Author: boolie

Sam Gets a Boo Box Lesson

Our cats Sam and Boo in cardboard boxes

“I don’t know Boo, this seems kind of boring.”

“Get in a tall, narrow box like this one! You can pretend you’re in a submarine!. ‘Give me a ping Trixie. One ping only please.’ ”

“There’s no room for belly rubs?”

“Or you can be a Formula One racer, barreling into Eau Rouge at legendary Spa-Francorchamps!”

“Maybe there’s a big box where dad can snuggle with me?”

“Or an X-wing fighter, preparing for the trench run with TIE fighters hot on your tail! Not today fellas, the Force is strong with this one!”

“I think I’m going to curl up with dad on the couch.”

“NOT EVERYONE IS MEANT FOR BOO BOX! You can curl up with your head on the side like this, or stick your arms way over the side, or sink down completely inside the box, or …”

“Some of us have bones, Boo. Some of us have bones.”

“Commander Boo, you are go for liftoff! Godspeed to the moon!”

The Non-Moving Van

A close-up of the front of an old moving van in the Quinault Rain Forest

It looks a little older and a little worse-for-wear every time I see it, but I always enjoy seeing the friendly face of this old moving van in the Quinault Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. I hope it thinks the same of me. Then the rain poured down and gave the non-moving van a nice shine, rain which feeds the trees and rust which are slowly breaking it down. Such is life in the rain forest.

An old moving van is wet with rain in the Quinault Rain Forest

Earth Imitates Life

Large rocks stretch to the sky at Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park

These large rocks at Rialto Beach in Washington’s Olympic National Park reminded me of goose barnacles stretching to the sky. There are tide pools by the rocks if you’d prefer life to its imitation. There’s a gull enjoying this lovely spring morning as well as I always like to sneak a little wildlife into my landscape pictures when I can. Shown below are actual goose barnacles (also known as gooseneck barnacles) from Enderts Beach in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in California. Their stalk is said to resemble the necks of geese and according to Wikipedia, goose barnacles and the barnacle goose were named after each other, as the goose was suspected of growing from the barnacle.

Goose barnacles crowd together in a tide pool

Down Upon the Bittern’s Beak

Downy feathers cling to an American bittern's beak after a preening session

Downy feathers cling to an American bittern’s beak after a preening session on a rainy winter afternoon. This one was at South Quigley Lake at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, my second favorite place to watch for bitterns on the refuge (and the first if there aren’t tall grasses along the final channel beside Rest Lake, like during the winter this was taken).