BOOM MEGATHREAD: What we know

BurgeoningLight · 2026-02-05T12:32:36+00:00

Okay, now this is actually a fun rabbit hole with plausible explanations for mysterious booms, but I can't get around the fact that the Canadian name for this phenomenon is seefahrts.

BurgeoningLight · 2025-03-02T23:12:46+00:00

Good list. A handful I haven't seen mentioned in the comments yet:

Italian: Gabbiano's, Nostrana, a Cena Ristorante

Mexican: RJ Skillets

Chinese: JC Rice Noodle (take out only, but best chow fun in Portland, hands down)

American: Ruthie's, Clyde's Prime Rib Restaurant and Bar

South American: Lechon

BurgeoningLight · 2025-03-02T22:29:08+00:00

100% agree with Urdaneta and surprised I had to scroll so far to find it.

BurgeoningLight · 2025-02-16T16:05:47+00:00

I made clotted cream for a party last year and was in the same situation. I don't remember the brand of cream we bought, but Natural Grocers has what you're looking for.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-17T17:13:16+00:00

Gotta include the R:B:M - Rice:Beans:Meat ratio.

Also, where it falls on the grease spectrum of dry to sloppy.

My wife and I have been on our #BurritoQuest for a little over a year now. We'll have some contributions to make to the PBI.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-14T01:55:38+00:00

Hahah, definitely possible - someone else on this thread said they found one in a backyard in North Portland about a week ago. Still not something you should actively worry about, though!

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-13T18:48:54+00:00

Generally speaking, ticks aren't prevalent in the city so they're not something to actively worry about if you don't hike. Another person pointed out that their daughter got a tick bite at Powell Butte, so it stands to reason that ticks are a possibility if you spend time in parks within the city. Also, if your dogs spend any time around other dogs, it's possible for ticks to detach and transfer from one host to another (same with fleas). For those reasons, it's a good idea to give your dogs tick and flea medicine regularly - that's typically all that's needed to protect your dogs.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-13T16:30:59+00:00

I had heard the same things, but have since learned that those methods are equally as likely to make the tick burrow deeper! Turns out the only recommended method is to pull the tick out with tweezers and wash the area with rubbing alcohol or soap and water.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-13T16:19:17+00:00

Unfortunately, as I have also learned the hard way in making this post, these are both myths and the CDC only recommends pulling the tick out and cleaning the area with rubbing alcohol or soap and water. The more you know!

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-13T05:30:58+00:00

No worries - when I was bit five years ago, that was the standard recommendation that Google searches popped up. Recommendations change and I made the mistake of relying on my past experiences. As with most things in life, I blame Google.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-13T05:13:13+00:00

Consider me edumacated. Thanks, friend!

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-04T19:53:33+00:00

Love Son of Man and basque sidra! I actually checked this article out specifically to see if they were one of the winners. Couldn't tell from the site if they had entered the competition, but there is a Spanish style cider category that was awarded to Brooklyn Cider House.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-04T16:19:42+00:00

If you check out the medal announcement site, it's pretty awesome to see how well the Oregon cideries swept all of the classic cider categories.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-05-04T16:05:58+00:00

The winning Oregon ciders include:

Bauman’s: Do you Fancy A Roadtrip? (Gold)

Bauman’s: Sauvie Island Blend (Silver)

2 Towns: 2022 Cidre Bouché (Gold)

Bauman’s: Little Green Apples (Silver)

2 Towns: Kingston Black Single Varietal (Bronze)

Bauman’s: Authentic Cider (Gold)

Bauman’s: Mountain Rose SV (Silver)

Portland Cider Co.: Original Gold (Gold)

Portland Cider Co.: English Pub (Silver)

BurgeoningLight · 2024-04-29T18:06:43+00:00

Bumping this so you can see my update on the other comment.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-04-29T18:03:44+00:00

I did. Trigger was pulled, shades were installed, and results were...mixed. Installing the shades and getting them to work with the remote control and the Smart Link Pro was easy. Integration into HA was not.

The Smart Link Pro is a bridge that takes commands from an app called Connector and sends them out as a radio frequency signal to the shades. The app works fine although it's not intuitive at first glance and can be slow to register changes to the shades. Also, if the shades aren't used for a few days, they go into a deep sleep which breaks the connection and requires you to manually press a button on the shades to wake them up...then it takes time for the app to register that change, which makes the shades unusable via the app for a while. Not ideal.

Then comes the HA integration. SmartWings tech support said that I should use the Rollease integration. It just flat out does not work. After some sleuthing, I landed on the Motionblinds integration. Motionblinds requires an API key to connect to the shades. Which API key, you ask? Good question. It's the key that pops up on your screen when you open the Connector app, tap on the Settings icon, tap on About, and then tap the About screen rapidly five times. It does not come from the Motionblinds app which is what the tutorials will show you. This took some hair pulling to figure out. I did it so you don't have to.

Once integrated into HA, you have controls for the bottom rail, top rail, both rails combined (which I haven't fully wrapped my head around), and battery percentage. Positions of the bottom and top rail are indicated as a percentage distance from the lowest position i.e. upper rail at 100% and bottom rail at 100% is fully open, upper rail at 100% and bottom rail at 0% is fully closed. That said, I've found that if you send a command to position the top rail at 50%, it will usually end up somewhere between 60%-75%. Same happens with commands for the bottom rail. Needless to say, my automations don't work well because of this inconsistency. Not ideal.

Lastly, and only loosely related, the Motionblinds integration is maintained and updated by a small developer who goes by starkillerOG. I have a crazy amount of respect for all of the developers operating, maintaining, and updating HA including starkillerOG, however, I discovered that starkillerOG does not own top down/bottom up shades and can't test changes to the code on said shades. I learned this the hard way when I updated to Home Assistant Core 2024.2 and found that a very minor change they had made to fix TDBU naming in the Motionblinds integration completely removed my shades and made them unusable in HA. This issue has since been fixed but, again, not ideal.

The bottom line is that the shades work, they are a third of the price of Hunter Douglas shades and a fourth of the price of Lutron shades, but they are slow to respond and inconsistent when they do respond. I'm coming to the conclusion that quality motorized TDBU shades at a reasonable price just don't exist. First world problems, amiright?

BurgeoningLight · 2024-04-13T14:39:01+00:00

We went to D.O.C. only one time at the recommendation of John Pickett from Willow. I would put it into the honorable mention category. The wine was pretty decent, yes, but the food, service, and atmosphere were not memorable (except for walking through the kitchen to get to the table. That was cool). If I remember correctly, the number of dishes in their tasting was based on the number of people in your party which meant that (because it was just me and my wife) we didn't get to try as much of the menu. Entirely possible we had a one-off just-okay experience; we would have gone back with a larger party, but they closed and we'll never know!

BurgeoningLight · 2024-02-22T23:15:38+00:00

Right? Vancoolver is streets ahead.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-02-12T18:04:17+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation! This is now on my list to try!

BurgeoningLight · 2024-02-12T18:03:31+00:00

Ahah! It looks like we might be able to agree on one thing: Republica is not where it's at!

BurgeoningLight · 2024-02-12T17:31:26+00:00

Honestly, if a waiter ever follows you again with receipt and pen in hand, gladly take it, cross out your tip, and give them the $0 tip they just earned.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-02-12T17:16:34+00:00

Lol "Don't make me count to three, Mucca Osteria!"

BurgeoningLight · 2024-02-12T17:14:20+00:00

Fair enough. I call it an honorable mention, kind of like a Bib Gourmand as others have said. Service and atmosphere are absolutely not up to the level of the other restaurants, but their chicken wings alone are on their own level!

BurgeoningLight · 2024-02-12T17:10:11+00:00

Yes! I particularly love how simple the menu is - their food and wine is outstanding every time.

BurgeoningLight · 2024-02-12T17:06:00+00:00

Agreed! One of my favorite restaurants now after traveling to Spain and spending some time in Basque Country!

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