Just Some Images

Here are just a few, somewhat interesting images. It is 5 degress here on this almost mid February morning and we don´t want to get out for a walk just yet so we thought we would look at some older images and let our thoughts wander here inside where it is not so cold.

This image shows two Sandhill Crane landing. The picture was taken at Whitewater Draw in Arizona a couple years back. It is a wonderful well known habitat wildlife management area where thousands of Sand Hill Crane and lots of other bird species spend the winter. The Crane towards the top of the image is a juvenile, last seasons young, you can tell that by the lack of red coloration on it´s head

The dead plant is an Arbovitae. It was located along a fence line two houses away from us here in Walla Walla. The specific spot in the ground appears to have a virus of some type as earlier attempts at planting in this same spot netted the same result. The owner had this plastice skeleton and placed it adjacent to the dead plant. Interesting image and I call it - We Commiserate.

Several years ago I went out to chat with a local wheat farmer with the intention of placing a couple of Barn Owl Nest Boxes on his property. In the workshop he had one of his large combines being worked on and this lab liked to sit in the tire well and watch the goings on. Just a fun image.

Cave Creek is one of the many regional parks around Phoenix Arizona. This Sajuaro cactus is situated along one of the numerous trails in the park and is nicknamed The Michelin Man because of the growth pattern.

On one of our many travels we were driving up I-5 in Northern California and Mount Shasta was presenteing itself in all it´s beauty. The crystal blue sky really accentuated the blowing snow. Looks a bit cold to me.

We were out driving along Johnson Hollow Road just east of Dayton, WA during the wheat harvest a couple years pack. At this point we are higher in elevation than Walla Walla and there are lots of windmills sited to catch the wind. We thought this was an interesting image with the wheat harvest and the wind mills.

Feeding the kids - here is a female Mountain Bluebird bringing bugs, which appear to be grasshoppers, into the nest box to feed the growing bluebirds. I spend some time in the spring, summer, and fall with a friend, Tom Scribner, building, placing, and cleaning bluebird nest boxes. It is a fun hobby and of great benefit to the bluebirds.

This seemed a most fascinating image. It was taken on a neighborhood walk and shows a puddle of oil after a rain. The oil dripped from a vehicle and the rain water does not mix well with the oil. I enhanced the colors by saturating them a little but I was surprised at the variety of color that showed in the image

Some of you may have seen this image before. It is of Palouse Falls a State Park here in Washington about 75 miles north of Walla Walla. There was an individual that intentionally went over these falls in a Kayak and as I recall all that got damaged was he broke one of his paddles. I believe there is a you tube video showing this feat. This is obviously a panaoramic photograph and it was taken with a smartphone. Seems you don´t need fancy equipment to get decent images.

This small insect is a Praying Mantis. There are over 2,400 species of praying mantises found all over the world. They are very beneficial in the garden as they eat a lot of other detrimental insects. It won´t be too long and the garden will get going and we might be able to find some of these insects hunting amongst the leaves, quite honestly I cannot wait.

Here is a Female Northern Harrier taking flight. You can tell it is a female due to the brown coloration. The male of the species is gray in color. These were called Marsh Hawks and can often be seen flying low over wetlands in search of food. They are a slight cross between a raptor and a owl in that they have very acute hearing and can detect prey by listening for them.

We hope you enjoyed this disparate collection of images. It is for us a nice respite from the cold and snow outside.

Let us know if you have any questions

All the Best
George & Deanna

Sunday Dinner in Winthrop

This short blog post is a fun little whimsical walk around a small part of Winthrop, WA and a glorious Sunday dinner we had there.

We stayed for two nights on our excursion to the North Cascades at the Methow River Lodge and Cabins in Winthrop. This is the front of the motel as seen from the parking lot.

We had a room on the second floor and the view off the back deck was very pleasant. It was a nice temperature with virtually no wind the two evenings we were there. This is the Methow River flowing from left to right.

Just out the front of the motel was a walking trail that wandered around toward down town Winthrop. It is named the Susan Stephens Walking Trail. Wanting to stretch our legs after the long journey we decided to explore the trail. Our first encounter along the trail was this ice rink. It was not cold enough for the rink to be operating, thank goodness, but we are sure it will start up soon. Later in the winter it will be very busy.

Walking past the ice rink you make a right on the trail and come upon this rather nice bridge. It seems extremely overbuilt for a walking trail but is very well done. It was built in 2011-2012 and is called the Spring Creek Pedestrian Bridge. It is a 385-foot long clear-span, cable-stay structure over the Methow River. The walking surface is preformed concrete panels. The bridge should last quite a while.

In this image, taken looking over the side of the bridge, Spring Creek is in the foreground feeding into the Methow River in the back flowing left to right.

The town of Winthrop is an old Western Themed town with wooden sidewalks.

Many of the businesses and buildings support the old west theme.

Our favorite place and reason for going into town is Sheri´s Sweet Shoppe. What a great find. If you like chocolate or just want an ice cream fix, this is the place to go in Winthrop.

We thought we would splurge on Sunday dinner and so we each had two scoops of home made ice cream, it was delicious. As they say eat dessert first

There are various signs throughout the establishment purporting the marvelous benefits of ice cream.

This sign provides another reason to consume the creamy delicacy.

And here is your word puzzle for the occasion. We were not stressed but it is a great reason.

Looking around Winthrop we saw these fire hydrants with antennae sticking up. No they are not radio controlled or part of the wi-fi network, at least we don´t think so. The antennae allows the fire department to find the hydrant in case of deep snow and shows the snow plows where the hydrants are located. It would seem that it gets cold and snows a bit in this part of the country in winter.

The is one last sign we encountered in Sheri´s - pretty self explanatory.

This image is a stand alone image, not in Winthrop - On Monday of our excursion we were in Marblemount and had lunch at Up River Grill and Taproom. This looks like an upside down light bulb but is actually a container in which they bring water to your table when you have lunch there. It is a wonderful place to eat.

The top that appears to be the end that gets screwed into the light socket has a cork stopper inside and it just pulls off allowing you to pour the water. The vessel comes from Terramar Brewing & Distilling in Edison WA. Up River buys alcohol from them and it comes in these vessels. We thought they were rather fascinating and a great repurpose of the container.

We hope you got a chuckle out of this whimsical post about Winthrop, Ice Cream, and Water bottles. When you find yourself next in Winthrop be sure and stop in at Sheri´s and try their ice cream and chocolates, it is fabulous.

Let us know if you have any questions.
All the best
George and Deanna

North Cascades NP

This blog post presents images we took on a recent trip along Hwy 20 in Northern Washington State through North Cascades National Park. It is a fascinating place with many things to see and lots of things to do. This set of images is only intended to give you a feeling or microscopic sense of the area, it really must be seen and lived and absorbed in person to get the true magnificence and beauty of this magical place.

Here is our route along Hwy 20 - we stayed in Winthrop and drove over to Marblemount and then back. It took us about 4 hours each way with various stops. It is about 87 miles one way. These images and the places visited are presented in sequence from Marblemount to the east in Winthrop.

Going east out of Marblemount is this sign announcing the start of the North Cascades National Park. It is a place of high mountain peaks beautiful trees and pristine waters. The city of Marblemount is about 315 feet in elevation and the high point at Washington Pass is 5,744 feet. We will climb a bit.

This is Diablo Lake as seen from the designated pull out and observation point along the highway. The lake was formed when Diablo Dam was completed in 1930 on the Skagit river

In the previous view of Diablo Lake there is a small island in the lower left portion of the image. This is just a close up of that island. Fascinating small rock outcropping with some trees growing among the rocks.

We thought this was an interesting image, the yellow tree against the granite backdrop. Many of the deciduous trees are starting to turn, it is fall.

Here is a look at Ross Lake as it extends to the north. It is about 22 miles long and was formed when the Ross Dam was built in 1949. There is a resort at the lake where you can stay - There is a ferry across the lake or you can hike across the dam and around to the resort.

We took this excursion in the middle of October. Winter is coming but it has not arrived yet. It was fascinating to see the trees turning their bright yellow mixed among the conifers.

Unlike the trees in the previous image, this tree has been turned too many times. It is rather twisted around and fairly old. It is right along a walking path at Washington Pass Overlook. Perhaps it had been struck by lightning many years back. That is certainly possible at this exposed elevation.

Here in the upper reaches we see the tops of the cragy peaks. Winter comes a bit early here. On one of the higher peaks we could see snow falling already. Hwy 20 does not stay open in the winter. The snows will shut it down in Mid to late November and it will stay closed until April.

The winding road is coming in from the east and rises up to our location.

This view is from the Washington Pass Overlook. The mountain on the right is Liberty Bell Peak and Early Winter Spires are situated to the left. These are most impressive chunks of rock. If you are interested there are lots and lots of images of the North Cascades available on the Internet.

This image provides a view to the east towards the Methow Valley and Winthrop. Winthrop is about 31 miles to the east from here.

The high rock mountains rise up in virtually every direction. Great views.

Another of the many views of the lofty mountains.

On our way down to Winthrop we turned off the road to see the Klipchuck Campground. Before getting there we crossed this small stream, It was named Early Winters Creek.

Looking over the edge of the bridge and down into the little creek it was amazing how crystal clear the water was. We could imagine it was fairly cold and opted not to go swimming.

This is a map of the Klipchuck Campground found at the campground sign in station. The campground is about 19 miles west of Winthrop and is a wonderful campground with nicely spaced sites and various hiking trail opportunities.

In mid October on Monday afternoon there were only 2 campsites taken so pack your tent or hook up your trailer and get out there. It is a beautiful, peaceful spot.

We are about at the end of the sojourn.
We wanted to just back track a moment to show a sign from the Diablo Lake overlook. As you can see it clearly states, with an image,¨No Drones¨.
Years ago we were camping in our trailer and stopped for a couple of nights at Pichaco Peak State Park in Arizona. They also had a ¨No Drones¨ rule and we, out of curiosity, asked them why. The ranger stated there were some number of folks that liked to sunbathe with clothes as an option and did not want pictures taken of them in such a condition.
That might not be the reason here but not a bad idea to limit the Drones.

There are a lot of hiking trails scattered throughout the park and the Pacific Crest Trail crosses over Hwy 20. We saw numerous cars parked at several trailheads as we wandered around.

We hope you enjoyed this all too brief look at North Cascades National Park. It is a wonderful place and well worth your visit.
Let us know if you have any questions or comments.
All the best
George & Deanna

Eat Your Vegetables

Remeber when Mom told you to eat your vegetables and you turned you nose up, screamed and threw a tanturm and uttered the words I'm not goonna. Well here are a few small examples of what our friends in the bird world are offered for every meal.

It seems to me that what mom had us eat, despite our misgivings, was not all that bad, all things considered. Enjoy - have fun