I guess many posts could be titled "Rainy Day in Astoria." Today it came down in buckets. I love the gray when it's accented with sun. Both the photos above and below are nice for that reason. It would pour cats and dogs, then the sun would come out. You can see a faint rainbow in both pix. Then it would start again, then the sun would come out, etc. You get the idea.
Meanwhile, I thought it would be good time to build the extra storage space I've been wanting. I've been here two years and I haven't taken the time to get well-organized as far as my personal stuff goes. It's usable, but not good Feng shui. I'm feeling it more right now. I've been throwing some stuff out, pitching the worthless and taking things to the thrift shops. Now it's time for an additional dresser.
This one has a lot of parts.
I like this picture of the male and female bufflehead, because it shows clearly the whiter head of the male. It shows the markings comparatively on both of them. They usually swim away from me, but this time they took flight. I didn't remember them do this before, and I snapped quickly. I was surprised when I looked at the photo to see what their tails look like when they take off. Do all ducks do this with the fan shape? I was equally surprised that I got them in focus. It's still raining. You can see dimples on the water.
I liked the plainness of the small boat against the huge orange ship. The big and the small. It's always interesting to see them.
I thought this one had an unusual name: "Global Wisdom."
Yup. Rain.
Here's one that came out like a piece of abstract art. I like it.
Gray on gray. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. The seagulls don't mind much. They were pecking around on the top of the roof. We got .47 inches of rain today, and since we're behind on the month-to-date and year-to-date, I guess it's good that it just keeps raining!
Back to the project. I don't remember the name of these bolts. They're the kind you put in and twist around another piece of hardware, and they're supposed to lock neatly into place. That's rare. This dresser was largely made of actual wood (it gets points for that), but the pre-drilled holes were uneven, and nearly a third or a half of the bolts didn't work the way they were supposed to. I hate pressboard, but the bolts work more of the time because the drilled holes are more regular. I'd still rather have the wood, and there were enough other screws and parts that it was sturdy when I finished.
Progress . . .
. . . and it's done. I'd put the top on backwards, so I had to take it off (many screws) and put it back on. Finally it worked out just fine. The big tapir on the dresser came from Bocas del Toro, Panama, and the lying lowland tapir above the iPod is my favorite of the ones
Sergio made for
TPF's gift shop.
We had a notable visitor on the river today, the Global Sentinel, a trans-oceanic layer of fiber-opitic cable.
The ship was moving upriver at quite a clip, and actually making quite a lot of noise for a ship of that size. I didn't get a good photo, but I wanted to get something before she disappeared behind the sheds to the east of our place.
Lately I've taken an interest in the way each type of ship arranges the opening and ladder where the pilots enter and leave. This is almost like a regular doorway with a ladder in it.
It was just plain cold and wet and dreary on the water today. This bufflehead female floats on still water with raindrops pattering down. The hard rain seems to have stopped for awhile, but it drizzled much of the day. I was indoors working on the computer as usual.
Nice patterns and reflections in the still water of the Columbia.
Here's the radio tower, reflected.
By early evening, there was a steamy-looking fog over the river. It wasn't actually steamy because there was no heat. It's just the way the clouds were looking later in the day. It's kind of different from the usual - whatever that is - but the fog and clouds don't usually take this formation on the water. I don't mind days like this, but it IS why we get so excited when the sun comes out.
