Month: August 2025

Wednesday, August 14th

We had a great time today attending an open house at the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine. It started at 5:30 PM in the parking lot of the Small Animal Hospital. The lot was closed to allow about 100 attendees to gather. We arrived at the registration table about ten minutes early and were assigned to a tour group. H and T were with there with us and we all got into Group 3. At 5:30 sharp the event commenced. First came the ice cream. This was OSU College of Agriculture ice cream from the newly reopened OSU Classic Creamery. It was served from a bright orange OSU food truck. Here’s the flavor board:

While the ice cream line moved along, the dean of the college welcomed us and gave a short history of the college, especially the small animal section. She recounted the story of how in the first years of its history the OSU Vet School offered only a two-year program that covered large animals only. In order to get a DVM degree, Oregon vet students had to spend two years in Corvallis and then transfer to Washington State for two more. It was only in the mid 2000s that the OSU small animal center was established. We already knew this story, of course, since our very own A was a member of the first graduating class to have done all four years of their program in Corvallis.

The welcome speeches were short and we were still finishing our ice cream when our tour leader led us into the building. (Free ice cream and short speeches…you can tell that these are smart people.) The tour took about an hour and a half. Our group stopped at nine different locations and heard a ten-minute presentation at each one. We got presentations about cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, anesthesia, laparoscopic surgery, diagnostic imaging, large animal surgery, the small animal emergency room, and the small animal rehabilitation center. We got to see a lot of expensive equipment and also a number of training devices that help vet students learn. One of these was the “high fidelity” electronic dog shown below. The dog breathes in and out–students can see the chest expand and hear the breaths. The dog also has a heartbeat–students can feel for a pulse just as they would on a real dog. The big video monitor displays various vital signs just as it would for a real animal.

Below is a picture of the large animal surgery. The operating table uses a hydraulic system to raise and lower the height of the table as well as to provide various degrees of tilt. It can support draft horses weighing up to 2,000 pounds.

We very much enjoyed seeing the animal hospital. The tour (and possibly the ice cream) energized us enough that when we got home we finally finished putting Gertrudis together.

Thursday, August 15th

Our friends K and L had us over for dinner and we had a delicious summertime meal, which was followed by one of E’s blackberry pies. The hours flew by. K, whose real name is R, has known M since both were sophomores at the U of U in Salt Lake City.

Saturday, August 16h

We went to a presentation about using native plants to support local birds, pollinators, and animals. It was given by two young women, both of whom run small businesses that help customers apply the ideas of people like Douglas Tallamy and Robin Wall Kimmerer. Although their presentation was overlong, their love for what they were doing was obvious and they were very knowledgable. We were so inspired that we wanted to run home immediately and start digging up grass and replacing it with kinnikinnik, wild iris and all that other stuff.

The presentation was up in Independence, Oregon, which happens to be right close to Monmouth, Oregon, which happens to have a Burgerville, which is the place that serves those wonderful Walla Walla onion rings–but only during the harvest season, which happens to end tomorrow! So, you can understand what we decided to do about lunch. The grass digging could wait.

Sunday, August 17th

We drove up to Beaverton today and had a late breakfast at a place called Tous Les Jours. We each had a pastry and also shared a “pecan croissant flattie.” The flattie wasn’t exactly a pastry…more like candy. Later in the day. we didn’t feel all that good, but breakfast was fun!

We’d never heard of Tous Les Jours, which turns out to have more than 1,500 locations worldwide. The franchise is owned by a South Korean company called CJ Foodville.

Since we happened to be up there in Beaverton, we decided to drive a few blocks down Canyon Road and pick up our new car, a Kia EV6. It is electric and has the same underpinnings as our old IONIQ 5. Here’s a photo of our first glimpse of it. It had just arrived at the dealership two days before.

Thursday, August 21st

So far we’ve managed to set our favorite radio stations, individual seating positions, and charging maximums. We also know, sort of, how to use the climate control, operate the sun roof and listen to our complimentary three months of Sirius XM. The EV6 is not as spacious inside as our Ioniq 5, but on the other hand it has a 120v outlet in the backseat, so we can put a microwave back there and make popcorn…or something. It can also back itself into the garage…provided someone keeps a firm hold on the proper button on the key fob.

Tuesday, August 5th

After talking to various people at UPS, we finally got an explanation of our $140.50 package delivery fee. It all started when we were looking on the internet and saw a camping canopy that was made to extend out from the back of a vehicle. We thought it would be great to use with our little truck. So we went ahead and ordered it. The people who sell the canopy are in Quebec, Canada. We noticed that, of course, but we didn’t really think about it. 

When the package entered the U.S., it had to go through Customs. Customs determined that although the item was sold by a Canadian company, it was manufactured in China. Therefore it was subject to an import tax based on the tariff level for China. We were subject to this fee because we were the ones who were actually importing the canopy into the United States. In order to move things along, UPS paid this fee for us. The Customs office then released the package and it continued on its way. At the time this happened, we were still in a state of blissful ignorance.

When the package arrived in Corvallis, our UPS driver left us a form that said we needed to pay a fee of $140.50 before he could deliver the package. Since we didn’t know what this was, E talked to both a local UPS rep and the UPS International Section. She found out enough to know that the charges were legitimate. We were told that we could pay the fee at the UPS website. After we did that, the package was delivered the next day.

So this was not a scam, but it could well have been. Scammers are currently active in the area of shipping and tariff charges. Check here for some information about what those scams might look like.

Wednesday, August 6th

We put down a deposit on a new car today. Yikes! Seems like an awfully big step. The car isn’t here yet; it is expected to arrive in Oregon on the 18th. Point of origin: West Point, Georgia.

Thursday, August 5th

Tis the season for Walla Walla onion rings and one of the best places to get them around here is at Burgerville. So we had our dinner there today in company with T and H. In yet another major development in the automotive world, T has a new RAV-4! It’s a beauty.

Saturday, August 9th

Beautiful full moon these last couple of days. Last night it shone through all our south facing windows like a spotlight. It makes it a little hard to sleep.

Our neighbor K passed away a few weeks ago. She and her husband had lived in the same house for many years, almost since the area was developed in the sixties. We got to know her a little after we arrived in the neighborhood. She’d been a school librarian. Her husband had passed away some time ago and you could tell she missed him.

A few years ago she told us that a long time ago they had enlarged their garage by adding an extension onto the back. She said there were still three cars in there. Lately her children have been coming around to do the sort of thing one does after a death. Last week they took the cars out of the garage and parked them side by side in the oversized driveway. Turns out they are all Ford Galaxies from the years 1962-64.

Sunday, August 10th

They said it was going to be hot today, so we took an early morning walk in the forest to avoid the worst of it. A lot of other folks were doing the same. The heat came in the afternoon. By 3:00 PM it was 97, by 6:00 it was 99. We’re supposed to see more of the same tomorrow and the next day.

Tuesday, August 12th

Today we received a letter from UPS which provided a breakdown of the total cost of our importing adventure. The import duty amount was $118.53 plus a processing fee of $2.62. UPS paid those directly to the U.S. Customs Service. USP also charged us brokerage fees totaling $19.35. That all adds up to $140.50.

And one last thing. In researching this we learned the answer to something else that had puzzled us. Tariffs are much in the news these days, but they are not a new thing. The U.S. has always had some level of tariffs. So why have we never had to pay these charges before? That is because of a rule change. In the past there was a rule called ‘de minimus.’ It said that individual packages that were valued at under $800 would be exempt from customs charges. But that rule is being phased out. Several months ago the government announced that the de minimus rule would no longer apply to imports from China. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, the government announced that the de minimus exemption will be phased out entirely for all countries starting on August 29 of this year.

Would we have purchased the truck tent if we had foreseen all of this? Probably not. But we have it now and can’t wait to try it out. It’s sure to disappoint a lot of mosquitoes who are looking for a snack. We have a campsite reserved.

Friday, August 1st

We drove our friend P down to Springfield today. Her 20-year-old Volvo was on its last legs and she had been looking for a new car. She wanted a Toyota Corolla Cross, a small SUV that is available either as a gasoline car or as a hybrid. The Corvallis Toyota dealer had one on the lot, and it was a nice shade of green. But it was a gasoline only car and P wanted a hybrid. The hybrid version, though, is much in demand right now. The dealership could order one for her, but it wouldn’t come for a month or two. The Volvo wasn’t going to last that long.

When we heard about this problem, we immediately put her in touch with the Chambeck Buyer Assistance Service–a shadowy group whose origins and ultimate purposes are almost completely unknown to the general public. They suggested that she travel to the Washington, DC area and take a look at a green Lamborghini Urus.

P said that although she liked the Urus very much, it was the wrong shade of green. CBAS then went to Plan B and offered to drive her to the Springfield, Oregon area, where a local dealer had two Corolla Cross Hybrids on offer, both of them lightly used 2024 models. So off we went this morning, venturing deep into the southernmost parts of Springfield, where we had never gone before. At the dealership two salespeople assisted us, which was a little strange, but both were nice–laid back and not constantly chattering. We took a test drive (unaccompanied by a salesperson!), asked a few questions and then adjourned for lunch at a place called Plank Town. After a bit of strategizing, we went back to the car store to talk about price. How did that go? Well…just a little while later, M and E were driving back to Corvallis by themselves.

Sunday, August 3rd

We were on the road again today, going to Portland for a mild version of a night on the town. We got to the city at about 4:00 and checked into the Royal Sonesta Hotel. The hotel is located on Fifth between Washington and Alder, a part of the old downtown whose best days lie a few years in the past. (Just across Alder sits the huge cream colored building that was once the Meier and Frank flagship.) The building that the Royal Sonesta occupies is a beautiful old property that has been home to a succession of hotels over the years. We first stayed there years ago, when our friend J recommended it during its time as the Fifth Avenue Suites.

For us, the hotel had two other advantages: it wasn’t very expensive and it was close to Huber’s. Huber’s is a bar and restaurant that E had heard of and wanted to experience. It is located on Third between Washington and Harvey Milk, an area whose best days lie even farther in the past.

Huber’s claims to be Portland’s oldest restaurant, having begun life as the Bureau Saloon in 1879. A few years later the Bureau was bought by a man named Frank Huber, who gave it the name it still bears. In 1910 Huber moved the business into the newly completed Oregon Pioneer Building, where it has remained ever since. Frank Huber himself tended the bar. In the kitchen, a talented cook became famous for his roast turkey dinners. This cook, whose Americanized name was Jim Louie, was a Chinese immigrant who had come to America as an 11-year-old stowaway on a ship from Guangdong.

In 1911, when Frank Huber died, his widow Augusta hired Jim Louie to manage the restaurant. Jim took over the bartending while also keeping an eye on the turkey roasting. During Prohibition the bar shelves were empty, but the restaurant side of the business remained very successful, partly because your meal could include one of Huber’s legendary Manhattans delivered to your table in a coffee mug. When Augusta died in 1940, her son John allowed Jim Louie to purchase a half interest in the business for the sum of one dollar.

For dinner we shared crab cakes and a turkey dinner in honor of the old days. Plus, E sampled Huber’s famous Spanish coffee, which combines coffee with Kahlua, 151 proof rum, and triple sec. The drink is mixed at your table in an extravagant presentation that involves two different colored flames–one blue and one red. The end result is delicious.

Monday, August 4th

Today we went up to the Clark County Fair in Ridgefield, Washington and said hello to A. He’s up there with his food truck serving Nachos for Dessert and selling cold drinks. We indulged in our favorites, for E a Nacho S’more and for M a Cookies and Cream. While we were there, we walked through the chicken hall, looked at some prize-winning baked goods, and rode one of the ferris wheels. The Clark County fair is a big one, considerably larger than the Benton County version.

When we finally got back home to Corvallis, we found a note on our door from UPS. It said that they had tried to deliver a package that included COD charges. This was strange; we knew we hadn’t ordered anything COD. Was COD even a thing anymore? We found out that in order to get our $350 item for which the vendor had already been paid, UPS needed us to pay an additional $140 for something or other. Can we all guess what that was? (There’s a clue on the label below.)