Category Archives: Mud Bay & Rocky Point

A Community Effort

Posted on March 2, 2011 | 1 comment

A quick response

About 2:20 PM this afternoon high winds toppled a clump of fir trees in the 2500 block of Rocky Point Road blocking the road and knocking out power briefly for the second time today. By chance I was returning home from a bike ride just after the trees went down. With a couple of chainsaws, a big pickup truck, and the efforts of about a dozen of us, the road was open for traffic in about 15 minutes. When I returned later with my camera, the only evidence of the big crash (see photo) was a pile of branches and a man loading some free firewood. As one of the chainsaw operators, he was welcome to it.

Most of western Washington has been under a high wind advisory today with gusts of up to 60 mph forecast for the coast. Tonight the local TV stations will respond with coverage of big waves, downed trees, and other evidence of the storm. There won’t be any footage from Rocky Point though as we were too fast for any newshounds looking for wind damage. Our community effort even beat the fire department. The last few branches were being dragged off the road just as a red ladder truck from the Westgate station showed up. The number of cars backed up in both directions by the short delay surprised me. But the wait could have been a lot longer.

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Weather

King Tide Morning

Posted on January 23, 2011 | 2 comments

High enough for you?

The Kitsap Sun said the last few days have seen the highest tides of the year, calling them “King Tides.” Further, it invited anyone so inclined to post tide photos on a flickr page to help the state Department of Ecology document them. Until this morning I wasn’t able to participate. The tides have reached maximum height well before sunrise, so it’s been too dark out to do much with my inexpensive digital camera. The photo included above was taken right at high tide (7:56 AM) and shows a 14.0-foot tide at the north end of Mud Bay. There was enough light for the Mud Cat to point out the water’s edge.

I’m a bit confused. In January 2010 I wrote a blog entry about perihelion tides, extreme high tides that occur when the earth is closest to the sun and the moon is also exerting maximum gravitational effect on the tidal range. For comparison the photo I posted last year shows water on the land side of the small bulkhead behind the Mud Cat. That high tide was listed as 13.8 feet. So are the tide charts incorrect or did something else like storm surge or heavy rain cause the higher water level?

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Pi

Mud Bay Deer

Posted on January 9, 2011 | 1 comment

Last seen heading north

She came from the south end of Mud Bay daintily picking her way along the shore on a medium outgoing tide. By the time I grabbed the camera this morning, the doe had crossed to the small spit of land that forms the lagoon in front of my neighbor’s property (see photo). Clearly the cold water was of little concern.

As the photo caption says she was heading north, possibly to bed down in the woods at the end of Rocky Point or perhaps with the aim of continuing around the point to Phinney Bay. Or maybe she was just lost. The doe is the first deer I have seen on the shores of Mud Bay.

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Clear, Cold, and Windy

Posted on December 30, 2010 | 1 comment

December Inlet

It’s clear, 38 degrees F, and windy. It’s also December 30th so perhaps the latter two should be expected. The photo, taken from my deck, looks north across Dyes Inlet toward ~~Alaska~~ Silverdale. It doesn’t show the whitecaps as well as I hoped or any windsurfers, a species seldom found this far north in winter. Come to think about it, paddleboard man hasn’t been out for a few days either, although I haven’t been looking for him. I was gone over Christmas visiting family in Del Mar, CA, where it rained about as much as it did here.

For the record this post is the first written with a used replacement keyboard I got this morning at Northwest Computer for $5. The old one died yesterday after being swamped by a serious coffee spill. Who knows what inspiring prose the replacement keyboard’s previous owner wrote with it. Hopefully it will inspire me to do more writing in 2011.

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Weather

Paddleboards on Mud Bay

Posted on December 19, 2010 | 2 comments

A lot colder sport than winter biking

For several weeks now I have been trying to take a picture of paddleboard man. Although he’s out exploring on his paddleboard often despite the cold, wet December weather, I haven’t had any luck until this morning (see photo). We had a brief chat, and it turns out there are two hardy guys doing this. But they aren’t related and apparently don’t know each other.
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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point

How About Naming It Duck Point?

Posted on November 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

Quack quack

The Zillow map control outlines waterfront neighborhoods with a distinct yellow line when you zoom in to get property values (see illustration). This makes the north end of Marine Drive—the point of land across Mud Bay from my house—appear to resemble the head of a slightly bewildered duck. My view is of the back of the duck’s head. The bill, made by a small spit of land that pokes out into Ostrich Bay, points west toward Naval Hospital Bremerton.

To my knowledge, the peninsula accessed by Marine Drive has never been given a geographic name. Roughly a mile long, it’s a good-size chunk of land to be unnamed. On maps and charts, cartographers either label it as Marine Drive or just draw in the distinct shape and let it go at that. Area residents have gotten by for years by calling their neighborhood Marine Drive and likely don’t need any help from me. But if they do decide to name it (and Marine Point isn’t the overwhelming favorite), my suggestion is Duck Point. That’s appropriate, I think, given the number and variety of waterfowl paddling around in the local waters. And the Zillow outline.

How Strong Were the Winds?

Posted on November 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

What's wrong with this picture?

Coverage of yesterday’s arctic blast on the Kitsap Sun web site has attracted hundreds of reader comments. Most describe problems encountered while commuting over the county’s icy roads or how people coped when the power went out last night. No one mentioned the hardship I will remember longest about the storm: more than 12 hours of frigid almost-continuous gale-force winds from the north. The photo shows one casualty of the gale.
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So Many Blackberries, So Few Goats

Posted on October 18, 2010 | 1 comment

These two could use some kids

The owner of the Rocky Point Mobile and R.V. Park is using, if not a novel approach, at least a green one for controlling blackberries on the property. When I took the photo shown above, the two organic yard machines (aka goats) had already made good progress clearing the growth along the hillside. And that was after a single morning of work. But there’s a lot of brush and blackberries left to go, particularly on the property’s southern border.

For the record the nanny appeared to be a better worker than the billy. The latter was spending more time showing off his great set of horns than in chowing down. Perhaps he was the on-site supervisor. Unless he starts doing his share, the goats could be there for the rest of the week. To head off any danger that they’ll wander out onto Rocky Point Road, the goats are tethered to a rope.

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Still No Picture

Posted on September 16, 2010 | 1 comment

One of the Mud Bay blog’s initial posts was about a 1958 Pontiac that is seen occasionally on Rocky Point Road. Recently I learned a bit more about the car, although I still don’t have a picture. But take my word for it, the black sport coupe is gorgeous.
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Posted in Cars, Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Driving in Bremerton

Posted on September 1, 2010 | 3 comments

It’s the first of September, the first day of the fall school term in Bremerton. That’s one more reason to be careful when driving around town. The safety of kids is of course paramount, but that’s not what I’m writing about. With red-light cameras at major intersections and a citywide emphasis on traffic enforcement, drivers already need to be especially vigilant when driving in Bremerton. The all-day 20-mph speed limit in school zones just ups the chances of getting a traffic citation.
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Posted in Cars, Government, Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Other Local Places

Tagged Bremerton

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