Next time, I'm going to give those Kent Valley bovines a closer look

I'm going to have to take a look and see which way they are aligned. According to this story, they have a sixth sense that lines them up with the earth's magnetic field. Who could have guessed bovines were so smart.

Good, finally decide to see those tires gone.

Wonder if they took out the one I saw earlier, that was near the beach, but not in this dumping ground, that was a death trap for crabs? I never went back to check on it, and maybe try to cut out an escape hole.

This is one example of good intentions and all that.

Photos by The New Tribune.

Despite all the work, the owls still seem to be losing their battle

This was part of the package the Seattle Times ran last week on the spotted owl losing its battle for survival. It's worth the watch.

Plastics equal illness among crabs too?

I read this story with interest, even tho it's a study from the East Coast, and it's talking about lobsters, not crabs. However, I wonder if the exposure to so many plastics could have something to do with all the dead crabs I see every year at the beach.

Is that bee alive? No, dinner

We were doing our usual walk around the block last night, and looking for bats above, and bees, hanging onto lavendar, below. I stopped to inspect one of the bees, when Jennifer asked "Hey, I think that bee's dead."

No, just sleeping.

No, dead, she responds. That spider (green small one, that lives on butterfly bushes) just crawled away from it.

So I poked it and sure enough. Dead, and dry. I found this blog (which is very cool, all about bugs) and decided it's a green lynx spider (go down to the Sept. 2007 post). Funny,the guy was asking about what the spider was that had just munched down a bee in front of him. Apparently the spider gets its name from pouncing on its prey like a cat.

Wanna seal sit?

I could never get my daughter to baby sit this summer for extra $$, but when this arrived in my in box, she was all for it. She wants to become a seal sitter.

Here's the info:

Seal Sitters Volunteers Needed Seal Pup Birthing Season August - October

This is the time of year when baby seal "pups" grace our lives by
visiting Puget Sound shores. The pups "haul out" to get much-needed rest and
warmth by sleeping peacefully on the beaches and rocks, often for long hours
before mom returns for them. These pups are extremely vulnerable at
this time and need our protection to help them survive. There is an urgent need for
volunteers to help protect the pups by informing the public about harbor
seals and keeping people and dogs at a safe distance. If you would like to
volunteer to be a "seal sitter" or would like more information
about our group, please attend one of our training sessions or contact
info@sealsitters.org.
Please visit our website @
http://www.sealsitters.org/

TRAINING SESSION ONE
When: Sunday, August 10, 2008
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Where: Hiawatha Community Center in West Seattle (206)
684-7441
2700 California Avenue SW (across the ballfield near WS
High)
TRAINING SESSION TWO
When: Tuesday, September 9, 2008 5:00 - 7:00
pm
Where: Alki Community Center in West Seattle (206) 684-7430
5817 SW
Stevens (2 blocks from Alki Beach)

Okay, there you have it if you want to attend the training session tomorrow. Occasionally, pups do haul out at Des Moines, but not often.

Oh, and here is the cut picture: all together now, ahhhhh!

Bushtits and bumble bees

I was looking at a flock of bushtits swarming over my suet feeder last night, hanging outside of my kitchen window, and lo, came across this article today in the Tacoma News Tribune.

Apparently, once they start swarming around the feeders, the kids are gone.

Also last night, and the night before, I was walking our dog, late, around Scenic Hill, and always enjoy passing by this one yard on Hemlock, which has said to hell with the lawn, and just started planting flowers everywhere. She's planted about five lavender plants, which have bushed out and attracted mucho bees. It was late one night, about 9 pm, when my fat, hairy dog can actually enjoy a walk, and there were the bushes, scenting the air with lavender, and as I looked closer, I realized that about half a dozen bumbles had decided to spend the night.

In casting around on why this was happening, I came across this cool web site about, lavender and bees, I guess, as well as general nature studies. I used one of her pictures, as you see, and I plan to take my own tonight.

Wildlife in Iowa

Yeah, Iowa, were I was representing PLU at a conference of Lutheran Colleges. Actually, it's wasn't as dull as I expected. Lots of interesting and fun people back there who didn't take themselves too seriously.

In front of the student dorms, where we stayed, was this wonderful sawgrass prairie with wonderful wildflowers, all elbowing each other for the top part of their canopy. The sunflowers won out. But the wildlife was wonderful, if you just had patience. Deer, fox, pheasants, goldfinches (the state bird), cardinals (very shy), and rabbits.

And I decided to go on the canoe trip. Not much wildlife except for trout and turkey vultures, and lots of swallows, all in their mud hut condos that where stuck to the top of chimney-like slate formations that rose up from the river about 200 feet above our heads.

More bats!

Looking up in the sky tonight in Kent, as the auzure bled into crimson on the skyline, the night fighter pilots came out and did their arials, in search of bugs.

It's good to see the bats back, I was beginning to worry about them. Now I'll have to go out and buy a bat box, and hopefully the cockroaches won't move in instead, as they did the last time I tried to provide a home for the flying mammals.