Blog From The Bog

Volunteer Work-Party Cancelled

I've spent eleven years working in the West Hylebos Wetland.  Most of those years were spent working in the park when it was under State jurisdiction.  During the years that the State had control of the park nothing got done unless a hardy group of volunteers got together and did it themselves.  The West Hylebos Wetland was like one of the poor-step-children of the State park system.  After all of those years, getting things done using a volunteer work-party has become second nature to me.  That's why I rushed to the park as soon as I could after the storm, surveyed the damage, and starting working to get some volunteers together to help clean up the mess.  I've got to stop doing that!  It's totally unnecessary now.  The City of Federal Way takes it's park responsibilities very seriously!  Jason Gerwen, of the City of Federal Way Parks and Recreation Department, is always on the ball.  When something needs to be done, he makes sure it gets done properly, and in a timely manner.  I received an email from Dana Buck, one of the park grounds-keepers, last night, letting me know that the City had sent six truckloads of workers over to the park yesterday and that they'd cleared the boardwalk of all of the big stuff.  My hat's off to you and your crew, Jason!

 

That does not mean that the park is open to visitors yet, despite the fact that I met several people walking the boardwalk today in defiance of the closure signs.  This man walks the trail every afternoon and has ignored the signs telling him that the park is closed.  If you choose to ignore the signs and are injured in the park as a result, you are liable for your own injuries.  Please stay home until we let you know that the park is safe to visit.

 

 

 

 

The trees that had fallen and were blocking the trail at the head of the ess after the third bench have been removed.  What's left of the tree was popping with black-capped chickadees today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melting snow has left the hardhack near the meadow surrounded by a lake of ice water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the sign-in kiosk and the sign at the head of the trail have been freed from the fallen branches of the crab-apple tree, there is no clipboard on the kiosk on which to sign-in.  Note to Jason:  Someone is using the little plastic information holders on the sign-in kiosk as an ashtray.  They're full of cigarette butts.  It would probably be a good idea to just remove them, if that's possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fallen trees in the meadow have not yet been cleaned up, although I know that Scott and Dana Buck are working hard to get that done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marlake is no longer frozen, so the buffleheads...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and ring-necked ducks have returned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trail leading around the back side of Marlake is completely blocked by fallen trees, such as these two willows, and is impassible.  The coyotes and river otters have recently visited that side of the lake, but it's impossible for a human to get through all of the debris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The grey gravel trail through the orchard is still blocked by fallen trees and branches and several of the fruit trees in the orchard have been splintered or lost limbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Widow-makers are still hanging from some of the trees.  These will probably not be removed, so it's always wise to pay attention when you're walking the boardwalk and be aware of what's hanging over your head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of the larger debris that has been cleared from the boardwalk has been thrown to either side of it, crushing areas that are usually covered with false-lily-of-the-valley, salmonberry, and hardhack.  It'll be interesting to keep an eye on these areas over the next couple of years to see how well nature recovers from all of this trauma.

 

 

 

 

 

Although the large trees and branches have been removed from the boardwalk, the boardwalk is still covered by a lot of smaller fallen debris.  There are also sections of the boardwalk that are still covered with snow.  This makes for very treacherous walking.  It would be very easy to slip and fall on this stuff and, if you fall and break a limb halfway down the boardwalk, who's going to hear you cry for help?  Be safe.  Stay off of the boardwalk until the debris has been completely cleared.

 

 

 

 

Besides, there is one section of the boardwalk that was torn up by a falling tree and has not yet been repaired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a view of the underside of that torn-up section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was there, Tom Boyd and Joe Sonnen were hard at work trying to repair the damaged section.  They really had their work cut out for them!

 

 

 

 

 

Fallen trees over the Brooklake bridge have snagged one-another on the way down, ending up forming a teepee-like construction.  Another tree started falling near the Brooklake spur, pulling some of it's root-wad out of the ground, before it's upper limbs became enmeshed in the small-stubby branches of a neighboring tree.  How long this tree will be able to maintain it's precarous grasp before finishing it's fall and smashing into the boardwalk is anyone's guess.  When I looked at the tree from one angle, I decided that it would miss the boardwalk if it continued falling, but when I looked at the same tree from the opposite side, it looked to me as if it would slam into one side of the boardwalk if it fell.  All I know for sure is that I sure don't want to be standing under it when it decides to finish it's trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The face of the West Hylebos Wetland has been altered significantly by the violence of this storm.  The beautiful arch with the robin's nest in it is gone now.  I loved pointing that nest out to visitors and telling the the story about the baby robins who hatched so close to the boardwalk.  A tree that fell long ago and had been propped up at an angle used to be a favorite place for tree-frogs to sit.  That tree is gone now.  Another tree has splintered and fallen on top of a tree-well that has tradionally been a favorite place of mine to spot red-legged frogs.  This is the same spot where the tree that has started to fall can be found.  Those two things have completely altered the topography of that tree-well.  It'll be interesting to see how this affects the frogs, especially if the semi-fallen tree completes it's fall.  At the Troll Hole, falling branches have completely obscured what was left of Snoopy.  Some trees have fallen into the creek, taking their shade with them.  It'll be interesting to see how all of the extra sunlight these areas will receive now will change the things that grow and live there.  

So, to sum this all up.  Work has begun to clear up the storm damage in the wetland.  A huge amount of progress has been made.  A huge amount of work still needs to be done before the park will be safe to walk in again.  The City of Federal Way deserves a great big round of applause for accomplishing so much in such a short time.  Well done!  Thanks, Jason!  Please pass my thanks on to all of the rest of your crew.  We'll let you know when the park is ready to receive visitors again.  Until then, please obey the "Park Closed" signs and stay safe.

Teri I. Lenfest

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volunteers Needed For Park Clean-up

By this time you know that the park is covered with fallen trees, branches, and debris from one end to the other.  Dana, Scott, and Becca (the park groundskeepers) need all of the help they can get in order to get the park back in good condition so that we can reopen it to the public.  I'm trying to organize a work-party to help clear the debris this Saturday, 28 January, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.  If you would like to help, or know someone who would like to help, please RSVP me at wetlandwriter@comcast.net, so that I know how many people to expect.  Dana says they already have most of the tools we'll need, but we can always use additional loppers, brooms, and wheelbarrows if you have them.  Please bring your own work gloves and dress for the weather.  Thanks!  Teri Lenfest

Freak Winter Storm Damages The Park

By now, everyone knows that a record-breaking snowstorm pummeled the area several days ago.  The snow on my railing measured five and a half inches.  The following day warm air moved in above the freezing air creating an ice storm on top of the snow.  I heard the pop, crack, and shuuuush of falling trees and branches almost non-stop for twenty-four hours.  Falling trees and branches crushed roofs, carports, and some cars.  They took out electrical lines and cable towers throwing tens of thousands of people into the dark.  Thousands of people remain without electricity at this time.  I don't own a car and the 903 bus does not operate in severe weather, so all I could do was sit on my thumbs and worry about what was happening in the park.  Temperatures rose above freezing yesterday and it rained all day long, melting the snow on the roads and allowing metro to restore bus service, so I decided to make a trip to the park today to access the damage.  We lost a lot of trees in my apartment complex and, while looking out of the window on the bus I could see almost nothing but fallen trees and branches lining the sides of the road all of the way down the street from my apartment to First Ave SW.  The City of Federal Way is going to be very busy cleaning up all of this storm debris.  Taking care of the roads and sidewalks will have first priority.  Addressing any damage in the park comes way down at the bottom of their list of priorities.  My bus doesn't take me all of the way to the park.  I have to get off of the bus at First Ave SW and walk the rest of the way.  Walking down the slushy sidewalk was very rough going and I had to climb over, under, around, and through two fallen trees that stood between the park and me.  I'd received an email from Dana Buck, one of the park grounds-keepers, letting me know that they'd closed the park to the public, but I also knew that Dana did not have a camera and that she had not ventured deeper into the park than the meadow.  As the "blog" person, I felt I was obligated to investigate and document the condition of the park.  So, armed with my camera, off I went.

 

 

See what this sign says?  Beleive it!  The park is closed until further notice.  The trail and the boardwalk are inaccessible and will remain so until further notice.  I'll let you know when you can visit the park again.  

 

 

 

 

Problems began long before I reached the boardwalk.  After I passed the second bench, at the top of the ess in the trail, where the pussy-willows were getting all soft and pretty, a tree had split and fallen across the trail.  This tree blocks the entire trail and is nearly impossible to get around, so please don't try.  In between this area and the sign-in kiosk the trail is blocked with fallen branches, at face-level, in at least three places.

 

 

 

 

 

The apple tree has split and fallen over the sign-in kiosk and the sign at the head of the trail.  There is no access to the sign-in kiosk.  Several trees split and fell in the meadow.  From the sign-in kiosk to the orchard spur, the trail is completely blocked with fallen tree after fallen tree and is completely inaccessible.

 

 

 

 

 

So, if you can't get down the trail from the sign-in kiosk, what about going through the orchard?  My first stop was Marlake, which is covered in ice.  From the house side of the lake I could clearly see that trees on the opposite side of the lake had splintered and fallen, but I did not go over there to investigate.  The duck decoys are frozen into the ice on the lake, one of them upside-down, and are clearly not fooling any of the ducks.  If anything, they're flying over, looking down, thinking about what that stupid duck is doing frozen in the ice, and flying on to warmer pastures, so to speak.

 

 

The orchard trail was also blocked by fallen trees and branches, but in the orchard you could leave the trail and beat your own trail through the crusty snow, which is what I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This tactic gained me access to the boardwalk trail.  My plan was to follow the loop trail down the short end of the loop to Brooklake, then from there down the long end of the loop and back to the orchard.  That was, if I didn't run into an insurmountable problem.  The boardwalk is thoroughly trashed from one end to the other; but, for the most part, the debris is small enough to either pick up and throw over the side of the boardwalk or collect in the garden cart and remove from the park.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the weather clears up, the snow melts, and things dry out a bit, some of the debris can be blown away with the leaf blower or swept up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although debris that's easy to cope with is the norm, there are exceptions to the rule.  This tree has fallen over the boardwalk on the short side of the loop trail, just before the bench where the barred owl was spotted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tree-well in front of the bench is full of water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, just past this tree-well a tree has fallen in such a way that the root-wad tore up a section of the boardwalk.  I made a full loop of the boardwalk trail and this is the only section of the trail that was damaged, as far as I could see, and it looks like it should be easy to repair.  Maneuvering over this area was very difficult, but I was able to manage it.  I do not recommend this to others.  It was very slippery, very difficult, and very hazardous.

 

 

 

 

 

Just past that area another tree was down over the boardwalk.  By this time my photos were getting really bad.  My glasses were fogging up, due to the exertion, and so was the lens on my camera.  It was spitting raindrops on and off, and that, in addition to the climbing over, under, around, and through the fallen debris, was leaving detritus on my camera-lens.  I couldn't see where I was going and I couldn't see what I was trying to photograph and wiping my glasses and camera-lens off wasn't helping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just past that tree another tree was down over the boardwalk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just past that the boardwalk trail became completely impassable and I had to strike out off-trail in order to get around it.  I'm unhappy to have to report that just past this point, another tree splintered off and landed, smack-dab, right in the middle of another one of my favorite tree-wells.  It doesn't affect the boardwalk, but will challenge the frogs.

 

 

 

 

When I got to the bridge on the Brooklake spur, I discovered that another tree has come down over the bridge, requiring me to stoop down, climb over, and once again, struggle my way through.  I must admit that, by this time, I was getting very tired.  The physical challenges required to get this far down the trail were exhausting.  Please, do not try this.  It's too dangerous and not worth the effort.  By the time I reached Brooklake I was exhausted.

 

 

 

 

 

Brooklake was full of water.  So full of water that the stump I call the duck flo-tel was underwater.  Just it's uppermost branches brushed the air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At least Brooklake wasn't frozen, allowing some American wigeons free water in which to swim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Returning down the long side of the loop, I discovered these two trees had fallen over the boardwalk trail.  These two have always been leaning over the trail, but now you actually have to climb over them, instead of being able to walk under them.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, in between that and the Stika spruce, we have this.  More fallen trees and branches to maneuver through.  By this time I was totally exhausted and these physical challenges were becoming increasingly difficult for me to surmount.  All I wanted to do was get out of the park.  I did not think that I could climb over, under, around, or through one more tree.

 

 

 

 

And, thankfully, I did not.  Everything in the park wasn't indicative of destruction.  Some things were simply gorgeous.  Ice surrounded each limb and twig.  When the temperature rose and the ice began to fall, it created piles of ice that looked every bit as if it had been produced by an ice-machine.

 

 

 

 

 

Caramel-colored fungus poked out of the snow creating beautiful photo-opportunities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stumps wore snow-white turbans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiny cones polka-dotted the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

False lily of the valley berries looked like marachino cherries scattered in the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiny fungi found shelter in moss-lined crevases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And chunks of fallen wood kissed the snow with magical light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please stay home.  Be safe.  Be owl-wise.  This, too, will pass.  The park will be returned to order as soon as possible.  I'll let you know when it's safe to walk the trails again. Until then, I hope that you and yours are safe and warm.  Take care.

Teri I. Lenfest

 

 

 

January Comes In Like A Lamb

I'm back!  Sort of.  In December of 2010 my old computer decided to turn it's proverbial toes up and die.  I replaced my pc with a Mac, and began the process of transferring my data over and learning how to use the new machine.  Around November of 2011 my new Mac began giving me messages that the memory on my hard drive was almost full; then, having been ignored, flat-out declared that the memory on my hard drive was full and that my computer was unable to continue functioning unless I did something about it.  Since then, I've purchased a number of external hard drives and worked diligently on resolving this problem.  After transferring all of 2010 to an external hard drive, I was still left with well over 10,000 photographs.  According to my computer, the photographs were the problem.  My fault.  Totally.  I accept full responsibility for shooting myself in the foot. And everywhere else for that matter.  I often take four or five photographs (sometimes more) of every subject in an attempt to get the best photograph I can for the blog. But, after I upload the photographs to my computer and create my blog, I fail to go back into my computer and delete the junk photographs.  If I take five photos of a single object, it's only common sense for me to select the best photo of the five and delete the other four, but common sense is something that I'm sorely lacking.  After having made an intense effort to climb out of the hole I dug for myself, I've managed to go through all 10,000 plus photographs, one at a time, culling and deleting the trash.  I'm happy to say that, before I came home from the park today and uploaded new photographs, I'd culled my unwieldy mass of mayhem down to 536 photographs.  I did that by going through every photograph in every event individually and evaluating it's merit.  That was phase one.  Phase two will consist of comparing all of the photos of a single object, such as a robin or a towhee, selecting the best of the bunch or those that have some defining characteristic that I need to illustrate a blog, and trashing all of the rest.  That will be a slow process though.  Right now, I've winnowed enough chaff in order to produce my first blog of the new year.  So, away we go!

The month of December 2011, ended up being one day short of breaking the standing record as the driest December ever.  Then January 2012 slipped in like a lamb.  This is supposed to be winter, folks!  January and February have a reputation to uphold.  Where are the ice, snow, and freezing temperatures?  According to my outdoor thermometer at home the high temperature was 51 degs F today.  Fifty-one degrees!  In January! 

It was so warm that people were roaming around the park in light jackets.  Some wore even less.  The parking lot was full to bursting, with cars coming and going on a regular basis, playing musical chairs with the available slots.  The park was full of people.  Had I chortled a pleasant hello at every visitor I passed it would have sounded like I was yodeling.

 

 

 

 

 

The Vargas family was having a good time walking the boardwalk trail.  Luis Vargas is holding his son, Jayden.  The older girls are Jenny and Nichole Vargas, while the younger one is their cousin Nalini Jeffords.  Luis said that it was a very beautiful January day, which is what I think we were all thinking.  You can't go wrong with a day like today.  Even if you tried!  The only caveat was the fact that the boardwalk was quite slippery in places.  I slipped several times and saw others slipping as well.  Quite a few visitors cautioned me to be careful because of the slick conditions.  Time to get a group of volunteers together with some push-brooms and water to sweep off the slime.

 

 

 

It's hard to complain about a little slipperiness when Marlake looks like this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone has put duck decoys on Marlake.  I suspect the Buck Family were the culprits.  Their ploy seems to be working.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw an American wigeon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of buffleheads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And several ring-necked ducks.  Of course, there was also the usual assortment of resident mallards on both lakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone has chopped down two beautiful trees near the Brooklake viewing platform.  This tree used to stand right behind the bench nearest the entrance to the platform.  It's been covered with beautiful frilly maroon-colored fungus this year and has always been a favorite spot for black-capped chickadees, song sparrows, and cedar waxwings to rest.  I've even seen a downey woodpecker and a brown creeper on this tree, although not at the same time.  Now the tree is gone.  Why?

 

 

The other tree was to the right of the boardwalk just before you reach the viewing platform.  Look at how beautiful this wood looks.  I can't understand why somebody would chop it down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Near Brooklake I saw skunk cabbage just starting to poke up through the surface of the water.  This one is taking a little test run.  Is it time yet?  Ummmm, could still snow.  Might be a good idea to wait a little longer.  I could hear frogs croaking, but couldn't spot any.  Last year, I started spotting amphibian eggs in February.  Didn't see any today.  I'll keep my eyes open.  They could show up at any time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pussywillows are nice and fuzzy in between the old cabins and the meadow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I got back to the parking lot, I tried to take a photo of the pigeons sitting on top of that tall green tower.  City pigeons moved into the park this summer and it looks like they've decided to stay.  That green tower seems to be their favorite look-out perch and there are generally about as many pigeons up there as can fit at one time.  Unfortunately, my camera started blinking at me, telling me that my battery was low.  As I lowered the camera, I pushed what I thought was the OFF button and wound up taking this photo of my shadow instead.  Look at how tall I've gotten since Christmas!  Must be all of that good food I ate.  Maybe I'll run into you at the park on my next visit.  If you see me, don't forget to stop and say hello!

 

Teri I. Lenfest

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

The day before yesterday, five guests from out of state asked me if I'd take them on a tour of the wetland.  It was a beautiful day to take a walk, although cold.  One of my guests forgot to bring along gloves and a hat, so I loaned her mine.  As usual, they only had two hours to spare for the park, so things got a little hectic towards the end.  I know the boardwalk trail is supposed to be 1.1 miles around, so it stands to reason that if a person meandered down the trail at a three mile an hour pace, that person should be able to make the circuit in about twenty minutes.  I don't understand why, if that's true, it takes me so long to give visitors a tour.  When I did the annual picnic tour, Mayor Priest said it took me an hour and forty minutes and, to do that, we had to hurry down the last leg of the trail as if our tails were on fire.  On the 30th of December, my guests gave me two hours and, once again, we were forced to rush down the last leg of the trail without pausing to catch a breath.  These particular visitors kept asking questions and laughing and joking around, so I wasn't sure whether they were really listening to my talk anyway.  That's why I was so surprised when we got back to the parking lot and they announced that they would have to come back for the All Things Gooey tour in the spring, the Eat Your Way Through The Park tour in the summer, and the Things That Have Feathers And Fly tour in the fall.  Their creative tour descriptions had me laughing my head off.  I guess they really were listening after all.

Today, the first day of January in the new year 2012, marks my two year anniversary of writing the blog.  It's hard to believe that I've been at this for two years already.  Like the birds, time sure flys!

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE WEST HYLEBOS WETLAND!

 

 

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE WEST HYLEBOS WETLAND!

Beautiful Mid-December Surprises

I apologize for my lengthy absence, as well as my failure to produce the promised blog on sorting fungi by appearance.  More likely than not, there will be more lengthy absences coming up in the near future due to circumstances beyond my control.  I'd just started working on the sorting fungi by appearance blog when my computer reported the fact that I could not continue because I had zero memory left on my hard drive.  Zero memory!  How could that possibly be?  I just got this computer last Christmas and it was brand new!  That night, I contacted my son-in-law and told him what my computer had said, asking him what I should do.  He reacted the same way I had when I first received the message.  That's impossible, something else must be wrong!  Well, I do have a lot of photographs, said I.  That can't be the problem, he said, even if you have huge photograph albums, you'd have to have tens of thousands of photographs in order to use up the memory in your hard drive.  Ahhhhh, mumbled I, I could very well have photographs numbering at least several tens of thousands.  No way!  Yes, way!  At this point he promised me that he'd get back to me in several days, when we both had time to work on it, and he'd see if he could free up some memory for me.  Several days later, we began working on the problem.  Several hours later, he said he had very bad news, I actually had zero memory left on my hard drive.  Since this is a family friendly blog, let's just say that I replied, "Oh, darn, golly gee, I'm so sad!"

Since then, I've spent many days trying a variety of things in order to free up some memory and not had any success.  My photos are like my children.  I worked hard for them and don't want to give them up.  I tried to reason with myself, but it was difficult, at best.  Reason tells me that I really don't need to keep 150 photographs of mallards on my computer, just because I took them, doesn't mean I need to keep them.  What I need to do is cull my photographs, only keep the best of the best and what I might reasonably need in my photo library with which to produce blogs.  That was a dreadful prospect and one that I wasn't quite ready to deal with.  In the end, I had to face facts, bite the bullet, and get to work.  I've been hard at work culling photographs over the past two days and think I have enough memory freed up to allow me to post a short park blog, although not nearly enough to tackle a massive blog such as the fungi blog.  Although I haven't been able to blog for the past several weeks, I have gotten out to visit the park.  I warn you, though, this is going to be a very short blog, as I have no idea how much memory I have to work with.  Fasten your seatbelts and hold onto your seat cushions, I may end up crashing this thing again!  Ready?  And...., we're off! 

Whew!  It took me three tries in order to get this photo to attach itself to the blog.  Sigh!  One of the first things I saw when I started down the boardwalk on the 16th was a quick flash of orange high in a tree.  I immediately assumed that it was a robin and told myself that if I never took another robin photograph as long as I lived, I'd still have too many robin photographs, so didn't even bother to raise my camera.  A few seconds later, I spotted the orange flash again, but this time I realized that it wasn't a robin at all, but a beautiful varied thrush that was busy picking berries off of the tree and gobbling them up.  I'm so glad that I stayed around for a couple of minutes, rather than just deciding it was another robin and continuing down the boardwalk.

 

 

 

This has really been a great week for birding.  Not only did I spot the beautiful orange varied thrush, but I also spotted huge, handsome, raptors.  This red-tailed hawk was so beautiful that he took my breath away!  I was doubly blessed with this sighting because I not only got to photograph his beautiful plumage from the front....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but, also from the back.  Can you see the gorgeous copper color of his tail-feathers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the 18th, this gorgeous bald eagle was sitting in the very same place that the red-tailed hawk had been sitting in before.  This branch must be a particularly lucrative place from which to spot prey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look what's back again......the Deep Sinks!  I sent both the City of Federal Way Parks Department and EarthCorps emails gauging the possibility of removing the fallen trees from over the Deep Sinks so that visitors could see the water again.  I never received a reply to either email, so I don't know who did this, but was absolutely delighted to discover that the water was visible once more.  This is a favorite viewing spot for park visitors and I'd gotten more complaints about the fallen trees in this location than any other problem in the park.  I don't know who cleared the trees, but thank you very much!  Your hard work is very much appreciated.   Kudos to you!

 

At this point, I feel that I've touched on the absolute highlights, so shouldn't press my luck any further.  If I don't get to publish another post until January, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!

Teri I. Lenfest

Fungi in the Park by Shape

Obviously, sorting my fungi photographs by color didn't work.  Let's see what happens when I try to sort them by shape!

 

 

 

 

Some fungi grow in shelves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some look more like knobs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While some are more or less flat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Others are domed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some are cupped

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These might be called globular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some are more like smears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are fingers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teeth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, those that look downright alien.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brains anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorting my fungi photographs by general shape is an option, but how does one decide whether to classify something as a glob, knob, or smear?  There's still one selection criteria to address......appearance.  I'll show you what happens when I sort by appearance in my next blog.

 

Teri I. Lenfest

Fungi In The Park By Color

I just got back from sharing Thanksgiving with my family in sunny southern California.  I was lucky enough to get home before the big Santa Ana winds hit, but am still trying to readjust to the climate in the great Pacific Northwest.  The temperatures in Riverside, CA ranged from around 50 degs F at night up into the 70's during the day, under bright blue sky.  The temperatures in Federal Way are ranging from lows in the 20's or 30's to high's hovering around 43, under grey/white heavy-looking sky.  It would not be an exaggeration to say that I'm cold and am wearing about five layers of clothing when I visit the park.  Yeppers, short-sleeved undershirt, long-sleeved undershirt, long-sleeved overshirt, hoodie, and jacket.  As tempting as it may sound, please don't push me over.  I'm wearing too many layers to get back up!

I've met several people lately who have pointed out the fact that the wetland is full of mushrooms and toadstools and that I haven't written any blogs on park fungi at all this year.  I hadn't really given that much thought but, since it's been pointed out to me, I decided to rectify that matter.  The first thing I did after visiting the park yesterday, was cruise through my fungi photographs.  To my utter dismay, I discovered that I've taken 546 photographs of fungi in the park during the last two years.  How on earth was I going to deal with that many photographs?  How could I possibly decide on which ones to publish?  The project seemed utterly daunting to me!  I was always taught that the best way to tackle an overwhelming problem is to break it down into smaller bits and deal with one small bit at a time, so the first problem was to establish my criteria for breaking this massive undertaking down into something manageable.  I've been struggling with this problem for the last two days and am still left with an overwhelming number of photos that I'd like to share with you.  Therefore, the next several blogs will consist of many photographs and very few words.  Each photo contains many bits of information and I'm not sure how many typepad will allow me to publish in a single blog, so this will be an experiment.  Anyway, I've decided to divide my photographs up into the following categories:  color, shape, and general appearance.  I'm going to attempt color first, although color is by no means the easiest way by which to sort the photos.

 

Fungi come in many different colors.  The first color I'm going to deal with is red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we'll move into shades of brown.  Sometimes, it's difficult to decide whether to place something under brown or red, as many browns have red undertones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, brown is subjective, so who's to decide whether something ought to be classified as brown or....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pink?  Or, in this case: cream, pink, and yellow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it pink, beige, or tan?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or this one.  Is it pink, beige, or tan?  Depends upons your perspective and the rods and cones in your eyes, I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about this one?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This has yellow tones.  Shall we call it beige or tan?  Maybe cream?

 

 

 

 

This is a combination of cream with brown highlights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are leaning more towards the cream side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about this one?  It's more than just white.  It has warm, brown, highlights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one looks more like burnt sugar or caramel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, there's yellow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, yellow again.  Although, I'm not sure whether this is a fungi or a lichen.  You'd have to be a scientist to know for sure.  All I know is that it's really soft and smears when you touch it, unlike the yellow lichen that grows on tree.  This feels wet, like paint, whereas the other does not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These have a yellow center.  They remind me of fried eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving from yellow to orange isn't much of a leap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, witch's butter certainly falls in the orange category, if you ask me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, no palette would be complete without jet black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, on to green.  Not only green, but green in many shades and hues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This isn't all green, but certainly has green highlights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving on to more grey tones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, some fungi start out being one color and change colors and texture as they age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We think of mushrooms as being the white, grocery store variety, but not all white mushrooms look like those you find in the produce section of the grocery store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we use color as a parameter, what on earth are we going to do with these?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously, trying to sort my fungi photos by color isn't working too well.  Don't worry, I don't give up so easily.  In the next blog, I'll try to sort them by shape.

Teri I. Lenfest

The Domingo Family Tours The Wetland

When I took Girl Scout Troop 41865 on a tour of the wetland several weeks ago, some of the scouts were unable to attend due to illness.  Today, Mike and Theresa Domingo brought their daughters, Mahali and Naya, to the park for a make-up tour.  Mahali is especially proud of the fact that she's named after the baby giraffe at the Woodland Park Zoo.  How cool is that?  Although this isn't the best time of the year to spot wildlife at the park, the Domingo family were lucky enough to spot a little Douglas squirrel running across the boardwalk and some mallards, gadwalls, and northern shovelers at Brooklake.  They also got to hear the spotted towhees and black-capped chickadees singing, although it was difficult to spot the birds themselves.  We talked about habitat restoration, a little park history, life as it must of been in the old cabins, land snails, red-legged frogs, chorus frogs, salamanders, barred owls, and the life cycle of salmon.  Mahali was particularly observant, as she was able to look at the photograph I'd taken of the baby barred owl and pick out the exact limb the owl had been sitting on when I'd taken the picture.  Good job, Mahali!  Believe it or not, most visitors would not have been able to do that!  Although this was their first visit to the park, by the time we'd made a full circuit of the boardwalk, they were all talking about coming back to visit the park again in every season.  That happens to me a lot.  No matter what time of the year I take people through the park, most of them usually end up wanting to come back to visit the park in every season.  I love it when that happens!

 

Song sparrows can be seen in the park all year long.  Even if you don't spot the bird, you'll soon learn to recognize their insistent peep, peep, peep.  If you peep back at them, they'll often come closer to get a better look at you, allowing you to get a better look at them in turn.  Chickadees will do the same.  When you hear their buzz, buzz back at them and see what happens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the season to spot fungi in all of their amazing sizes, colors, and shapes.  We spotted a large number of them while we were walking along the boardwalk today.  The fun thing about mushrooms and toadstools, or fungi,  is the fact that you can walk the trail almost every day and see fungi that weren't there the day before.  New fungi seem to appear overnight.  Not only do new fungi appear, but older fungi are constantly changing their appearance from one day to the next.  Fungi love damp conditions and rotting wood and vegetation, so the wetland is the perfect place to look for them.

 

 

Most of the apples have fallen from the trees and long turned to cider, and all of the leaves have fallen from the apple trees, leaving the few remaining apples hanging from bare, naked, limbs, looking very much like ghost apples.  One has to wonder why all of the other apples fell and yet these did not.  Did the elves and fairies creep around at night super-gluing the apples to the trees?  One never knows!

 

 

 

 

 

This rock is actually sitting beneath a sign near the parking lot, but I thought it was too pretty not to take a picture of.  It kind of reminded me of an egg -  perhaps a dinosaur egg, or a dragon egg.  What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even if we don't see them, there are a great many different kinds of mammals living in the park.  We know that because they leave their prints behind in the mud.  One of the best places to look for animal prints in the mud is the back side of Marlake.  I found this print today.

 

 

 

 

 

As well as this one.  Two beautiful prints left behind by two different mammals.  This is the perfect time to look for them, as the ground is just muddy enough to leave a good print.  Another way to tell that animals have been around is to look for their scat, or poop.  We found coyote scat in the middle of the boardwalk today, so even though we didn't spot a coyote, we knew they were there.  Sometimes animals leave their scat around in strategic places in order to mark that territory as theirs.  It sends a message, "I've been here.  This is mine."

 

 

 

We got lucky today.  The weather people were predicting the possibility of snow at the lower elevations.  I heard that some places actually got up to five inches of snow today.  They must have been way north of us and closer to the mountains.  We dodged the bullet.  No rain, no snow, just a beautiful autumn day in the wetland.

Teri Lenfest

Wetland Survives November Windstorm Intact

The wind blasted through my area like a freight train last night.  It ripped and roared and carried-on all night long.  This was a big concern to me; as, historically, November windstorms have a habit of causing havoc in the park.  Huge amounts of havoc!  Downing trees and ripping up chunks of the boardwalk havoc!  

I'm scheduled to take some girl scouts on a tour of the park on Saturday.  At least, that's the plan.  The last two girl scout tours were well-organized and went off well.  These particular girls were ill when I took the last group of scouts through, so couldn't attend.  The girls would like to perform this particular task so that they can earn leaves for their Forever Green Challenge patches, and I'm making an effort to take the time out of my busy holiday schedule in order to make this happen.  The parents, on the other hand, seem to be unable to organize themselves.  Finally, I had to take the bull by the horns and declare that I would be at the park on a certain day, at a certain time, and that if they showed up, I'd give them a tour of the park, and if they did not, they'd be out of luck.  Only one of the parents has replied to this email, stating that she would be there, so there's no telling whether anyone, other than myself, will actually show up.  Especially since our weather prognosticators are predicting the possibilty of snow on some of the lower hills; and, at 500 feet,  we're certainly on top of a lower hill.  Only time will tell how this saga works out.

At any rate, I can't take anyone through the park if trees have fallen down and the boardwalk's been torn up by yet another massive windstorm.  I'm sure we lost another tree behind our apartment building, but it had the grace to fall away from us, rather than towards us, leaving us with a little patch of empty sky where there used to be branches and leaves.  

Although I'd scheduled today as a sewing day, I decided to put the sewing on hold and go check out the boardwalk to make sure it was still negotiable.  The sky was blue and the sun was shining when I left the house.  It was only 45 degrees F. though, so I decided to wear my red down-filled jacket.  That was a bad decision.  I'd had to send it to the dry-cleaners a couple of years ago and whatever they did to it removed the water-resistant properties of the jacket.  Instead of repeling water, this jacket now absorbs water like a sponge and, since it's down-filled, gets heavier by the second.

By the time I reached Brooklake, the blue sky was long gone and it started to rain......hard.  I always warn visitors to be prepared for anything because, once they're on the trail, they're on the trail, and there's nothing to be done but tough it out.  Today, I left the house so quickly that I broke my own cardinal rule.  I had no raincoat, no umbrella, no rainpants, and was wearing a jacket that had proven itself to absorb, rather than repel water...........and, I was standing on the Brooklake viewing platform with no option but to tough it out.  I don't mean tough it out to the parking lot and duck into a nice warm car either.  I don't own a car.  I mean tough it out to the parking lot and then another 45 minute walk back home.  Such is life.  I must learn to practice what I preach!

At any rate, having said all of that, I'm happy to announce that the park appears to have been completely untouched by the windstorm.  It doesn't look like it got any wind at all.  Everything is as it should be.  I don't want to say that too loudly, because the fates may be listening, but we're halfway through November and, so far, so good.  Keepin' ze fingers crossed!

Teri I. Lenfest