Musings

After coffee, our first stop (not including traffic lights and parking) was Chittenden Locks, often called Ballard Locks. Note the bascule bridge in the background (it’s down). We saw two passenger trains cross it, and at one time seven people in head-to-toe fluorescent clothing were on walkways in the general area of the bridge’s pivot. We were too far away to figure out what they were doing.

We watched this NOAA vessel traverse the small lock. We thought the yellow globes were weather buoys, and the brown discs were anchor-weights for them.

Lacking sufficient knowledge to visually ID many (any?) fish species, I told The Guru I was pretty sure these are steelheads. Wouldn’t you agree? Huh…huh?

Despite snow and ice last week, this weather-blemished rose is attempting to triumph against cold odds.

Late in the day, we went to Log Boom park, at the north end of Lake Washington. Cormorant on post to left and taxiing sea plane to the right (we saw it land headed straight for us, but way on the other side of the bay).

I figure these cormorants are trying to catch the day’s final rays. I do not know if they stay “posted” all night. It seems like their count is pretty close to one per post. By the shore, we saw several species of ducks and more cormorants, but they do prefer to be perched above the water. (Dry feet preference?)

Posted at 8:26 PM | Comments Off on Water views

We rolled away from our hipster hotel on wet roads in light rain, headed for the ocean and points north.

As we climbed the West Hills, we found the clouds, and more moisture, still with temps well above freezing.

All the info we had suggested that the higher elevations of the coast range would still be above freezing. Fortunately, the predictions held, although we could see plenty of snow on the trees and along the road.

We stopped for a nosh in sunshine, and the mixed weather yielded a rainbow!

As we continued north, we crossed the mighty Columbia. Two sections have arched bridges, and the colors are slightly different shades of green. I have no idea why…

The next section of road crossed and skirted many rivers and creeks headed for the ocean. The tide was out and we saw many waterfowl and a few herons. And mud.

I cannot explain why, but I wanted to see Washington’s capitol. Rain had returned, but we risked melting to roll down the window and take a couple of shots. Almost no traffic on this Saturday evening. We saw a few bits of snow along the curbs, indicating that the weather has been colder. We are happy it has tempered; we are happier to tolerate rain than ice.

Posted at 9:34 PM | Comments Off on A wander ending at a seat of government

The ice was over wet-snow, and once loosened, came off easily. Thankfully.

So, we headed out to familiarize ourselves further with this technological wonder. We speculated that ice on an exterior sensor was triggering the parking-assist, which kept beeping at us. Then, we discovered user error as some button over on the driver door somehow got poked; after disengaging, great!, no more beeping. The learning curve….

Under the bridge (right in Portland) above we discovered four deer browsing. Otherwise the area was sparsely used, so good place for wildlife….

The traffic and perhaps some de-icing meant the downtown streets were quite passable.

We tried electric charging in two different parking garages. The first time was a breeze. The second time we goofed somehow. The charging station accepted the plug-in, but somehow we didn’t trigger the flow of electricity. More study needed….

The Guru found us a lovely French restaurant for a celebratory late lunch (yum). We took the caribou rack over the door to the kitchen as a good omen. [Long story.]

Posted at 8:37 PM | 2 Comments »

Before we headed to breakfast, we checked on road closings, and our route was to be open at 8am. The timing worked for us. Sure enough, WYDOT’s website indicated “our” highway was open at 8:05. Off we headed! This is Red Canyon. Guess why?!

At high elevations where there had been more snowfall, we saw several of these beasts. Fortunately, the sun was working in our favor, too.

After days of seeing raptors cruising the skies, today we saw crows, eagles—bald and I’m not sure what, and magpies busy breaking down roadside carrion, but only a few hawks—still cruising above.

We lunched in Kemmerer, at the only place that was open—yummy, BTW. I found the snow “removal” pattern interesting. I figure the plan was to remove the berm from the middle of the road. I have seen a central berm left in the middle of the street for all winter, but only when the road was about four lanes wide (in the summer).

Much later, we drove through malpaís, old lava flows that generally had little water and were tough to traverse. Mal país, or bad country, is a great name for this terrain.

As the sun set, we watched these blades turning at a stately pace, and were glad the wind we had yesterday—gusts, we were told, up to 50/60mph—did not haunt us today.

Posted at 10:57 PM | 1 Comment »

We started out the morning in a cloud of lightly blowing S (you know the winter “S” word…); however, the temp was just above freezing, so no driving problems. Whew. Farther along, the S stopped and we found a mountain of maize. We saw upwards of a dozen of these as we drove along. We discussed several theories about what the kernels were destined for…I’m still partial to the bio-fuel one. Sometimes the maize mountains were carefully covered and had a central device for removal. Those we thought may have been for corn syrup or oil, or perhaps animal feed. I’m guess all is subsidized by our tax dollars. Very green. Hah!

From a bridge, we saw full coal cars headed for power plants for winter heating, and empty ones deadheading back to the Powder River area for refilling….

On this crossing of the North Platte, we could clearly see a skim of ice, as Canada geese pivoted above (not in this shot, though).

Someone suggests this feather is called Medicine Hat, but I didn’t bite. (Say: Chimney Rock.)

Late in the day, the sun came out fully, and I found the effect of the oblique angle stupendous. Yay for cottonwoods! (And the train tracks stayed with us all day.)

Posted at 7:52 PM | Comments Off on Changing light, landscape

We headed down by the river, the Missouri—that seems like it should be the Mississippi to me when you look at the size of the catchment…. That’s it off to the right. Look at that broad floodplain past the channel….

And next to the river, in an unusual bluff, a cave—or a kinda-cave—carved by nature in soft stone, perfect for carving by humans, too. The few petroglyphs the native peoples left are eclipsed by dozens of carvings added in the recent past—including this summer, I daresay. [Apologies for the grotty color; I tried to correct it, no luck—not my specialty.]

We wound up in Grand Island’s downtown (the real, old downtown, and not the highway strips and mall area), where everyone was gearing up for Main Street Xmas (or something like that). Love the fingernail-moon witnessing.

Posted at 7:34 PM | 1 Comment »

Too many leaves on the balcony…now on the flower bed below.

Posted at 11:05 PM | Comments Off on Gravity fed

Formally, this is leaf senescence. They’re off the tree and desiccating…and the decomposition bacteria and critters are a’coming!

And I think today ties the record for longest stretch in ATL without measurable rainfall—39 days. That’s why we have power-dry and hard-as-cement soil (depending on compaction). Last time we had this stretch was, I think, 1844.

Will anyone say “climate change”? These sure seem like the maximal shifts that multiple specialists have forecast, and perhaps the drying of the interior continent that has been predicted.

Posted at 11:38 PM | Comments Off on Temporal processes

The lack of rainfall means the leaves have stayed fluffy for weeks.

Here’s the same scene with a new fisheye gizmo the Guru found that clips on over the phone lens.

I took the two shots hours apart, hence the different light.

Posted at 7:05 PM | Comments Off on Table, chairs—twice

We couldn’t smell the wildfire smoke, so we went over to the Old Fourth Ward park and walked around the lake, up and down, but took it easy. (Knee MUCH better, but still a tad ailing.)

And, we even spotted a turtle! Minnows (not pictured)! Slightly larger feeeesh (not pictured)! So, despite the horrendous murkiness, this water supports turtle food, and hence, at least one turtle.

Posted at 8:26 PM | 2 Comments »