Countdown

One day to lift-off!

Yes, that's right -- sometime Tuesday I and the Hounds are heading off to our adventure in the Atomic City, AKA Richland, WA, where I need to find a new house to live in.  That's because I listed my current house for sale on August 2, and at 5pm tomorrow, the new owner takes over.  Whew, that was fast!

In the meantime, I've been enjoying farewell lunches and dinners and get-togethers with friends and acquaintances.  Not only did I have five lunches and three dinners over the past two weeks, I also had a lovely visit with the former mail carrier, Ms. Chou, who adores Pippin.  We tracked her down on her new route to say goodbye, and she was delighted.

And I've been trying to visit a few of our favorite places here in between the days with wildfire smoke haze, which has been about two days of the past seven.  I took the Hounds to Magnuson Park, to Richmond Beach Park, and for a long frolic at the Golden Gardens Park beach, where we came upon the remains of a sand sculpture competition:

The competition happened the day before, so things were looking a bit run-down.

Turtles were a popular subject.

Pippin was King of the Sand Castle, or rather, what seemed to be a sand starfish.

Other folks took to driftwood instead - a bit more durable.

The Hounds seemed pleased with their visit. 

 

Yesterday I visited the Montlake Fill for the monthly bird count.  It was overcast and hazy, and not until the end of the three-hour tour did the skies clear enough for decent photos.  We were just about to leave when I spied this small flock of Common Mergansers, the only birds I got pics of:

And I snapped a pic of Connie Who Practically Lives There, who later took me to Top Pot for a donut and farewell chat. 

Just in case you are wondering, "Why is she leaving such a lovely place?", here are a few pics of views from my own neighborhood, taken within six blocks of my house:

Yes, there are lovely areas of Seattle that I will miss, but they aren't where I live.  I plan to come back each summer to visit the areas that are not my neighborhood.

I got the coolest thank-you gift from my real estate agents.  This sumi-e print is by a local artist who donates to a shelter in India that she visited, and which is dedicated to saving street dogs.  Perfect!

Now I must go review my list of the Million and One Things that I must remember to do either before the last day, during the last day, or after the last day in Seattle.  See you in Richland!

The Grayest Skies You've Ever Seen

I was going to snap a photo of the hazy sunrise this morning, but I couldn't find it.  We are having the worst wildfire season ever in the Pacific Northwest, and experts claim this could be "the new normal".  So instead of the gray skies in Winter and Spring (and many other times of the year) from the overcast and/or rain, we'll have gray skies from smoke.  Joy.

There were air-quality warnings most of last week, but after two days of sitting inside, I got stir-crazy and took the Hounds to the Montlake Fill.

On clear days you can see a bridge in the background and buildings and somewhere out there is Mt. Rainier.

Even the birds, such as this Northern Flicker, looked washed-out.

Whenever the winds arrived from off shore to drive the smoke away, I dashed out to do some sketching.  These are from the Edmonds Marsh a short ways north (the sky was blue!):

And this is from Shoreview Park:

On Saturday morning I got down to the Fill again for the weekly shorebird count.  There were no shorebirds.  However, a Green Heron posed ever so nicely for me:

On Saturday, Nicole and Tina and I visited the Shoreline Community College campus, where we found a small pond by the biology building, and other fun things to sketch:

There were a lot of sunflowers at this spot:

And even some sun that wasn't diffused by smoke.

However, on Sunday the smoke returned, and is predicted to stick around through Wednesday.  It feels unhealthy even from indoors, so my activities will be limited this week.  Yesterday I stocked up on chew toys to keep the Hounds entertained.  Apparently they don't make chew toys for humans, though, so I shall need to get creative about entertaining myself!

Ready to Fly

The Osprey chick at the Montlake Fill is nearly adult-size now, and has been flexing its wings, trying to figure out how this flying stuff works.

Truman and Pippin were unimpressed, as usual.

 At Golden Gardens Park, we had a lovely Belted Kingfisher:

And at the Ballard Locks, we had another lovely kingfisher to admire.

Meanwhile, Truman and Pippin remained unimpressed by birds.

And here they are at the Shilshole Marina, being unimpressed by boats.

And at the Locks, unimpressed by the orca sculpture.

What can I say--mostly they are impressed by stuff that smells funny, stuff that I can't smell at all and often can't even see.  And Pippin likes to eat anything he finds on the ground--grass, weeds, sticks, the occasional rock--it's hard to walk anywhere without him chomping on something he shouldn't.  At the Fill this past week, I was preoccupied with the Osprey chick when one of my birder pals said, "Your dog is eating rabbit poop."

Ah, joy. 

Finally, here is a very cooperative Green Heron from the Fill, who kindly provided me with every pose I could want before flying off to parts unknown:

As for sketching, I got in a few drawings here and there, like this little garden area:

And this small P-Patch garden view:

And this view from the third floor of the hospital Audiology waiting room where I had my biennial hearing test:

I don't think the view from the Audiology waiting room will look quite this spectacular two years from now, for you see, I am taking flight, too!  For over a year I've been contemplating a retirement relocation move, and now I'm ready to go.  Last week I sold my house for a tidy profit, and by the end of this month, should be broadcasting from Richland, WA, where I grew up.  It is sunnier there, with fewer people and less traffic, and it is considerably less expensive.   A new adventure awaits!