hole so no need to do so. I came home to find this:
Tree and House
waterpipe

In case it’s not obvious (and there was more done later,) the 2×2 foot hole turned into a huge trench two to three feet deep, along the length of that house wall, and surrounding three sides of the tree with the roots totally removed. So this tree had literally one root instead of four supporting it. Not too big of a deal, we cut it down the next weekend and ALMOST fell the last piece on to the house. Luckily we were able to pull it the opposite way in the nick of time.

Fast forward a few weeks. Renter upstairs gets evicted for not paying rent. Salvation Army comes along to pick up her washer and dryer on moving day. The washer was never turned on at all. They “turned off” the water, and caused the pipe to break. Apparently it was weak. Several hundred gallons of water later pouring into the kitchen and hallway we manage to get it turned off.

P9067308
P9067315

This is residual water leaking FROM all the lights. And yes, there is asbestos in that! The kitchen has been dried out, but all the counters are gone, all the flooring is gone and the walls are ripped away to bare studs.

In the meantime, renter upstairs is not able to leave. So we have no place to live for several days. Enter my mother, who volunteers to let us borrow her motor home. We park it in the front yard near where the new sewer pipe was laid. The passenger side corner is just about touching the stump of that tree. We live in it for about two weeks until the renter is able to move away. Then we move upstairs, but leave the motor home where it was (out of the way.)

I come home in the morning a couple of days ago to this sight.
Motor Home Sunk

My first thought was “Oh, flat tire. OK, not a problem I can fix that.” A better LOOK at the flat tire reveals that it’s IN THE FREAKING GROUND up to the hub. That was a bigger problem, especially after I shined a light down to see what was up with it. Second thought was “Oh crap, sinkhole due to a water break from the pipes!” as the hole was about six feet deep from what I could see. Tow Truck was called. City of Beaverton was called, specifically the guy in charge of this water pipe project. He in turn called Dunn Construction and we all sat around and waited for the tow truck guys to get the motor home out of the hole, which they did in about twenty minutes.

We find:
Spetic Tank

The old Septic tank. Six feet deep and four feet across. It seems when this house was built it was outside of the city limits. In fact the city limits were at the center of the road in FRONT of the house. So the septic tank was put on the property near by. I was led to believe that the septic tank was some where in the backyard. But it seems that it was never actually filled in. About a foot and a half of dirt covered the top, which was rusted through. What’s really funny about this is that Dunn Construction had been running all kinds of nice heavy equipment right across the top of this area for several days with no problem at all, but I guess the weight of the motor home on it for almost a month is what did it in.

But an hour later, a couple loads of gravel, the loan of one of Dunn’s BIG tractors to pact it down.

filled in

Problem solved!

Bread and Ink Cafe Review

Bread and Ink Cafe Review

Originally posted: 11/11/02:

3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Portland, OR 97214 On Hawthorne, I’m currently at a toss up about this place. It’s busy, crowded, and the wait staff is harder to find then a good Sylvester Stalone movie. But… the food is good enough that it almost makes up for it. Dinner dishes range between $10-$15 each. Apparently the Coconut crusted chicken is their most popular dish, my date liked it a lot. I had the pork medallions, and while they were pretty good, I was disappointed in the portion size. Especially when compared to the chicken dish, or the steaks the couple at the next table had. Over all I’d give about 3 stars. When I say the wait staff is hard to find… I mean it. Somebody came by the table a total of 4 times, once to get our order, once to deliver drinks, then to deliver the meal, then the pay check. In the two hours I was there I feel that’s a little slow, especially when wanting a refill on the drink. Perhaps on a weekday when they’re not so busy, the service is better.

Originally posted; 11/5/03:

So a year later I try again. We went for Sunday breakfast. There was a line out the door and a 45 minute wait when we got there at 10am. Wandered down Hawthorne for a while and came back at about 11:30, was seated at 11:45, and had food by 12:30. The service was better, still not as great as I’d like it to be – especially for that side of town. But the food was just as good as last time. Eggs were perfect, home-style potatos were cooked perfectly in olive oil. The side of Canadian bacon I had was very good, and tasted organic. They make their own ketchup – my GF didn’t like it, but I didn’t mind as it has less sugar then the major brands so it had a tangy quality about it. It tasted like it was made of sun dried tomatos. The bill was about $25 including tip, about as much as we would have spent at Elmers. While there was smaller portions, we did not go away hungry. Oh – and they have crayons and paper on the table to keep you entertained.

Originally posted: 10/10/05:

Yet another visit. New GF, better service, same good food. I had home made cinnamon raisin french toast dipped in a vanilla cinnamon custard with the side of Canadian Bacon. GF had a Mushroom spinach omelet with the side of potatoes mentioned in an earlier post. The service was MUCH better this time. Arrived at 10:30. Got seated right away, had food by 10:45, out the door by 11:15. The waiter came by several times, filled water glasses, etc. All in all, this place is just getting better.

Water found on Enceladus, Sci-Fi crowd yawns

Water found on Enceladus, Sci-Fi crowd yawns

Originally posted: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090624/ap_on_sc/us_sci_saturn_moon

NEW YORK – Scientists have found new evidence that one of Saturn’s moons has an ocean beneath its surface. That’s important because liquid water is a key ingredient for life.
The moon is an icy body called Enceladus (en-SELL-uh-duss.) It gives off huge plumes of water vapor and ice grains, and scientists used the Cassini spacecraft to sample material from those jets.
They found particles containing sodium salts, which indicates that the plumes arise from liquid water.
But a second team of scientists found no sign of sodium with a different sampling method. They concluded there could still be a deep ocean on Enceladus, but that there are also other possible explanations for the moon’s jets.
Both papers are reported in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

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Yeah, see the problem with this is that Arthur C. Clark wrote about this years and years ago. It’s nice for it to be 100% confirmed, but it continues to astound me just how right this man was about a lot of things. So here’s hoping for big black obelisks, and mono-molecular protective diamond coating for all the world’s architectural landmarks.