Your Sunday Squirrel

Have I already posted this fellow?  Gosh, I hope not.  I have had pretty bad luck at Denny Park of late, but I'm really going to try for good shots this week.  Promise.  In the meantime, enjoy this guy.  He was pretty friendly. 

Here's a Neat-ish Thing

You know, I often forget that this is a blog about Belltown.  I really do.  But here's a thing you can see with your very own eyes.  Simply go to Blanchard, then go to the alley between 2nd & 3rd, then look south towards downtown.  And there it will be.  I'm all for stuff like this. 

Belltown Hosts Yet Another Running Thing

It was called the Color Run.  By my guess, there were several thousand participants.  Everybody was manically perky.  Hey, since when was running in tutus a thing?  There were a lot of people (mostly women) wearing them today.  Anyhow, here are some photos:

 

My advice is to never call anything the happiest something or other.  In this day and age, it just sounds sinister.  

They tossed colorful stuff on people between Lenora and Virginia.  I'm sure all that "non-toxic" pigment is great for the lungs.  

It's people going in both directions all the way to/from Seattle Center.  Like I said, there were thousands of people.  And many of them were totally amped.  And, like many running events, there were lot and lots of folks who looked like they had no business putting on running shoes.  But who am I to judge?  I went to the gym and ran my 5k on a machine.  A machine!

In conclusion, beware of people in large groups.  

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, these are squirrels - plural.  My mom isn't as fond of squirrels as I am, because they raid her bird feeders.  Fair enough, but squirrels are foragers and acrobats, so they're totally adept at this kind of thievery.  She always sends the dogs out after them.  Of course, the dogs make a lot of noise but the squirrels always get back to their trees.  They're extremely fast.  Unlike Denny Park squirrels, these guys are completely unsociable.  You can watch (and photograph) them from the house (as I did), but take one step outside and they're totally gone.  I guess this is because Snohomish is much wilder than Seattle.  Squirrels are twitchier and more paranoid.  So far, it's worked for these guys.  It's difficult to tell them apart, but I think they're been there for years.  Well, good for them.      

Gooses Galore!

As you can see, this is Lake Union.  I go there every Saturday morning to watch the sea planes come in.  Yesterday was quite breezy, so they had to loop around and approach from the south.  All very thrilling.  As always, geese were present.  There were many, many goslings.  Here are some of them.  

On a related topic, last week, I was out taking care of my parents' place in Snohomish.  It's a rather large expanse of land and house.  There were dogs to placate and a cat to medicate and so forth.  They have a pond on their property.  It's quite small and swampy, but it does actually draw wildlife.  There are always a regiment of frogs around.  Believe it or not, they actually do say "ribbit."  I swear to God.  Anyhow, there was also a family of ducks who called the pond home, small as it was.  I noticed them last Monday morning.  There was a mom, (and I assume) a dad Mallard and six ducklings, who were quite small, but adept in the ways of water as ducks are.  Because we're used to favorable outcomes, we just assume that once something or someone is born, they are destined to become an adult.  This isn't always the case.  After discovering the duck family, I promptly left them alone to do duck things, which was mostly paddling around and nibbling on things.  I checked on them again in the afternoon.  There were only four ducklings.  I figured that I miscounted, but when I tried to do a recount, I nearly tripped over one on the lawn.  He was dead.  He had perfect little webbed feet, soft downy feathers, a gleam in his dark eyes and a broken neck.  I buried him on the bank of the pond.  It was a very sad task for me.  Though Mallards are very common in the world, no one wants to see something so young perish like that.  I have no idea what caused it.  There are hawks in the area, but they take what they kill.  There are raccoons and weasels and sundry other creatures, but they do the same.  It certainly wasn't the dogs or the cat; they were nowhere near the pond.  I wish I knew what happened.  

The next day, there were only three.  I became quite angry with nature in general.  Why play such a cruel joke on these ducks?  Why bring these ducklings into the world only to kill them off during their first week of life?  Well, their numbers held at three for the next two days.  My parents returned on Wednesday night.  I talked to my mom yesterday and she said that they were gone.  I tell myself that they made a journey to a larger pond that's on the neighbor's property.  I refuse to believe that all the ducklings were killed by predators and that the duck-parents blew town.  I think the surviving ducklings are fine.  I really want to believe that.  

You know, Snohomish is rural, but it's civilization.  You don't expect to witness the struggle for survival in your own backyard.  Well, that's exactly what took place.  And even though humans are predators and predators kill without remorse, this whole thing makes me feel pretty awful.  I mean, who the hell wants to kill ducklings?  It turns out that everything does.  We see cute little baby animals and every other creature sees an easy meal.  I suppose our attitude would be completely different if the choices were killing or starvation.  But it's not that way.  Nature is harsh.  And unfair.  And things are tough for ducklings.   

Your Sunday Squirrel

Well, it's Monday.  Drat!  Sorry about that.  I haven't been able to make it to Denny Park much lately owing to work and a fine songwriting run.  Today I have the day off, so guess where I'm going.  Yep, Denny Park.  I hope that many squirrels who can hold still for as long as my camera takes to focus will be out.  In the meantime, here is a fellow from a few weeks ago.  Enjoy!

Your Sunday Squirrel

I saw this guy yesterday.  He wasn't friendly  He was eating something that had dirt all over it.  But he held still long enough for my crappy camera to take this picture of him.  In the same tree was a peculiar fellow who only had half a tail.  Other than that, he was quite normal.  He could climb a tree as well as any other squirrel.  He just had half a tail.  I will be on the lookout for him in the future.

The King Is Pretty Much Dead

It's just one wall now.  That was where the screen used to be. 

OK, So Bell Street Park

We've been promised a potentially problematic park (ooh, alliteration!) for years now.  I believe it was announced in 2009 as part of the great Stimulus Package.  Did it get built?  Obviously not.  Every year it got kicked down the road another year.  Well, that year is finally here!  Bell St. between 1st and 2nd is the first victim.  They're doing quite a lot of destruction and very little construction, but there is apparently no turning back.  I'm sure it will be nice once it's finally done - whenever that will be - but I'll still make the trip to Denny Park, because, y'know, squirrels.  In any case, I hope that Bell St. Park will be very nice for everyone and not just for people who like to smoke tons of weed or who like to poop in public or sleep on grass. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

I ran into four squirrels yesterday and this is the best photo I got of any of them.  I think I need a new camera.