Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
The Best of Benji
“Okay Benji, it’s time to celebrate! This week is all about you!”
“Isn’t it always Sue?”
“Well. Yes. But I mean on the blog. It was four years ago that we brought you home from Seattle Humane. You looked so sweet and innocent back then. Little did we know …”
“Know what, Sue?”
“How much fun you would be Benji! And how much excitement you would bring us!!”
“We do what we can Sue.”
“Yes Benji, anyway, I thought we could celebrate this week by sharing a story from each year you’ve been with us. Here’s my favorite from 2016.”
The Many Faces of Benji
“Hey Benji, I’d like to take some pictures of you to submit to American Rescue Cat magazine. They’re looking for their next Cover Cat. Just pretend I don’t have a camera.”
“Sure! Love to!” he replied. “How’s this?”
“Hmmmm,” I said. “Very nice. Only I’m looking for something more relaxed. Maybe you could tone it down just a bit.”
“Okay, okay.” he said excitedly. “I know exactly what you mean. Something more like this?””
“Great Benji,” I said. “Really good. Only ….. well the eyes, Benji. Maybe we should forget the props and just go for a headshot.”
“Sure!” he said. “I can do it! How about this?”
“Good Benji, good. But I’m looking for something a bit more natural. Say, why don’t we try again tomorrow when we’re both fresh?”
“Okay ” he said. “I give up.”
“That’s it Benji! I got it!”
The End
More to come,
Susanne and Benji
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Fun with Photos of Mt Rainier where Size Matters
For as long as I’ve been blogging and including pictures in my posts I’ve had a conundrum – file size matters. As you probably already know there is a limit to how much media space you have, depending on your plan. I upgraded a long time ago because of that but even my current plan has its limits.
My Sony RX10 camera takes wonderful pictures but of enormous size. For instance the original of the photo below is a whopping 17 MB which makes it prohibitive to post. Cropping it will reduce the size but also reduce the content of the picture.
I haven’t purchased any software that might deal with the problem. But this morning I did discover (rediscover?) Paint. I wanted to add a border to a picture I took on our recent visit to Paradise at Mt. Rainier, and lo and behold, found the ‘resize’ function and shrank the photo to 10% of the original size. If there’s a difference in quality I can’t discern it. Oh Happy Day!
Here’s one more for good measure where the original was close to 15 MB and the resized version less than 1 MB.
I don’t know how often I’ll bother with adding a border but now I have a tool to deal with the file size of a picture I’d like to post intact.
How do the rest of you photographers deal with this issue?
~ Susanne
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Bicycling the Sammamish River Trail
It had been a long time since we’d bicycled the Sammamish River Trail. It was one of our favorites when we lived in North Seattle, but after our move south we found new trails to ride. But yesterday was perfect for a bicycle ride so we ventured north to ride the trail along the Sammamish River, 19 miles round trip, powered by electric bikes, which made up for the passing of years.
We started at the Bothell Landing, a lovely historical park complete with play areas and boat rentals.
From there we followed the paved and mostly flat trail along the river through the Sammamish River Valley.
There were a few surprises along the way, like this giant dragonfly and tiny windmill in the distance.
And across the river Washington State’s oldest winery, Chateau St. Michelle. Maybe another day. 🙂
The Sammamish River runs 10 miles from Lake Sammamish to Lake Washington and like many rivers in the Northwest was modified in the last century to deal with flooding. A once curvy 30 mile river with cool shallow waters, its bank thick with willows, cattails and rushes, was converted into a straight deep channel with minimal vegetation. While this helped the farmers, the salmon and other wildlife were negatively impacted.
Now the river is being restored, with boulders, cobbles and gravel added to its bottom, and new vegetation added to its banks to attract wildlife and provide shaded pools for salmon to thrive.
We stopped in Redmond for lunch, went as far as Marymoor Park before heading back to our starting place in Bothell. An easy 19 mile round trip, made easier by the boost of power provided by our electric bikes. Nothing wrong with that.
~ Susanne
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The Hummers of Summer
No not this kind, though there was that too – a ride through the woods in a genuine surplus army rig – but that’s another story.
I’m speaking of the other kind – the hummingbirds that live in my yard and frequent my feeders daily.
I get the best pictures in the winter – when the foliage is gone and they stand out against the background. Still I managed to get a few decent shots of the birds this summer.
By the way, if you look very closely you may notice ants floating toes up in one of the feeders above. It’s quite disgusting to me though I’m not sure it deters the hummingbirds. In any case, I purchased a new feeder with an ant guard and put it up yesterday. It’s the one on the left below. The hummers are still inspecting it but hopefully will use it soon. It remains to be seen whether the ants will too.
That’s all for now.
~ Susanne
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Just a Walk on the Beach: Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach
The Oregon Coast is arguably the most beautiful in the country and Cannon Beach is one of its most beautiful and popular beaches.
On our recent camping trip to Fort Stevens we made the drive south to Cannon Beach and Tolovana Park for a closeup look at 235 ft. Haystack Rock.
The weather was perfect as we walked the mile to the giant sea stack, sunny with a light breeze blowing and low hanging clouds which slowly lifted.
As we got closer to the rock we noticed the crowds increasing and wondered why. A wedding perhaps?
No. The tide pools were the attraction and children were there for a sponsored scavenger hunt. Yes, masks were encouraged and most of the explorers were responsibly distanced.
Honestly I hadn’t explored any tide pools myself in years and it was wonderful to see them.
As we wandered about I couldn’t help remind those who stuck their little fingers into the anemones, “gently now, they’re living creatures.” Just like an old person I guess.
Soon we were hungry and headed back to where we started, refreshed and ready for lunch.
All in all a wonderful day. 🙂
~ Susanne
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Exploring Fort Stevens
For our one and only camping trip this year, Fort Stevens State Park had everything, including 3,700 acres of wetland, forest and dunes, and even a shipwreck! The campground is one of the largest in the Western United States with over 9 miles of paved trails connecting all areas of the park.
We crossed the Columbia River from Washington to Astoria, Oregon and set up camp;
then we unloaded our bikes and hit the trails.
Our first stop was at the Shipwreck of the Peter Iredale, a four-masted steel bark built in Maryport, England, in 1890, which ran aground in 1906. We’d come back here later for sunset.
The historic area of the park protects portions of the the Fort Stevens Military Reservation which guarded the mouth of the Columbia River from the Civil War through World War II. We visited Battery Russell where the only attack on a mainland American military site during World War II occurred on June 21, 1942.
According to History.com, “After trailing American fishing vessels to bypass minefields, the Japanese submarine I-25 made its way to the mouth of the Columbia River. It surfaced near Fort Stevens, an antiquated Army base that dated back to the Civil War. Just before midnight, I-25 used its 140-millimeter deck gun to fire 17 shells at the fort. Believing that the muzzle flashes of the fort’s guns would only serve to more clearly reveal their position, the commander of Fort Stevens ordered his men not to return fire. The plan worked, and the bombardment was almost totally unsuccessful—a nearby baseball field bore the brunt of the damage.”
There were more batteries on the Columbia River side of the park and we rode our books over to see them too.
After we’d had enough of the military, we exchanged our bikes for the truck and drove to the South Jetty.
South Jetty is one of three jetties built on the mouth of the Columbia between 1885 and 1939 to help contain the shifting sand deposits at the mouth of the river and ensure a more stable shipping channel.
After climbing the Observation Tower and watching the waves roll in, there was still enough time to head back and watch the sunset over the Peter Iredale, a perfect end to the day.
~ Susanne
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Hooray For Camping!
Our first camping trip of the year. Finally.
Not that we didn’t try earlier. It seems that pandemic camping is in.
When things began to open up in late May our favorite campgrounds filled up quickly, without us. And last month, when we tried to book a site in Olympic National Park we had to settle for Plan B and stayed at Lake Quinault Lodge instead (which was even better but I digress.)
Still we had a hankering to go camping and looked once more to our favorite spots this week. No dice. So we gave up on Washington and headed south. To Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon, where the Columbia River meets the Pacific; rich in history, beaches, and bike trails.
As we began to get the camper ready, guess who showed up?
“I’m here to help,” he said. “And of course I’d like to come along. I’ll be no trouble. I promise.”
“Sorry Benji, we wish you could come but who’d look after Tiger?”
So we ignored his pleas and sad eyes and set out anyway, with our lodging, food and entertainment with us. About right – in the middle of a pandemic – don’t you think?
I’ll have more to share with you in the next few days but until then; nothing beats having your morning coffee next to a campfire.
~ Susanne
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Fishing at Mineral Lake and Mt. Rainier
Though truth be told, I just go along for the ride, Bob does all the fishing. Mineral Lake sits in the Cascade foothills near Mt. Rainier and Bob remembers coming here way back in the last century. I told you about that already in A Fishing Trip Back in Time.
Honestly it hasn’t changed much. We launched our little boat and passed by Mineral Lake Resort – see what I mean?
As we made our way around the lake, the color changed from dark blue and purple,
to milky aquamarine, though I can’t tell you why.
As we trolled, enjoying the solitude, and feasting on our tuna sandwiches, it wasn’t long before Bob got a a bump, and began to wrestle with a trout.
I secretly hoped he would get away but Bob was able to bring him in.
The poor fish didn’t even get a last meal as the bait was a lure. I was happy when he was released back into the lake and survived the ordeal though I wonder what he told his friends about his near death experience. (“Stay away from the bright pink one! It tastes terrible!”)
After a couple hours of fishing we headed up to the Mountain.
I already shared some photos from that part of the trip in a recent post (here) but you can’t have too many pictures of Mt. Rainier, can you? I think not.
And that will do for now.
~ Susanne
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Happy International Cat Day 2020!
“Well it’s been quite a year so far, huh boys? But today we’re going to put that all aside – it’s time to celebrate you! So put on your best face for International Cat Day!”
“Didn’t we celebrate that already?” asked Tiger.
“No no,” I replied. “You must be thinking of National Pet Day.”
“Okay. Whatever you say. How’s this?”
“Hmm, caught you with your eyes closed. Let’s try again. With a little more enthusiasm.”
“Sorry Sue. Here you go.”
“Beautiful Tiger! Thank you.”
“Benji?”
“How’s this for enthusiasm?” he said.
“You got it Benji!”
“You boys are the best!
Happy International Cat Day!”
~ Susanne, Tiger and Benji
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Cattin’ Around in the Garden With Benji
There’s nothing like spending time in the garden with Benji.
Whether it’s watching him leap effortlessly to the top of the fence to survey his kingdom.
Or watching him hunt a green bean;
It’s a thing of beauty.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 