In honor of the Mars rover landing...

 Another spectacular sandspit sunrise!

Seeding clams in the lagoon

Bruce Klock, who built our house, has sold the surrounding tidelands (which he kept when he sold the house) to the Suquamish Tribe.  Representatives from their fisheries department were out in the lagoon earlier this week, laying down nets and seeding the lagoon with clams.

The nets are designed to protect the clams from predators and humans over the next three years while they grow to adulthood. Tribal reps also told us that if we see people fishing on the sound side at night, especially with scuba gear, they're poaching and we should call 911 and report it.

For more information about this project, contact:
Suquamish Tribe
Fisheries Department
PO Box 498, Suquamish, WA 98392
18490 Suquamish Way, Suquamish, WA 98392

or
Viviane Barry
Shellfish Program Manager
Main: 360-598-3311
Direct: 360-394-8448
vbarry@suquamish.nsn.us

Luke Kelly
Shellfish Coordinator
Main: 360-394-8450
Direct: 360-394-8514
Cell: 360-271-1177
lkelly@suquamish.nsn.us

Two Suns!

Whoa! Two suns over the Sandspit this morning!

Happy New Year!

Sandspit rainbow

This is not a perfect rendition (only God can make a perfect rainbow!)  because I couldn't capture the whole thing in one shot.  But at least, pieced together, it will serve to remind us of a beautiful moment.  Thanks to Colleen Meacham, who called and told me to look outside!

Irresistible...

I'm sorry -- I just couldn't resist posting this one.  It was sent to me by Mary Jacobson, who got it from Sharon Ostenson; that's her dog, Sheila, on the bow of the kayak -- and of course that's our house in the distance.  (Note: Nemo is a BIG fan of Sheila's; they both adore tennis balls...)

If it had been a bigger photo I would DEFINITELY have put it in this year's calendar, but apparently she shot it with her cellphone, so it's too small to print.

Sigh.  What a terrific shot!  Thanks, Sharon, for letting me put it on the blog.

Gorgeous sunset Sunday evening

Wow!  Spectacular sky on Sunday -- hopefully a harbinger of warmer weather and longer days to come.  I hope that we at the North End looked as good to you as you looked to us!

Merry Christmas!

Click to fix the pothole

Wasn't the moon gorgeous this morning?  I thought you might enjoy this shot -- and I wanted to remind you that if you'd like to complain about that glaring pothole down by 15645, you can do so by clicking on the COBI map and voting -- here's the link:

http://www.seeclickfix.com/bainbridge-island/feeds

Don't forget to pick up your calendars at either our house or the Thatchers  ... and a happy holiday season to all!

2011 calendars are in!

Just so you know -- this is the cover for this year's calendar.  Get 'em while they're hot!

$15, paid to either me or the Thatchers, will give you 13 wonderful images to treasure forever...

Baiting for rats

Nope -- we didn't get a new dog; this is a shot I took of a friend's new puppy.  But I'm putting it here to let you know that there was an exterminator on the spit this weekend, who was here baiting for rats.  So we should all be careful not to let our dogs out loose for a while; trust me, that stuff is dangerous (and so are the rats, even dead ones, of course). 

So protect those pups of yours, and if you have any questions, Renee Sears has the details...

Have a good weekend!

Diane

An eagle omen?

I looked out my kitchen window this morning to see this eagle floundering in the lagoon; I presume he went after a fish that was too big for him...  Anyway, I went for my camera and came back just in time to watch him swim to shore, flapping those huge wings in a giant breaststroke.



I was able to get a shot of him safely on shore, looking a bit bemused by the experience.  He then flew to the post at the end of the point and sat there for quite a while, presumably pondering the election... or maybe just recovering!

A close call

As many of you know, we had a rather spectacular boat fire on the spit over the weekend: Randy and Victoria Keller had taken Uncle Bogo over to Seattle for the winter, and some friends had kindly offered to give them a ride back to the spit in their inflatable.

Shortly after the  two couples landed and tied off the boat, it burst into flame for reasons still unknown: fire department, coast guard and harbormaster were contacted, and the blackened hull was dragged up onto the beach and eventually carted away by its owner, who fortunately had insurance.

We are all grateful -- given the southerly breezes we had that day -- that the boat was moored on the sound side; had it been tied to the dock it might have taken a few houses with it.  It's a worrisome reminder of how quickly things can go wrong...

Sad news

Our hearts go out to Jerry Balis and Joanna; Jerry's son, Mitch,  passed away earlier this morning. 

May he rest in peace, and may his family come to be at peace with their loss.

Sad news

I just got back from a week up on Orcas, and have learned that Nancy Strehlow's husband, Bob, passed away earlier this week while recovering from knee surgery.

Our condolences go out to Nancy and to Bob's children and grandchildren as they learn to cope with this unexpected loss.

... and if you've been missing Jerry and Joanna (I know I have!) they're in Florida; Jerry's son had a heart attack last week and is still in the ICU; prayers go out to all for hope and recovery.

Images from a foggy day...

The fog was intense this morning -- which meant I had an opportunity to get this great shot of the Spit Wad; don't you love the way the crow just leaped in at the last minute?

 I love the poppies the Thatchers planted just as you round that first bend...



And I wanted to publicly thank Kevin Lee's father for doing such a great job of stabilizing the mailboxes -- we look almost organized!

Speaking of which -- does anyone know who took the time to weed-whack around the mailboxes this week?  They look a hundred percent better, so thank you, whoever you are!

Walt Billing

We've just learned that Walt Billing passed away June 20th; you may remember him as the man who owned the little blue A-frame down at our end. He spent his latter years in that house sitting in the living room watching his wonderful view of the Sound and waving to us when we went on our nightly dog walks, and was sorely missed when he moved away. We send our condolences to his daughter, Christine Campion.




* * *

That nasty pothole

The pothole in front of the Faget's house has grown considerably in the last week. Now that there's another one starting up across from it, it's almost impossible to avoid.

Today I learned of an exciting feature at the City of Bainbridge Island website: it's called "See Click Fix" and allows you to click on a map of the island, pinpoint a problem, and upload a photo to illustrate. So I've uploaded this photo to the map; if you want to track progress you can click this link and see what's happening...

Since it's not clear this will work, I've also sent the photo to Chris Hammer at the city... Hopefully they'll take care of it soon, before it eats the entire road!

Enjoy -- and happy Spring!

More images to share

Thank heaven the tide was lower this morning -- my barometer must be broken, because it said things should have been WORSE today. Not that I'm complaining!

Ghislaine Tulou sent some lovely images taken from her deck yesterday, and these at the top were taken on my way out for coffee around 9 today. Enjoy!