River Days - 10/20/14

Or - Duck, Duck, GOOSE!!

It was a dreary and wet Monday. Hahaha, I have to admit that Mondays no longer hold the same dread for me that I once felt. In fact, the days of the week only serve to remind me to do this or do that anymore. Other than that, it matters not if it is a Monday or a Thursday. 

Retirement...it's a wonderful thing.

So on this retirement day it was an acknowledgment of the area we lived in...i.e., it rains, occasionally, here in the Great American Pacific Northwest. That means, should you want to do most anything out-of-doors, you might, just might get a wee bit damp.

Respecting that, we set out on a quest to find a couple ponchos for just in case. I've been taking some long walks lately and don't care to keep on carrying that bulky and semi-heavy (I know!! Wah, wah, wah...) umbrella with me every time. Besides, I like to have both hands free for picture-taking or, if the need arises, to use them in some lightening-like, rapid-free, unconscious-inducing karate chops or Mike Tyson-like boxing jabs and uppercuts.  

Hahahaha, I've got to be able to do that since I am totally incapable of running anywhere farther than 5-10 feet away.

We headed out and stopped at our new Favorite Store, Vinny's!! But no luck there in the poncho department. But we did get to meet former President Richard M. Nixon.

He said he had a bit of a headache.

Hahaha, I seldom get a good candid...and I keep trying, believe me...but here it worked. Nice picture, Carol Anne!!

When we left Vinny's, it was raining pretty good.

So, because it was raining when we left Vinnie's, we headed to Wally's to try our luck.

I have a deep appreciation for the Walmart...

Eureka!! Score!!

We now have two colorful and effective ponchos for, y'know, just in case.

Plus we got a couple other things. Honest, we have a good diet...looking at this picture, I'd have to say we could do a bit better!! We rarely get any soda...this cream soda was an impulse buy because, well, because we deserve some. And the McDonald's? What can I say, I was hungry, it was there, they have a dollar menu...

Next up was a run to the Dollar Tree. It's Monday and that means the Dollar Tree gets there weekly shipment and I wanted to check to see if they had...Popcorn!!

This is one of the few tasty vices that I continue to enjoy.

AND it's a BONUS BAG, too!!

I scored...this tasty treat doesn't hang out long in the store and you have to get there early in the week if you're gonna get some. Plus, they've been out the past two weeks...I was starting to jones, my friend. 

OK, having scored, we made a quick stop at Lowe's to return some hardware I didn't need to fix the hasp on the kitchen window. Thank goodness, and this doesn't happen often in my world, the cheapest and easiest fix actually worked...and appears to be working quite well, thank you very much.

See how exciting our days are? It's a fast-paced life, not for the faint of heart!!

I got this shot of the clouds as we left Lowe's. Looks like a volcano has exploded, eh?

Next up, we wanted to check an see how the Sockeyes are doing in the Cedar River. There hasn't, at least when we've been there, nothing like the numbers of salmon we saw last year and today there were even fewer than we've seen in weeks prior.

But we did get to see this Daffy Duck.

It's the Common Merganzer. She was out with a couple of her friends today and, as always, continues to be a treat to watch.

She pokes her head under the water and actually dives under and swims underwater seeking out her food. The times we've seen her, she's been actively hunting and always on the move. She'll ride the current downriver, diving and moving constantly and then, when she's gone down far enough, she'll take off and fly back upriver to do it all over again.

Fun bird to watch.

These are the best pictures I've ever gotten of this quick-moving and elusive (photographically) waterfowl. However, I now have the NEW camera with the viewfinder so...I can actually locate the little rascal in time to get a picture of her before she dives again.

Plus, with this NEW camera, I can shoot continuously!! I had, and even I am amazed at this, over 80 pictures of this Merganzer!! Hahahaha, I'm having to be a little draconian in my editing to get the number of pictures down to a manageable size.

I'm warming up to that NEW camera!!

And I do like that continuous shooting feature and that viewfinder!!

In the morning it was raining but it started clearing up a bit in the afternoon. Autumn colors and skies. The bridge we are on was built in 1954 and you can see it in the rails along the bridge. Substantial...and a bit high to see over.

And just to prove I am not a total Merganzer Geek, here's some good ol' Mallards that were also hanging out at the river.

While it always seems as if the Merganzer is hunting when we see her, that's not always true of the Mallards. 

Having a little swim with the Missus.

Mrs. Mallard. I did get some pictures of the Mallards feeding but it appeared that they were feasting on a sockeye that had, evidently, spawned and then, satisfied, had gone on to the Big River in the Sky.

More on dead Sockeyes in a bit.

There we go!! People are breaking out the jackets. Soooo glad to see the cooler weather come on back home.

Seems this year the trees are out of sync. Some are turning and others, obviously, aren't.

Curiouser and curiouser.

     Cedar River Selfie!!     

Enjoying the wonderful weather.

Leaving the trees, we headed upriver to the start of the Cedar River Trail.  Congrats again to the City of Renton and the park system they've built. 

Right where I-405 crosses the river there is a weir to harvest sockeye.

They use this trap to gather up sockeye and truck them to the Landsberg Hatchery where they keep them to ensure they spawn and reproduce.

Not all the Sockeyes are taken, some are allowed to continue on up the river along with coho and other fish.

Name-dropper!!

Here's the weir. The fish can't get past the weir and look for some way to get upriver. They enter the cage to the right where the Hatchery folks pull out what they need and then the others are released to continue on their journey upriver. 

See that guy on the far left? We'll cross over the river on the footbridge and eventually end up where he currently is. There's a private business operating there and they keep the area mowed and looking good on their side of the river. 

Near as I can figure, these guys are cleaning out the weir. I suppose debris, leaves, wood, etc., get trapped in the rails and need to be removed so they don't block the flow of the river, which was, by the way, moving along at a very good pace.

Interesting job, eh? 

Here's a view of the Cedar River as it begins to enter the City of Renton. The Cedar River Trail runs along the right hand side of this river. We've been up it before. Oh, and the dog park is up that way, on the right, too.

Working the weir.

We're over on the side now looking across the weir.

We actually parked under the I-405 Freeway. Noisy!! They have a footbridge across the river there, under the freeway.

We got these pictures from the footbridge. What I think is that they use the poles to catch, with a net, the sockeyes they want and move them to a holding tank on the right hand side of this structure. They hold them there, in that tank, until they're ready to truck them to the Landsberg Hatchery.

You can see the entrance to the holding cage where they pick out the fish they want.

Looking in  the opposite direction of the weir, you can see the old city hall building. You can get a glimpse of the freeway above us in this picture. Again, it was a noisy thing.

But these quackers didn't seem to mind the noise.

Next up was Coulon Park. The trees hadn't, so far,  been as striking as they were last year. They came pretty damn close today.

It was the best we've seen!! 

I just thought this odd. In all this color, there were these green leaves.

And, back to normal. 

I did NOT arrange these. Nope!! Mother Nature did that for me. Pretty nice arrangement, Mom!!

Look at the street...it's alive with color, too!!

Here are some shots that Carol got of the tree-lined lane into the park. Pretty good!!

            CB

Looking good!! What a beautiful day it was!!

             CB

One of these trees is marching to the beat of a different drummer. See what I mean about the trees being out of sync? Shouldn't they all sorta start changing at the same time? In my world they should.

All these are taken along the main drive into the park.

From where we parked, looking back to the entry into the park.

Carol's view of the trees.

         CB

And she had to get a picture of me and my new toy!! The Powershot SX60!!

          CB

And that provides the perfect set-up to go from one squirrel to another...Carol caught this guy up a tree.

            CB

Looking towards the entrance to the park.

          CB

We walked up towards the lake and got this panorama of the basin.

Thing is, right now this gander can't see me. 

Hahahaha, BOO!!

He's just sorta begging to have his picture taken. Big Ham.

         CB

They have some apartments set between the park and the Boeing Plant and these trees are lining the part of the apartment complex that goes down to the lake. You can see if you look hard, the plant behind the trees. There's just a bit of the apartment complex visible on the far left.

POW!!

We were all over the place yesterday. After Coulon Park, we went over to our park. Got this shot as we drove over to our park.

 First thing we saw when we got there was that the Renton Rowing Club was out in force on the lake. We spotted four or five of them out rowing here and there across the lake.

     Artsy-Fartsy Alert!!     

I got a thing for standing water reflections. Hmmmm, as I reflect on it, you might say I have a thing for reflections!!

Hahahaha, I still got it.

Enjoy.

Looking out to the north towards Mercer Island. It was getting late and the sun was beginning to set. And the coots were out.

Looking to the east, the clouds. There were some interesting clouds being painted with light yesterday afternoon.

Dora the Explorer!!

Using her binoculars to see where that darn Cormorant went to.

Looking east towards the Boeing Plant and Coulon Park. There's the Renton Rowing Club on the right side...the one with the two blue doors.

There was great light yesterday. Sometimes, you just put the camera down and enjoy the show.

But not for long!!

Now I can actually find planes using the viewfinders. This means I have a better chance of shooting birds in flight, etc. 

And, who knew? Airplanes have rear windows!?!

Hahaha, I am really stoked about this NEW camera.

It finally got cool enough for us to head home. But not before I got one more shot of the light playing on the clouds. Gives you an idea of the weather we were experiencing. 

Ponchos, planes, weir and weather...what a day.

Life is very, very good.

     Hooah!!