Sorry guys!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in sooooo long. Things have been really busy and hectic with work, Franz being sick, and now me being sick. Thank God Buddy is doing o.k. at the moment. I have to get to work soon. I just wanted to tell everyone that I don't really have anything to say right now. That makes sense, doesn't it?

More later... and love to all,

Sherry

The Po Po...

So, Franz and I are sitting at the condo, watching a DVD called Danny Deckchair from Australia. (It was fantastic, by the way... I highly recommend it!) And then we hear sirens. That's nothing new. Grand Street, which is just a block from our home, is a main thoroughfare for AMR- the ambulance guys. They run up and down it all day and all night... usually at full lights and siren.

But, then we start noticing that the sirens are close. And they don't sound like the usual sirens from the ambulances. That's right, you guessed it... Portland's Finest was back in our little "neighborhood"- in force.

Now, I am going to start this by saying that I have nothing against POrtland's POlice Department (that's where they get the PoPo from... isn't that funny?). I think that the vast majority of those guys are good, upstanding folks who really care about making the place safe for average citizens like me. But some of them are just plain mean, and are roughians. And others of them? Well, I just have doubts about their mental health altogether.

I have never had any run ins with the PoPo, but they do make the news here rather frequently. And it's not always good news. They get in trouble ALOT for hurting (primarily) brown people, shooting people they may or may not have had good cause to shoot, and "tazing" (using a tazer on) other people when they stopped long enough to actually have a doubt about whether or not that person should have been shot. And, in Portland at least, they very often get little more than a stern reprimand for doing so. You will remember those four officers who opened fire on the bank robber (who admittedly did have a knife) in front of our building back in November or December of last year? Nothing happened to them. So, while I have never had a run in with the PoPo, I am a little afraid of them. And I'm white, and female, obviously. I can't imagine what black and Latino males must think about them. I bet they are scared shitless of them.

Anyway, Franz and I got up and looked down at the street. On the other side of the park where we walk Buddy there were at least seven cop cars completely surrounding a little rice burner car that was pulled over to the side of the road. And I do mean completely surrounding it. They had pulled up on to the sidewalk, parked in front of, behind and to both sides of the car... in some cases two or three cars deep. They all had their lights on and flashing. And they were all out of their cars with guns drawn, standing in shooter's stances all around the car.

Then one of them spoke over his car's loudspeaker. He gave very specific instructions to the driver about how to get out of his car with his hands in plain sight, etc. He sounded sort of blase and bored about the whole thing. Like his adrenaline was pumping, but he was so used to it that this was just another day at the office for him. By this time, Franz and I were sitting out on the balcony, watching through the trees and listening... ready to run back in the house if we heard gunfire. Then he instructed the first passenger about how to get out. And, I swear to God, this is exactly what he said:

"Passenger... I want you to slide over to the driver's seat and get out of the driver's side door. Remember to keep your hands up as much as you can so we don't have to shoot you."

Franz and I both whipped our heads around to look each other straight in the face. Neither of us could believe what we just heard. We had to see each other's faces for confirmation. "As much as you can???" "So we don't have to shoot you???" What the ...? And the scary thing about it was, he sounded bored and kind of like he was joking about it. Serious joking. His tone of voice sounded like you could change the word "scold" for "shoot" and it would have been the same.

Later, as we continued to watch, he started talking to the second passenger, telling him or her how to get out of the car. Then we heard him say, "We just want to make sure you don't have any guns... because guns are bad." Franz and I were getting whiplash at this point. I started laughing hysterically. Franz was looking at me like I was crazy. Then I started imitating the fourth grade teacher from South Park, "Guns are bad, mmm'kay." Then Franz started laughing, too.

Across the way at the big Doubletree Hotel, I saw a flashbulb go off in one of the rooms. Some tourist marking a milestone in his or her trip to Portland. "Got to see the cops arrest someone in a massive display of both manpower and firepower. Check."

Luckily, the people from the import car did as they were told. They cooperated and didn't give the PoPo a "reason to shoot them". Thank God. I don't think I could have dealt with another killing in front of my building. That's all for now.

Love to all,

Sherry

Few things are more disconcerting...

...than waking up at 3 am to the sound of a dog barking. Especially when the dog is Buddy, and you know he almost never barks when he is inside.

In the past, the only reason that Buddy has barked at things is when he felt threatened, or he wanted to warn me that someone was coming closer to the house than he thought they should.

This is a pretty difficult thing to wrap your head around at three in the morning when you know you are on the fourth floor of a building. I was fully ready by the time I got my robe on and got to the living room to see someone on the ledge the window washers use, trying to get into the home. I fully expected someone to be trying to open the windows. Buddy was that agitated.

But, I never saw anything. I looked everywhere. On the street, up above at the levels above us. Nothing.

I never figured out what he was barking at. But he was really upset at whatever it was. It cost me about an hour worth of sleep trying to figure it out, though. I had to get back up and check all the locks in the house once before I could drop off again. Poor dog.

That's all for now. Love to all.

Sherry