Lay Day at Walker Island

10 September 2010 Friday

When I arrived at Walker island I was excited to see mother osprey with 2 chicks this year. She always has a second brood later in the summer. These 2 have fledged, but year after year I notice that they return to the nest and she continues to supplement their feedings, as they learn to hunt with her. Yesterday had a twist to the story, the 2 young ones were in the nest yelling at the top of their lungs and mother was in top pursuit of a vulture. She was attacking him in flight. It was quite the fight and sight and she was triumphant in disrupting the kill of her young. Minutes after docking, 2 other osprey were attacking the resident Great Blue Heron.

Today I spent the morning cleaning Pashmina and the cabin top and re stowing her. I went ahead and put the tarp on her, as the weather continues not to be sunny. I'm holding off for dinghy excursions until the sun comes out. I've got my fingers crossed that each new day will bring the sun, but so far it has been cool and grey skies. I even have had to stow my shorts and short sleeved shirts for jeans and fleece pullovers. Oh, this pacific northwest weather. But the rule of thumb is, wait 5 minutes and it will change.












I enjoyed meeting my other dock mates. Yesterday, late afternoon a nice 40 ft ketch named Cetacea come in with her owners Tom and Judy. They are retired RN's who have sailed her up and down the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, and BC.

They were using a nifty solar garden light for an anchor light, which caught my attention, since I can't find an LED light to fit my anchor light. I'll have to look into this. they had put it on a flag staff, so they could rotate it down and out of the way of the mizzen boom when sailing.

The other couple has a nice trawler named Gentle Lady, berthed in Scappoose at my marina.
I had met them in martin slough about this time last year. They are locally grown Oregonians and have a wealth of local knowledge.

I failed to get their names, but Walter is their wiener dog, who has quite an attitude and it is easy to see who is in charge. Yesterday, as soon as his life jacket was put on, he ran and jumped into the dinghy and began barking.  As if he were saying, "hurray up and lets get going." " I want to go to the beach". It was fun to watch him run up and down the dock with his life jacket on. I'm not a wiener dog lover, but Walter is sure cute.

The tide has changed and both boats have headed up river. Shatoosh, Pashmina and I have the whole place to our selves. The wind has picked up, so it is time to batten down the hatches, make some hot tea and pray for sun.