Ready To Tie One On

Day 145: As soon as trout season opens in beaver ponds and streams, I am ready to tie one on. Unfortunately, I have to wait until June 1 for this momentous occasion, and even then, the waters I enjoy fishing will probably be too cold for the fish to be actively feeding. For a while, I may resort to catching hatchery-raised "cuttbows" (a rainbow/cutthroat hybrid) just to keep my casting arm limber, but I am truly looking forward to hitting a few secret spots later on in the season. Although I am primarily a catch-and-release angler, there are times when pan-fried brook trout are a lure I simply cannot resist.

"There are thousands of places to fish and we, after all, are fishermen. Therefore, life is good."
~John Gierach, in "Standing In A River Waving A Stick"

"The charm of fly-fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."
~John Buchan

Count The Species

Day 144: Here is a little exercise to amuse you, and perhaps to give you a better idea of the biodiversity this wonderful world has to offer. The view here is a 3 x 4 proportion, approximately six inches on the short side, eight inches on the long. Sit for a minute and study it closely. The species shown are visually distinct from one another, and no, I couldn't hope to name them all. How many can you see? Look again!

You'll find identifications for some of them in previous photos. Please feel free to browse through!

West To East

Day 143: East Creek feeds Alder Lake from the south. If you want to reach East Creek, you park at the highway and walk west. Despite its name, East Creek is seemingly east of nothing except timber country, a fact which amuses me no end.

During periods of high water, the grassland shown here is submerged. In fact, the view shot in "East Creek, The Old-Fashioned Way" was taken at reservoir maximum, looking 180° from a spot only a few feet away from where I stood today. This periodic flooding creates excellent habitat for all sorts of birds and wildlife, including at least one beaver whose tree-felling skills were much in evidence.

Who You Callin' Chicken?

Day 142: It is officially Spring! The baby chicks have arrived at feed stores! These little girls were more than willing to ham it up for the camera today. The trouble was that they were scrabbling over and under each other, pecking here, scratching there, looking for tasty tidbits in the pelletized filler lining the bottom of their galvanized washtub pen.

For all you city slickers out there, this is what you get if you let an egg hatch. Think about this cute little face the next time you chow down on an omelette! Did I really say "ham" in the first paragraph? Oh dear!

Indian Plum

Day 141: Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) bears a panicle of yellowish-white trumpet-shaped flowers in early spring, often emerging before the leaves. The flowers are followed by an edible but insipid blue-black berry. This less-than-appealing fruit was eaten by Native peoples mixed with the fat rendered from eulachon, a small fish resembling a smelt. Such fare gave rise to a pioneer staple called pemmican.

This shrub is also known as Osoberry, "oso" being the Spanish word for "bear." The popular terminology generates some understandable confusion with a ground-cover plant called kinnikinick which also goes by the common name of "bearberry." The nomenclature makes no difference to the bears who are content to eat either fruit.

An Influential Man

Day 140: Theodor Seuss Geisel was a profound influence upon a young Crow who grew up reading his shorts when they appeared in "LOOK" magazine. His wacky manipulations of words affected me more strongly than his off-beat cartoons because even as a child, my fascination with language was already quite apparent. Today, upon the anniversary of this great man's birth, I would like to pay tribute to Dr. Seuss. You see in this image an obscure collection of his early works, and a personal letter to me from the great man himself, typed on his very own manual typewriter. It is one of my most treasured keepsakes.

Theodor Seuss Geisel - March 2, 1904 to September 24, 1991
Thank you, sir, for all those remarkable words!

Allegro Con Brio

Day 139: You might describe the tempo as "light and bright," although the translation is something more along the lines of "quickly, with vigor," and if ever there was anything a winter day needed more than light and vigor, I surely don't know what it might be. It's a good day for Haydn, and you may take that for a play on words if you will. I have a whole Liszt of things I'd rather be doing than sitting here watching rain and snow come down, and I need to do some serious Chopin, but I can't get out of my driveway. We've had Bach to Bach snowstorms for a week now. I just can't Handel any more.