13 September 2008

The Mill Stream


Observer: Eloise Bacher

Date: 9 September, 2008

Place: Mill Stream, under a tree on the opposite side of the bridge from Goudy.

Time: 1005- 1020

Weather: Sunny but with a decent breeze and cool temperatures in the shade.


I'm sitting by the Mill Stream under a tree. I don't know what kind, but it's small and has white papery bark. Maybe a birch? Looking at the stream makes me wonder how it was different years ago. Where now it's shallow, wide, and fairly gentle, was it narrower and faster back when it wasn't confined by walls? What about when it was in the pipes underneath the campus? How does it change between campus and where it goes into the Willamette at Riverfront Park? I see a lot of ducks around, and now there's a crow in the tree above me screaming at something. Maybe me, maybe something else. What kinds of animals were here when the Mill Stream was just going through nature? Crows and ducks, most likely, but what about fish? A lot of animals probably showed up around here because of the water source. Was it the city that drove them away, or the water being put underground? Oh...darn. That crow just pooped on me. Great.

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