Individualistic birds for Simon

My friend Simon once proclaimed that starlings were an individualistic type bird, that they enjoyed their solitude and hermetic lifestyle. Ahem...

Of course he was wrong! But it's one of those very rare moments that he's actually wrong about something, anything! He's a walking encyclopedia and so I take advantage of any slight error whenever I can.

So, for Simon, a kerbillion individual starlings that just coincidentally perched themselves upon the same jumble of wires.





It has to be said that he stated this 'fact' probably over ten years ago but I will never, ever, ever, ever let him live it down! :D Yes, I'm that pathetic!

Sorry Simon. You know I love ya! ;-)

Dog Watching

I have no desire to get a dog but I do love watching them. So, I've taken up dog watching. I go down to Dallas Road where there is a big long park that follows the shoreline and most of it is an off-leach areas for dogs.

Voila:



Here's one usual scene: people drive up and unload their dogs. The people congregate in a spot and the dogs run to meet each other and the other people. Then off the dogs go to play and the people sip their coffees and chat.





Another scenario: people just walk by along the path with their dog and stuff happens. Like this man and his dog who decided he'd like to play fetch with a wee stick he'd found. :-)








Dog watching photos will likely be a recurring theme on this blog.

Back. And a Boat.

I've decided that I like to blog. I think. Decisive as always...

...


The other day, I was out and about in my car when I saw a big-ass boat! I couldn't get close to it since it was moored pretty much at tourism ground-zero (traffic/people congestion hell) so I drove over to the other side of the harbour and looked at it from the other side.





According to the local news... it's 'The Pallada' a Russian tall ship (no shit) on an expedition retracing the 'discovery' of Russian America by Russian sailors 270 years ago. It sailed from Russia on July 1st towards Alaska and then down the coast to Victoria then soon it will be off to San Fransisco, then Honolulu, then Japan, then home.

A few tall ships show up in the harbour every year and Victoria usually hosts a 'Tall Ships Festival' (though it's been cancelled this and next year as people/organizations can't afford to get here thanks to the crap economy) but I never tire of seeing them.





They're fantastic!

Rithet's Bog

Today I went to Rithet's Bog which is a real wetland bog and not Mr Rithet's loo. I know you were thinking it. ;-)



"Rithet's Bog is the last of seven large bogs on the Saanich Peninsula. Many generations of the Tsawout people of Saanich traveled yearly to the bog to harvest bog cranberries, Labrador tea and Sphagnum moss, and to hunt ducks and game.

The 42-hectare Nature Sanctuary, named for R. P. Rithet who farmed this area, was donated to the people of Saanich by the Guinness family in 1994. It was previously drained for agricultural use, but is now being conserved and restored to optimize its biodiversity and recognize its heritage value for the benefit of present and future generations." (from here)

Yes, that Guinness family.

It's just north of Victoria, in Saanich, which is in 'Greater Victoria' ... make sense? Anyways... it's not that far away but I have avoided the area because Shithead Psychologist's office is right across the road. I had a terrible experience with Shithead Psychologist in the summer of '09 and just didn't want to be reminded. I guess I got over it cos here are some piccies of Rithet's Bog!

Looking very bog-like, with a nice cloud.




Bullrushes taller than me.




Icy bog.




Like usual, whenever I go to conservation areas, I never see one wiggle of wildlife. Here's the only beast I saw...




Oooooo, one of those really rare Mallards.... and he lands outside of the park, in a ditch, along the road. lol! :-)




Some lingering snow.

Bog-woman feet.

Oh... and while I was leaving the area, I drove by the Shithead Psychologist's office and flipped 'em the bird and yelled many bad words. :D

Pumpkin Post

Last week, when I went to Island View Beach, I drove through an area where there are a lot of farms. That large building in the centre of the photo is a country market, selling all sorts of local produce, bales of hay, fresh eggs and, of course, pumpkins!

At this time of year, pumpkin patches are very eye-catching and are visited by families so that the kids can select pumpkins to take home and carve into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. Brings back a lot of fond memories!




The customary blog drive-by shot:




Other people just go the grocery stores to get their pumpkins. Along the way I passed a tractor hauling a load from the field to the barn. I suspect from there they are trucked to local shops.




And yesterday, I was at a local grocery store and the pumpkin bins were out and full up! I just love that (small things, small minds...). Aren't they gorgeous?




This hefty pumpkin is the subject of a contest:




'Guess the weight and win!' said the contest dude.

'Win what?' I asked.

'Why, you win the pumpkin!'

'Ha! What would I do with a 300lb pumpkin!?'

But really, I already knew... I'd do this:

;-)

What would you do with a 300lb pumpkin?

Shoes, Views and Lepers

The other day, I had to take Rusty to his doctor. His 'engine fault' light was lit up and he was due for an oil change, some brake fluid check and a prostate exam... so, off to the clinic. After I picked him up, I decided to go for a buzz up the highway. Weee...! And ended up at Island View Beach.

There, I saw lots of driftwood:




dried seaweed:




wet seaweed:




pretty seashells:




nice sand:




and a salmon that's seen better days:




I did look up at times! And here's the view to the right:




The view to the left:




And straight ahead:




Straight ahead but zoomed so that Mt. Baker can be seen better:




Grim historical fact: One of the islands seen out there is D'Arcy Island and it was once the Chinese leper colony for Victoria and Chinese lepers from the rest of Canada (ie; the railway workers). They were sent there to essentially die... while Joe Whitey lepers were sent to other leper colonies where they received care.

On the plus side D'Arcy Island is now a national park. Part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve of Canada.

Urban Carcasses

Sexy ducks and lotsa ducks.

Seen during recent run/walks...

A pair of wood ducks. Gorgeous, eh?



And, how to pull birds:

A tsunami warning, some explosions and a fire.

A busy day in my neighbourhood.

There's a tsunami advisory issued for the coastal area because of the earthquake earlier today in Chile. Not a huge deal for us locally as it's just an advisory, those happen often enough and as Steve Bachop of the PEP - Provincial Emergency Program - stated, "people should definitely not be freaking out!" ... lol, you tell 'em, dude!

Then...

At about 2pm, after a morning of sweaty chores and a 'run,' I'm about to jump into the shower and I hear a big bang. A really big bang... but with my wonky hearing and the noise from the shower, I just shrug and 'whadever.'

Then, BANG! Hmmm....

Again, BANG!!! BANG!!!

Ok... this is not normal.

And then I hear sirens.

I grab a towel and go look out a window and OMFG! A huge wall of flames across the street! Lots of fire engines and cop cars show up very quickly and get on with doing what they do... in the mean time more explosions, more flames and very thick black smoke.

I took these shots... they're not very good... a darkish day, through a window, through pine trees... trying not to use the flash cos of the reflection.





It was not a massive of fire but when you're in a structure containing all your worldly possessions and that structure is made of wood, and it's surrounded by trees and you're butt fuckin' naked and you're hard of hearing yet can still hear the crackling flames... it's a big enough fire.

Scary how fast the flames spread yet amazing how fast the fire dudes got here and put it out.

From what I can gather the area that burned is a parking area for a condo building - a big long carport of covered parking. I'm guessing the explosions were various cars or car parts exploding. It's all roped off so I'll have to wait for the gossip or news to get the scoop.

I'm pretty sure no one got hurt, so that's good.

And, on the plus side, sitting here at my laptop for the last while I've noticed how peaceful it is with the road closed off...

Scenic Sunday - Can Cows Swim?

Today I spent a glorious few hours at Cattle Point. It's probably one of my favourite local haunts. It's beautiful and, for a city park, very peaceful ... in terms of human noise, I mean. Crows, ravens and seagulls bark at each other constantly but when you're by the ocean, and not in bed trying to sleep, they sound great.



So, Cattle Point... yep, cows. In previous times, cows were shoved off barges from the mainland to swim to the then farm on the shore.




(I didn't know cows could swim... actually I'm still not convinced. Does anyone know?)



That's Koma Kulshan (aka Mount Baker)... gorgeous eh? Although I'm in Canada, Mount Baker is in the US state of Washington and like many mountains in the area, it's an active volcano. It's the most active volcano in the Cascade Mountain Range after Mount St Helens - remember her?

Koma Kulshan is to the east of Cattle Point. Here's a view to the south.



The Olympic Mountains, also in Washington State. The bit of land with the buildings on it is still Victoria (Oak Bay), Vancouver Island, Canada and then the mountains behind are in the US across the Juan de Fuca Straight.

From Cattle Point, I walked down to Willows Beach... driftwood fun, dog walking and people chillin'. Nice.





Anyways... (Hi Neil), to conclude, it was a beautiful day. Warm sun, crisp fresh air and signs of spring everywhere:

Cool and Uncool

A few days ago, I went grocery shopping. Exciting, eh?

I don't mind the actually food shopping bit but having to negotiate parking lots or car parks as I had to say in Britain (which still, after five years of saying it, conjured up images of pick-up trucks sliding down playground slides with big smiles on their grills) is less than fun. Yet, I'm strangely fascinated by them... they are great places to sit and people watch and sometimes I see neato cars.

I thought this one was kinda groovy.



I have no idea what it is but it made a gorgeous rumble went it left.



Returning with a load of groceries, I find this boat parked beside me. Nice parking job. I was surprised that my car remained unscathed!



That decal that the red arrow is pointing to a C.A.T. combat auto theft thingy... telling cops that this car is not driven at night. It's deterrent to thieves apparently. I would have thought that it being an ugly, mid-80's, polluting old Buick was deterrent enough. ;-)