Category: Uncategorized
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New bird at the feeder
When you daily monitor your bird feeders you get to know what birds frequent it. You can recognize a new bird quite easily. It’s the color, shape, and size. For the last couple of days I’ve noticed a bird smaller than a robin and bigger than a nuthatch or chickadee. It is also sleeker than…
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A new post goes in and the old fence comes down
In the northwest, wood decays into the soil. Fence posts and entire fences biodegrade into the soil. I’ve seen this after just a couple of years in the ground. Pay a little more for pressure treated and the fence will last longer. Pay the extra, it’s worth it. I have a fence on the side…
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Propagating the Monkey Puzzle Tree
I’ve written about the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) before. This is a evergreen tree commonly found in the northwest. but it did not originate here. It is native to argentina and chila, specifically the andes. When we bought our home in the north of seattle, we found ourselves in the shadow of a 50…
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The way pharmacies used to be 100 years ago
While visiting my sister in Guthrie, Oklahoma, she brought me to the Oklahoma Frontier Drug Store Museum. Located on one of the many side streets in the historic downtown district, we entered through the ancient doorway. I thought it was an old bar with dark wood counters on both sides and bottles in the cabinets…
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A most treasured possession sold for $12
You feel it in your heart, gut, and mind. A valued item, a reminder of a time long ago and a person no longer with us. He was Curt and the possession is a brochure. More than a brochure, a booklet called Big Stump Trail. I remember picking it up and buying it for 10…
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the oregon trail’s start and finish lines re-visited
Over the years, in my travels, I’ve come across portions of the Oregon trail. Where possible, roadside markers indicate the exact location of this famous emigrant route. You look and see two ruts where the wagon wheels traveled. There must have been a lot of wagons traveling the road to embed such tracks. We called…
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Get your kicks on route 66 with al childs
route 66 turns 100 years old this year. The road runs from chicago to santa monica’s pier. it cuts through oklahoma and they know it and celebrate it. we’ve heard of a get-to-gether in tulsa, oklahoma may 30 of old classic cars. they will attempt to set a guiness book of world records during this…
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Living ghost town has a “made in china” relic
In northern oregon is the living ghost town of dufur, prounced “do for.” When they say living ghost town it means people still live there. Dufur has a buzz of life though downtown has many vacant buildings. Some of the buildings in town are 100 plus years old as is the Balch Hotel built in…
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A depression era dam with art deco features
Whether Hoover or Grand Coulee, I enjoy dam operations. The Bonneville Dam near Hood River, Oregon is a depression era construction with Art Deco styling. Completed in 1938, President Roosevelt opened the dam (1937). The fish ladder allows salmon up stream. The spillway are for their young to make it to the open sea. From…
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Two falls and a dam in northern oregon
This day marks the first day of an extended roadtrip planned several months ago. We start by heading to The Dalles in Oregon and go from there. On the way to the Dalles we tentatively planned three stops. We ended up doing all three. They are: Bridal Veil Falls – just off interstate 84 this…
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Pileated woodpeckers at the suet
a pair of pileated woodpeckers showed up literally out of the blue this afternoon. The one landed and had its back to me. I didn’t have my glasses so I didn’t notice any red on the head. Once I grabbed my camera and quietly went outside I captured a number of images of a second…
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When spring arrives, it shows
The 10-day forecast calls for sunshine. Finally, many of those who waited for the last frost can breathe a sigh of relief and hit the garden. Temps are still low in the mornings. I can’t imagine a frost after such gorgeous days. Some wait until June to plant. they say we have a short growing…
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Barred Owl in the backyard
A flash across the back sliding door caught the eye of my two kids. Was it an owl? What else would be that large. They live in the tall trees in the forest that lines the back our home. You can hear them almost any night. But to see an owl is a rare treat.…
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Daily abstract April 7, 2026. The Moffat Road Brochure
Picture perfect weather though slighly cool with temps between mid-40s and low 50s. Spent most of the day indoors tossing out old papers and listing on ebay. It amazes me some of the paperwork i’ve kept for decades. For example, the paperwork from 1994/5 where I purchased a business and rented a retail suite in…
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First day of Spring
Today is the first day of spring. Maybe that’s why I got up shortly after 5:00 a.m. It was 53 degrees and starting to get windy when I got up. Spent the morning outside and in the shop. I looked up to see a few Carmellia flowers on the tree. The rate this tree will…
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An obelisk in the desert. But what’s it saying?
This is the true roadside oddity. And i mean roadside; it’s literally on the side of the road. Traveling through Anza-Borrego one day, I came across this monument constructed of rock and concrete and built up like an obelisk. At eye level is a plaque with these words: This is the Desert. There’s nothing out…
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Parting with an old friend; my Honeywell pentax 35mm camera
My honeywell pentax Spotmatic 35mm film camera is obsolete and keeping it around for sentimental reasons just doesn’t make sense anymore. It was replaced by a cheap canon Powershot (digital) that fits in your pocket, takes digital pictures, and requires no developing. The canon served me well for most of ten years. In 1980 I…
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Good day, bad night on the skagit
I’m enjoying being at home sometimes day after day. However, i get the itch to go camping. In january i packed up and made reservation at rasar state park in skagit county. the park is located along the skagit river. The river flooded in december so I expected to see some evidence of the flooding…
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Swansea Ghost Town and the forgotten brochure
Recently I sold on ebay a brochure I picked up at the Armargosa opera House about 30 years ago. Sold for $19.99. Key to that sale was that owner marta becket wrote the room rates on the brochure. Ms. Becket has since passed but her memory is cherished by many who visited the opera house…
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Green-winged teal at Wiley Slough, Skagit County
Gone are the days when every duck i observed was a mallard, unless i’m visiting the zoo. Out here in the sloughs, ponds, mudflats, rivers and marshes, the exotic migratory birds are as common as crows. In the case of the Green-winged teal, I was after a stop-action shot using my Nikon D3500 DSLR. The…
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Five species of bird at the feeders today
It was the late afternoon watching the Seattle Seahawks NFC championship Game when i spotted a varied thrush in the bird bath. This bath had a hard layer of frozen water, a consequence of 26 degree nights. The temp went as high as 38 today. I took an empty milk container and dumped a gallon…
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Daily Abstract: waterfowl, fly fisherman
January 17, 2026 – Is this winter? Cloudless blue skies in January? There have been years where we’ve had overcast and cold for months on end, nine months with little breaks. Imagine, no sun. This last summer was extended, fall was an extension of that, and now this winter is mild. It is chilly. When…
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The bridge that was and still is – Everett’s Jack Knife Bridge
This is the story of a bridge that was, then was not, now is again. This bridge, considered destroyed according to National Archives records, and yet, here it is. It’s called the Jack Knife Bridge and at one time spanned the Ebey Slough. Cars drove over this bridge towards fertile farmlands on Everett Washington’s eastside.…
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This old photo: The Everett Massacre on Bloody Sunday
How times have changed. No longer is Everett called The City of Smokestacks. The lumber mills, canneries, smelters, brick factories, are long gone. Gone are the many shingle weavers who manufactured roofing shingles. The last group, the shingle weavers, went on strike back in 1916. For five months they were on strike when Industrial Workers…
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Bird bath repair. Sealing a leak and raising the water level. Dry pouring concrete.
I’m taking a discarded bird bath and putting it back into service. I bought it for someone as a gift. It returned to me but is useless. Birds never went to it. I surmise that it is too deep and wobbles due to its light weight. One more thing; it’s made of plastic. I’ve observed…
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Sale: Gardners Art Through the Ages Parts 1 and 2. Detailed, insightful, and packed with information.
Link to eBay Store This is a sale of Parts I and II of Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. Each book is $9.99. Part I Ancient Medieval, and Non-European Art 8th Ed Part II Gardner’s Art Through the Ages Renaissance and Modern Art 8th Ed
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Wood projects over the fall: Box for an electrical outlet
Small issue. Suppose the rain that falls from the sky enters the electrical box and shorts it out? I built the box to prevent this. It’s a bit oversize, but it works. Only a couple of problems emerged. The box shut out the light, so the light sensor always sensed it as being night. It…