Mud Bay Lighthouse

Posted on September 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

A tiny beacon


Just catching up on posts I missed this summer when I was away from my computer. While Mud Bay, or Dyes Inlet for that matter, doesn’t need a lighthouse, it has one now (see photo). I got it at the Allyn Days festival in July. I had some birthday money to spend and bought it on a whim. The lighthouse was made by a woodworker named Mike who runs a small business called Laughing Dolphin Keepsakes. The little light at the top is solar powered. The lighthouse doesn’t emit enough light to warn any kayakers who might get too close, but it does lend a nautical look to my deck.

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Posted in Home, Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Total Video Is Closing Soon

Posted on September 28, 2011 | 2 comments

A total loss for the neighborhood


I don’t rent DVDs during the summer so I was probably one of the last people to notice that Total Video on Kitsap Way is closing soon (see photo). The store stopped renting movies and games a few weeks ago and is in the last stage of selling off its stock of DVDs and VHS tapes. Everything that’s left is on sale for $2. Yesterday I picked out a couple of DVDs to zero out the small balance in my rental account.
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Posted in Business Beat

The Little Pour

Posted on September 28, 2011 | 2 comments

Where did the dirt go?


Last September I posted an entry about patching my driveway called The Big Pour. By the amount of cement used, yesterday’s pour was nowhere near as big a job. But the patch covers a far more serious problem (see photo)—one that I hope went away as mysteriously as it appeared.
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Hunting Big Game in Silverdale

Posted on September 20, 2011 | 1 comment

Clear Creek elephant


You can hunt big game along Silverdale’s Clear Creek Trail. Of course any shooting needs to be done with a camera as there’s no way to get a Washington hunting license for the animals I bagged yesterday (see photos). Constructed of several sheets of ¾-inch plywood, the animals tower over a field of tall grass in the Clear Creek Valley just north of town. A series of crop circle-like paths through the grass allow for close-up photos.

A passing hiker told me that the animals were put up by a private party who wanted to create a memory of his trips to Africa. It worked for me. With just a bit of imagination I was transported to the Serengeti Plain. The best part was the total surprise. I had no idea that there are life-sized animal-shaped billboards along the Clear Creek Trail. Having my camera with me wasn’t luck. As I have said in other posts, a small digital camera should always be included as standard equipment when you go to Silverdale.

There’s one more photo after the jump.
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Elwha River Trip

Posted on September 18, 2011 | 2 comments

End of the hike---Whiskey Bend

End of the hike---Whiskey Bend

I had been planning one last trip to see the dams on the Elwha River before the removal project started. The trip didn’t happen. Demolition of the Glines Canyon and Elwha dams began last week. The project, which has the lofty goal of restoring one of the largest watersheds on the Olympic peninsula to its pre-dam glory, is proceeding slowly and will take years to complete. So while there’s plenty of time to go see most of what remains of the two dams and the lakes behind them, the best I can offer for now are sketchy memories of a hiking trip I took several decades ago with three companions (see photo).
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Do Mud Bay Tidelands Qualify?

Posted on September 17, 2011 | 2 comments

A wildlife habitat home on Rocky Point


Is your property a certified wildlife habitat? A home on Rocky Point that I pass by on walks and bike rides proudly displays a sign that it qualifies (see photo). Their sign made me wonder how many of the basic habitat elements (food, water, cover, and places to raise young) my property provides. Also whether owning the Mud Cat, a stealthy but rarely successful stalker of songbirds and rodents, is a no-no.
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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Do LEFEV Parking Signs Help?

Posted on August 5, 2011 | 2 comments

Sorry, trucks don't qualify


On a sunny morning earlier this week, the parking lot at the new YMCA in Silverdale was perhaps one-third full. The occupancy rate in the spots reserved for low emitting and fuel efficient vehicles (LEFEV) was far higher. Only a couple of the thirty or so LEFEV spaces (see photo) were empty. I parked at the far corner of the lot, ate my Burger King breakfast sandwich, and pondered my cynicism.
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Posted in Cars

Canoe at High Tide

Posted on August 3, 2011 | 3 comments

Tied up at high tide


Last night was a perfect summer evening at Treasure Island. Perfect for everything but canoeing. Due to its minimal keel, my 15-foot Coleman Outfitter gets blown sideways by any wind exceeding about 5 knots. So after a brief battle against a stiff breeze, I brought the canoe back in and settled for a picture of a moored canoe instead (see photo). At 15.5 feet, the tide was one of the higher tides for August. The picture was taken a few minutes before high tide.

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A Three-Word “Awesome”

Posted on July 29, 2011 | 2 comments

To offset a world that gets more bad news every year, The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha describes dozens of simple things that can make us happy and should be celebrated. For example, “When cashiers open up new checkout lanes at grocery stores.” The book’s entries are a mix of author originals and suggestions sent in from all over. One of them is the idea behind my favorite greeting card of all time.
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Posted in Books & Movies

Our Gray Swam Away

Posted on July 28, 2011 | 1 comment

An emaciated juvenile gray whale died this week on a beach at Erlands Point in Dyes Inlet. The sad story was reported in the Kitsap Sun, which mentioned that the dead whale was examined by several marine biologists. In contrast a full-grown gray whale that spent part of a summer off the north end of Treasure Island about 15 years ago failed to attract any attention from the scientific community or the media.
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