Things You Didn’t Know About Toilets

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Vital Things You Didn’t Know About Toilets

No home is complete without a proper working toilet. The thought of relieving yourself out in nowhere can be literally scary. However, with a toilet in place; it is simple and very convenient. However, simple as they may look, there is much to know about toilets. You need to know how they work in order to get trouble free use and long life from them. Here are some vital facts about toilets you need to know.

The shape of a toilet plays an integral part in how your toilet looks. Indeed it determines the style of the bowl, seat, and also lid. Additionally the shape of your toilet will also determine the amount of installation space that your toilet requires. Here is what you need to know about toilet shapes.

Elongated Toilets

Elongated toilet bowl shape is not the most common yet. However it has many ad

vantages such as these.

 

• Offers more comfort for adults.
• Provided added room for seating.
• Easy to install and operate always
• Are unique and stylish for aesthetic
• Gives you the best of both toilets.

Round Toilet Bowls

Unlike their elongated counter parts, the round toilet bowls are the most common designs due to these.

• They take much lesser space/ room
• They have fit many home designs
• They are usually quite affordable
• They are the easiest toilet to install

Elongated Toilet Bowls often extend from wall about 18 inches plus. On the contrary the Round Toilet Bowls take slightly below 17 inches making them super options for the very small space designs.

Oval Toilet Bowls

Also known as the Compacted Elongated Bowls, the oval toilet bowl saves 10% more space than the normal Elongated Toilet Bowls. They are likable for.

• They have stylish designs
• They are less demanding

Usually, round shapes require less space but are much more comfortable. Oval shapes on the other hand require more space to install, while elongated shapes are the master of class and design.

Toilet Seat Heights

The reason why a knowing the height of your toilet seat plays a key role is simple. It determines how comfortable your will be when using the toilet. When your legs dangle, they grow tired fast and a leaves you quite uncomfortable. Here is what you should know about the toilet seat height (Source: Toiletrated).

Toilet height is simply measured with a tape measure. The measurement is taken from the floor to the top of the seat. Heights vary, but more often they fall somewhere between 14 inches and 18 inches.

The standard toilets sit 14 inches. However the Chair Height Toilets or the Comfort Height Toilets – like Kohler refers to them will measure 15 inches or more.  Many of them 16″+ are ADA compliant.

Standard toilets are ideal for people with smaller stature or average heights. On the other hand, Chair Height Toilets are often two inches higher than standard-height toilets. They are easier to use as too.

Finally there are the Custom Height Toilets.  A good example of this type of toilet is the Wall-hung toilets that can often be positioned at a desired height from 15-3/8″ to 28-1/2″ to allow range of users.

Toilet Trapways

Another important consideration to go with is the toilet trapway. The main job of a toilet trapway is to carry waste from the toilet bowl to the main sewer line piping. A fully glazed toilet trapway will keep a smooth flow. Here are some toilet trapways that you can always go along with.

Exposed

The Exposed Trapway is traditionally designed. They can be easily seen from the side of any toilet that uses this design. They are characterized with standard caps to cover the exposed bolts that attach your toilet to the floor.

Concealed

These one features a smooth trapway surface. You can easily wipe the surface clean. Low-profile bolt caps are used instead of the traditionally exposed raised caps in order to provide a smooth, easy-to-clean surface on toilets (Visit: Toilet Rated).

Completely Hidden

This is also known as the skirted trapway. It offers an easy-to-clean uniform base usually extending from the front to back of the toilet base. Usually, no bolts are exposed and many models require no drilling or caulk to install.

Toilet trapways are easy to manage as you can learn how to remove your toilet caps and again replace them with a more exquisite design. The process is usually simple and more specifically a DIY procedure.

Flush Systems

Apart from what we have seen the next thing in line to play an integral part on how your toilet operates is the flushing system. From gravity, dual flush, to double cyclone, or single flush the choice literally lies with you.

Even so the way your flushing lever is placed will be determined with what types of design you need. Today, toilets come with varying flush leavers and some of the most common ones that you might find are these.

• Single Flush toilets with levers on left or right sides of the toilet.
• Dual Flush toilets with the flushing lever for small and full flush.
• Touchless Flush that uses a sensor to trigger the flush of your toilet.
• Wall Mounted flush that works with wall hung toilets for convenience.

Benefits of Good Flushing Toilets

Looking at what having a great toilet entails, we can’t still walk away from the benefits of a good flushing toilet.

High Flow toilets offer an easy to use method to remove waste. They are very hygienic and will help to keep germs and bacteria away. Additionally, a high flow toilet is easy to take care of will last longer than a normal toilet. They also keep odor away and leave you with a fresh breath always. One last thing though, they are eco-friendly but can a little pricey but generally worth it.

Conclusion

To keep your toilet functioning at best, it is important that you learn some of the most Common Problems of Toilets and how to take care of them. This will help you to learn more about your toilet and also work with it in the most appropriate ways.

Summary

Toilets are a necessity in a home. They also help to boost the value of your home and also to keep your options for improvements open. Always choose a design that is best for you.

 

Contributed by: Perfectbath foremost experts in Toilets and bathroom fixtures

The post Things You Didn’t Know About Toilets appeared first on Perfect Bath Canada.

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BikeCraft 2017 vendor profiles: Market Mule, Ivalieu, and Clodine Crafts

In case you haven’t heard, Portland’s bike-centric holiday gift fair is back! BikeCraft 2017 is December 15-17 at the Bike Farm (1810 NE 1st Ave.) and it’s powered by Microcosm Publishing.

To get you ready, our friend Elly Blue (Microcosm’s co-owner and marketing director) has been profiling the fantastic people behind the crafts (see the previous ones here, here and here). Below are the latest three BikeCrafters you’ll get to meet at the big event…

Market Mule – Amos Clapp and Justin Carven (website/Facebook)

(Photos: Market Mule)

We’re excited to welcome first-time BikeCraft vendors Amos Clapp and Justin Carven with their beautiful, hand-made wooden panniers. These baskets sit right over your rear bike rack, and can be simply picked up and carried by hand when you get to your destination. It’s a cool idea and it’s exciting to get to be part of a new idea and company like this getting off the ground—here’s hoping BikeCraft can help give them a good boost.

What’s your bike craft?

Hard market basket panniers. These are hand crafted, wooden bicycle panniers that convert to a hand basket.

How did you get started?

The initial inspiration was a drawing on the cover of an Adventure Cycling Magazine that depicted a cyclist from around the turn of the century riding with old style bike luggage. Wanting to make some bike bags, but not having a clear vision, Amos asked his cousin Analesa, who is an avid cyclist, if she had bike bags what would they look like? The sketch she drew is pretty much the shape of our Market Mule bags today. After several years of testing and a number of prototypes we are ready to offer bags to the public.

What’s your favorite thing about what you do?

Probably making a functional piece of art.

What’s your biggest challenge with it?

Putting these bags together requires quite a bit of finesse. Figuring out how make them in larger quantities and market them has been a learning experience.

Ivalieu – Cathy Kellon (website)

(Photo: Ivaliue)

Cathy Kellon is coming back to BikeCraft with her distinctive “bloomers” or “pettipants” — basically tight shorts that you can wear under your dress or skirt, that are technical enough that wearing them all day won’t give you a rash, and cool looking enough that when they show, it’s just part of your outfit. I read on her website that an important factor is that the waistline is not tight. Can I repeat that? The waistline is not tight! Also, Cathy’s story is one of those successful part time entrepreneur ones that you hear at the end of How I Built This and it gives you wild ideas about what you could do, too.

What’s your bike craft?

I make modern bloomers so you can bike in your fave skirt or dress in comfort and confidence. No outfit excuses for not biking ’round town!

How did you get started?

I wanted this very specific product and there wasn’t anything on the market so I went and made it. Well, that makes it sound so easy. It was not! I’m a geographer by training and have spent my career in the nonprofit sector. With zero experience in the apparel or fashion world, it was plain determination that kept me going (some of my friends *might* say that I *might* have a history of getting a wild hare when presented with a challenge). I sourced technical fabrics from around the world, figured out tech packs, asked lots of people lots of really naive questions, got lost in the garment district of L.A., made friends and family wear prototypes, cold-called manufacturing studios, you name it. I negotiated my way from concept to market in the time it took my youngest to go from toddler to kindergartner. It was scary and exciting, and totally worth it. I’m super proud of my product; not just because I finally have the perfect pettipants for my own wear but I’m absolutely delighted by how happy it makes customers. And I’m thrilled to help support reshoring and living-wage jobs in Portland.

What’s your favorite thing about what you do?

Making customers happy! Seriously, I glow inside and out when a customer tells me how Ivalieu made life easier. Recently, a customer said that she was at a work party and realized that her kid had surreptitiously pulled up her dress. Because she had on Ivalieu, she thought, “meh” and didn’t miss a beat in her conversation with colleagues. Or, another recent customer said that she is biking more than ever for getting around town because she doesn’t have to think twice about what she’s wearing. Ivalieu’s got her covered. Yassss.

What’s your biggest challenge with it?

Oh, definitely the time. My profession is in the NGO world and it’s pretty consuming so trying to run a business on the side of family and work just makes me wish there were more hours in the day.

What does bicycling mean to you?

I love biking for all the usual reasons — it’s fun, convenient, energizing, and it offers a lot of independence—but what I didn’t expect, and really value, is how meditative it can be. When I’m biking by myself, particularly along a familiar route, my brain often slips into a more creative-thinking mode. On my old bike commute route, which was just over 7 miles one way, I would find myself ruminating on big issues, but not at the forefront of my awareness. In the midst of watching traffic and pedaling, I would have these crazy flashes of insight where I’d see something in a new and helpful light or I’d come up with exciting (to me) ideas or solve thorny problems. Anyways, it was during these bike commutes that I imagined a line of modern, performance bloomers, worked out design details, came up with ideas for branding and lifestyle photos, and on and on. I’ve noticed that sometimes when my ideas feel a bit “stale,” I’ll realize that I haven’t gone on a good zone-out bike ride in a while. It’s so fun to hop off the bike and have a million ideas that you want to make happen and the energy to go for ’em.

Clodine Crafts – Clodine M. (website)

I’m so thrilled that Clodine is returning to BikeCraft, combining two great local flavors with her upcycled goods: bicycling and distinctively designed Pendleton wool. She makes the little bike accessories that become somehow even more useful and desirable when they’re available in something other than neon plastic shipped from overseas. Thank you, Clodine!

What’s your bike craft?

I created the world’s first and only bicycle top bar cover hand made with Pendleton Fabric®, along with matching ankle bands, key straps, and other commuting accessories. It was my husband who suggested it—and it became an interesting design challenge! I went through several iterations and tests to come up with a solution that fits most any bike bar, regardless of shape or width, and works around cables, pumps and other attachments. Because I wash the fabric in hot water before I sew it, I remove most of the shrinkage and tighten/toughen it. It is amazing how resilient wool is, and how the colors and pattern stays crisp. If the top bar cover gets wet, I just let it dry on the bike.

How did you get started?

All my life I’ve enjoy drawing, painting, jewelry-making, knitting, sewing, and just being handy, a problem-solver. I prefer to fix or transform an object that has character, rather than just dispose or otherwise give up on it. When I stopped by a Pendleton® store near where I live, I noticed the bins of remnants and scraps direct from the mill. The pieces could be small and odd, but clearly very good quality. So I started collecting fabric fragments (my husband called it stockpiling!) I started experimenting, as I wanted to get back into sewing anyway, and wanted to learn how to use a serger—that’s a type of sewing machine that has 4 spools of thread going simultaneously, with a knife that cuts the fabric while finishing the edge of it. Because I have to wear an ID for my day job, and I was sick of the nylon lanyard digging into my neck, my first product was a lanyard made with soft Pendleton® wool.

What’s your favorite thing about what you do?

I like ‘rescuing’ fabric remnants and vintage notions, and combining and transforming them into something new—giving them a new life. I also enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to make something to meet a need, such as with custom jobs that fit an individual’s preference. I especially enjoy the feel of the textiles, and working with combinations of different colors. The rich, earthy colors are very healing to people.

What’s your biggest challenge with it?We live in an interesting time where fewer people learn about what ‘quality’ and handmade are all about. In a craft fair, I’ll see a young adult walk by wearing a cheap-quality, overpriced, and mass-produced knock-off of the Pendleton® look—not realizing I’ve the real thing right there, in a carefully crafted product. Also, just a couple of decades ago or so, it was less expensive to make clothes at home than to buy them in the store. Now the opposite is true—yet there’s an unconscious belief that because something is handmade, it should be less expensive than the store-bought, manufactured version.

What does bicycling mean to you?

Bicycling means freedom. The feeling of being on the bike, outside, is refreshing. And, when I want to go downtown, I don’t have to worry about parking. More and more, I think about the contribution to sustainability. When I can use a bike instead of a car to get somewhere, I’m grateful that there’s just that little bit of less gas used, less exhaust generated.

Learn more about BikeCraft here.

— Elly Blue

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Weekend Event Guide: Sandy Ridge, Oregon City, fat bikes on the beach, and more

Ride Oregon City’s Municipal Elevator during the Puddlecycle ride on Saturday.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

It’s December! Whether that makes you elated or depressed, it’s worth knowing what your ride options are. And when it comes to that, we’ve got you covered.

The Weekend Event Guide is sponsored by Abus Bike Locks. Thanks Abus!

If the wet and cold weather has you riding less, spend some time perusing our winter weather riding archives for all the best tips and tricks.

Friday, December 1st

BikeLoud Lincoln-Harrison-Ladd Greenway Subcommittee Meeting – 5:00 pm at SE 12th and Hawthorne
Portland’s project-focused bike advocacy group BikeLoud PDX is ramping up focus on the Lincoln-Harrison project. Come and learn more about the greenway and how to make it better. More info here.

Saturday, December 2nd

Sandy Ridge Trail Maintenance Day – All day at Sandy Ridge Trailhead
Time to help make sure Sandy Ridge trails survive and thrive through winter. Tools are provided. Just bring water, snacks, a helmet, gloves and work attire. More info here.

Global Fat Bike Day Ride – 11:30 am to 5:00 pm at Bayocean Peninsula Park
The NW Trail Alliance and Portland Design Works are teaming up for what sounds like an awesome beach-combing bike adventure. Prep for winter weather and check the NWTA Facebook page for latest updates. More info here.

Oregon City Tree Lighting and Willamette Falls Ride – 2:45 pm to 5:45 pm at The Missing Link Bike Shop
Puddlecycle Tom is leading this ride on the Trolley Trail to historic downtown Oregon City. Before seeing the tree light up, he’ll make a stop to gander at the awe-inspiring Willamette Falls. 10-mile ride. More info here.

Sunday, December 3rd

The Sauvie Shootout – 9:00 am at Ovation Coffee (941 NW Overton)
More than just another training ride, the Shootout is about building community. No matter your fitness level, come out and test your legs against others. Use it as motivation to stay strong over the winter! More info here.

Pre-Holidays Ride with PWTC – 10:00 am at Woodstock Park
Portland Wheelmen Touring Club is hosting this easy, 30-mile spin that will explore farms and nurseries of east county. Warm-up with a bagel stop at the end. More info here.

Zoobomb – 8:30 pm at The People’s Bike Library of Portland
The holidays are a perfect time to rejoice with fellow merry-makers via crowded MAX train rides up to Washington Park and lovely descents through the dark, hairpin curves of the West Hills. More info here.

Did we miss anything? If so, give it a shout out in the comments. And have a great weekend!

Stay plugged into all the bike and transportation-related events around the region via our comprehensive event calendar and sign up here to get this Weekend Guide delivered to your inbox.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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Stop the Anxious Running Commentary in Your Head

Anxiety jabbers incessantly, creating maddening and anxious running commentary in our heads. To make it worse, anxiety acts as a translator and interprets what we hear and see, twisting things into its own warped ideas. With anxiety translating messages we receive, we often misinterpret the world around us. Anxiety’s untrustworthy thoughts lead to self-doubt, faulty reasoning, negative beliefs, overthinking, and overanalyzing. Becoming aware of how the anxious voice in your head translates our incoming messages is an important step in correcting the translations and quieting the anxious running commentary that interrupts your inner speech.

Anxiety Translates and Gives False Running Commentary

Imagine going to a place where you don’t know the language. You have a translator to help you communicate and learn the language. This translator, though, is unkind and gives you the wrong message every time you interact with someone or read something. He tells you the word “hello”means “get out of here,” so every time someone says hello, you leave. Everything he translates for you is wrong, leaving you frustrated and confused, but you don’t know that he’s translating incorrectly.

Anxiety essentially does the same thing. Here’s what happens when anxiety’s intrusive thoughts translate your world:

• You see things, hear things, read things, and interact in the world.
• Your senses send signals to your brain so you can make decisions and choices.
• Anxiety intercepts those signals and starts interpreting them before you have a chance to do it yourself (anxiety is an experience that is separate from who you are).
• Anxiety’s interpretation is, well, anxious and full of worry and fear.
• Anxiety has to warn you of what it interprets, and it does this through running commentary.
• Because it feels like your own thoughts, it’s easy to believe anxiety. If you don’t believe it, anxiety just talks more, and louder.

The Different Translations of Anxiety

Anxiety takes many forms. Each type of anxiety has its own way of looking at the world and gives people its own special message.

• Generalized anxiety disorder translates the world as something to worry about and fear. Its translations and running commentary give you plenty to worry about.
• Social anxiety disorder interprets everyone negatively and tells you that they’re judging you and you’re coming up short.
• Specific phobias see nothing but worry and fear in the object or situation they dislike. They are a broken record telling you that you’re unsafe in certain circumstances.
• Panic disorder is afraid of the world and afraid of itself, and as it takes in people and surroundings, its interpretation is that you need to panic. Then it initiates a panic attack on your behalf.
• Agoraphobia is also afraid of the world, and its translations are dire. Its running commentary informs you that you can’t handle the world and therefore must avoid it at all costs.

Thinking of anxiety as a translator that leaves inaccurate feedback and commentary in your head can help you begin to distance yourself from anxiety. You don’t have to employ anxiety as your interpreter for life. You can begin interpreting your world for yourself without anxiety as your translator with simple anxiety strategies.

In the below video, I talk about anxiety self-help tips to get around anxiety the translator. I invite you to tune in.

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Initial impressions of new bikeway striping on N Willamette Blvd

Almost complete. The faint lines are where the remaining outside buffer stripes will go.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation is nearly done with their Willamette Blvd restriping project. This is the street where neighborhood residents seized an opportunity to improve the bikeway, galvanized tons of support, and got PBOT commissioner Dan Saltzman to back them up.

The result is a redesigned cross-section between Rosa Parks and Woolsey (Columbia Park) that has shifted the centerline to the north, no longer allows on-street parking, has buffered bike lanes in both directions, and has a much wider bikeway in the southbound direction. The new striping was planned for completion last week but rain has pushed things back a bit. As of this morning, it appears to be finished except for the outer buffer stripe on the southbound bike lane and on some portions of the northbound one.

I’ve been watching the work progress and have driven and ridden on it several times. Here are my initial observations…

Both sides of the street feel very different for bicycle riders.

Northbound (residential side)

In the northbound direction, you no longer have that cushion of space that used to be used for on-street auto parking. The nice thing about the old design was that the parking lane was rarely used and offered lots of extra space to ride in. The new bike lane is curb-tight. It will feel much better when the buffer strip goes in (and would feel even better if it had some physical protection, but I digress).

While I miss the extra space offered in the old design when no parked cars were present, I like the predictability of having no parking and would rather ride next to a curb than a parked car any day of the week.

So far, PBOT has only done one bicycle symbol each block (if that) and I didn’t notice any special “no parking” signs or markings. I seriously hope there’s more signage/markings and enforcement/education when the project is completed. Here’s why: I’ve seen two people parked in the bike lane so far. When they do, there’s zero extra room to get by because the bike lane is only 6.5-feet wide (with a 1.5-foot buffer). I saw a UPS driver parked in the bike lane for several minutes. And a woman attending a function at a church also parked in the new bike lane. The woman could barely get out of her car with other drivers flying by at around 30 mph. There’s only one standard lane going northbound, so drivers can’t swerve over too much or they’ll slam into oncoming traffic.

PBOT needs more signage and/or markings to make sure people don’t do this.

No car parking, but being right up against the curb with motor vehicles so close isn’t exactly low-stress.

As always, you still have to keep your eyes peeled for people turning right.

Another shift has to do with cross-traffic. In the past when people wanted drive onto Willamette from a side street, they could peek out into traffic and only encroach into the lane used for parking. This gave them several feet before entering the bike lane. Now with the bike lane curbside, people have to make sure they stop well short of the intersection — making it hard to see oncoming traffic — or they’ll block the bike lane.

People will have wait and look before turning intoI watched traffic lanes without encroaching into the bike lane.

Speaking of blocking the bike lane. Peak hours are bonkers on Willamette. It has become such a thoroughfare and people really drive dangerously. This morning I saw someone trying to turn left onto Woolsey from Willamette and instead of waiting behind them, two drivers swerved into the southbound bike lane to go around (photo below). This is another reason having some sort of physical protection is so important. We cannot have people thinking bike lanes are for anything other than cycling. Ever.

So selfish, rude, and dangerous. Two cars swerve into the bike lane instead of waiting a few seconds for someone to turn left from Willamette to Woolsey.

Southbound (bluff side)

Can you believe it? Riding side-by-side in comfort on Willamette.

Oh what a relief! With 12 feet of space to use, the new southbound bikeway is a huge improvement over the claustraphobic and stressful design of old. And once the outside buffer line is striped, it will feel even better. Also, if not for this extra space, people would be riding through piles of leaves and big puddles right now.

Leaves and puddles are still a huge problem here. PBOT needs to clean this up.

Look at all that room!

Being able to breathe easily on the bluff side of Willamette is a great feeling. Another thing I noticed is that now bicycle users have a passing lane. With Willamette being a popular connection to training and recreational rides in the West Hills (and beyond), this is an important benefit. In the past it was dicey to pass a slower rider. I’d have to triple-check my shoulder, watch for potholes, and enter into auto traffic going 30+ mph. Now I just slow down a bit, ding my bell, smile, and get by without much fuss.

She was able to pass me without leaving the bike lane.

Overall, I’m very happy to see these changes and I’m impressed that PBOT made such quick work of it. The fact that they decided to prioritize mobility over free auto parking without much public process at all is nothing short of extraordinary.

However, the street is still more stressful than it should be. With only paint as protection from motor vehicle users, ever-increasing auto volumes, and a speed limit of 30 mph (lowered recently from 35, but still deadly), I don’t think we’ll be seeing a lot of young people and families riding here. That might change if/when PBOT comes back and adds some type of physical barrier in the new buffer zones. We’ll see.

Have you ridden Willamette lately? What have you seen? What do you think of the new striping.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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Lack of sidewalks, dangerous driving cited as top walking barriers in City of Portland survey

Walking conditions on SE Foster east of 82nd.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

As part of their work to update the citywide walking plan the Portland Bureau of Transportation spent 17 weeks doing a survey to find out what keeps people from doing it. With 4,855 responses tallied, the results are in.

When asked, “What makes walking difficult?” Portlanders from nearly every corner for the city ranked “Sidewalks/walking paths missing on busy streets” as the number one answer. Following closely behind were “Not enough safe places to cross busy streets,” “People driving too fast on residential streets” and “Drivers not stopping for pedestrians crossing the street.”

From PBOT’s PedPDX survey.

The City’s report included a breakdown of respondents by race/enthnicity and geography. 80 percent of respondents were “white/caucasion” Portlanders — that’s eight percent more than the citywide demographic make-up of that group. On the other hand, they heard from only five percent of “hispanic/latino” Portlanders, when they make up 10 percent of our city’s population. There was a similar discrepancy for “black” Portlanders of which only two percent responded to the survey even though they make up six percent of our population.

To PBOT’s credit, they acknowledged the discrepancy of black/African-American responses. In order to make right by it, the report says the project team will organize “Walking While Black focus groups to better listen to and understand the walking priorities, barriers to walking, and other concerns about walking, directly from Black and African American community members.” The groups will be facilitated by black and African-American PBOT staff in partnership with local organizations like Africa House, the Urban League of Portland, and others.

As far as the geographic distribution, the largest discrepancy between citywide population and number of respondents was in east Portland. PBOT received a 21 percent response rate from that part of the city which has 28 percent of our population.

You can see the full survey report via PBOT’s website (PDF). Learn more about Portland’s walking plan update at the PedPDX project website.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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Open house tonight for SW Capitol Hwy project

(Drawings: PBOT)

The City’s SW Capitol Highway Project — which will build a new bikeway between Multnomah Village and Taylors Ferry Road (Barbur Blvd) is finally getting underway and there’s an open house tonight (11/29).

This is the project the community rallied to help save from a veto threat from Governor Kate Brown back in August. Brown planned to axe $2 million from the project’s estimated price tag of $10-15 million. The project is being done jointly with the Bureau of Environmental Services due to stormwater management upgrades that are also needed.

At tonight’s open house PBOT staff will give a short presentation at 6:30 pm and will be available to answer your questions.

PBOT is showing two different cross-sections that will be used in the 1.1 mile stretch of road. One is above in the lead photo and here’s the other one:

And here are the major project elements (taken from PBOT’s website):

PBOT estimates completion of this project by Fall 2019.

The southern terminus of this project is Taylors Ferry Road, but advocates and planners want it to connect all the way to existing bike lanes on Barbur Blvd. To do this, the project must navigate through a tricky series of large intersections partially controlled by the Oregon Department of Transportation and known as the “Crossroads”. PBOT is using that $2 million in state funding (from House Bill 5006) to separate out the Crossroads portion of the project, “in order to get continuous sidewalks and bike lanes to Barbur Blvd.” Construction of this portion of the project isn’t expected to begin until 2020 “at the earliest” (coordination with the proposed SW Corridor light rail project is likely one culprit for the delay).

Get all the details of tonight’s open house and learn more about the project at PBOT’s website.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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“White Christmas”

A cute stage musical version of the classic holiday movie in the always stunning Cadillac Palace Theater. Some classic Christmas carols and show-stopping tap dance numbers. A nice kick-off to the holiday season.

 

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3 Reasons Why Your Dog is Scratching the Carpet

No matter how much you love your pet, it can still be frustrating to come home to a damaged carpet. Find out more about how to keep your furbaby from wreaking havoc at home by checking out the following:

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Lack of exercise

Play with your pup and give him plenty of outlets to release his energy. While you may twiddle your thumbs when you’re bored, some dogs decide to give digging a try and go to town on your carpet. Releasing your dog’s energy through walks or playtime ends those sudden urges to dig and instead makes him plop his butt down and go to sleep when he’s bored. Source: Pets.TheNest

Getting comfortable

Dogs often dig, scratch and circle before they lie down as a way to get comfortable. Protect your carpet by providing your dog with a comfy bed, preferably one with raised edges so he can feel like he’s snuggling into a safe den. A pile of blankets on top of carpet also can help reduce the scratching problem and give your pup a more acceptable fabric to work with. Source: Cuteness

Fear and anxiety

You may find that your dog starts scratching and digging at the carpet whenever they hear something outside the home. It could well be their response to something they find threatening or worrying which triggers this kind of reaction. However, dogs often scratch at carpets when their owners leave the house, it’s their way of showing they are not happy at the fact they have been left on their own which is called separation anxiety. To help stop them from doing this, it might be worth working alongside a dog behaviourist who would be able to get to the root of the problem and then gently break the habit to prevent your dog from ruining all your carpets. Source: Pets4Homes

A damaged carpet should not come between you and your pet. It’s really easy to fix. Call us today!

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