Posts filed under "Talking Story"
Walking in a winter wonderland
When I drive to Mount Rainier from Tacoma, I like to take the long way. Highway 7 winds through some slow and steep terrain at some points, through the “towns” of La Grande and Alder, and most motorists seem to use the Eatonville cut-off to bypass this part of the road, but I actually look […]
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Real estate news
Before Lt. Charles Wilkes came to the Puget Sound region in the early 1840’s, he and his crew took a detour through the South Pacific. While in Fiji, Wilkes took custody of a tribal chief named Vendovi, who had allegedly participated in the murder of a New England whaling crew unfortunate enough to have washed […]
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Going to the mountains
With the departure of the Pineapple Express – it’s still plenty rainy but the colder temperatures have returned – I feel like getting into the snow somewhere. I’ve spent altogether too much time inside of four walls lately and I’m feeling the need to stretch my legs, lungs and mind. I have my eye on […]
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Steller’s curse
As I was walking down a forest trail just the other day, I heard the distinctive grack, grack, grack of the Steller’s jay. After a moment or two of searching the underbrush, I saw the distinctive topknot, the blue and black feathers and the coal-black eyes of this singularly beautiful bird. The Steller’s jay is […]
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Precipitation report
The rain is falling. And not just like it’s always falling – this weekend calls for 3″-10″, depending on where in western Washington you’re talking about. Enough that a flood watch has been issued for, according to the weather report on the radio, “the rivers and streams that are prone to flooding at times like […]
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Happy feet
A few years back, in the dead of winter, I attempted a paddle around Vancouver Island. There are those who called it a misguided venture – and they may have a point – but I made it from Bellingham up into Johnstone Strait before I called it off. I injured my left shoulder and after […]
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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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A story of sea kayaking and science on the rugged coast of Alaska. Coming – Spring 2014.
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