Gulls

We are camped on a small piece of land between the marina with a few restaurants and the water. Regis recently said he can tell easily whether it is high tide or low tide and I asked “what, by looking at the water?” He said he didn’t have to look at the water. He can look at the roofs of the restaurants. If they are full of gulls, it is high tide. Fewer gulls means it is low tide.

We have seen a lot of gulls here and I am enjoying them. Sadly, two days in a row this week I found a dead juvenile seagull on the shore and both are still there. I don’t know how they died. It seems to me that if the eagle killed them, it would eat them. I have seen some dogs running free on the beach chasing the birds, so I wonder if it could be a dog. I don’t know, but the birds look basically intact without checking them more closely.

The glaucous-winged gulls with the chick now have three chicks. This picture only shows two of them.

Dart vomited on his bed twice in the last week and after cleaning the cover a second time, Regis said the pillow stuffing had to go. It smelled bad. I drove two hours round trip today to try to get new stuffing. I wasn’t happy with the stuffing available in the craft store, so I checked out the nearby Petco and purchased a new bed instead. When I got back, Dart smelled it, got on it, and immediately exited. He was not interested. Argh! He has many beds at home because he inherited beds from our collies. I purchased his bed when I got him and he will turn 10 on Saturday. All his beds have been with him since he arrived in our house. He stuck his nose up at this new bed. Regis placed the cover of his old bed over top of the new bed and Dart reluctantly got on it this afternoon. He tried desperately to rearrange things and finally gave up and took a nap. Whew!

It has been typical Pacific Northwest weather the last few days. I saw the sunrise our first morning but the last three days have been foggy, drizzly, and cool. Usually, the water is calm so it would still be nice to sit out, but its cold. It has been in the low 50’s getting up to a high of 60 or so on a good day lately. Today, I brought out my winter coat and found that it is tolerable. As long as I can stay warm, I can appreciate it.

Overcast days are better for taking some pictures, so I took advantage of the situation. Here are my favorites from today.

Regis found this sign while wandering around in Port Townsend.

This morning, I mentioned to Regis that I had only see one harbor seal since our arrival. The last few times we were in this area, we saw lots of harbor seals. This morning, a group of them showed up. I felt better. Although, I know that the transient orcas having been doing well in Puget sound and they eat seals. The resident orcas eat salmon and they are not doing well.

Our trip this year was planned around this campsite in Port Townsend and a Hummingbird workshop that I was scheduled to take in Arizona in late August. After we left Port Townsend, we were going to work our way through Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado into Arizona for the workshop. I just found out the workshop is postponed until next year which is not surprising. As a result, we will head home after Colorado. We are enjoying being outside and exploring the country, but much of it is shutdown and we are trying to be safe. This is the first time I have come to Port Townsend and not gone out on the local whale watching tour. I go every time and see whales every time and it is a huge thrill. They have reduced the number of people on the tours but I would want to stay outside on the boat, which I have done in the past. But, it is really chilly here. If I’m cold on land, I’ll freeze on the boat. I was warmer last year on my trip to Alaska.

It is still lovely to hang around the campsites and enjoy the scenery and wildlife, but we haven’t been doing the other things we would usually do when we travel. Cutting short this trip may not be so bad and perhaps things will be better next year. I’m already planning the trip!