Dungeness Spit, Thanksgiving trip day 1

driftwood
Originally uploaded by n_yoder

22 Nov 07 (Thanksgiving holiday)

Species list (MANY of the birds are new to my life list):
Harbor seal (2)
Bald Eagle
Hooded Merganser
Bufflehead
Surf Scoter
Western Grebe
Hooded Grebe
American Widgeon
Brandt's Goose
Dunlin?
Sanderling?
Kingfisher (Belted Kingfisher?)
Great Blue Heron
Common Loon
Yellow-billed Loon

Imagine: miles, and miles of pebbles, sand, kelp, and driftwood. This expanse, this hodgepodge of earthforms, only 20 ft wide (less at high tide, i'm told), extending for 6 miles into the ocean, into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This was a good initiation, into the world of Puget Sound. I've been here before, but its been years and not since i started a new job where one of my tasks involves examining the Puget Sound ecosystem, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I arrive at Dungeness Spit, with seemingly new eyes. For an uplander - an inlander? - this is like a foreign land. Salt spray, wet stones, kelp and driftwood - everywhere i look i find things i like to look at and examine closely. The icing on the cake - which was to be the case for the rest of the touched-by-angels trip - was the sunny, perfect weather. There was chatter all throughout, about how unusual and amazing (read: sunny) the weather was. People smiled, downright beamed at each other as they passed walking, as if to say, "did you SEE the sun? did you notice?!". So i noticed, and i gave thanks.

I like Sightline

I got a free book (yay for free cool stuff!) from our local Seattle coupon book, the Chinook book. Its from Sightline Institute, which is a Pacific Northwest-centered think-tank for sustainability. The book i'm reading is called "Stuff" and its about...well...the life of stuff! It follows a middle class average North American through their day, and profiles some of the commodity chains that led to the products encountered and consumed on the day. Its easy to read, which is good because it feels like entertainment but bad because there are very few sources listed for the information. Anyhow, they've done a nice job of putting thought into the complete life of a product, much like what i tried to do for a project involving what's required to make a loaf of bread. Its quick, and interesting, and recommended.

Up next: trip report from the Olympic Peninsula. Stay tuned!