Life with Andrea

Today was the beginning of my vacation. Bob was working, Soren had school, but I didn’t want to just fritter my time away. And sometimes, they don’t want to do what I want to do. But I have ideas. And when I don’t care how much gas I use, then I can do a lot of things.

I read a report in the newspaper that whales are migrating north right now. So, I decided to try to see some. Ilwaco was listed as aplace from which one can see the whales. And, Ilwaco has a park, and a lighthouse we saw in the rain on Thanksgiving - I’d like to see it again.

After I dropped Soren off at school, I kept going. I drove and I drove, and I drove and I drove. I kept thinking it should be any minute or hour or day now, but eventually it was only 23 miles!! And they were slow miles, behind a school bus, behind tourists, behind, behind, behind. Finally, I got to Seaside. Seaside is nothing but a gate to the ocean, so I took it, and walked on the beach for a while.

There were horses: I felt as if I was watching Arabians riding on the beach. So here they are. When they got closer, they weren’t as Arabian, but backlit, perhaps they could be.

Then I left that beach and went to the lighthouse. I think it was called the “North Head Lighthouse”, it was near the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, at (possibly) Lewis and Clark State Park in Ilwaco. Anyway, there was a lighthouse. The red and white kind of lighthouse, at the edge of the blustery spit, where you know they can’t grow anything because of the spray and the wind. The first, the only lighthouse that I have ever BEEN INSIDE.

Inside a lighthouse, there are stairs that spiral up and up and up. This particular one had 69 steps (I think that’s a Hitchcock film, too - or something like it). There was a mosaic on the floor of the ground level, and the iron stairs spiraled above it. There were lights inside, because with three or four levels (I forget how many) it got pretty dark. No windows. Until you burst out into the light and sunshine on top.

After I had spent a very long time atop the lighthouse, learning about lenses and lights, and the “thumbprint” of a light - which is the pattern of reds and whits and the regularity of the blinks - I went down again. Because outside, there was a great view of the water. Some people were watching out for animals. They had a list of about 50 marine animals they had seen. Birds, and marine mammals. WHALES. The whales were far enough out that all you could see was the plume of spray from the blowholes, but your COULD see it. I, of course, had forgotten my binoculars, but one of the researchers let me use theirs when they were on break, and I saw some plumes! So I effectively saw whales - at least evidence of them.

And I really did see a California Sea Lion. At first the researcher thought it was a Stellar sea lion, but on closer look, it wasn’t. You couldn’t prove it by me. However, again I was allowed to borrow binocs, and I could see the brown body - much bigger than a harbor seal (which I have seen before) gliding just below the water, coming up for air every 30 seconds or so, and then arcing back into the water, gliding along. I watched him for quite a few minutes.

In a while there was a mass of seagulls above one spot. When they mass, of course it means there’s food. This particular time it meant there was a harbor seal eating a salmon - and the seagulls were trying to steal it from him. So the seal had to eat under the water. As he chewed on his salmon, little bits came off, and the seagulls would fight over it. There were so many birds - and so much water - it was fabulous.

After a while, I left that lighthouse and went on to the next one. It was a longer walk - ¾ mile of up and down muddy trails, to a lighthouse that you couldn’t go into. But it was good too, and it had a great view of the mouth of the Columbia. It doesn’t look like the mouth of a river -it looks like a huge bay or harbor. I can see why it took such a long time to realize it was a river. And, even now, the bar is a problem - they have to keep dredging it. You can barely see across the river, but that’s Oregon on the other side.

I’d been there for hours, wandering around from lighthouse to lighthouse, and following the trails. It was time to head home. But on the way, I had to stop and take a picture of this heron I saw. He was stepping across the mud flats just like Puddleglum. I got out of the car, and tried to get close enough to get a good picture - and he flew away. I tried to get the flap of the wings, but here - what you see is what you get.

One heron, one sea lion, two lighthouses, one whale, two green and violet swallows, and many unidentified other birds. Not a bad day.

It’s becoming Spring. Tonight, during a walk, Bob and I saw a lump in the grass. It was a big brown lump. Could have been one of those piles of dirt the gophers pile up, or not. But it did seem to have a biggish clod at one end, and that clod did seem to be elongated. Maybe it’s a rabbit! The best way to be sure would be to approach - if it moved, it was a rabbit. But even on the (slow and quiet) approach, it didn’t move. However, the clod did melt and resolve itself into a rabbit, as we drew closer. And, when I passed it by, saying we didn’t need to make it move to establish that it was a rabbit - then it hopped away. So, it’s spring. We have seen the return of the rabbits.

We have also seen the return of Squirrel and Jay. I think it’s the same squirrel all the time. He just seems to know the yard so well, and there’s never more than just the one of him. And, he does seem pretty friendly with the jay. Today, they were hopping around in the same tree for a while - almost like they were playing tag in the branches. The bird is lighter (I think), and he does have the possible advantage of wings. However, the squirrel has better balance, as far as I can tell, and he has a very good grip with his 4 paws. I don’t know who won.

I watched Squirrel for a while, as he was puttering around in the garden. One thing he does love to do is dig holes. They start out little holes, and he digs at them. His paws go whap, whap, whap, and the dirt flies behind him. Then before you know it, his head is invisible in the hole. He keeps digging, and you can’t see his shoulders. Finally, he’s not digging so much as drilling himself in. You can see his body, not just getting into it, but a ripple as his hind end sends his front end further, and further, and further into the hole. Then, he’ll back out, and pat, pat, pat the ground until he’s satisfied that it looks smooth and even again.

One funny thing Squirrel did today was when he was harkening up the tree. You know how a dog looks, when he wants the squirrel who has just run into the tree. The dog puts his paws on the tree, and leans his whole body against the tree, and stretches, and barks and barks, and demands that the squirrel come back here! Well, a squirrel can do the same thing - except I don’t think there is a dog in the tree. Today squirrel was running around, and running around, then he turned and looked up the tree. He put his paws on the trunk, and stretched, and looked up. What is making that noise? Is it - I think I see it - it must be - and there it is - Nothing! So he turned around and hopped in one hop across half the garden, ready to be distracted by anything else.