Why I love Portland, reason #168

FREE STUFF!

A few weeks ago, while walking by a neighbor's house, I found they had left a dug-up bush on their parking strip with a sign that read: "royal blue hebe - free!" It was a good-sized bush - about two feet high and two feet around - and I though it would go perfectly in a spot in the back garden I had been trying to fill since the dogs had trampled the flowers that once grew there. I took it home and planted it, then replanted it when the dogs dug it up, and I scattered some of their poop around it to keep them from digging it up again. When we came back from vacation, I was delighted to find that not only had my little bush survived the onslaught of two lonely dogs for two weeks, but it was also sporting some lovely purple flowers.


We also found upon our return, in the mailbox among the many bills and friendly letters letting us know that now is a great time for refinancing, a postcard from the City of Portland Office of Transportation, directing us to their web site, where we might find the Northeast Hub Transportation Options Order Form. On the form, they ask you for your name and address and which goodie packets you want to receive for - get this - NO CHARGE! It was hard for me to wrap my brain around that concept, and I tried at first to figure out which packet I wanted most. Then it occurred to me that it wouldn't hurt anyone of I ordered ALL of them. They were, after all, being offered FOR FREE. Wow. It still seems to weird to be true. Anyway, a few clicks and a couple days later, a nice lady on a bike delivered to my door a tote bag filled with, among other things, bike maps, a pedometer, a cylcometer, a kitchen faucet aerator and an outdoor hose spray nozzle. Nice!

Did I mention it was free?