Salmon on the road

Every year it seems we have some flooding around Thanksgiving here in Washington state. When the water rises the local Salmon that are heading up river to spawn get caught in some strange places after the water recedes. We always have MANY news stories where the reporters stand in the road and act like the Salmon need to be rescued and they try to pick them up and carry them to the other side of the road. Here's a video from Komo news 4 in Seattle of some river flooding Salmon action -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWACN1p4qjA

We went for a drive near Wickersham on Friday after we'd had our annual high water and here are some pictures I took of Salmon in and out of the Samish river.

Coho

Coho on the road that didn't make it back to the river before the water receded.

Coho

Hope you had a happy and dry Thanksgiving.

80 mile run on his 80th birthday

80 miles in 23hrs. 50 min. 43 sec's, in under 24 hours.
Earlier this year my dad set a goal to run 80 miles on his 80th birthday. He looked on line for a 100 mile training program for ideas to help him train for this long of a distance. He has a long distance running background. He's been running marathon's since he was 40. He also ran 78 miles for his 78th birthday. On that one he broke it up into one marathon each day for three days. he has been blogging about his 80 mile training on this blog - http://runningforeighty.blogspot.com/2012/11/november-19-monday-2012-i-finished-80.html if you want to read about it. This one he planned on doing it on one continuous run.
Our family all came together to support him not only with aid stations but running and walking along with him. 
Here's a summary of the epic -

 My dad Chuck ready to start

Dick, my husband ran the first 30 miles with him

 My husband Dick finishing his 30 miles with my dad as they come in to the 30 mile aid station.

My brother Phil and I set up the aid stations every 3 miles but after the first 30 miles we stopped every 2 miles. This kept us pretty busy for the 24 hours. Needless to say no sleep for any of us. He ran one 30 mile loop, one 30 mile out and back and one 20 mile loop, So I drove the first (daylight) aid station duty. My brother Phil has a motor home and he drove the night section of our aid station duty.

Jason came from Flagstaff, Arizona to run 50 miles of this with my dad. So thankful he did this, as he is an ultra runner and had some inside information about how to keep my dad hydrated and fueled to be able to finish. He did a great job.

with my brother Phil and  Jason - halfway 40 miles!

The focused march at 70 miles in the cold of the night, along with Jason, my brother Bruce (he walked 12 miles) and my nephew Douglas (he walked 12 miles).

Here he is finishing on the road near his house. Some friends had put a line across with a sign with "80" written on it for him to run through. Jason, my brother and my nephew decided to drop off when they got to this road so he could finish alone.

All of the aid support and runners and walkers together. Such an epic, and glad we could all come together to help my dad complete this big dream he had for his 80th birthday!

Centennial trail North access - Nakashima barn

Our walk on Saturday took us to the newly opened Centennial trail north access. The trail head access begins at the Nakashima barn parking lot, located in Snohomish county north of Arlington off of Hwy 9.

As you can see they've done a wonderful job with the parking area. 

They even have Sani-cans and trash cans.

At the beginning of this trail access is a nice marker telling the dedication date

Just after this marker you cross a little bridge that crosses a small creek, from there the trail heads due south. With distance markers every mile.

The trail starts in the town of Snohomish, Washington. and now it's been completed a bit more that 29 miles as you can see by the trail marker. just a few miles north of the town of Bryant. Wow, 29 miles of continuous paved trail!

I have blogged about the trail before once for a bike ride - http://hearsdifferentdrummer.blogspot.com/2012/04/biking-northen-section-of-centennial.html,
another time when I ran my official/unofficial marathon - http://hearsdifferentdrummer.blogspot.com/2012/10/inaugural-centennial-trail-marathon.html
and yet again when I heard of the opening of the northernmost access to the trail - http://hearsdifferentdrummer.blogspot.com/2012/10/grand-opening-of-north-end-of-snohomish.html. and here's the HereldNet article on the grand opening -http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20121102/NEWS01/711029888#Centennial-Trail-completion-a-cause-for-celebration

If you haven't figured it out yet, I love this trail!!!!!!

As we walked along we heard the wings of what we thought must have been a very large bird and sure enough we spotted it in a tree just off the trail.

Bald Eagle in tree top - click to enlarge the photo

Bald Eagle in tree top - click to enlarge photo

Pilchuck bridge just north of Bryant

 As we were heading back there was a nice view of the parking area -

I found some interesting information on the Nakashima barn in an old newspaper article.
Here's the link -
Barn lost in WWll internment proposed for historic registry HeraldNet - local news
- if you chose not to click on the 2007 newspaper link,  here's a few quotes from the article:

"Built by relatives of the founder of Seattle, the barn has withstood the internment of its Japanese-American owners during World War II. It has lived through the modernization of the dairy industry and, more recently, it has survived a decade of abandonment. - Now the barn is poised to become one of the first on the state's new Heritage Barn Register, and is the only one being considered to have been owned by Asian-Americans. The barn also is being nominated for the National Register of Historic Places."

"Though county records date the barn to 1920, Tallman believes it was built 12 years earlier by Daniel Waldo Bass when he converted the land six miles north of Arlington from a logging camp to a dairy farm."

"Anti-Asian land restriction laws and citizenship restrictions prohibited Japanese immigrants from owning property. So the Basses were unable to sell Kamezo and Mije Nakashima the farm. In 1936, they transferred the deed to one of the Nakashimas' sons, Takeo Nakashima, who was an American citizen and around 24 years old at the time. Five years later, the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor blasted apart the peaceful life the Nakashimas had built on the farm. Shortly after the attack, Kamezo Nakashima marched into City Hall and turned over guns and a partial box of dynamite, said Kraetz, whose mother graduated with one of the Nakashima girls. It wasn't enough to save their farm.With internment imminent, the Nakashimas were given just 10 days to sell more than 1,000 acres of land that spanned Snohomish and Skagit counties, and included a barn, a farm, and dozens of registered Guernsey cattle. They sold it all for around $10 an acre to a man who visited the farm looking to buy a bull, according to Tallman."

"Snohomish County bought 83 acres of the former Nakashima farm in 1996 and plans to begin transforming it into the north trailhead of the cross-county Centennial Trail in fall 2008, said Tom Teigen, the county Parks and Recreation director. While the county's first priority is getting the trail laid, it's also considering developing the barn for visitors."

Here's some pictures I took of the historic barn -

my husband and our Malamute "Lexis"

The photos on the barn show the Nakashima family and the barn when it was a functioning diary.

Flower World

 My daughter invited me to go on her daughters' 3rd grade field trip Tuesday to
"Flower world" in Maltby, Wa.
I found out this info. about their plants and facility from their home page -

They are one of the largest retail nurseries of its kind on the West Coast. Unlike other nurseries and garden centers Flower World does not buy its plants from other growers. They grow about ninety per cent of all the plant material they offer. Their plants are grown locally in Maltby in their own green houses and production fields. Because of that fact, you will get the freshest quality plant because you are buying directly from the growers.        

It was really interesting to see their retail plants in that large green house and then to tour the separate green houses where they do their own planting, and growing. We found out that they believe strongly in recycling within their facility. They even make their own soil that they compost themselves.                                                                                                     

Here is the info. from their "about us" page on the website - http://www.flowerworldusa.com

"Flower World, Inc. was started in 1968 by John and Marijke Postema on a four acre parcel of land. During the 1970's and the 1980's bedding plants, fuchsias and foliage plants were the main crops. These were sold to the local wholesale markets and shipped nation wide to the wholesale trade. In the early 1980's local shoppers started to stop by the greenhouses to inquire about specific plant products and that was the beginning of the retail business. Until 1994 the retail nursery was located on one of the original eight-acre sites. In the spring of that year the retail business was moved to the newly constructed display greenhouses at its current location on 196th Street SE in Maltby.

Flower World is enormous, so it is very easy, as a first time customer, to be overwhelmed. We have constructed the layout of the retail greenhouses and the display areas in such a way that it becomes very easy to find the specific sections you are looking for. You will find numerous information mailboxes filled with maps of the area layout. You will also find informational plant brochures for your convenience and your use. We are a "self-help, low-key, take-your-time and-explore" type of operation. You will not experience a hard sell technique from any of our employees. We encourage you to take your time to enjoy the displays, the flowers, the plants, the shrubs and the trees. Most of our signage is meant to inform as well as educate. The informational signs will help you choose the right plant for the right location and explain how to give it the right care. The pictures will help you visualize the blooming stages and the mature look of a plant.We recycle plastic pots and containers and we encourage you to use the drop-off bins for your convenience. We are also accepting yard waste and horse manure" 

If you look at the base of the farthest back tree in the photo below you can just see one of the mail boxes where they keep their information. Also you can see which holiday season they are getting ready for by all of the Poinsettia's being displayed!

(click to enlarge each of the photos)

 

one of the many growing rooms

Gladiolus drying

assembly room

We got to see where the assembly line area was. This is where their own composted soil is added to the bedding/growing pots. Then either the seeds or plants are added and an identification label stick is put into each pot.

Plant label room

Tomato plants

 I was so surprised to see how tall the Tomato, Cucumber, and Pepper plants were. They were actually taller than this as they snake them side ways back and forth so the plants will keep growing to their maximum. Here's a photo with some of the volunteers and children from the field trip, as you can see the plants are taller than the adults.

Cucumber plants

Pepper plants

One part of the recycled pot area

I really like this Twisted Fig tree.

Here's a panorama (click to enlarge it) of the retail green house - so nice and cozy warm.

They did have benches here and there. It would be a wonderful place to sit and read with a cup of tea.

It was a great opportunity to get to go, so glad I was invited!