Monthly Archives: June 2011
Coal – it is not just going to China
The coal I found yesterday never made it to China. It fell off a train, onto the Burke-Gilman Trail, as the train crossed the bridge west of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. I was riding my bike and … Continue reading
Coke: is this the real thing?
If so, what is it doing on my bike trail, the path to my favorite ice cream shop, the grassy lawn of a nearby park and a beach in Puget Sound? And, no I don’t mean coke in red and … Continue reading
Railfanning coal trains in Seattle
We count railroad cars until we are dizzy. There are two locomotives in the front, 121 cars piled high with black coal in the middle and two locomotives in the back. I’m in Bellingham. It is dusk. We are walking … Continue reading
Hurricane season: my first memory of coal
The heat is suffocating as I try to fall asleep in the pilot berth of the wooden schooner MH. It is November; the Atlantic Ocean. We are reefed down, riding out a gale, as we sail south out of the … Continue reading
Ill-tempered sea-life!
Last weekend, after a long row around Eagle Harbor, I spotted this 1 1/2 inch long opalescent nudibranch slithering across a mussel on the dock. According to “The Beachcombers Guide to Seashore Life in the Pacific Northwest” this nudibranch … Continue reading
