Waterfowl, Part II

Yesterday was a cool day in Seattle.

The sun shone brightly, but not so brightly as to melt you into a mass of quivering sweat glands. A day such as this demanded exploration of local nature, so there I went. A lot of boats cruised under the Montlake Bridge, and it looked like the Waterfront Activities Center was doing good business.


The wetlands on the edge of Lake Washington are full of life — ducks, dragonflies, water striders, and some kind of little rodent that skitters around in the bushes.

I stood in the grasses along the lake shore for at least ten minutes, trying to get a picture of a cool bird with my totally inappropriate 50mm lens, and when I looked down, three ants were crawling their way across my pant leg.

This large dragonfly kept flitting around near me, almost as if taunting me, "Nah, nah, you don't have a zoom lens and your pictures of me are going to be really crappy!"

That's just anthropomorphism, but you know what I mean.

Intending to cross over to the Arboretum through Foster Island, I walked towards the trails only to encounter this:







That's a sign warning that the trails are flooded and extra muddy because the locks up in Ballard are in use, and that raises the entire lake level. Wow!

Notice the duck in the corner? She just slid up right when I took the picture. I think the duck must be my spirit guide of sorts, because after that she hopped up on the side of the bridge I stood on and sat there for a while.

She shook her feathers, maybe to rearrange them, maybe to get the water off, and then jumped back in and glided away. Perhaps word of my first post got around and I'm being recognized for bettering the duck cause within human society. But who knows.

Today's Forecast:

Sunny

76/55

Seattle Times

This sounds fun too: Watching the Tour de France in a pub on Capitol Hill. Okay, so maybe watching it gets old after five minutes, but I'm sure there's oodles of conversation potential.

Twins!

It's no secret that The Seattle Times and the PI are joined at the hip — literally and figuratively — but yesterday's front pages just screamed out for comparison.

Like here, onn the left, the PI: "Court nixes county's land use limits.

And on the right, the Times: "Court says rural-land restrictions go too far."


Yes, they are on opposite sides of the paper, but they are actually about the same ruling.

Both papers also feature housing costs as their big issue — no surprise, considering that they cater to a solid middle-class readership. But it really is too much when they both cite Windermere in their battling coverage.

Combined, the two papers ran 27 articles referencing "mortgage"— in just one day.

Guys, why delay the inevitable? Just merge them already.

The First Issue

Hello future, imagined readers!

Welcome to my personal realm, where I publish what I like, edit myself (poorly), and write about what I find interesting!

Step inside for a quick peek at some terribly cute little ducklings that someone threw in Drumheller Fountain at the University of Washington this morning.

A representative of Facilities Services said that ducks nest all over campus, and sometimes leave their ducklings resting in the shade. The ducklings swam laps around the fountain because they couldn't climb up the walls of the fountain and were in danger because of the strong sun.


When I arrived there were only two ducklings still in the fountain — and the one pictured above right had just been found by its mother. The facilities man put out a ramp on one side of the fountain and a little floating platform on the other, so that the ducks could rest when they wanted to and escape when they figured out how to. Two men in a boat followed the two ducklings in a circle pretty ineffectually, holding their net up waiting to get close enough to nab one.


A few people stood and watched, while some went up and talked to the facilities man. A man in medical scrubs stood by, net in hand, ready to spring into action if needed. It turns out they had rescued most of the ducklings already, and they were resting in a box next to the exit ramp. The facilities man cautiously let me take a few quick photos. Thanks facilities man!

Here they are, all hunkered down:

Facilities man said they would probably relocate the duck families to Portage Bay, where they would be far away from mischievous college students.