(Post-Rapture) State of the 'hood, 2011

No more Safeway

According to California minister Harold Camping, the world ended at 6pm (irrespective of time zone), Saturday, May 21st.  Reverend Camping's biblical research revealed that, at that hour, God made the call, summoning devout Christians to Heaven.

Well, here in Southeast Portland, we're always a little behind the curve.  I had a walk around the neighborhood on Sunday afternoon, just to see who might have heard "the Call."  But no one I know made the grade.  In fact, the only evidence of the Apocalypse that I found were the razed remains of the Safeway store that used to stand on the corner of SE 28th and Hawthorne.

Seeing as Safeway had already scheduled the building for demolition (to be replaced by a new Safeway late this year), the Rapture came at a convenient time.  God's wrath apparently saved Safeway the cost of tear-down.  Very nice of Him, eh?

Firwood Lake, fillin' back up

Meanwhile, things seem to be progressing as usual for those of us who didn't have tickets for the Lord's Train.

The City is refilling Firwood Lake (in Laurelhurst Park) after a $1.28 million project to dredge out the sediment accumulated over the years.  Conditions were so bad last summer that the average depth of the water had been reduced from 15 feet to 18 inches.  That's a lot of duck sh*t, folks. 

Clear water

You can see the difference. I walked along the water's edge and was shocked to actually see the lake bed. Before, the algae so choked the water that it was impenetrable.

Pond of pea soup, June 2010

So,even though the world ended, those of us who got "left behind" seem to be doing alright.  Yesterday, Day 1 in the post-Armageddon era, was cool and drizzly, but otherwise not too bad.  A typical spring day in Portland.

Fyodor says...

By the time I circled back around homeward, I was halfway convinced that Reverend Camping had it wrong.  But then the mural on the side of the used furniture store reminded me what Monsieur Dostoyevsky had to say about it:

Men reject their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honor those whom they have slain. --Dostoyevsky

Well, who am I to argue with a great mind like Dostoyevsky?  I reckon I'll cut Reverend Camping a little slack.