Our First Wildlife Encounter

Keena ready to go to the beach

Monday in Shoreline, Washington was a beautiful, cool, sunny morning.  My pack went to the newly opened Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, Off-leash Area.  We we all having a grand time when it suddenly came to a screeching halt.  a baby seal, a pup, was found lying amongst some abandoned upright pilings.

The poor pup was lying on its side, just able to look at the dogs, blinking, ” oh, please leave me alone.  I just want to die in peace.”  Keena, the yellow lab, was cool with that, she just went off to fetch her ball, that’s her job and that’s what she’s gonna do.  Gussie, the black lab mix, looked at the seal pup, shied back a few step that said, “right, I’ll leave it up to you folks to take care of this.  I’m going over here and lick some body part  of mine.”  Now The Empress, the Aussie Shepherd mix is another story.

She was very interested in the poor seal.  She danced and pranced all around it, while I spoked firmly, but not too loudly at her to come, sit, stay.  Not today Mom.  There’s a new interactive toy for me to check out. Her dodging and sniffing  and nose poking on the seal’s head let me know she wasn’t goning to listen to me. .  Ten minutes later I finally leashed her.  The seal was barely touched by The Empress, but not for trying.  Now it was my turn to check out the seal and see what should be done, if anything for it.  Let’s just say, thank goodness all our plans came to naught, thank goodness.

The long and the short of it is, we did not commit a federal offense by interfering with a marine mammal.  After many phone calls to various government agencies, the Community Coordinator of Marine Mammals and Fish and Wildlife or some such title sent  a local volunteer to go check out the situation/seal pup.  PAWS Wildlife rescue phoned me back 2 and half hours later and said pretty much what I just wrote.  I was no longer on the beach.  I had things to do and places to go.

So that was our big adventure for the day.  I hope the seal pup was okay.  The coordinator did pass on some nice information.  Seals, our was a harbor seal, live their life time along the shore, it’s their habitat.  Pups by this time of year are weaned from their mothers, they are on their own by now, not abandoned.  Good luck little seal.  Try not to make off-lease dog areas your home.  Not all of them are just curious like my Empress.

Gussie's ready too

The Empress will be ready when she's ready

Our new friend, Sammy

 

 

Extra Treats for the Crews of Earthcorps at Shoreview Park in Shoreline

Gussie and Empress having a swale time at Shoreview Park

Just want to give a big BRAVO to the crews of Earthcorps working in Shoreline’s Shoreview Park.  They have been hard at work making new steps  to Hidden Lake and swales with drainage pits along the trail from the soccer fields to the Hidden Lake trail.  Hard work to save values access from erosion.My dogs and friends-of -dogs have seen them often toiling away at that thankless job.

  Shoreview Park trails are very popular, very used and therefore under a lot of wear and tear.  With the governments’ budget crunches, park maintenance is a low priority for funding.  These volunteers are making a huge environmental and quality of life difference for the users of the park’s trails.  Thank you one and all.

Stairs to a brighter future for the trails in Shoreview Park.

The September Stats are in for King County…Looking Good

September is historically a good month for real estate.  Buyers and sellers are back from summer vacation, school has started, routine re-established.  Time to buy or sell houses before the holidays so the new home will be enjoyed during the festivities.  See the graphs for yourself.  Now is a good time to buy, the 8,000 dollar tax credit is almost too late.  Hoping Congress will extend, but don’t rely on it.  Low interest rate, and the slow economic recovery all contribute to the buyers’ market.  Houses are moving now.  Homes that are priced right sell with in a month.  The listing prices  are inching upward.

average price per square foot

 

for sale vs sold prices

 

houses are moving, slowly.

average prices are dropping,mid 400s selling

Waxing Poetic in the Autumn

Autumn is my second favorite season.  Here are some haikus celebrating the season.

Red maple leaves fall

Sashays down joining others

To feed my garden

Red, Orange, Yellow,

Greenlake dons autumnal coat

Nature’s cool weather wear.

8 paws, 2 feet walk.

Rustle spritely through leaf piles

Along woodland paths.

Gussie and Empress

Chase and play about the park.

Frosty morning breathes.

Time to go out and rake the leaves and then  crawl into a good book.

 

Someone is Spoiling the Fun at the Dog Parks

There is a couple, a man and a woman and sometimes just the man, visiting dog parks with their pit bull.  They sick their pit on other peoples dogs when no one else is around.  The couple is training their pit to fight, as in dog fighting to the death kind of training, as in Micheal Vick kind of dog training.  The couple have unleashed their attack dog  at Magnuson twice and Edmonds once, so far as is reported.

The attacks have been on the news, and on many dog advocate sites,  I heard the news from shoredog.  Please click on the link.  They have lots more info and more up to date than I have.  The couple are big, tough and mean looking and have tattoos.  The dog is not to blame.   But I suggest getting away from anyone matching this description and are very controlling with their pit bull (yelling, pulling on its collar a lot, not cooing, not loving, and definitely not spoiling the poor dog).  Dial 9-1-1 as you beat a hasty and wise retreat.  I know my pampered pooch is no match for a killer in training.  Visit the dog park only during high use times.  The perps tend to pick on the solo walker with one or more dogs.

They have killed dogs.  They are mean bastard and should not be tackled by law-abiding citizens.  Civilized people and dogs are no match for primitive beasts.  Take precautions.

The Second Adopt-a-Road Event

The second road cleaning event went much smoother than the first.  For one it wasn’t 95 degrees!  Today the weather was cool, dry with overcast.  Perfect litter patrol weather.

A big thank you is due to our fearless leader, Kit Schorzman for organizing us, getting the equipment and cheerleading us through the work.  Thank you  office agents who participated, Chris, Bill, Kim and Vivian.  You go folks.

The litter report from the road is good.  There was a lot less of it this time around.  Here are just a few observations to relate.

1.  There are enough cigarette butts on the road to give every lab rat at the UW lung cancer.  Butts are litter.  They contain all the carcinogens known in cigarette smoke plus all the germs and diseases infected in the human mouth.  Double ick.  Please, dispose of the cigarette butt s in the appropriate place or even better, stop smoking.

2. There was considerable trash concentrations around the city trash receptacles.  In other words, oops, oh well.  Hmm, the human condition remains inherently lazy.

3. Fast food paraphernalia procreate exponentially the closer one gets to the door of the place.  Diners must go, unwrap and drop their rubbish as they eat.  Really people, I know your folks did not bring you up that way.  If they did,  I’m sorry, but get some pride of place and pick up after yourselves.

That’s enough or one day.  Keep Shoreline clean  and a great place it to live.

Another Chestnut Season in the Freezer

2009 was a good chestnut season.  Bagged, shelled and gave away bags of those delectable orbs of smokey, nutty goodness.  I have squirreled away enough chestnuts to make a years worth of pesto, several holiday desserts, months worth of crushed and roasted in olive oil toppings for soup, pasta, eggs, pancakes, etc.

Speaking of squirrels, have you seen how fat they are if they live near a chestnut tree?  They are my biggest competitors for the nuts.  They have such an unfair advantage.  They climb way high up in trees to get the biggest and the best pods.  I can only jump up about 6 inches from the ground.  They work 24 hours a day at the gathering thing.  I last about 60-90 minutes.  My only advantage is that I know where I stash all of my chestnuts.  Those silly squirrels forget where they put most of them.  You won’t find any of my chestnuts sprouting up in someone elses yard next spring…at least not for a few more years.

So, what is the next gardening and gathering event in Seattle  For me, it’s gathering seeds for the next spring planting.  This is a first for me.  Hope some of the seeds will sprout.  We shall see(d).

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire and Beyond

What can one do with all those chestnuts one acquired withmaniacal intent during the 3 weeks season?  Well, just like the song, roast them on an open fire, but that only deals with a dozen or so, now what?

Well, for starters, one can freeze the nuts.  Wash in water, towel dry then just bung them into a plastic bag and then into the freezer, shell and all.  They are actually easier to shell after being frozen.  The shell is just as easy to peel, it’s the inner membrane or skin that is made easier to remove.  I believe it’s the water content of the membrane expanding in the freezing process and the moisture re-absorbing in the defrosting process that makes the skin easier to remove.

Naked chestnuts can be tossed into the rice cooker at the start of cooking.  The nut then are soft and have a slight smokey flavor.  Lovely when rice is eaten plain or with just a splash of sesame seed oil and soy sauce and a cautious drop of chili in oil concoction.

A basic preparation of chestnuts to be used in other recipes is to oven bake them after bathing them in olive oil,  ground/crushed sea salt and a light sprinkling of rosemary.  Toss all lightly and then place on a shallow oven proof dish/pan ( I use a sheet cake pan for the low sides) in a single layer.  Place in pre-heated oven of about 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  Chestnuts are done if a fork can easily pass through.  Don’t let them get golden brown, they get too hard.  After cooking and cooling, they can be further processed in a grinder or put back in the freezer for future use. 

Ground up roasted chestnuts are delightful in scrambled eggs, added to pasta  (with olive oil, garlic and romano cheese), used as a sesame seed substitute in asian dishes, and my favorite, as a substitute for pine nuts in my home made pesto.   Here’s my pesto recipe:

2 C compressed fresh basil

1/2 C  freshly grated romano

1/2 C or so of olive oil

2 or 3 turns of a sea salt from a grinder

1/2 C  or so of ground roasted chestnuts.

2-3 cloves of fresh garlic

Place all in a blender till well chopped and blended.  Place in small (4-8 ounce) jars or even in ice cube trays.  Pour a thin layer of olive oil on top  of pesto if in jars.  Freeze pesto if not going to use immediately.  Keep refrigerated.  I’ve found  the pesto molds after 3-4 weeks even in the fridge.  This is a basic recipe.  Make changes to taste.  Enjoy!

It’s Chestnut Season in Seattle

note pod has thousands of needle sharp projections

Woohoo!  It’s chestnut time again.  I don’t know about you, but I love this time of year.  The fall colors, that crisp air in the morning, and all those spiny pods of the chestnuts.  I’m talking the edible chestnuts.  The one with the pods that have thousands of spine on them, not the horse chestnuts that have only hundreds of prickly bumps.

I love doing the citywide hunt for those precious orbs of smokey, nutty goodness.  You can find me at the crack of dawn, flashlight in leather gloved hands, head and shoulders bent toward the ground, feet doing the slow kick-walking around under trees, searching for those yellow-green pods that house the culinary treats for the next three weeks.  I can sleep later, let the chestnut hunt begin.  No, I’m not telling you where I go for these epicurean delights.  You’ll have to find your own stand of trees.  The only draw back to the hunts is that I can’t bring the dogs along.  They are too distracting and the pods are to owie when stepped on with unprotected  feet.

 

Well, I’m off to bed so I can rise at the crack of a sparrow’s fart, as a dear english friend used to say.

Whiz bang new technology to me

Well, I’ve just been introduced to and ran out and bought some nifty keen technology.  It’s a card reader for the micro SD that is actually a USB adapter.  So I simply take phone camera pixs, take out my micro SD card from my Voyager phone (easily accessible) and slip the card into the USB adapter and plug into any USB port on any computer and voila.  Photos ready to print, send , and share.  I took photos of a friend (two legged) and sent them to her in 10 mins or less.  Whiz-bang as all I have to say.

So I carry my little card reader on my key chain, poised to send photos when and where they are needed in minutes, whether the recipient wants them or not.

my dogs sharing their bed

my strawberries ignoring the October weather

 

So watch out pets anywhere, my camera can snap you anytime and anyplace, and anyone can see you while you’re still eating that forbidden donut left on the counter.