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
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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.”