Your Sunday Squirrel

This week at Denny Park: a squirrel goes up in a tree and looks down at me for a really long time.  And...

I explore the use of negative space with this guy.

The Fourth

Well, once again I ventured up to Edmonds to take in all the Fourth of July pageantry.  It's a tradition, so I find myself traditionally disappointed by the end.  This year was no exception.  They did have a few people-dressed-as-animals.  Above is a panda...

This guy's a raccoon...

And then, there's a zebra.  And that's all you get.  But there were other features worthy of note.

Here are the Star Wars nerds.  Yoda voice: A lot of fat jedi, there were.  Vader also tubby, he was.

And there was also the Lynnwood band.  They play most every year and I always note that they are a band that absolutely doesn't march.  Well, times have changed.  They have outgrown their flatbed, so some of them must march.  It doesn't affect their sound.  They haven't gotten any better - or worse.  I guess it's only a matter of time till either they all march or somebody builds a second tier and the flatbed turns into a double-decker bandstand.  Anything is possible!

There was more stuff in the parade, but I've documented so much of it in the past.  As far as the quality, this year was quite average.  There's a new-ish parade announcer and he's pretty good.  So now I have no reason to go to Edmonds until next year.

Your Sunday Squirrel

 Here is another shot from my jaunt to Denny Park last weekend.  This guy really liked his tree!

And again, my parents have lots of Douglas squirrels hanging around their house.  This is one of them.  Last night, he was about two feet away, snacking on sunflower seeds for about 20 minutes.  Then he skittered away to do other squirrel things.

That's How It Feels Sometimes...

This was by 7th & Blanchard.  Yeah, as density increases, parking gets more scarce.  Me, I've got a car again, which means that I have to pay for parking.  When I first moved to Belltown, I managed to make do with street parking for years.  There were ways to game the system.  Now there aren't.  You'd go broke paying for parking tickets, so it's much cheaper to rent yourself a space in some garage.  Mine is a bit of a walk away from my place, but it's relatively cheap and it has 24-hr. access.  It's kind of weird being a more-frequent driver in this town.  If anything, Seattleites have become more timid drivers in the past few years.  Everyone seems very unsure of themselves.  And when that happens, they tend to hit the brakes.  Which is the root of all traffic problems - along with people on their phones or just plain not paying attention.  

Your Sunday Squirrel

Sorry for no recent posts.  Things have been happening and such.  That includes going out and taking pictures of squirrels.  The guys above are from Denny Park.  It's pretty rare to have two squirrels in close proximity without them attacking each other.  These guys were on pretty friendly terms.

I've been spending a fair amount of time up in Snohomish at my parents' place, and they have Douglas squirrels.  Three by my count.  OK, gray squirrels are wacky enough, but Douglas squirrels are really crazy.  They're really small and very territorial.  They fight all the time, even when food is abundant for all.  Yeah, they're crazy, but they're also very small and cute.  They're about half the size of a gray squirrel, about chipmunk-size, but they're not chipmunks.

Finally, this picture isn't mine; it's Beck's.  She likes squirrels, too.  She was in Denny Park recently and found this fellow wandering around.  It's a shot I wish I could have taken.  

Your Sunday Squirrel

This isn't the greatest photo in the world, but I do like upside down squirrels.  The weird texture on his back is due to the light, plus I was using the zoom, so the resolution goes down.  He was nice enough to hold still, but not nice enough to let me get close.  There will be other upside down squirrels.  I hope they show up sometime soon.

Well, Of Course It Does...

In Snohomish County, this is front-page news.

Your Sunday Squirrel

It's a praying squirrel.  There is a Squirrel-Jesus after all!

A New Place!

Once upon a time, when a new coffee place opened up, there was a feeling to exhaustion, what with all the espresso carts and the proliferation of Starbucks and Tully's and SBCs.  Those days are long gone.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but if anybody wants to open up a cafe, more power to them.  One just opened across the street.  I still haven't been there, because for some strange reason, they don't open till late in the morning.  Anyhow, this place is called Navy Strength and it's located at 2nd & Wall.  They've been working on it for quite and while and it's still not open.  But it might be one day very soon.

UPDATE!  I was totally wrong.  Here are the facts: It's a bar and restaurant, owned by the same folks who run No Anchor next door.  It's open now.  Sorry for the bad reporting.  

Your Sunday Squirrel

It's finally happened - Denny Park has reopened!  And the squirrels once again have to share the place with humans.  Do they mind?  Who knows?  But it's a great day for those who like to throw peanuts at tree rodents.

Here's an action shot.  Beck likes to have them venture up and take the peanut from her.  The squirrels are really hesitant to do this, but they do it anyway.