Category Archives: local

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Raptor majesty, maybe

These two eagles were high above me on the North Beach bluff. So when I zoomed in, I thought, oh, good, majestic eagles! A pair!

Oh, um. More silly and derp and grumpy than majestic. They remind me of the Highlights cartoon, Goofus and Gallent. Though maybe this is Goofus and Grumpy. I guess eagles can be silly and grumpy too. They look more like siblings than a couple to me.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: raptor.

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Orange and yellow

I walked down my hill and around the Kai Tai Lagoon a few days ago. The trees are putting on an amazing show. It interests me that most of the trees the city is planting are not native. We have a lot of non-native maples. I feel a bit ambivalent, but they certainly turn red! The orange one here is an oak. There are native oaks and I have not figured out if this is one.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day. I think the leaves are taking their turn at being flowers before they fall.

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Design and build

The Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race has some serious designers. I don’t know if they use a forge, but the sculptures have to go in the 52 degree water and come out a few blocks away. They have to move in the water, not just float. They have to have functional brakes, since they go over a significant hill and they are human powered. They have to get through the mudbog somehow.

Some go for power and some try to go light. This one looked the lightest this year.

Many have been in more than one race and the racers and their support teams are happy to lift the hood and explain.

The two bundles under the hood are lifejackets and floats for the water course. They have to carry all the parts on the sculpture. Each team can have support personnel. Our local school kids’ STEM groups had a Maker’s Fair near the water course. We have a group that has made an underwater robot to fish out lost crab pots. If the pot’s line is lost, crabs and other creatures can be trapped inside to die. The robot helps to fish out the trash that traps creatures.

Wikipedia lists ten locations for Kinetic Sculpture Races. Ours has been going for 35 years. Will someone forge a new vehicle that we start using daily? I hope so.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: forge.

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Changing season

My non-native maple, tipped by the sun, but also just starting to change colors. This is my second lot, the wild lot, where the deer often bed down at night. We have two families coming through. A doe with a younger doe and a pair of twins who have lost their spots, and another doe with some younger twins. We have a three point buck with one deformed and broken horn, and I had a young spike in my yard the other day. Looking polished and sharp, too. I kept my distance.

The cats are a bit cautious with the deer. Here is Elwha. He is checking that I am still there and that it’s still safe. This was taken in August.

Here is Sol Duc, checking out a buck, also in August.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: season.