Bellingham Blog

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Mount Baker August 24, 2010

Mount Baker, Whatcom County WA

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The 100th Anniversary of the Whatcom County Fair

Any county fair that features a live birth of a calf, dozens of rides for children, and the "Quichua Mashis" in one evening is all right by me. Personally, all this city boy really wants to see each year is all those cows...

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Heaven....

Tonight is the night before the July 4th celebration on the Bellwether waterfront in Bellingham. As a warm up, a local band played tunes from the '70s, '80s, '90s at Boulevard Park while the first of the "nights on the green" started in Fairhaven. The summer sky at Boulevard Park was perfect tonight : clear, a little cool, some gentle breeze - just like you would imagine a summer in heaven. You live for days like that here. When they happen, they are magical. We are predicted to have rain for the Fourth; and then some 70 and even 80 degree weather next week. Good idea to soak it up. Might be the warmest week of the year thus far.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

The Tomato Shtick...

We are finally starting to get sunny weather in Whatcom County. Some beautiful days - light overcast in the morning, sunny in the afternoon (with some surprisingly strong wind at times) and long beautiful evenings and sunsets. Voila! My tomatoes, planted in early May, are finally taking off!:

Tomatoes will grow in Whatcom County. Like all other vegetables, you need to adapt to a short (but sunlight intense) growing season, wind and rain. Some do this with greenhouses. This year I have 12 different varieties that I am growing. One, a pear tomato named "Jolly Elf ", seems popular here in the Northwest. It certainly has a distinctive shape:

Monday, June 21, 2010

Bellingham Bay on Father's Day 2010

You won't glimpse much marine mammal life in Bellingham Bay. Plenty of bird life, signs of fishing industry, etc. But I am guessing that because of the long industrial history of the salmon canning facilities, gas plant, pulp plant, chloroform production, shipbuilding and repair, ttreated lumber operations, the landfill/dump etc. that there may not be enough of a healthy bay to sustain what marine mammals need to survive. But there certainly is a lot of other activity going on. Every now and then, however, I see this sea lion...

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

How is your vegetable garden surviving all this Spring rain?

We are paying now for the beautiful January and February we had. It was a rough, but I think my tomatoes are going to make it. Next year, I won't do this without a green house. If you are in doubt about how your garden is supposed to look, you can visit the master gardeners at Hovander Park in Ferndale from 9:00 AM until Noon on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Their greenhouse is currently hosting some very healthy tomatoes.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

The 2010 Ski to Sea

The Ski to Sea was pretty low key for us this year. I thought it was less well attended than other years, but I did not stay for much of the afternoon. We had great fun anyway...

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Prelude to the Ski to Sea

Bellingham's Memorial Day"Big Event" is on . Below are two pictures from last weeks Junior Ski to Sea Parade, one of the Bellingham High School Red Riders Band from today's Ski to Sea Parade, and one of all the Kayaks lined up tonight at Zuanich Park, awaiting tomorrow's final leg of the Ski to Sea:

Thursday, May 20, 2010

A blustery spring time storm

Good Heavens, did a spring storm blow through last night:

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A wonderful first day of Spring at the Woodland Zoo

Last Saturday was a beautiful day at the Woodland (Seattle) Zoo. Take your children and lovers there and recover your own soul.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

North Fork Stone Sculpture

In places of great beauty, artistic spirits cannot suppress their contributions:

Monday, January 18, 2010

Storm Surge MLK 2010

This is a picture of the storm surge at the northwest corner of Boulevard Park in Bellingham on Martin Luther King Day 2010. More pictures here :

Saturday, December 19, 2009

City of the Rogue

Shasta from I-5 Vista Point

Stopped in City of the Rogue (Rogue River, OR) on my way to Oakhurst, CA. tonight. Everytime I take the Siskyiou-Shasta passes, I am reminded of what rough, stark and (essentially unpopulated) beautiful country this part of the world really is. The snow levels are predicted to be high tomorrow, so I should make it over in my 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid fine. I did these passes in my 2000 Honda Insight more than a few times, but only once in a sleet/rain/snow storm. There are multiple 6% grades coming through the Roseburg, Canyonville, Grants Pass Area that I came through tonight - not too much problem with the new 2010 Insight (98 HP total). It does rev pretty high when climbing in 2nd gear. But I drive it carefully. I have learned from experience on Mt. Baker highway not to leave in 2nd gear too long when climbing slopes. I special ordered the 175/65 R-15 chains before I left. I hope to not use them at all!! 48.6 mpg for the 515 sometimes rainy miles today from Bellingham to City of the Rogue. That's 11 hours road time for me, I am tired and wishing for advances in holographic communication...

Monday, November 16, 2009

What a wind storm in the Pacific Northwest looks like...

This time of year in Bellingham and the Pacific Northwest, we live with "Chinooks". At ground level, these are relentless windstorms consisting of 30 - 60 mph gusts (occasionally much higher) that blow for hours at a time. They are usually followed by large-scale "Pineapple Express" (this is an ENSO year) weather systems that dump lots of rain at comparatively warm temperatures. This melts the early snow in the mountains and lowlands, creates flooding and havoc all through the county. It also creates a terrifying/exhilirating "acoustic" experience. In Bellingham, this phenomenon happens regularly enough that damage is somewhat limited: the weak trees fall, the dead branches drop, the Nooksack floods enough to discourage building (almost!) and encourage flood prevention. Still, the weather is exceptionally dramatic. I have been in short story buildings downtown and felt them sway from the fourth floor. Note the 150 knot winds below at 300 MB. From satellite, voila ici:

[Pictures credit to www.nrlmry.navy.mil and squall.sfsu.edu]

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Fall Day on Orcas

Beautiful Day to be on the beach on Orcas. Our stunning summer has bled over into a wonderful fall.

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Lotus Roadster at the Farmer's Market

Today's Farmer's Market in Bellingham had a line up of electrical cars including this Tesla Roadster.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Spring has arrived to Whatcom County

We have Spring in Bellingham and Whatcom County. Praise the Heavens, El Sol has returned.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Give thanks....

This time of year is the toughest to survive in Western Washington especially if you grew up in sunnier climates. You get one glimpse of the sun every now and again. You know it's weird when a full shot of light glancing of some puddle shocks your senses: "What the hell was that?" you react. I made myself sit in front of ray of sun coming down the mountain from Fragrance Lake today. Just sit and absorb it. There's nothing to do but give thanks you weren't a flood victim, put on the Goretex and prepare for another two solid months of grey days without the big yellow dude in the sky. Sigh... Below are some exellent flood videos from the web. People are suffering this winter here. We give thanks for what we have.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

January Flooding on the NookSack

We had the big snows. Now we have the "Pineapple Express" rains in Western Washington. Problematic combination. This is some grainy Cell Phone video from January 07, 2009 at about 11:00 AM near Deming, WA.