Tag Archives: rain

The town of Moncton is Under Rattlesnake Lake

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My friends and I had a meeting at the Cedar River Watershed Center in North Bend, King County recently and I was delighted to discover a teal colored Rattlesnake Lake. Random facts:

  • When the Masonry Dam was put into place 1915, it flooded Rainy Season Lake which became Rattlesnake Lake.
  • The small  town of Moncton was flooded by Rattlesnake Lake which was a surprise to the builders of the dam and to the residence of Moncton. There is a terrific slideshow of the town slowly flooding here.
  • There are no rattlesnakes near Rattlesnake Lake, in fact there are no rattlesnakes on this side of the Cascade Mountains.
  • Rattlesnake Lake and Rattlesnake Bluff got their names from the tall plants that had been plentiful in the area. When these plants dried, they had a rattle sound when in a breeze.
  • The color of the lake is because of the glaciers.
  • There is a top notch education center at the Cedar River Watershed and the meeting room was great too!
  • The green roof at the visitor’s center was so interesting.
  • It was raining, again. We have set all records for rain this year! (so, so tired of rain!)

 

 

 

Lewis and Clark, End of the Trail in Seaside Oregon

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The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled 4,000 miles over 18 months to reach this place on the Pacific Ocean. This statue by Stanley Wanlass commemorates Lewis and Clark as well as Seaman, the Newfoundland dog that traveled with the expedition. At first I thought it odd that the statue faced away from most of the traffic, but of course it makes sense, Lewis and Clark are looking west!


It was our first time in Seaside Oregon and dear husband proclaimed it much like Atlantic City, NJ. Well, perhaps the Atlantic City years ago prior to gambling being legal there! The downtown area was full of stores, restaurants and hotels. Even the beach had a good number of folks on it, though they were sensibly wearing coats and rain gear. Mostly I just walked since I had our dog, Lilly, with me and she isn’t welcome in the establishments for the most part.

 

Bresemann Forest, Spanaway

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I wanted to spend some time with my dog, Lilly, so I asked her what she wanted to do. She suggested a full day of doggie treats and napping. But taking a walk was a solid second choice. So off we went to Bresemann Forest in Spanaway Park, next to the Sprinker Recreation Center. Just the word forest brings up an image of mysterious woods to me, so I was pretty excited. There is a lovely metal archway leading into the forest and plenty of parking next to it. The trails were clean, well maintained and unmarked, so we just set off along the main trail. Almost immediately I noticed a big dog coming toward us on a leash. Knowing that my dog is insane and will bark her head off  (its us, not you), we veered to the smaller trail and didn’t see anybody else the rest of our stroll. Despite the fact that the weather guy promised only clouds it started to rain, so we didn’t stay as long as originally planned. I hear there is a quaint bridge and a pond, but that will have to wait.

Next to the forest is a huge rock designed for climbing and there were about 25 people there learning the ropes (so to speak).

The forest has its own Facebook Page 🙂

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Granbury’s Sink Hole

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imageOn Mother’s Day 2015 the parking lot next to Brookshires collapsed into a sinkhole and athorities have been working on the repair ever since. The incessant rains that month were the cause of the 8′ storm drain collapsing, which in turn caused the sinkhole which drained into Lake Granbury/Brazos River. To see the sinkhole was it was and other photos of the flooding problems caused by the rains, check here. The Google map capture below shows the site before collapse. I suspect that Brookshires is no longer using their drive through pharmacy.

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The culvert behind my mom’s house

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14717101317_6eb910af46_k….leads to a Harbor Lakes Golf Club. Here is a picture of the golf course as well as the culvert, which is dry during most of the summer and diverts rain water to a pond during periods of rain. Here are a couple of pictures of the culvert, the pond and the edge of the golf course.

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Yauger Park, Olympia

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10375312376_ea29bd01f8_bYauger Park in Olympia has a lovely wetland area that doubles as a storm water retention pond during times of heavy rain. Per their website, the area can hold 27 million gallons of water which is slowly released into Percival Creek and eventually into Budd Inlet. One comment I noted on Yelp said that the rain water will sometimes cover the parking area also, which is better than local streets! The park also has picnic facilities, sports areas and playground equipment.

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Veteran’s for Peace, Memorial Day

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On Memorial Day I stopped in the park area next to the Lobster Shop that was displaying a traveling memorial by the Veteran’s for Peace dedicated to the men and women who have died in Iraq since March 2003. Despite the rainy weather people were respectful wandering through the display of headstones, considering the very real cost of war.

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The Pet Cemetery

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I was in my 20s when I read Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery and it scared me to death! Though I did better then my husband who tossed it across the room and refused to pick it up for about a month. So in my head Pet Cemetery’s are creepy places, appropriate for a Halloween New Place of the Day. But all in all the Pet Cemetery in the  New Tacoma Cemetery is lovely and peaceful. With umbrella in hand I walked through what I guess was the pet section, though I couldn’t find more then one grave. The photo with the graves is the traditional cemetery. The link for the cemetery is here http://www.newtacoma.com/fh/facilities/facilities.cfm?page=4&fh_id=12090

Great Umbrella Mural at the Storage Box

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The Storage Box at 216 Puyallup Ave Tacoma, Washington is getting a splendid new mural by Chris Sharp. http://chrissharp3000.blogspot.com/2012/07/tacoma-murals-program-collaboration.html. Mr. Sharp also did the mural on McKinley Avenue and that write up can be found here http://blog.firsttries.com/?p=2578

The property began its existence as the George H. Russell Horse Market / Star Stables in 1906. It was also the Lauritzen Tonic Co., John W. Brady Horse Market, Depot Saloon, Efaw Livery, Ingle Garage (which burned in 1923), Square Deal Transfer Co.
(Garford Truck Co.), a storage plant and in 1962 it was approved as a fallout shelter. I went into the building in the 1990s when it was being converted into mini storage and remember the owner saying that it has been used as a house of ill repute. Apparently it was a popular place with the sailors who had shore leave in Tacoma.

 

 

Golfing in Scotland

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In Scotland we practiced our golf in a golf academy near St. Andrews. It was raining and by raining I mean pouring. Also windy and kind of cold. But it was an adventure and for the most part we were glad we had done it once we were dry again.