The Biggest Box

I can already hear screams of horror ... I am about to hold forth on a very unpopular topic around here - WalMart.

Since we're encouraging the big box business over in Warrenton, I'd like to see a WalMart go in. Not even a Super WalMart, just a plain old WalMart. Okay, you can start screaming now.

Oh, I know all the arguments, one being that they pay their employees poorly. Well, nobody tied 'em up and made 'em work there, for heaven's sake. In an area like this one, it could make the difference between having a job and not having one at all. And McDonald's pays just as poorly, if not worse.

The biggest argument is that WalMart puts little stores out of business. Frankly, that's a crock, and most of the time, when people say that, they're referring to what are known as Super WalMarts, which include a grocery store. And even that argument is a crock, since the other big box stores, such as Safeway, have already wiped out the mom & pop grocery stores, for the most part.

As for other merchandise, if you want high quality expensive shoes, pants, whatever, you're not going to go to WalMart, anyway. But if you want the best value for your dollar, and are happy to settle for just good quality school clothes (which they're going to grow out of in a year, anyway), WalMart is the place to go. The clothes aren't fancy, and often aren't very stylish, but they're more than adequate, and functional. Same goes for the shoes.

The only store that would be put out of business in this area would be Fred Meyer, and that would be no great loss. When I first moved up here I needed the usual stuff for the house, including a shower curtain. So I went to Freddie's, and found one I liked with a lighthouse on it. It was $19.99. I thought it was a bit much, but I paid it, and went on my merry way.

Three years later, it needed replacing, and the very same shower curtain was now more than $25 at Freddie's. But by then, I knew where the WalMart is. So I looked at the WalMart shower curtains. I was utterly pissed off to find the very same shower curtain ... identical in fact, down to the manufacturer ... for $9.99. Whoa. Now I keep an ongoing list of things I need at WalMart, and the next time I have to go to Portland, I stop at WalMart in Longview.

At the time of the shower curtain fiasco, I decided to cruise around the store to check the cost of other things I was buying at Freddies. And I was horrified. Freddie's was charging $1-$3 more for almost every single item, same brand, etc. In the clothes department, there was no comparison at all. WalMart clothes and shoes are affordable. Freddie's are not (at least in my opinion).

I'm a photographer. I use a lot of photo frames. If I bought my photo frames at Freddies I'd be in the poor house. WalMart has perfectly good frames for reasonable prices. Can't beat it.

I should also mention that now WalMart only charges $4 for many prescriptions. A pal of mine in Texas is overjoyed, since she's on a lot of prescriptions. I don't have to tell you that for those without medical insurance, and there seem to be a lot of them up here, that would be a lifesaver - and maybe the difference between being able to afford needed meds or doing without.

I could go on and on, but I'll spare you. All I know is that I ain't the only one around here who has to watch every buck they spend, and I'd rather get the most bang for my buck as possible. So I'm all for good old affordable WalMart. Bring it on.

Click here to see Elleda's photography at the Astoria Photografpix web site

Moon Over Astoria

Last weekend I was more lazy than usual, so I put off my inevitable Costco shopping trip till Monday afternoon after work. I was heading back into Astoria after shopping, and just crossing the Youngs Bay Bridge around 4:30 p.m., looking at the cars ahead of me, and at the bay, merrily trundling along.

And then I just happened to look up. Wow ... the sight of that full (or almost full) moon just hanging out over Astoria in that afternoon sky visually hit me upside the head as the waning sun hit the hillside and lit it up. It was eerie, and lovely. But the closer I got to Astoria, the further down in the sky the moon appeared, until it was hidden behind the hillside.

So I whipped around the traffic circle and went back across the bridge to Warrenton, turned around again, and pulled off the road in a little turnoff just before the getting on the bridge back to Astoria. The photo above was taken from there. The wind was whipping and it was icy cold, but it was worth every second to get that shot.

For the hell of it, I took the back way home, going up 7th and 8th streets. Just as I turned right on Jerome, there the moon was again ... even more amazing from this angle, shining over several tankers lazing at anchor. The sun was bright on Pier 39 and Tongue Point, making them sparkle, and accentuating the snow caps on the mountains in the distance. It was one of those take-your-breath away, stop-you-in-your-tracks sights.

It's sights like those that make me even more acutely aware of why Astoria is so beautiful and unique.

I can't even imagine how out-of-place an enormous LNG tanker with an armed Coast Guard escort would look in that scene.

Click here to see Elleda's photography at the Astoria Photografpix web site

Iredale Redux

Someone told me that the big storm in early December unearthed more of the Peter Iredale Shipwreck in Warrenton, which has been quietly sinking into oblivion in the sand since running aground in 1906.

I am totally fascinated by the Iredale, and have been since I first heard about it several years ago, before moving up here. Even though it doesn’t have a dramatic history, and isn’t a victim of the “graveyard of the Pacific,” the Columbia River bar, it is still compelling.

So, I got out of work early today, grabbed the significant other and the dog, and off we went to go check it out and take some photos. I went into Fort Stevens Park the way I usually do, by way of the entrance nearest the Hammond Marina, and found that the road to the shipwreck is still blocked – as it has been since the storm. Totally forgetting about the other entrance to the park across from the KOA, I drove to Lot A, figuring we could walk to the Iredale on the beach.

We climbed the hill overlooking the beach, and way, way off in the distance I could see the Iredale’s prow sticking out of the sand. We looked at each other, sighed, and walked down the steep hill to the sand, which was littered with huge chunks of driftwood that had been tossed up by the big storm.

The driftwood lay at the bottom of the small bluff that runs along the edge of the beach. It was obvious that the tide during the storm had run exceedingly high, all the way to the bluff, and had eaten away a good chunk of it. It appeared that the sand level on the beach had dropped by five or six feet.

We started walking closer to the water, where the damage was less obvious. The Iredale seemed a light year away. But the dog was having a grand old time just loping along, and my partner in crime, who was not raised near the ocean, was having fun doing a little shell-collecting and enjoying the sea air and walk.

Way up on the beach we saw a very strange little critter, not familiar to my East Coast eyes. It was about the size and shape of a walnut, i.e. a rounded oval carapace, with the head at a narrow end. But it was grey, and it had six legs, but no claws. I know that butterfly or umbrella crabs washed up dead after the storm, but this didn't look like photos of either one of those, and it was very much alive.

It reminded me a bit of a horseshoe crab, minus the tail, but the shell was more fragile than that of a horseshoe crab. It seemed to be stranded, whatever it was, so I took it down near the waterline. Once there, it started to happily dig itself in. If anyone knows what it is, I'd sure like to know.

Once we finally got to the Iredale, I was surprised at how much more was showing, but it certainly did prove that the sand level on the beach truly had dropped at least five feet. Now you can see the whole outline of the ship, two mast heads, and even one of the masts, which has broken off and is lying on the sand on the ocean side of the wreck.

One of the guys who was there said that this much of the Iredale has not been visible for at least ten years. Some of the ship’s original wood is still attached, strangely enough. A guy who climbed on top of the bow said there’s about an inch of cement up there, as well as some old wood. And now you can actually make out the shape of the rudder, too.

On the long trudge back, we walked closer to the bluff, and that’s where you can really see the damage from the storm, aside from the obvious chunks of driftwood stumps, loose limbs, and even whole trees, minus limbs. What was really depressing was all the crab carapaces. Hundreds of small crabs were killed in the storm just in that stretch of beach. I can’t help but wonder how many thousands must have been killed along the North Coast.

We also noticed the corpse of a sea lion, which we hadn’t noticed on the walk the other way. The entire skull was showing, but otherwise it was mainly intact. I imagine, by the fact that it had decomposed to that point, that it was a victim of the storm, too.

Just as we (finally) got back to the steep sandy walk up the bluff to go back towards the car, we noticed one more thing we didn’t see on the walk out … someone had built a little hut out of driftwood near the base of the trail.

Since it turned out I wasn’t wearing proper shoes for this little hike (my feet started killing me by the time we got to the shipwreck), I was very tempted to crawl in and take a snooze. Fortunately, the dog kindly hauled me up the steep trail to the ridge, and we trundled off home. Feet notworthstanding, it was one of the best walks I’ve ever taken.

Click here to see Elleda's photography at the Astoria Photografpix web site