We arrived at the coast around 5 pm today and were shocked to see Rick’s fancy homemade source-of-great-pride uber-genius-engineered raccoon-proofed, squirrel-proofed, and crow-proofed bird feeder BENT at the base of the thick iron plumbing pipe and nearly on the ground!

Rickster beside the fallen bird feeder!

“Who would do such a thing???”  We looked around for buck  prints and found none.  But seriously, how could a buck bend an iron pipe?  And why would a buck be interested in bird feed or in bending an iron pipe?  We ruled out Bold Buck as Prankster and thought that perhaps vandals came by and had some fun.   However, nothing else was harmed and wouldn’t vandals want to throw rocks at windows rather than bend pipes?  Rick called the police to report the mystery and our “busy” Ocean Shores police force quickly sent out an officer to investigate!!!

The officer had one look at the bent pipe and sad bird feeder and said, “Bear!  Yup, I’ll bet you anything that’s a Bear!”  We looked around and didn’t find any bear prints or bear scat, but we did find some tell-tale scratch marks!  The officer informed us that there have been black bear sightings within the last couple weeks in Ocean Shores.  (This place is getting wilder by the minute!)  And the officer went on to tell us that bears sometimes come down from the mountains this time of year and that just today, sadly enough, a bear was hit on the highway not far from here.  Yes, this very officer had to go and investigate the hit bear.  He  told us that it was a sow (female) weighing about 450 pounds.  All a bear that size has to do is grab at a thick iron beam and pull with its weight and it will either bend or break.  Unbelievable!  We somehow felt relieved to find out that our bird feeder fell victim to a bear rather than to vandals.  But we did feel sick about the bear that was hit on the highway today.

Rick went out right away and bought another iron pipe and put the bird feeder up again:

Fixed and upright again

On to another subject..in a past blog, I wrote about my fused glass art project.  I now have the finished product and it is ever so beautiful!  This is the first time I have ever made anything like this.  Makes me want to buy a kiln and create beautiful plates and glass bowls as a serious hobby:

before the kiln

After the kiln! My beautiful glass pasta plate!

Another follow up:  Leslie and I hiked Little Mount Si again on Tuesday.  Crazy me. I went on this invigorating hike between classes!  The great news is that this time, my legs didn’t feel like cement and we made GREAT time on the hike.  One hour in and just under one hour out!  Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my Yoga in the Park class, but, on the way home from the hike,  I was secretly hoping it would start raining so that I didn’t have to teach class on tired shaky legs!  It was very cloudy, but not raining, and actually pleasantly warm, so I ended up teaching and it was a wonderful and fun class!  I think I was in bed by 9:30 pm that night!

My feet at the top of Little Mt. Si

So I guess today’s blog is tidbits of life.

Today at Cherry Street Coffee Shop, Rick told one of his favorite stories of how he and his friend, Smitty, rowed from Vaughn Bay to Canada when they were in high school!   They packed the essentials:  toothbrush, toothpaste, underwear, instant mashed potatoes,  instant rice and noodles, matches, a tarp (for sleeping under the stars), and a fishing pole, and had an amazing adventure.  Soon after high school ended, life happened in full force. Rick joined the navy and was in the Viet Nam War.  Rick and Smitty drifted apart and lost touch with one another.  When Smitty died last year of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Rick was so sad to not have reconnected with his friend. We had no idea that Smitty had ALS.  Smitty’s wife mentioned the rowing trip in his obituary!  Apparently, the adventure was one that Smitty would never forget.  So today, at coffee, a  fantastic idea evolved!  Rick is going to locate the famous row boat and do the same trip on the same row boat with our friend Peter as a fundraiser for ALS in honor of Smitty!  How cool is that?  I have a feeling the two men will pack more substantial and nourishing food, good tents, and a lot more than just a fresh pair of underwear!  I will be their number one cheerleader!

Today's flower arrangement

Happy 4th of July weekend!