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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2017)
Wednesday, January 11, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon LETTERS Continued from page 2 a big discussion, workshops, etc. about emer- gency preparedness in case of a tsunami on the coast? Well, we’ve been in an snow tsunami situation for the past week, with another week of snow coming at us, where the heck is the Red Cross or whoever is suppose to step up? We have no ER in Sisters. That big St. Charles clinic sits empty after 5 o’clock on Fridays. There’s no list of doctors/dentists/ nurses/pharmacists who volunteer to be on call. No way to get a prescription filled for non-emergency but necessary problems. Sisters Drugstore and Bi-Mart pharma- cies both close from Saturday afternoon to Monday morning. My adult daughter had a tooth abscess on Saturday morning and has been in horrendous pain since. I can’t even find my car under the snow and I’m certainly not going to risk driv- ing into Bend or Redmond in these conditions. She’s not bad enough off to call 911 to take her to the hospital, and too expensive for her anyway. She’s new in town so doesn’t have a regular dentist, nor can she afford one. Talking about it on Facebook brought up another person with the exact same painful dental problem and plenty of suggestions from people who had similar problems in the past, most of which would require me uncovering my car and driving to a store. We’re doing all we can with what we have, but really, people, we need an emergency plan in place for just these kinds of bad weather situations when things inevitably go wrong. Diane Goble s s s To the Editor: Long icicles on too many of our homes give reason for concern. Beyond the typical problems (spikes fall- ing on heads, growing ice mounds underfoot, gutters slowly pried from eaves), icicles bla- tantly advertise heat loss through the roof via poor insulation or air leakage. Heat that’s allowed to bypass the thermal enclosure then warms the underside of our cold roof deck, melting snow above just long enough to reach the eaves where air exposure invites the snow- melt to freeze again into stalactites. On a cliff they’re beautiful; on a home it’s a sign of waste. You won’t see icicles along unheated garages (for lack of a temperature differen- tial), or along any of our better-built homes where the builder, insulation subcontractor, or inspector took proper care. I, too, now con- front a wall of ice outside the door of our new townhouse. (Note to self: request a HERS rat- ing before buying a home.) Unfortunately, the story gets a bit worse. Our warm, conditioned air has greater capac- ity to carry humidity from showers, cooking, respiration and indoor plants. When it escapes through thermal leaks and cools at the roof deck, relative humidity rapidly spikes and hits the dew point (since the cold air’s carrying capacity for vapor plummets), leaving conden- sation on the underside of the plywood. Water condensate in concealed building assemblies with poor chance of drying plus an abundance of organic cellulose leads to mold spores and the accelerated deterioration of our homes, which might otherwise last a century — but for these and other avoidable reasons typically don’t. On the brighter side, large icicles can moti- vate homeowners to call energy auditors to recommend solutions, and builders to improve their sustainability practices. Knowing how to interpret icicles helps us appreciate energy- efficient homes that have none. After all, we are in this together. Michael Grant EATONS: The couple is looking forward to snowboarding Continued from page 10 what they do for a living. “We used to say, ‘Oh, I’m an athlete,’” Ashton said. “Now, when we’re on a plane and somebody asks us that, we’ll just say, ‘I don’t do anything.’” Well, not really. For starters, there’s snowboarding. Ashton just mounted their boards on a wall at home, reminding them of an upcoming trip the couple will take to Banff, Alberta. “So pumped, because I’ve always loved snowboarding. But because of the injury risk, I wasn’t going to do it,” Ashton said. Watch out, Shaun White: the world’s greatest athlete is thinking — kiddingly, of course — about the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. “Pyeongchang in 2018, baby!” Ashton cracked. His big goal now that he’s no longer competing in 10 events spread over two days is getting more involved in education. Maybe he starts a different sort of cur- riculum to aid learning, possibly opening his own school. 19 For Brianne, it’s all about nutrition and cooking. Her ultimate goal would be to start a foundation that assists with childhood obesity. “We’re basically in the new year, and starting our new life and figuring out that life,” Brianne said. “Just the simple things: Where we want to move, what do we want to do, when do we want to start a family? We never thought about that, because everything was about track. Right now, we have no idea.” Except for this: They’re soon getting a puppy. She’s a bernedoodle — a cross between a Bernese mountain dog and a poodle — and her name is Zora, which is a nod to American novelist Zora Neale Hurston, an influential author to Ashton. “We’re getting our lives together,” Brianne said. “The last four years, everything in our lives was made with the decision of how this was going to benefit track. I feel like what I accomplished is the most I’m going to accom- plish. I can’t mentally give that much anymore.” Same with Ashton. “If I was still passion- ate about it, I’d continue on for sure,” Ashton said. “The Olympics take a lot of your life force to do. “You want to spend it on other things.”