All Posts Written by "ken"
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
I remember where I was: me and my buddy Craig Johnson were on our way back from Mexico. We’d gone to Tijuana to buy a load of sweaters, blankets, ponchos and pottery as Christmas presents, having taken orders from friends and family for the items and then negotiating bulk deals in the market south of […]
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The end
It is good that it ended yesterday, finally, after what must have been an ungodly painful stretch of time. The whale was a Bryde’s, and it washed up in Totten Inlet, where it had been swimming for the past week or so after sustaining the injury that would eventually prove fatal. Accidents happen, I suppose, […]
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One more whale story
There’s a mortally wounded whale in the south Sound, somewhere down near Olympia. Reports are that it’s either a sei or a Bryde’s whale, both of which are rare species in general, and particularly uncommon here in inland waters. Speculation is that it was struck by a fast moving boat with twin screws, putting deep […]
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What to do?
One of the local TV stations recently ran a special news report on the orca in the San Juans. I caught the tail end of it (the entire deal is online here), and I came away with a few observations. And, quite frankly, came away quite conflicted about the entire topic. I won’t go into […]
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With apologies, undoubtedly
A few weeks back, I posted an entry about Texas. About leaving Texas, actually, and how happy I was to be doing so. I didn’t mean it to be a hit piece, but a Texan friend of mine called me out on what I’d written, saying that it was mean and that it sounded angry. […]
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Curtain call
“Cheer up, Ed. This is not goodbye. It’s just I won’t ever see you again.”Lt. Frank DrebinNaked Gun 33 1/3 I don’t know what to blame for this early winter funk. It could be the rain, but it’s too damn early in the season to get depressed about that; there’s at least five more months […]
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Back to the Foss
The wind has been blowing all week. It’s warmer now, not the bone-chilling temps we saw a few days ago, but the early morning breezes have been enough to consistently keep me off the water. I doubt it’s gotten much below 10 knots on any given morning, and it’s significantly stronger than that right now. […]
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Snow clouds and writer’s block
The other afternoon, just before launching, I couldn’t help but look at the mountain for a minute or so. “The Mountain,” people say around here, and we all know which one we’re talking about. There is only one Mount Rainier. We can go for weeks without seeing it, especially this time of year, but when […]
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Happy Thanksgiving
My absolute most favorite holiday of the year: Thanksgiving. It’s Christmas without the baggage. It’s football, food, friends and family, without all of the tension and unrealistic cultural expectations that are such a part of the modern Christmas experience. It’s a very good time to reflect on the people and things I am thankful for. […]
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Beach chores
I’ve been meaning to bring a kayak around to the house for a few weeks now, just never got around to it. With all the wind we’ve been getting in recent days – it is winter, after all – my morning SUP ritual has been sporadic. The Tacoma Narrows is an active canvas and it […]
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A story of sea kayaking and science on the rugged coast of Alaska. Coming – Spring 2014.
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