Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
Rocks worn smooth by the motion of the ocean make the climb up Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park to join the many others on the rocky beach, leaving patterns in the sand after the waves flow around them. Or maybe, after days of heavy rain, they were taking advantage of the sunshine to head down to the ocean for a refreshing swim in the Pacific.
There are two species of anemones in this tide pool at Enderts Beach, the big green one is an aptly-named giant green anemone. The clustered little ones are aggregating anemones, they can reproduce multiple ways but this colony would likely consist entirely of clones. Giant green anemones are sometimes seen in tight groups but if there’s room they often spread out.
I got up early this morning to walk Ellie as we are in the midst of a heat wave with back-to-back days near or over 100˚, and it only cooled off to 70˚ overnight (and even then only for a short while), so I wanted to get her out before sun and temperature rose high. The early light was beautiful and since I had my camera with me I made Ellie pose in front of the same tree near the dog park as the picture below (which I’ve posted before). The two pictures are taken in the same spot and the same year, separated by six months, one on one of our hottest days, the other on our snowiest. Two different cameras too. Same great pup.
On that winter day she gave me an epic walk but a rather short one this morning, although she cut it short because of hunger not heat. Her stomach was upset overnight so she’s on a bland diet of chicken and rice for a few days until we’re sure she’s feeling well again, and she hadn’t had even that for breakfast yet. She kept reminding me all day that I ‘forgot’ to give her a dental bone this morning, her favorite treat. My pup keeps careful track of her treats. It’s going to be a long few days, but thankfully at least cooler weather returns tomorrow.
A black oystercatcher stands in what must feel like heaven to a bird that eats mollusks, a rock covered in goose barnacles and California mussels. When the tide comes in this rock will be underwater, something I still have trouble wrapping my head around. I love watching and listening to oystercatchers as they hunt in the tide pools so it was a special treat to get to photograph this one so completely in its element. After watching them at several places in California and Washington, I began to wonder why some of them had extra black spots next to the pupil of their wondrous orange-ringed yellow eyes, leading me to a paper that suggests you can fairly reliably determine whether the oystercatcher is male or female by these eye flecks. I suspect this one may be a male since it had only small specks next to its pupil, they were hard to see unless I zoomed in on the picture.
On the way to Sol Duc Falls, you pass over this stream falling down the hillside towards the Sol Duc River, the surrounding rocks covered in the most beautiful moss.
I do my best to indulge the pets in their favorite pastimes. While Sam is a football fan, Trixie and Boo love open-wheel racing so I’ve spent many weekends working on my laptop while they snuggle up on my lap and follow the racing action with rapt attention. These pictures are from last summer, they spent the morning watching Lewis Hamilton win the Formula 1 German Grand Prix for Mercedes while in the afternoon they watched Simon Pagenaud win the Indycar race at Mid-Ohio for Team Penske.
This old giant in the Quinault Rain Forest had a little tunnel running underneath its ancient roots. Perhaps this tree was nursed by an even older tree that fell and has long since rotted away. Perhaps it is a gateway to a land of wonders meant only for the little ones of the world. It takes hard work and perserverance from a variety of people to preserve this kind of majesty from those who bow before the golden calf, never more so than now. To have stood and watched this tree grow from a speck to a giant, but I’d need more lifetimes than my own. Mine is but to revel for a moment.
Wood sorrel nestles up at the base of a moss-covered tree in the Quinault Rain Forest in Olympic National Park.
Long may he reign.
