Flutterby February

February always seems to flutter by on frantic wings. Perhaps that has something to do with the number of birthdays that fall in this month. This year, a sister arrived at the local (volunteer run, interesting factoid!) train station, and we indulged in coastal delights. She didn't seem to enjoy de-bearding the mussels, but happily slurped the steamed results of her labor down with gusto. Am I overselling it? We also dined on salmon and my version of Black Forest Cake for an early birthday dinner - I ended up working the day of so it was nice to celebrate a little early. 

In a fit of frivolous spending, Brandon, having laid eyes on remarkably low priced king crab during a Costco run, decided we were going to dine like kings (the pun is 100% unintentional) for Valentines Eve. And boy did we. In retrospect I agree with his assertion that 'you haven't had crab until you've had king crab'...

The following weekend we happily embarked on an exploratory venture to see the Mima Mounds, which it turns out are rather boring to examine in the winter, although there was neat lichen. It will be interesting in the spring though, when prairie flowers adorn the little understood geologic features. 

 Onward we went to explore some state land, and hike. It was a misguided venture, but from the outset, how were we to know? (The bullet-hole riddled "No Shooting Next Five Miles" sign maybe ought to have given us some foresight?)
We did get to see some cool beaver dams, and although we never quite figured out which trail we were on, we were definitely on an established trail. This is worth noting because approximately five minutes after capturing a grinning Otter traversing an old clear-cut, bullets whistled down into the trail system. And when I say whistled - its more like we heard the branches cracking and snapping as they were hit. I've rewritten this story in my head so many times that I thought some of the anger would dissipate. Not so, I'm still furious. Brandon yelled, and we picked up pace. There were blissfully no more shots for the next 3/4 mile, but as we neared the trailhead another shot cracked out so close we could again hear the branches snapping; we hit the ground, Brandon bellowed ferociously and... another shot came through. At which point we skedaddled to the car, and bailed. Much though I wish to believe otherwise, I can only conclude that some jackass thought it would be funny to SHOOT AT TWO HUMAN BEINGS, just for the fun of it. Well that's downright evil, and the nasty vindictive vicious part of me hopes that sub par human being tripped and shot themself in the leg.
It's experiences like that that turn typically rational people against the gun owning population. Most days I truly don't care whether you own a gun, as long as you use it in the appropriate time and place. But that day I wanted nothing more that to ban gun ownership outright, collect every gun ever created, and melt it into a pile of smoldering ore.
End Rant.
The next weekend we went to a lichen work shop which was very interesting, even if I did not retain much of the information. We wandered around a beach park and had our faith in humanity restored a bit.
These alders slumped down off the bluff, but continued on growing as though nothing had changed.

I have spent some time recently poking around at the local wildlife reserve (Nisqually) on weekend mornings, which has been pleasant. You can probably tell from some of these photos just how decrepit my sad old camera is getting.

 Here is a land of bright yet foggy mornings and many many ducks.

 At low tide you can see all the nice mud...

 And evident of worms, mollusks, crustaceans etc at work. These are from worms working around in the muck.

 Quite a nice boardwalk to wander along and ponder life

Another foggy sunny day

All those dots are hundreds of geese- quite a sound to experience

In addition to hundreds of geese, ducks abounded

For whatever reason I can't get some of the pictures to rotate properly, so you shall have to make do... Indian plum knows no limits - the shrub that always confuses me by bursting into bloom in February when everything else remains dormant. Although I have already seen colts foot blooming and red currant in full colored flower bud; this year will be even earlier than last. 

 Raccoon prints in the frost, indicating a recent visit.

It was surreal and beautiful and blinding

I have come to enjoy the fearless and somewhat comical displays of territoriality one can observe in our good old robins. 

Whoever can identify this skeleton for me gets a gold star! Spring is trying to come earlier this year - I have seen & heard multiple hummingbirds about, plants budding and blooming - and balmy days approaching 60 degrees. While I lift my face to that sun, I silently cringe at the thought of what a hard freeze might bring, the lack of snow in our mountains and the fact that February is often called  "Fake out February"  in the PNW for its brief and welcome reprieve from the dour rain. And I remember that humans are a tremendously resilient and adaptive species, and that whatever may come, we'll probably do just fine.
Have a safe and happy weekend.