Your Sunday Squirrel

Here's more of last week's photo shoot.  It's very autumnal.  The cold weather has given the squirrels their winter coats.  They look kind of chubby, but they're just insulated.  By the way, the squirrel calendar still is very much available.  It is a fine testament to tree rodents.  Speaking of rodents, I'm currently pig-sitting.  Guinea pig-sitting.  My sister and nephews have blown town, so I get to entertain their guinea pig at my place.  That little guy really likes his greens.  He's quite a fan of celery.  My sister and I had guinea pigs as kids.  They were pretty fun.  They also smelled kind of bad.  This one is very pleasant.  He no longer fears me, since I give him much lettuce.  Here's a picture:

As far as rodents go, I still prefer squirrels, but guinea pigs are much more personable.  They're not especially smart, but they're not totally unpredictably crazy as squirrels.  In conclusion, rodents are interesting. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

Here's a guy I ran into yesterday at Denny Park.  There were tons of squirrels running around - at least a dozen.  They were everywhere.  I ran out of peanuts early on, so there was nothing I could offer them.  This fellow got the last one.  As luck would have it, I thought this shot calendar-worthy, so he is Mr. December.  I guess what I'm trying to say is: THE 2014 SUNDAY SQUIRREL CALENDAR IS DONE!!  I made it yesterday.  This is the fourth calendar I've made and I always forget how to do it, so it generally takes most of the day.  It just doesn't get any easier.  I thought that perhaps this year, I would switch from Cafe Press to Zazzle (a ridiculous name if there ever was one), but Zazzle prices are far higher.  So there.  Anyhow, like I said, the squirrel calendar is totally ready.  It's only $16.99.  That's pretty good.  Just think about how many trips I took to Denny Park to get all these.  I'll give you a hint: a lot.  Here is a sampling of the participating squirrels:

 You can get it here.  There isn't a bad squirrel for the entire year. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

Here's a squirrel eating a peanut in the dappled sunlight.  He blends in with the tree but that's the camera's fault.

Today they closed my entire block in order to hoist some very large piece of equipment onto the roof of a neighboring building.  They even used a big crane and all.  Did I get a picture of it.  No, I did not.  Instead, here are some otters having fun with pumpkins:

This was a few weeks ago at the zoo's Pumpkin Bash.  They had much fun, but because they're otters, they'd have lots of fun without pumpkins, too. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

Well, it's nearly time for the annual Sunday Squirrel calendar.  I'm pretty sure this fellow will be featured.  I would have like to taken his whole picture including tail, but he was very quick and twitchy.  So this is what you get.  I try to include various poses in the calendar, but it seems that this year's edition will feature lots of squirrel eating peanuts.  It's the only time they stand still.  Don't worry, I promise it will be good. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

Pardon the graininess, but this is from the zoo.  I had just asked where the ocelots were and here was this squirrel devouring the Halloween decorations,  That's what happens when you put real ears of corn out in the open.  Here's a not-much better photo of him after he jumped down from his perch:

Very fall-like - except for that large seashell right there is the center of the shot.  Today was the second day of the great pumpkin bash.  People bring their kids in costume and watch what happens when hippos get pumpkins.  Hint: there is much chomping.  I have pictures and will post soon. 

RIP Coterie Room

I've noticed the distinct lack of activity at the Coterie Room this week.  That's because the place is closed.  It's really too bad.  It was pretty good.  Although I never had it, their poutine was admired by many.  I went there for lunch (when they served it) and for drinks (which were very good).  But its solvency didn't depend on me; they wanted to attract the same crowd as Zoe did before.  I guess that didn't work out.  It was a class joint and I don't say that about every place, but they never really caught on.  And that's a true shame, because I think they were quite a bit better than Zoe.  Well, I sincerely hope the next restaurant to go in there will be both yummy and successful.

The Finished Product

OK, this is what it looks like now.  I'm pretty sure it would look better if they took the plastic off.  Or is that the way they're gonna leave it?

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, this is the same squirrel from last week and the week before.  It's also the only squirrel I've got at the moment.  There just don't seem to be too many running around Denny Park at the moment.  I've gone there a bunch of times and they're all on vacation.  But it always seems that when I'm critically short of photos, there are like around ten squirrels running around the next time I visit.  I hope that's the case this week. 

Modular-ness, the Final Chapter

Well, they seem to have worked around the clock on Saturday, but they finished.  First, they blocked off 3rd and brought in a really big crane:

Then they lined up each component-unit thing:

And then they stacked them on top of each other:

The stack's bigger now, since I took this shot yesterday morning.  In fact, they're done.  It's a fairly ugly building, that's for sure, and it looks like it was designed by an adherent to some more tractable version of Marxist-Leninism, but it's mostly done now.  Enjoy your new home, modular people!

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, this is the same guy from last week.  I went looking for squirrels twice this week, but there were none.  I'm told that there are a lot in Volunteer Park.  I may have to pay a visit to get some good shots, because I'm almost totally out of squirrels.  On a related note, I'll be editing the 2014 calendar soon, so prepare yourselves! 

Better Living though Modular-ness

There were things a-happening this weekend on 3rd between Blanchard and Bell.  It was kind of tough to miss, because the entire street was blocked off.  Why?  Well, they were stacking things.  I wrote about the construction a while ago and a helpful commenter wrote that the building next to Dan's was partially pre-fab in nature.  Very correct; in fact it's modular.  They start out with something that looks like this:

 Then they get a huge crane to start stacking them like so:

And this is as far as they had gotten by this morning:

Did they finish?  I'm guessing that they didn't, which means more traffic fun next weekend.  

As for the building itself, I don't know.  I'm not sure how I'd feel about living in a pimped-out shipping container.  And how does this whole thing work?  I mean, how do you get to your apartment - a system of pulleys or are they going to build an elevator?  At the moment, it has not infrastructure, just a base.  I'm interested in seeing how this turns out, but I don't think I'd want to live there. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

I ran into this fellow yesterday morning before heading out to my parents' place where I saw exactly zero squirrels.  When I was house-sitting for them, I also saw zero squirrels.  Maybe something's up; maybe it's not.  I didn't think to ask whether they'd had the squirrels "taken care of."  I mean, they have a special guy who comes around and traps moles.  My mom gets annoyed at the squirrels because they get into the bird feeders.  But honestly, the birds aren't starving.  In fact, I think the local finches and sparrows are getting pretty fat.  Squirrels just like to game the system.  Put out food and they'll find a way to get at it.  And despite various claims, there's no such thing as a squirrel-proof feeder.  Anyhow, I'm just assuming that the squirrels at my parents' house are merely preparing for winter and watching lots of football and they haven't been offed by some squirrel assassin.    

Bell Street Park - Lurching Toward Completion

I walked past the Bell Street Park construction on 4th yesterday and I'm a little surprised at how slowly it's going.  They've only finished one block and that isn't very impressive.  Like I've said in the past, it looks more like a traffic revision and less like a park.  And all this was supposed to be done in 2009.  Regardless of how disappointing it may turn out to be, it will be an improvement over this:

They've been working on this stretch between 3rd and 4th for over a month and it still looks like downtown Stalingrad. 

This block isn't much better.  

I feel pretty sorry for the people facing all this action.  Well, in time (probably a lot of time), it will be done.  And then there will be bums sleeping in the bushes.  Fun!  

Your Sunday Squirrel

Here's a very nice shot I took a few weeks ago.  It was back when we had sunshine.  Now we don't.  No big deal.  Stormy fall weather is cool - as long as you're somewhere dry.  I got soaked yesterday before the real serious stuff happened.  I checked Denny Park for squirrels on my way the store.  There were none.  I think they read the weather forecast and got out of town.  I don't blame them.  I wouldn't want to live in a tree with all that wind and rain going down.  Sometimes, it's probably not overly pleasant being a squirrel.  Anyhow, this fellow was nice and he was good enough to stand in the dappled sunlight.   

Another Thing Happened at Lake Union

I was down at Lake Union yesterday to watch the seaplanes come in, and there was a thing happening, which occurs from time to time.  It was a walk for Alzheimer's.  I asked around and it turns out that these people were actually against Alzheimer's Disease, not for it.  I completely misunderstood.  My apologies. 

I Went to the Zoo and Saw the Following Animals

A penguin, who is trying really hard to fall asleep...

...river otters, who were very charming. 

Here they are again, goofing around.  These particular otters are "Asian small-clawed river otters."  Well hello, long-named animals!  There's an entire family of them: parents, kids, all that.  Unlike most otters, these guys are very vocal.  And that sounds like a lot of squeaking.  I'm sure it makes sense to them, but to us humans, it's just squeaks.  If I wasn't completely clear at first, these otters goof around a lot.  

And there was a kangaroo.  He's asleep, not dead.  They take the dead animals out before they open.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Here's another shot of last week's guy.  This time, he doesn't look weird.  Speaking of squirrels, there was an article about them in the New York Times last week.  Well, it's more about the power outages they cause.  Even though it pertains to them getting electrocuted, it's very amusing, because it manages to portray squirrels as agents of doom.  Plus, the guy who wrote it is funny and entertaining.  You can read it here.  Enjoy!  

Your Sunday Squirrel

Squirrels are fairly expressionless creatures.  But given the right camera or the right timing, you can capture them looking kind of weird.  Well, my timing was right with this guy.  I caught him looking odd twice.  The second one is for another Sunday Squirrel.  With my steady, gainful employment and so many squirrels on vacation, I have to ration my shots, even the weird ones.  However, I think I'll have enough good stuff for another calendar.  That's something to live for! 

Ducks in a row...

This was the scene yesterday morning at Lake Union.  There were lots of ducks napping and not doing much.  This was about as close as I could get to them without alarming them.  Please excuse all the goose crap.  Compared to geese, ducks are downright constipated.  Geese crap in their sleep.  Ugh.  Still, I have nothing against them other than that.  A short time later, the geese drove the ducks off and were again crapping up a storm in this same area.  Ah, the majesty of nature!

Your Sunday Squirrel

This is a guy from yesterday.  He was really quite nice and not-quick-moving.  He's not really as gray as the photo would have you believe.  The camera tends to establish a dominant shade and then bends the rest of the picture to its will.  Anyhow, I hope to run into this fellow again, as he's quite good at standing still. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, all the squirrels at Denny Park really are on vacation.  I went by yesterday and there were none - lots of bums, but no squirrels.  This fellow is from a few weeks ago and, as always, I hope I haven't posted him in the past.  If I have, apologies.  If I haven't, enjoy.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Just when I thought all the quality squirrels were on vacation, this guy crosses my path.  I managed to persuade him down from his (very small) tree for a peanut.  He was quite personable for a squirrel and I got a few good shots before my camera's battery expired.  Enjoy!

I'm Sure This Isn't a Problem...

A public service announcement from Tia Lou:

I mean, if they've gotta post a sign on the outside of the building...

I know what you're thinking: "But if I don't grab them, how will they know that I want to drag them to my cave??"  Answer: buy them a drink.  Remember, grabbing is a no-no.  But politeness is probably optional.  Chicks dig jerks.  But not grabby jerks, apparently. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, so I'm a day late.  Sorry about that.  I know that some people enjoy starting their week with a squirrel.  I don't blame them.  Here's this guy.  He's got some momentary attitude.  He looks like he means business.  He really doesn't.  He's just a squirrel.  He likes peanuts and climbing trees and that's about it. 

You know, I was at the Torchlight Parade last week.  I took pictures and all that.  It was not a good parade.  I blame the Sequester.  Or the city of Seattle.  I usually hang out until the dragon shows up.  You know what I'm talking about.  The International District has their own dragon and it's tremendous.  I stood there for an hour and a half, pretty much bored out of my skull - except for Gary Payton as grand marshal - waiting for the dragon to show.  I finally left, disappointed and disgruntled.  It was the worst Torchlight Parade ever.  Damn you, Sequester. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

I'm a bit short of time, but here's more of last week's guy.  He spent a long time staring at me and this is the best shot I got because my camera is elderly.  Anyhow, he was really nice, but he didn't hold still much, aside from here.  Enjoy!

Day of the Dragons

Every Saturday, I walk down to Lake Union to watch the seaplanes come in and dock at the Kenmore Air terminal.  It's usually very empty and serene, even at this time of the year.  Yesterday, however, it was the scene of lots of activity.  See:

All kinds of people were there for dragon boat races.  Normally, there's a dragon boat that launches at around the time I show up for the planes.  This time of year, they might manage to muster two.  There were a lot more than that yesterday.  

Here's a boat.  They have a drummer who sits up front.  

This is some of them racing.  The boat on the left won by a mile.

Each team wore its colors.  It was like gang warfare without the body count!

It's a real thing.  They have their own sign.  See?

Well the seaplanes landed in a swarm.  There were about seven of them.  It was quite thrilling.  The racing didn't allow a few of them to dock for a while.  But they finally did.  And then I left.  And that's the end of my story.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Yes, I've been complaining about the lack of squirrel sightings at Denny Park of late, but yesterday, I ran into a fellow who was quite photogenic.  The only problem was that he would strike a nice pose and I'd push the shutter button like a crazy person only to have him move when my camera finally got around to snapping the picture.  There were lots of blurrels.  I did get a few good shots.  Observe:

First, he looks to his left...

 

...then to his right.

 

He eats a peanut...

 

...and then he runs away.  The end.

It's a whole story right there! 

Oh, and I found a cute plastic squirrel at the Rivoli's temporary thrift store.  Here it is:

Not very realistic, but who cares?  Most squirrels aren't that obese.