Sunday, September 24, 2023
I usually post a new entry to this blog fairly regularly. Since we’ve volunteered at the hatchery many times in the past I have found it more difficult to find new material to write about, thus a month has passed since the last post. This has caused some concern from friends and family regarding our welfare. So to all of you who voiced concern for our welfare we are doing just fine! Thanks for your notes and phone calls.
We’ve now volunteered at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery for seven weeks with one more to go until our departure October 1st. So what’s been going on around here? First of all, the fall salmon run has been good. The fish have been sorted, spawners placed in the spawning ponds with the great majority going to market, the food bank and some going to indigenous folks.
The chinook have been spawned four times in the last two weeks with enough fertilized eggs collected to perpetuate the species. Coho have been sorted and will be spawned some time next month.
With the arrival of the fall salmon comes greater activity of other beasts. Crows, ravens, osprey, great blue heron and even a bald eagle or two are hanging around looking for an opportunity to feast on salmon. I am sure there are furry scavengers also as a couple of salmon that had spawned and died in Tanner Creek have mysteriously disappeared. Other critters have made their presence known. We have a little mousey fellow trying to build a nest in the RV. We’ll see about that! The outside of the RV looks like a prop for a Halloween set as it’s covered in cobb webbs.
Speaking of fall, the weather has turned quickly as it tends to do in the Pacific Northwest. Rain is forecast for the next six days. Rain usually means we can fire up the tow behind vacuum and suck up the abundance of leaves that have fallen but the machine is in disrepair. We’ll do the best we can blowing and gathering leaves, hauling them to the dumpster. Fall is a busy time for groundskeepers!
The folks of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are still gathering lamprey. Jil got some good photos of the little darlings along with their mentors.
We took some time to visit one of our favorite places once again- Panther Falls. We drove across The Bridge of the Gods, through Stevenson Washington to Carson. The turnoff is around 7 miles up the Wind River Highway. Once on Panther Creek Road the lushness of the forest becomes very evident. It looks primordial for sure!
We’ve even had visitors. Jim and Connie Gale, with whom we’ve volunteered with many times, have visited at the hatchery sharing dinner with us. We hope to see them again here and again at their new home in Dallesport.
So until our departure next week from the hatchery I will once again bid you Adios!
Travel With Jil and Mike 