Darth Vader Balloon

Annual totals for registration

If you look at the past 5 years of registration on Mount Rainier, you'll notice that the numbers are declining, from 13,114 in 2000 to 8,927 in 2005. However, when you look at the trend over the past 15 years, 1998-2002 appear more as a spike. Certainly, the sport gained a lot of momentum during the 90's. Here are the numbers.

On a another note, Washington State D.O.T. have their hands full on highway 123 (that's the road between Cayuse Pass/hwy 410 and US 12 and the Packwood area). Access along the east side of the park may be delayed this spring if there is a lot of road damage; stay tuned...

Blossoms

Close up of yucca blossoms

Greetings From... North Carolina

In an attempt to evade the wind and rain, I left the Richmond area the morning of Friday the 13th, heading west and south, stopping for the night in the small town of Stuart, Virginia. It had rained off and on during most of the drive. Sometime during the night, the rain finally stopped.

The next morning I awoke to sunshine and blue skies and drove the few miles west to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The good thing about driving the Parkway this time of year is that there are very few other people doing the same. The bad thing about driving the Parkway this time of year is that all the campgrounds are closed as are the visitor centers and picnic areas.


Near Cumberland Knob, North Carolina
From the Blue Ridge Parkway - November 14, ..

Surreal Sky

I am always on the lookout for interesting clouds to photograph, and this morning I definitely saw some interesting ones. The clouds shown in this photo were very high altitude and held their shape for a very long time. I shot this photo with my Canon 100-400mm lens at 400mm.

Chick progression, week 3

Americauna (Easter Egger)


Rhode Island Red

Here are the little darlings at week 3. I made my husband call them that (little darlings) yesterday as he was picking them up. It calms them down, of course. He was saying it in a tone that was rather too sarcastic for my taste though.

They are going through an awkward stage. Growing into their feathers.

Yesterday it was time for their introduction to the great outdoors. We put chicken wire around some trees and let them run around in the sun.

They weren't interested, at first - I had to literally shake them out of the box. Even then, a few of them clung to the side, desparately trying to scramble back in.

Birds just don't like change.

But once they were outside for a little while, they realized that they might be having fun.

There's still a lot of leaping going on, only now with wing-assist. So it's actually a flying leap.

They enjoy taking flying leaps at each other and play-fighting. I believe they're establishing the pecking order.

Jasmine had to be locked up for a little while because she wasn't behaving.

And even though my husband had told me to watch my head, I didn't. I was concentrating on picking up chicks instead, and wondering why they always seem to think that we're out to kill them.

So now I know what it feels like to be whacked in the back of the head with rebar. (It hurts!)

Terry's Photo Challenge. . .

Terry Thornton has posted a photo of himself in a funny costume and has issued a Photo Challenge to all Genea-Bloggers. My contribution was taken in the spring of 1965, after the final performance of my Junior Class Play - The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which was loosely based on the television show of the same name. That's me on the left ;-) portraying Happy Stella Kowalski who was the leader of an all-male band. We had fun. The face of my classmate in the photo has been blocked out, but I'm sure he'd know who it was if he saw the picture.


** Update November 11, ..**
Part of Terry's challenge was to post a costumed photo of yourself as an adult. Now, I realize that a 17 year old High School Junior would not normally be considered an adult. However, I was much older than my years would indicate. I'm much younger now than I was then ;-) there were way too many responsibilities weighing me down back then. If you'd known me then you would also know how "out of character" this was for me. I was extremely shy (still shy but not near as much). I didn't wear makeup (still don't). Participating in the class play was a "defining moment" for me since it was the first time I was recognized for an achievement. It was also the first crack in the wall that I had built around myself.