Long ago on the Beach… with family

1960 at Long Beach Peninsula, Washington. Cars on the Beach
The Day We Almost Got Swept Away at Long Beach Peninsula

Happy crazy memories tickle my fancy as I look at this long forgotten photo recently scanned. Mom and Dad in the Station Wagon, and my sister and her hubby and kids in the other car. I would guess it was about 1962 or ’63, at Long Beach Peninsula in Washington State. That looks like part of my brother-in-law’s wet suit on top of the car. He and my dad spent a lot of the day out fishing, while the moms and kids played in the sand and waves. Of course the men had the car keys in their pockets… and no one could find them when the tide started coming in. There the cars sat… I am sure Dad thought they parked up far enough from the water. I was only 4 or 5, but I remember that water getting closer and closer, until it was lapping at the wheels and still a’ comin’. Mom and Sis (she was 24 years older than me) were getting a bit frantic looking for the guys, and watching us little kids. The water was up around the cars when some people came to help, and dragged the cars up farther on the beach and out of the water. My memories are from a child’s perspective, and so I am not clear about the details, but oh boy we were all so grateful! You can just imagine what happened when the men showed back up all oblivious! Good thing Mom was a kind soul who did not like to yell and fight. Needless to say the guys felt properly chagrined and we were all so happy to drive safely back off that beach!

Here we are at home around 1960, my nephew and myself are the children with my Sister, and the lamb I had forgotten all about! Sure wish I could remember it’s name.

Beauty of Autumn

I know that I’ve been very inconsistent lately, but here are some photos from this week in the Glenwood area

Cowhand with an extra horse heading out through the aspens, near an old barn on the Miller property. Photo taken 10/26/2020
The Aspen Grove at the Conboy national wildlife refuge center, taken with the phone at dusk, on 10/27/2020
Mount Adams on 10/26/2020 Along the Camas Prairie
The big old oak tree as a foreground to Mount Adams.
Some Tamaracks have turned color (Larch)
This is another phone picture of the larches
This one of the Tamaracks, looking toward the sun, was taken with my old beloved gift, a Canon 5D Mark ll
Aspen Moon in the sunlight’s last gasp. 10/26/2020
The Aspen Cave or so it looked to me due to light and shadow. 10/26/2020

You can view more of my photography here at At my SmugMug website starlisa.smugmug.com

Also on Flickr as Starlisa Flickr website

And on Facebook as Starlisa Black Photography

We as humans can be the caretakers of natures beauty. One way we do this is by sharing the beauty responsibly, using #LMT and #LeaveNoTrace methods, being respectful of the lands we visit, And helping to vote for people and agendas that help Nurture Nature as opposed to destroying nature. For example, this last four years a huge number of environmental protections have been taken away. New York Times Published an article Sunday that is well sourced and researched

See the New York Times article here

Fireball!

At approximately 8:02 PM Pacific time tonight, 10-22-2020, there was a huge fire ball that blazed down thru the night sky. oh green and orange all kinds of stuff I mean I’ve never seen anything like it it was it was like there were flames coming up from it! it was huge and it came down between a triangle formed by a crescent moon and two planets, Saturn and Jupiter. This was roughly to the south from just outside of Trout Lake, Washington.

The fire ball seemed to be spinning as it fell, and consumed in green flames, And I watched it for a few moments before it disappeared behind trees just above the horizon to the SSW. I have seen fireballs before, but never quite this big and long lasting

EDIT: Many reports were received by the meteor society, and they were able to semi-accurately pinpoint the location of this meteor

Many fireball sightings were reported

Here is the website correlating the fireball sightings

2019 Autumn Slideshow

Autumn in the Cascades and nearby is so wonderful to behold.  Here we have random fall images primarily from Mount Adams to the Columbia River.  Enjoy!

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Forest Management vs. Logging

In my 20s and 30s I was an environmentalist doing protests to stop clear cutting. Now in my 60s i realize the pendulum swung too far the other way. Before the human population grew so much in this country, natural lightning caused fires would clear out diseased forests, and create clearings where huckleberries and elk etc could thrive.

Europeans came along, spread across the country with our towns and cities, pushing into the forest boundaries. We did our best to stop all fires out of fear (understandably) of our communities burning. Part of the fear was also of losing our beautiful National Forests.

Next we rallied to stop the out of control logging. As a result the Northwest forests are now choked with dense stands of diseased and dead trees just waiting for lightning to spark enormous fires.

I grew up among loggers, but i hated clear cuts. Now i realize that selective thinning and prescribed burns help control the health of the forest as well as fend off the mega fires. We did not need to stop logging completely, we just needed to change our approach to selective thinning and prescribed burns. Keep many larger trees to be seed trees and eventually snags and then nursery logs. Remove any with early signs of Diseases, Spruce Bud Worms, Pine Bark Beetles and other pests that destroy entire forests.

I talked to a landowner with 50+ acres of healthy, beautiful, multi-aged forest. He explained that in 50 years he had selectively logged a large number of trees. Never once did he plant a tree, and yet there were currently more trees than when he started. Every tree was known to him, which ones were the best keeper seed trees, and which needed to be harvested for the health of the forest. These might be overcrowded trees, or those with a hint of disease that would endanger the forest.

Also, clearcuts i sat in and cried when I was young are now full of young, tall, beautiful forests, healthy and full of wildlife especially if they are thinned out as they get bigger. Nature does a great job of recovery, but as we interfere on one end we need to help balance on the other end.

Fire Boss details

Air Tractor Fire Boss N10122 205-FIRE

This is a follow-up to my previous post about this amazing water scooper used for fires. Donnie Mac, WA-DNR pilot of the N10122, gave me a tour of this lovely plane while at rest on standby at the airport in Dallesport, WA. Thanks Donnie!

I wish I could remember all the details of the amazing information he gave me, and I should’ve written it down or tape recorded it. There are very few of these retrofitted scooper airplanes available, and just this summer their numbering system is changing to the 200 series on the tail. This will match up with the same type of plane in Canada who also uses the 200 series. In my original post we saw 802 on the tail, that has been changed to 205.

I got to climb up on the wing and check out the cockpit and water storage area. The pilot can scoop water up from a lake or river through an intake pipe which drops down at the bottom of the floats. He can also fill via hose into these upper containers.

This is where the water is released, the Bomb bay door so to speak. Instruments can control the rate of water drop, how much is dropped in a certain area.

did you know that this plane was originally designed as a crop duster?

I found that very fascinating.

Here is a website link from Air Tractor, and I quote:

“When equipped with amphibious floats installed by Wipaire, the AT-802F becomes the Fire Boss scooper air tanker, able to land on and scoop water from nearby lakes, rivers and reservoirs. From a nearby water source, the 802F Fire Boss can deliver up to 14,000 gallons per hour for extended attack or ground support. An unimproved runway or water-side ramp and fuel are all it needs to be a highly cost-effective forward attack air tanker.”

https://airtractor.com/aircraft/at-802f-fire-boss/

All in all a lovely plane, and very nice pilot!

Also behind the N10122 there was another similar plane owned by a different company.

See the previous post for in-flight photos from June 2019

Thanks! I would love to hear from you.

Fire Boss N10122

The sight of a Air Tanker Fire Boss at work during fire season can be nerve wracking or comforting depending on the situation! This one flown by Donnie Mac, an AT-802 model (N10122), was doing an early season public awareness run (Proficiency Flight). Donnie had planned to do some water scooping alongside the island but the wind turned out to be too strong.

This photo was taken from along Interstate 84 on June 1, 2019 in the Columbia River Gorge, between Oregon and Washington alongside Eighteenmile Island, aka Chicken Charlie Island.

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SIDENOTE: I find this fascinating bit of local lore. Eighteenmile mile island, also called Chicken Charlie island.

http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/eighteenmile_island.html

Click on this historic photo of the island to view on Historic Hood River website:

This photo is a screenshot from the Historic Hood River website

More info on Chicken Charlie Island can be found on the Full Wiki

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None of the firefighting planes are cheap to operate, but they can certainly be life and property savers.

The image below is copied from this website: https://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/districts/CWICC/Mob%20Guide/2016_Chpt_50_Mob_Guide.pdf

Dreamily Dazzled Delights

Mount Adams shrouded in Storm cloud Sunset Glory recently. Mother Nature is still the best artist!

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