Fidalgo Island Crossings

This post may offend some readers.  Don't expect the usual glowing travelogue.  There are no tulips in my garden.  Just the thought of them makes me cringe.  I dread the approach of April, because it means the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival will be commencing.  For this one month of the year, I become a xenophobe.  Thousands of tourists will come to view these "Lilies of the Fields," oblivious to the lesson they may teach.  Don't expect to find meditation and introspection in this sermon.  Instead, picture a horde of desperate ants on a food source. To some of us who live here, it is really the Skagit Valley Traffic Festival.  Unless you enjoy traffic jams, it is wise to stay away during April weekends.  Draw a square defined by Interstate 5 between Conway and Burlington, State Road 20, the La Conner Channel and Fir Island Road.  Inside that zone, don't be surprised to find total pandemonium.  Some visitors believe that travel...

Eastern Gray Squirrel ( Sciurus carolinensis ) I was wondering how long it would take this guy to discover that there were sunflower seeds back at the BirdCam station.  It took him a little more than two weeks.  You're slipping up there, fella.  Looks like it's time to switch to safflower seed again.  We'll see what that will attract now that the spring birds are starting to return. Weather Statistics for March, 2011 Temperature High 61.3° F Low 33.7° F Mean 45.4° F Rainfall 1.69 inches Wind High 37 mph Average 3.9 mph Dom Dir S Observed at South Fidalgo Island (See Climate page for complete climatological data)