Month: July 2011

I Couldn’t Resist (Believing What My Eyes Saw)

When it hit 80 degrees on Wednesday there was no garage in the world that was going to keep me inside, even if birding is rather poor this time of year. I headed out for Theler Wetlands for a four mile walk, wondering if I’d see John there.

I was nearly a third of the way through the walk before I saw my first bird, this Goldfinch

American Goldfinch

the first of several I saw during the day.

I did see an immature Eagle about the same point, but there was nary a duck in sight, unusual in its own right. At the first bridge I saw the Cedar Waxwings,

Cedar Waxwing

the first of several sighting throughout the rest of the day, probably the most common bird of the day, in fact.

I’d actually give up meeting John when I finally met him on the way back. Thanks to him, I managed to get a distant shot of this Willow Flycatcher,

Willow Flycatcher

a bird I seldom see.

On our John told me he’d seen 4 Kingfishers recently. We didn’t see four, but I did manage to get a fairly good shot of this one,

Belted Kingfisher

just before it flew across the river, laughing all the way.

After John left, I took pictures of flowers and walked the boardwalk out near the Sound. As I was leaving, I noticed a young man looking intently over the railing. Naturally I had to know if there was a picture to be had, but I was shocked when he pointed out a three-foot-long alligator resting in the mud.

Alligator

He wondered if they were native to the Pacific Northwest, and I said, “Not hardly” and suggested he report it. He didn’t seem too interested in doing that, so I found a park volunteer and he said he would report it to Game and Wildlife to have it removed.

UPDATE: John just informed me that the alligator was PLASTIC. Wonder if the Fish and Game department had to come out to confirm that?!?

New Priorities

I’ve been devoting most of my time in the last two or three weeks to cleaning up the yard and house. That’s involved bringing in and spreading three pickup loads of barkdust. I’ve also hauled a pickup truck full of stuff that I haven’t used in three years to the dump or to new homes with people who might hopefully find a use for them.

My first priority this Spring and Summer is completing work in the yard. We paid to have workers build up retaining walls, and I’ve finally rebuilt the sprinkler system, gotten new plants planted, and covered the beds in both the front and backyard with new barkdust. The yard is no masterpiece, but it’s something I can live with and maintain with a minimum of effort.

My second priority this summer was to get rid of enough stuff in the garage that I can actually use it as a shop. More and more I’ve come to realize that “Less is More,” that I’m not going to live long enough to do all the things I’d love to do. So I’ve been getting rid of things I’ve purchaded in the past hoping I’d get to them in the future. Insteady, I’ve been refocusing on the things I love most, like woodworking. I’ve had to haul away a pickup truck full of goodies I bought in the past and build new shelves from scraps so that I can put everything away and clear my workbench, but the shop is nearly to the point where I can simply walk out and start a new project without having to spend two or three days trying to clear a space.

My third priority, to be finished by Fall, is to clear out enough space in my den/study room that I can get back to some art projects I’ve wanted to work on. That’s been impossible when the drawing table is covered in books to be read and there’s barely enough room to slide up to the keyboard. I’ve managed to shift some of the books sitting around downstairs by finally throwing away the sound system that no longer gets used because everything is now played through the Bluray player and my iPhone. It took considerable time, though, before I was ready to give up on my expensive Onkyo components and dispose of them.

More and more I want some tangible, concrete results rather than just digital output. I’m not about to abandon my blog, but it doesn’t seem like enough right now. Hopefully making some picture frames and hanging some of my photos around the house might be a start, but furniture making and carving fulfill that need better than anything else so I’m trying to get started again.