Sappy days

Here are just a few reasons why I love the autumn season:



I get a bit nostalgic this time of year and think fondly of my childhood in CT. It's a little damper here in WA compared to a New England fall, and as a result the crunch of dead foliage as you walk is a bit muted. The colors of the changing leaves aren't quite the shocking display that Vermonters and their neighbors might enjoy either.

I scrambled today, with my wife and dog, over treacherously slippery logs and under the cover of the largest trees I've known. I dug deep into the woody mulch with my fingers and crushed a chalky mushroom in my fist. As my dog bounded ahead in pursuit of a chuckling squirrel, I smiled and felt the change settling all around me.

Fall is an aptly named season, because change descends from above and rests around us. It is a more subtle season with a long approach. It is a season for letting go of the past and thinking with anticipation of the future.

boxy

Here is a box that I made recently that I'm only sort of proud of. It has aesthetic elements that alone I like, but together make for a bit of a cluttered and odd look. This is the first time that I've attempted hand cut dovetails and though they aren't perfect, I am fairly pleased with the results. The hinge is a shell from a .223 caliber that I found while hiking. I drilled a hole in it and drove a small brass nail through the top as a stop so that the lid just pivots off of the shell and cannot be pulled off.




Fall tends to bring out the creative and industrious in me. Unfortunately it also brings out the instinctual urge to eat entire platters of pasta and then nap for twenty odd hours. These conflicting desires usually result in me waking up at odd hours full of energy and artistic thought. Because of my close proximity to sleeping neighbors however the resulting manifest is endless Netflix instant play and more pasta. ACK! I sound like a damn Kathy comic.

Pull

Just some handy pictures taken by talented hands.





Here is their link cooder

Primal love

Another bizarre animal case. Sometimes I feel like I am on the set of a bad David Lynch film. If you were to ask me a year ago what I thought I would be doing in a year I can guarantee that my answer would not be, "aiding the FBI and the US Marshals in arresting a naked pervy ex-millionaire, and his beast loving tourist friend in the Sumas wilderness."

yuck
double yuck

fowl foul

If you happened to be reading today's paper (The Bellingham Herald) and wondering to yourself: "My, who's handsome latex gloved hand, and svelt looking uniformed body is that on the front cover?" then wonder no more! It's me folks.

A real career milestone, and only after three short months on the job. What could be next for this jet set go getter? Daytime talk show appearances? My own line of barnyard cologne? An actual picture of my face?

here's the link

Friends

I am a vegetarian, an environmentalist, and an animal rights activist, but I love fly fishing. I love wading into streams and rivers. I love finding weird bones, rocks, and clay deposits. I love sitting with my dog on the bank among the sword ferns, under the dripping Douglas Fir trees and watching a fish inspect my attempt at insect impressions. I look so hard into the water to see beyond the ripples and foam that the backs of my eyes ache and I have to close them. I am a failure at skipping stones and when I try Maple jumps after them and ducks her head under the water just long enough to realize that she doesn't much care for swimming, and just long enough for me to get nervous that she might get swept away by the stronger current in the deeper part of the stream. For some reason Maple never learned to swim properly, and only uses three of her four appendages. Her front two paws paddle madly in the typical doggy fashion. Her rear legs however, only work at half their potential, with her right one tucked gently against her body. I wonder sometimes if Maple's lack of water prowess is a fault of my parenting, or a breed issue that I have no control over. Either way I find this trait highly endearing.

Wolverine

I am fast approaching my second month as an animal control officer. Every night I come home to my wonderful wife and dog and I feel like exploding. I am full of stories. I am full of emotion. I am brimming, but I am stuck.

This is the most serious job I have ever had. I am dealing with real tragedy daily. I haven't yet figured out how to use these stories creatively without cheapening them. There is humor too, and I can see it. If I have any gift at all it is being able to find laughter in the disheartening, but I think it will be a while before it comes to the surface.

There is real evil in the world, and it shows itself in the form of neglect, indifference, and ignorance. To quote a favorite song of mine "Evil don't look like anything." I understand that sentiment in a strange and frightening new way.