Halloween 2012

We had a good Halloween, with about 25 trick-or-treaters visiting our domicile.  It started out stormy and windy – in fact, it was pretty wicked outside when Betsy and I set up the jack-o-lanterns.  Shortly after that, however, the winds calmed down and the rain stopped.  It was reasonably nice the rest of the evening, and the kids took advantage of the break in weather.

Here are the jack-o-lanterns we put of to greet the trick-or-treaters:

Jack-o-lanterns for our Halloween.  Clockwise from lower left, they are "BOO" jack, "Happy-face Dragonfly" jack, and "Classic" jack.

We still get some nice sunsets, though the weather has been pretty cloudy in general:

It's late in the year, but we're still seeing a lot of dragonflies at Cranberry Lake when the sun comes out.  In the following photo the large bluish dragonflies are the Happy-face Darner, the red ones are the Autumn Meadowhawks.

The Lightning Bolt – And A Little Bit Of Everything

As Betsy and I had breakfast this morning we noticed a large storm cell drifting east from the Olympic Mountains toward Whidbey Island.  It was quite an impressive storm.  We noticed an occasional flash of lighting, so I decided to take a slow-motion video of one.  Here's the result, showing a couple flashes slowed down 8 times.  The dark land to the left is Whidbey Island, and near the island you can see a small boat heading to the right.  Doesn't look like a good place to be boating!

We could hear the thunder, too, as it rumbled around and reflected off the islands and cliffs in the neighborhood.  Our skies were blue, as they are now – quite delightful here.  On the news this morning we watched snow falling at Snoqualmie Pass, and now after seeing this lightning, it's a reminder that bad weather at a comfortable distance can be quite interesting.  Just glad we're not in the middle of it.

A few minutes later we looked out the window and saw that the storm had completely passed.  The Olympics were out now, and with fresh covering of snow showing brightly in the sun.

The same area where the storm and lightning strikes were happening just minutes before.

The Olympic Mountains in the background, and the tip of Allan Island in the foreground.

Fresh snow blankets the Olympics.

As the day progressed, we saw more and more types of weather coming our way.  At one point the sky to the west was very dramatic and dark.  The sun would pop through now and then like a spotlight, but we could also see precipitation dropping down from the clouds.  It hit us a couple minutes later, and we suddenly had hail bouncing all around.  Here are a couple videos of hail pummeling our deck.

Next, the sky started to clear, and the sun broke through.  A rainbow appeared in the front yard.  As I took pictures of the rainbow loud thunder was booming all around.  To top it off, a nice sunset followed.  Altogether, a pretty wild and wooly day.

Sun streaming through the clouds after our brief hail storm.

Hail peppers the front yard.

With the sun shining brightly a rainbow appears in the opposite direction.

The day seems to be calming down as the sun sets behind Burrows Island.

The end to a wild day.

The Case Of The World Wide Web

A couple mornings ago I looked outside and noticed that our trees were covered with spider webs glistening with dewdrops.  There were so many webs, in fact, that it looked like everything was covered with them – a world-wide web, so to speak.  Here's what it looked like in our front yard:

A closer look shows the beauty of the dewdrops on each strand of the web.  Notice that most of drops are quite uniform in size and spacing.

An even closer look shows how the dewdrops are refracting light, giving a very subtle rainbow of color from greenish on the right to reddish on the left.

The Adventure Of The Autumn Meadowhawk

One of my favorite examples of dragonfly haiku is the following:

Red dragonfly on my shoulder

calls me his friend.

Autumn has arrived.

The sentiment of this haiku was played out in real life today at Cranberry Lake, where Autumn Meadowhawks (red dragonflies) are showing up in numbers and perching on shoulders, hats, and any other available surface.

In our area, if you see a red dragonfly this time of year you've already identified it – it's an Autumn Meadowhawk.

Here are a few pictures from Cranberry Lake showing the subject of the haiku:

Red dragonfly on Betsy's shoulder – and hat.  Autumn Meadowhawks really are the friendliest dragonfly.

Autumn Meadowhawks enjoy basking in whatever sunlight is available.

Autumn Meadowhawks in the wheel position.

The Case Of The Bald Eagle

We saw an exhibit of raptors at the Lynden County Fair this year.  The Bald Eagle was as beautiful as you would expect.  Here are a couple photos of it:

The Case of the Puget Sound Sunset

We had a nice sunset last night as we were enjoying our strawberry shortcake dessert (yes, the strawberries are still in season).  I think what made it particularly interesting is that it combined effects due to fog and haze from the forest fires in Eastern Washington.

It started out in shades of gray as the sun burned through the fog bank hanging around Burrows Island. Here's what we saw:

A sailboat headed for Skyline marina as the sun streams through a break in the fog.

As the sun got lower, and passed through an increasing amount of haze, the scene started to take on some color.

The sun is getting closer to the horizon now.

The scene became more colorful by the minute.

The colors intensified as we watched, and the strawberry shortcake had to wait as I took more pictures. Here's how the scene progressed:

Finally, the sun began to burn through the fog.  You can just barely see it in the next photo directly above its reflections in the water.

The sun begins to burn through the fog enough to be seen.

The sun came and went, but eventually came out stronger as it approached the horizon.

All in all, a beautiful end to the day – and now I could return to my dessert.

75th Birthday Party

On Saturday we all celebrated Joyce's 75th birthday at Mom's house.  It was a surprise party – since her actual birthday was on Tuesday – and it was indeed a surprise.  The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed hamburgers and birthday cake in Mom's backyard.  Here are a few pictures from the event:

Joyce (the birthday girl) and John.

Doug and Mom.

Mickey and Rylee, who has just thrown a ball.

Expectant Brittany, Jerry, John, Jennifer, Joyce, Mickey, and Rylee.

John, Chris, Joyce, and Greg.

Gary holds Shadow as Landon greets his four-legged friend.

Gary, Shadow, and Landon, who is applauding his good throw.

Here's a short movie clip of Landon throwing and applauding his efforts: