The rabbits in our back yard are a regular thing during the summer when the grass must be tasty. We’ve had plenty of smaller ones show up and they seem to have less of a fear of us for some reason. Not sure that is a healthy approach for a small rabbit, but I was able to get quite close with the camera to some of them. It did involve keeping myself out of sight or at least a little away with no sudden movements but here are some of the small buns we had visiting.
By the time this post goes live, Philippine Mars will probably have made its final trip from Vancouver Island to Arizona where it is joining the Pima museum collection. Whether I have got to see it on that journey or not, I don’t know when I am writing this. It is supposed to make a couple of stops en route but will I be there? During the visit to see the Hawaii Mars prepare for its last flight, Philippine was sitting on the ramp at Sproat Lake being prepared for its move. From the water we could get a reasonable view of it up on the slipway. Fingers crossed I get to see it fly but who knows.
Retro styling combined with modern tech seems to be a big deal these days. The old Land Rover Defender series has been around forever in various forms but recently got a total makeover to a new look. I guess some people don’t want a knew look and the Ineos Grenadier has been created with a look that can best be described as a copy while with a whole bunch of modern tech. It seems like the perfect vehicle for someone with an excess of cash.
I have seen a few around our area recently so I guess the tech types must like them. One was parked up near a favorite haunt of ours and I couldn’t resist getting a shot of it as I walked back to my car. I hope they find it is worth it. Will it be tested off road???
The Navy brought three F-35Cs to Boeing Field to provide a flyover for one of the UW Huskies’ games. It would have been great to catch them landing but that wasn’t possible, but the game was on a Saturday that I was free, so I headed out to catch them. The conditions were really nice with that sort of fall lighting that can be so welcome. Two jets were going to do the flyover so the spare could wait on the ramp.
They got airborne long in advance of the game itself. Whether this was to allow a little sightseeing or to buy time if there was a need to jump to the spare, I don’t know. I did decide to get some video as they taxied out since it showed off the wings being unfolded. The video is below and is actually a combination of two different departures.
I haven’t seen much of the Charlie models of the F-35 so was happy to have these jets operating locally. The motor in the F-35 is a big one and the take off is not subtle – they do seem to come out of burner pretty early, though. I guess that much power gets you going fast enough pretty quickly. I picked my mid field location for the take offs to get a reasonable angle on the jets as they rotated and climbed out. Then it was time to relocate.
The return of the jets after the flyover had been completed gave the opportunity to get some touchdown shots which I had missed from the day they arrived in Seattle. More good light so all was well. They stayed overnight and then headed back home the following day. A different flyover was happening that day which will be a different post but, in the meantime, there are some bonus shots of the three jets heading back to base.
The site of the Oso landslide is one we have visited on a couple of occasions, and I have posted some images of the initial memorial that was created. At that time, they were looking for donations to put together a more permanent memorial. To be honest, I don’t think I figured that they would be able to do much, but I was very wrong. They now have built a substantial exhibit to remember the events, the town that was wiped out and the 43 people that died that day.
There is an entrance area which is nicely laid out and then there is a trail that walks through the gardens. Everything is amid grounds that have been populated with wildflowers so, while it has been carefully laid out, it has a very natural feel to it. There are exhibits that talk about the landslide itself along with the hosting of the area and the process for recovery. The most important parts, though, are the individual memorials.
The stories of what happened to people that day are heartbreaking. Those who died and those who survived and all covered along with what happened to them all. Each of the victims is remembered on steel panels set into the ground with the panel reflecting the person or people in their own individual style. The inscriptions and artworks are a reflection of the people they recollect. Some of them are sad to see and others will make you cry. It is a very sad thing to experience but it is also done in such a lovely way that you don’t feel totally hopeless.
The road through Oso takes you up to the North Cascades Highway so it is not totally unlikely that you will find yourself up there, but it is out of the way for most people. If you do end up in this part of Washington, I would definitely recommend you make time to stop off and visit. We ended up spending way more time there than we had anticipated and I am glad we did.
A recent post was focused on some shots from BFI when I was dropping the shutter speed. I had also been playing with this one gloomy morning at Seattle Tacoma International a while back. I was waiting for a specific movement but was passing time with some of the more regular movements. Since they weren’t the most exciting subjects, I tried dropping the shutter speed down to make the motion more apparent. They were really dramatic shutter speeds, but it made a slightly more interesting shot than would other have been the case.
I was getting my car serviced up in Everett and was working from the dealership’s lounge while they were busy with it. When they finished, I didn’t have much time before my next call so, since I couldn’t get back to the office in time, I parked down on the waterfront to take my calls. I ended up spending the rest of the day working there (and having my lunch). It was a lovely day, and the ferries were coming in and out of the Mukilteo terminal. I did take a moment every once in a while, to grab some photos of the two ferries as they went back and forth.
Having made the FOD Walk at Boeing Field before, I missed it the next year but did it again this year. I saw a few of the local aircraft operating from the short runway while the long runway was closed for us. Since I was on the south end this year, I wasn’t as close to the runway as last time, but I still got a good view of the passing planes as they climbed out.
The place we were staying in while in Canmore was on the edge of the town but had a great view across the town towards some of the mountains. The early light was from behind us and on to the mountains themselves. First thing one morning, I woke up and looked outside and saw some gorgeous red light illuminating the rock faces. What a wonderful sight with which to start your day.
It was a wet and gloomy weekend morning up in Everett and so might not have been worth heading out. However, National Airlines was bringing a 747-400 into the Boeing facility and that was worth a trip. The plane emerged from the gloom as it came down the approach and, as it came across the threshold, the vortices could be seen streaming off the flaps. A grey jet on a gloomy day is always a tough one but I think this was definitely a result.
