Monday, February 20, 2012

The NOT so elusive snowy owl at Boundary Bay


Sunday we found out that once you know where the Owls are you really don't have to sneak around and strain to find them 300 ft. away in a field with a long range scope. They seem to hang around just off the dyke in "Parliaments" up at Boundary Bay, British Columbia - Canada!
Wish we had a better camera to do them justice.
We saw "25"!
 People from all over came to take their photos.






Some of our photos from the day - just click on them to make them larger!








Thursday, February 16, 2012

Hiking from Marine park Trailblazer hike


We started out on a rather gloomy, dark, drizzly day. Marine park where we started is the ending place for the annual Ski to Sea that takes place here in Whatcom county in May, on that day it's usually sunny and filled with hundreds of people watching the kayak leg of the relay come across the bay. As you can see today it was a lonely place.


12 of us followed the city trail from Marine park that follows a gravel trail through the forest, in Fairhaven.


We had to do some urban walking before we connected back onto a trail. This time the interurban.


 It was nice to be on this long straight stretch and see how the trail is so wide that it looks like a highway through the woods.
We continued to the Arroyo park overlook where we turned around.


Me!
On the way back "Pat" our leader wanted to hike a bit in the Chuckanut ridge area, since the city had purchased it and wanted to check it out. There were quite a few trails in that area as well as many tents where homeless people had set up places to live.


Parts of the area were pretty muddy. Yes, these two had on white shoes. Hmmm.........


Just before we left the trail near Marine park I spotted this plaque in the grass. It says "Site of the Chinese bunk house". I knew that in the 1800's the Chinese came and worked in the large cannery in Fairhaven, but wasn't aware that there were historical plaques in the ground. I wish it had been better signed and had more information for tourists. I thought it was interesting.


Just one of the many trail signs on the city trail system.

Endomondo stats:
  5.4 miles total miles hiked


Thursday, February 9, 2012

Back on the trails - Hiking to Clayton Beach Trailblazer hike


Eight months later and I'm finally hiking with the Trailblazers again. Well, kindof ;-) I decided that my start of hiking with an organized group again should be with the "other" Trailblazers group, or as I will call them "Group 1". Group 2 starts an hour later, 9 am (yippee!) than the group I used to hike with (or as they shall now be called on my blog "Group 1", and I've been told that they hike shorter distances and at a more comfortable pace than Group 1. Until I get my calf stronger I will be hiking with Group 1. So nice to be hiking with a group again, and as I found with Group 1, very nice friendly people. I picked today's hike because it was going to be fairly short and flat. It said on the schedule it would be 4 miles & easy. 12 of us started at the Cleater rd. parking lot and hiked to Clayton beach and back.

The hike started on the Interurban trail, then to the Clayton beach parking lot and the all important outhouse. We crossed the road to join up with the trail again.

our fearless leader "Pat"


We had to cross the railroad tracks to connect with the beach trail again.



Clayton Beach!



after lunch it decided it really did want to rain, so on with the poncho!


Great to be back at it!!

Endomondo stats:
5.27 total miles hiked
Min. altitude 0 feet
Max. altitude 327 feet
Total ascent 1981
Total descent 1830


Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Our birding weekend



My husband and I decided that we would get serious this last weekend about finding Snowy owls that were supposed to be in our area, so Friday we went to Skagit Wildlife area .The photo below of me is at the end of the trail at the Skagit Wildlife area. The photo above is my husband looking through our scope at Fir Island. The weather even cooperated, it was a beautiful February weekend!
(just click on the photo's to see them larger)


Two Bald eagles with their large nest.


Towhee


Blue heron


Snow geese


I had read that there were Snowy owls at Big ditch so armed with directions we drove there Saturday A.M.


Saturday P.M. we decided to watch the movie "The big year" about birding. The big year - is an event where birders try to find as many different birds in one year as they can. The stars are: Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson. It didn't get great reviews, but we really enjoyed it, especially as the Snowy owl was the elusive bird on the list for Owen Wilson's character.

Swans near Everson


and finally on Monday, a Snowy owl at Sandy point.


This is the same owl after he flew off of the other houses roof. He seems to be trying to hide behind the roof's vent pipe. The house was at a bad angle for a good picture, so it blurred when we tried to use our zoom lens.


Here's just some pretty scenery from our long birding weekend.
Lichen and baby ferns -


 Fir Island view


 Mt. Baker and the Twin sisters from Gooseberry point -


Sunset at Fir Island -


Mt. Rainier at sunset, from the Fir Island farm/Hayden reserve parking lot -


Birders on the dike at Fir Island in last light of the day trying to get one more bird sighting for their list.




Saturday, January 28, 2012

The power of a single touch


(This is a photo of a "Nacreous cloud" - I see music in this sky!) -
Thanks for the photo Bruce

People
by Charlotte Zalotow

Some people
talk and talk
and never say a thing.


Some people look at you
and birds begin to sing.

Some people
laugh and laugh
and yet you want to cry.

Some people
touch your hand
and
music
fills the sky.



Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Photos of January 2012 Pacific Northwest Snow

Well we finally got our snow at home the 17th, & then
the northeast wind the 18th that
 I LOVE.





driving out and about on I-5 corridor on the 17th




                                      and today at home (video of the NE wind)! * 
               sorry if you are viewing this on an iphone the video can not be viewed. - bummer

Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 in review

- January, 
I'm inserting links to past posts that I'm highlighting. Just click on the sections with parentheses - in green, and it will take you to a more lengthy version of my tale.
I was out on a run in the Fairhaven district of Bellingham and lost my balance and fell down (post about my fall)(pics of me after fall) - the first of the episodes with my body of the year. This has been quite the up and down year for me.
- March, my husband and I trained on the Chuckanut 50K course while the race was being held. Very exciting! (50K post).
- April had several highlights for me,
My husband and I ran the Whidbey Island half marathon. (Wild and windy day).
I started hiking with the Senior Trailblazers and met a fellow blogger (My day with the Senior Trailblazers).
- June, another bump in the road. Tore my Gastroc muscle, thought it would take a little time to recover, but had no idea it would be 6 months. I'm just now getting back to walking long distances and I thankfully I have been able to bike quite a bit. (Tweaked my calf), (Calf still sore).
- July & August, good time in Arizona
- September, a first for me. I'd never kayaked solo down a river before, but now I can say Yes, I have! (Kayaking down the Nooksack river).
- Vacations! Oregon/California, Trip to the Southwest. (The great escape), (Southwest trip part 1), (Southwest trip part 2).
- Our vegetable garden/berries & fruit trees were so great this year. I made jam, froze vegetables, made fruit leather, dried fruit and even juiced our fruit and veggies together and froze them. (Rhubarb), (Berries), (Our vegetable garden), (Our pickings), (Juice).
- November, I had my Gall Bladder out. It had been bothering me a while and my doctor finally decided enough was enough and it needed to be taken out. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. While I was recovering from the surgery it allowed my leg to get a bit more rest and it has greatly improved. Still wearing my calf sleeve to keep it extra warm while I exercise.
- December, Time for me and it would seem everyone else that I know to get a really bad cold just in time for the holidays. We all met together for Christmas anyway and had a wonderful time.
So not such a bad year as you can see, just seemed that it was full of ups and downs throughout!


Friday, November 18, 2011

Quotes that have left their mark on me.

(click to enlarge)
At one time this was my blog header, and the intent of my blog. I love to read quotes from people that have "lived life" and have a unique perspective on it. Here are just some of the many quotes that have touched me and I hope have made a difference in how I think and live my life on this earth.

Quotes:
My own! :
About the search for the meaning of life: it is not found by pondering endlessly about why we were born and wondering what our purpose is. It is rather found in our connection with others and this earth. Sharing joy & pain with others - loving and being kind to others, being in the great outdoors, breathing fresh air & working with the soil. It is found by taking the time to savor the feeling of happy times and looking at the beautiful world around us & being thankful that we get this opportunity to "FEEL" & "BE ALIVE".

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." Henry David Thoreau

"Far better it is to Dare mighty things, to win Glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

“Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.” Hafiz

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift” Steve Prefontaine

“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience” Paulo Coelho

“My philosophy on running is, I don’t dwell on it, I do it” Joan Samuelson

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within us while we live.”
 Norman Cousins

“Ways to tame butterflies: If I’m nervous, it means I had to work hard to get there….So I try to stop and be proud of getting to live in that moment” Maria Sharapova

“Believe that you can run farther and faster. Believe that you’re young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on  to accomplish everything you want to do. Don’t let worn out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself” John Bingham, “Tools and Rules”, Runners world

“It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living. “ Eckhart Tolle

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.” –Eduard Christoff Philippe Gèrard Renaldi in “The Princess Diaries” (2001).

“For every runner who tours the world running marathons, there are thousands who run to hear the leaves and listen to the rain, and look to the day when it is suddenly as easy as a bird in flight.”
George Sheehan

“Whatever you may be missing right now - a person, a place, a feeling, maybe you are injured and missing running - whatever it is, have peace and take heart - remember that any goodbye makes room for a hello.”  Kristin Armstrong, Author and runner

“The truly great tragedy is the destruction of our human resources by our failure to fully utilize our abilities, which means that most men and women go to their graves with their music still in them.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

“The people that love us the most are the first ones to say can't. What they don't know.....can is always a possibility. There is comfort in the safe zone, but there is freedom outside the box.” Author?

“Being willing is not enough; we must do.”  Leonardo da Vinci

“The marathon lifestyle promotes doing rather than watching...by adopting the marathon lifestyle you can confront your own lions, be your own hero, fight your own battles, challenge yourself. “
Richard Benyo - Making the Marathon Your Event

“I don't think you can become an outstanding runner unless you get a certain amount of enjoyment out of the suffering. You have to enjoy absorbing it, controlling it and—ultimately—overcoming it. “
Derek Clayton in The Masters of the Marathon

“Those who succeed say what they "want" to happen. Those who fail say what they "feel" will happen. “ Author ?

“The more you frame your long run as a stressful experience, the more negative messages you'll receive. But it's just as easy to frame it as a positively challenging journey. “ Author ?

“Cut the anchor loose: The only way to grow is to move forward, we can't do that with an anchor around our mind, heart and soul. “ from Sharon Woerz’ blog Quirkeries

“It takes faith and the courage to risk failure in order to realize one's destiny. Having had my share of failures throughout my career I know that it is well worth the risk.”
- Ryan Hall, American long distance runner and winner of the 2008 United States Olympic

“In the midst of regular life, running is the touchstone that breathes adventure into my soul. I can feel the trail under my feet, the press of the hill, the gallop of the track, the burn of my lungs, the stir of wonder and possibility. Running reminds me that there is more to me than what is readily apparent much of the time. I don't always need to see it, but oh how I need to know it's there. Like having an alter ego, or a super-cool super-hero identity. “
Kristin Armstrong, Author and runner

“Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going.”
George S. Patton

"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death." ~ Anais Nin 1903-1977

“When I don't move my own life along, when I allow others to make choices for me, I stagnate. Inaction is still a choice...so don't gripe about the outcome.” Author ?

"Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind." ~ Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519

“The music of a marathon is a powerful strain, one of those tunes of glory. It asks us to forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith and to become one's own person, utterly and completely. “ George Sheehan

“People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said ~ but they will always remember how you made them feel.”  Author ?

"In Germany, they first came for the gypsies, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a gypsy. Then they came for the Bolsheviks, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Bolshevik. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics. I didn't speak up then because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up." - Martin Niemoller, A Lutheran Pastor arrested by the Gestapo in 1937

"When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice."  William James