Smilin' Jack: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest...

Or - Somewhere, Over the Rainbow...

What a day. Nothing happened. Watched UCLA lose to Oregon and checked in on the Aggies who lost to the one of the few teams in America that were still 0-5. Well, they ain't winless anymore.

But that's my day. Oh, and I washed the window. We're closing it now that the weather has started getting back to normal...cool, overcast and wet. Anyway, it's closed and so...now we have to actually look through it and it needed a good washing.

The consequence is, we can also take the screen down so we can very clearly see outside...to the bird feeders. Oh, and more importantly, so can the camera. It used to always focus on the screen and now that we are sans screen...pictures are possible!!

Not only possible, but probable. Not only probable, but most likely. Aw, what the heck, it's gonna happen...I know it and so do you.

So this day really starts, after the games, with the birds...

Hahahaha, when they get busy the fur flies!!

Or, in this case, the bird seed!!

They are terribly territorial...totally!!

And, boy howdy, they go at it even when there's plenty of room and food available.

They don't stay long. This guy is bailing. They fly over to the hedge, go inside for awhile and then pop out and fly to an open spot on the feeder. Sometimes they'll even go to the ground for their food.

The guy on the right isn't too happy with the guy on the left.

You're crowding me, man!! I was here first!!

Eventually, they work things out and get down to the real business...greasing!!

Anyway, we were both feeling cabin-fever so we headed out to check out the salmon and the trees. It is Autumn, y'know.

But first, we had to stop at Vinny's. Plus, Carol had been cleaning out her closet and we had some clothes to donate.

Hahaha, and we also like looking at the books they have there.

So we went, we saw and we bought...four books.

It's a real weakness.

But one of them, one of mine BTW, is a valuable antique. A real collector's item.

It's a...

First Edition of Cherry Ames, Student Nurse

Hey, for $2.50, it's a bargain!!

And it's the very first story in the series that, at the time this was printed, already had 16 titles!!

From student, Cherry Ames would go on to be a Senior, Army, Chief, Flight, Verterans', Private Duty, Visiting, Cruise, Night Supervisor, Mountaineer, Clinic, Dude Ranch, Rest Home and Country Doctor's Nurse. Oh, and she was at Spencer, for one of her adventures.

There were 27 titles in the entire series that ran from 1943 to 1968. There were rumors they tried a 28th story titled, Cherry Ames, Woodstock LSD Nurse, but it was a bad trip, man.

Hahaha, one of the reasons I wanted to get this is because it shows a mythical, totally unreal vision of the world but it is a decent world with decent people.

And, no, I am not channeling a teenage girl.

There it is. I just wish it had the really cool jacket cover...

Shown here!!

Way cool, eh!?!

Helen Wells wrote the first Seven Mystery Adventures for Cherry and then branched out creating the Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess Series.

Cherry's early adventures are set during World War II. In these early adventures, Cherry solves problems and captures criminals when men in authority have failed to do so, "demonstrating that women can succeed in the public, working world." She also demonstrated someone with a real problem in keeping a job. Rumors were she had a bit of a drinking problem.

But enough of Cherry Ames. Oh, here's how Helen introduced our heroine in Chapter One of Cherry Ames, Student Nurse.

"She was slender and healthy and well-built; she moved with a proud erect posture that made her seem beautifully tall and slim. Her eyes and her short curly hair were very dark, almost black - the clear-cut black that glistens. Groomed to crisp perfection, Cherry was as vivid as a poster in her red wool sports suit. And her face fairly sparkled with warmth and humor."

Pretty impressive. After that, everything else sorta goes downhill.

Carol scored too.

She found a 1941 edition of A Field Guide to Western Birds by Roger Peterson.

The Peterson Field Guides are a popular and influential series of American field guides intended to assist the layman in identification of birds, plants, insects and other natural phenomena. The series was created and edited by renowned ornithologist Roger Peterson. His inaugural volume was the classic 1934 book A Field Guide to the Birds.

The series utilized what became known as the Peterson Identification System, a practical method for field identification which highlights readily noticed visual features rather than focusing on the technical features of interest to scientists. The series both reflected and contributed to awareness of the emerging environmental movement.

Her edition was published just 7 years after the very first one.

And it has a LOT of black & white illustrations.

Haha, those crazy old people back then!!

But we finally struck out for the Cedar River and I got this shot of the clouds, it was a cloudy, overcast and rainy morning that cleared up a bit during the afternoon.

And we went hunting for some salmon.

I do apologize for the clarity of these pictures but the Cedar is a fast-moving river and the bed is littered with stone so it isn't smooth by a long shot.

It's gotta be tough, swimming up-river against that current and I never really see much progress being made by the sockeyes but, evidently, they must make it. Their kids keep coming back.

Here's Carol doing some Salmon-Spotting on the Williams Avenue bridge. It was built in 1954; can you imagine how many people have stopped to look over this railing for the salmon?

Part of the River Walk by the Renton Senior Activity Center which, again, in its usual manner, was completely inactive.

But we were there for salmon and salmon we saw. You can get an idea of how the bodies become reddish and the heads turn a shade of green.

Don't know why but I am sure it helps procreation in some form or fashion.

And our old friends, The Merganser Ducks, made their appearance.

These Daffy Ducks were doing their "Bazinga" routine again. I got lucky this time and caught one just before she disappeared.

Some of the trees surrounding the Renton Senior (In)Activity Center.

There were some good cloud formations this afternoon.

After the river, we headed over to The Dollar Tree. Needed some Chocolate Chip Cookies to fuel our tree-watching adventure.

Hahaha, gotta prioritize, right!?!

The Candy Aisle.

Walking by the toys I couldn't help but notice that The Dollar Tree was also getting ready for the Christmas Season.

This girl loves the card section.

And, in cards, they're getting ready for the Halloween Season.

Hahaha, it's a great store. Honest, how do they do it?

Never mind!! I really don't want to know. Honest!!

Now the reason for the trip.

Coulon Park is starting to show her colors!!

It's a great season, Autumn, and I am already enjoying it.

This is the road into the park going towards the boat launch and Ivar's.

For the moment, we had some semi-clear skies to contrast the brilliant colors in the leaves.

And this fallen soldier. You knew I'd shoot some more of these....and they have rain on them!!

Along the boat launch...

Coulon Park Shadow Selfie!!

Looking towards the restaurant parking lot...you can see the skies are beginning to cloud up again.

We weren't the only ones there shooting the Fall Foliage. There were plenty others and, surprising to me, most of them were shooting with their cell phones.

The clouds were working overtime today.

The days are getting shorter. It was only about 1715 when this was taken.

Coulon Park Selfie!!

I got this shot from the entrance road looking over the boat launch. You'll see this craft again.

Pretty awesome, eh?

With rain water, man!!

And the clouds were moving in.

Here it is again. A great day for boating.

And picture taking.

Artsy-Fartsy Alert!!

The sun was setting behind the fir trees along the parking lot.

The pathway to Ivar's.

These guys kept on sailing back and forth...it was like I had to take the pictures.

The clouds were getting a bit damp now and the sun is heading down.

The setting sun over the lake. There's that sailing boat again.

Coulon Park Shadow Selfie!!

When you don't have windows for a reflected selfie you gotta improvise!!

Setting sun, sailboat and clouds. Works for me.

Canadian Geese.

Hahaha, the rebel in me. I won't be saying Canada Geese again.

It started to drizzle on us so we headed back to the Mini and then over to our park.

It was still raining so we stood for awhile under the trees there.

And, as we were getting ready to go, a rainbow appeared!! I haven't seen one of these in a long, long time. Nice treat and so, of course, it led to...