Oregon's Sandy River is doing just fine without its fifty-year-old dam, thank you.

I've seen the future and it's a cup full of sewage (treated and cleansed, of course)...which all makes me glad that I haven't tasted the future.

I've been on vacation this week, which is one reason why my daily posts have not been daily. Tuesday, I took the family to the beach...we didn't go far, just to Dumas Bay to see the sea letuce and then Dash Pt. But it was a nice visit; the sun was warm, not a cloud in the sky.

There was only one other group at Dumas Bay, so we nearly had the beach to ourselves. I hadn't been there for several years and was amazed at the overgrowth of sea lettuce. I knew it was bad, but geez, it was like 4 inches thick on the beach.

Here's a photo of the sea lettuce field. Fortunately, this is not as bad a year, and the stench hasn't yet developed.

This is my foot in the sea lettuce, demonstrating how thick it lays on the ground.

Although, my skin appears blindingly white near the foot there, I'm not that pale. It's just the lighting.

We had fun beachcombing and saw lots of sand dollars and a live moon snail, which I thought was a shell until I tried to lift it. I also saw a feisty great blue heron teasing a dog that was trying to chase all the birds. The heron initially flew away from the dog, then landed and waited for the pooch. When it got close the bird took to the air, turned and flew a short distance down the beach and repeated the process.