It's that time of year again. The Weather Service says that thanks to La Niña, the Pacific Northwest is expected to receive comparatively wetter weather ... and that sweet little girl is already delivering!

Opposite Larsen's Bakery, Looking South

News & Notes

• Following the removal earlier in the year of our Alpha Rhodie, which revealed a neglected hillside, we have after a summer of diligent effort completed our new landscaping to a point ready for winter. In the tradition of Japanese gardening, we intend the placement of stones to suggest a 'scene of wild nature': The Cirque of the Towers in Wyoming's Wind River Mountains. An interesting way to see the transformation is to compare the 'before' - click 'hillside' above - and this 'after' picture ... it's like the Find the Differences pictures on the comic page. (View looking down.)

  

  Stone Placement Suggesting The Cirque of the Towers

  
  

• We've taken three trips to the Olympic Peninsula this fall.
  
  The first was motivated by a visit from Alden and Laura. They were looking to spend some time in the mountains and among the trees. So, we settled into a resort in the hills south of Sequim, and used it for a base to travel around enjoying the parks and forests.

  

  Alden and Laura on Hurricane Ridge in ONP

  
  The next week the weather was good, so we went back for a lap of the Peninsula. We began with a champagne and oyster lunch at Hama Hama Oyster Company on the Hood Canal. It's a shuck 'em yourself operation on week days, which is fine with us! Yum. We walked the Pacific Beaches, assessing the driftwood availability on 'tablet beach.' (The small ones aren't as cool as the large ones.) Finally, we hiked to Sol Duck Falls, a lovely walk among huge trees.

  

  Sol Duck Falls in ONF

  
  Being on a roll, we decided to check out Astoria OR to visit the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, where the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1805-06. We toured the Visitor's Center and the reconstructed Fort. J even got a selfie with Sacagawea and her boy Jean Baptiste Charbonneau. Astoria is worth a longer visit. Returning to Washington, we visited Long Beach and then poked up the coast, stopping occasionally to inspect the long flat beaches. Before heading back home across the Peninsula, we drove an Artik, Vesta, Brooklyn, Cedarville, Saginaw loop exploring a part of Washington we'd never seen. It's hilly, mixed deciduous / coniferous forest with cattle farms where it's flat, lumber farms where it's not. Fascinating.

  

  Fort Clatsop - A Five Star Winter Resort in L&CNHP

  
  

• Fall was developing fast, so we decided to visit Jim and Julie in Libby for a week ... and hopefully enjoy the golden fall colors. They were gorgeous for the entire 500 mile trip over and throughout western Montana. Despite much socializing, we found time for Jim to take us into the mountains to enjoy the splendor.

  

  The Cabinet Mountains Showing Off Their Stands of Larch

  
  

• In what has become a tradition, our kind friends Tom and Alvira saved some slash piles for us to burn at their tree farm. Slash is the remains of logging - branches, tops, smaller trees - that have been stacked and left to dry. Burning them during cool, wet weather ensures they are not a fire hazard now or in the future. L lit the piles under Tom's direction, and then we toured the forest as they burned. Later, we 'chunked in', that is, pushed any burnt ends on the perimeter back into the fire. It's great fun to be "working" in the forest on a crisp fall day.

  

  Setting a Fire with the Arsonist's Helper, a Drip Torch