Perfect headgear for smoking cigars out in the rain

Dec. 3, 2018

The winter sun catches one of my hats hanging on the wall. This conical straw hat was brought to me many years ago by a friend after she visited relatives in Vietnam. I have found that in the warmer months this is the perfect headgear for smoking cigars out in the rain.

Albert Camus, eat your heart out!

Nov. 30, 2018

Un cône de signalisation est assis sur une chaise sous la pluie à Rainbow Park. Vive l'indifférence bienveillante de l'univers!

First peek at the peak

Nov. 19, 2018

For the first time in the 61-year history of the old Timbear Cafe building, it will no longer have a flat roof.

It never fails to mystify me why anyone would ever have a flat roof in this part of the world in the first place.

Personally I will miss seeing all those plastic tarps flying around in the wind atop the derelict structure, it had a certain kind of beauty. But I suppose this sort of retrofitting is good for the town so I won't complain.

Creature comforts

Nov. 18, 2018

A carpet of fallen black walnuts in McCleary equal free eats for a wide variety of wild critters in the cold months ahead.

Flour Power!

Nov. 5, 2018

The bagels and muffins at Gordon's were calling the other bread products to move their buns and join their bid for Peace! Bread! Freedom!

But no matter how you slice it, the bread section just wanted to loaf around. One of the loaves made a rye comment about how escape went against their grain, and why give up being the toast of the town?

Storybook mushrooms

Oct. 31, 2018. On First St. behind the McCleary Hotel.

Behind the McCleary Hotel

Oct. 31, 2018

On First St. The time of year when weird mushrooms appear.

The Great Garbage Container Caper pt. 2

Oct. 24, 2018

The mysterious removal of the garbage container rotting fence during the weekend when the staff was away and the shifting of the bin to another location brought this response from Rainbow Park:

"Distruction of this area was not permitted by management or it's employees! Distruction of Rainbow Park property is considered unlawful and will result in criminal charges. Posted 10/23/18"

The Great Garbage Container Caper pt. 1

Oct. 24, 2018

Over the weekend, when the staff was away, someone mysteriously tore down the rotting fence surrounding the trash bin at the Rainbow Park and moved the container across the roadway.

Daily World

Oct. 24, 2018

It was only a couple decades ago the front yards across town had either the orange Daily World box or the white Olympian box-- except for Wally Moody's yard. He was the only guy in town to subscribe (by mail) to The Wall Street Journal.

These newspaper delivery boxes are going the way of the phone booth.

Timbear interior these days

Oct. 23, 2018

The interior of the former Timbear restaurant. After years of being derelict, the roof has been removed and the building will be reborn into another use.

Goodbye to one of the Sentinels of the Park

Oct. 19, 2018

I don't know the details, but I suspect this was one of the trees around town that never really fully recovered from the clobbering it got from the 1996 Ice Storm.

How foggy was it?

Oct. 19, 2018

It was so foggy that Simpson's smokestack is barely visible at 10:33 AM as seen from the front of the clinic!

Sunday morning on First Street part 3

Oct. 14, 2018

Note the realtor sign, so enjoy the trees while they last.

Sunday morning on First Street part 2

Oct. 14, 2018

Sunday morning on First Street part 1

Oct. 14, 2018

Fall at the Rainbow

Oct. 10, 2018

Rainbow Park

Gutted and retrofitted

Oct. 10, 2018

The old Mark E. Reed Memorial Hospital is being gutted and retrofitted to be some kind of short-term mental health holding facility.

Is this you or yours?

Sept. 29, 2018

An unusual document found on the Post Office bulletin board:

"Is this you or yours?
Take me home.
I was found in a frame in a
garage sale."

This almost sounds like the lyrics to a country-western song.

Unexpected traffic signal light

Sept. 26, 2018

There is no automatic traffic signal light as of yet in downtown McCleary, but just across the freeway there sits a very long light at a construction site on the Mox Chehalis Road, in the area of Sine.

If it happens in the woods, it can happen in McCleary city limits

Sept. 20, 2018

A forensic look at this brings me to the conclusion that a large bird of prey probably took off with one the squirrels in my yard, or possibly one of the wild rabbits. I've seen owls, eagles, hawks, and falcons fly through here over the years.

There have been coyote and cougar sightings reported from residential neighborhoods in the last few months. A few years ago I saw a huge porcupine sauntering down a city street.

One animal I used to see a lot around here but not much anymore-- the possum.

Let's not get started on raccoons.

Steampunk Sax

Sept. 9, 2018.

Jay Larson occasionally can be seen playing his saxophone at the NW corner of the VFW Hall usually to an audience numbering zero. He's at it just for fun, no hat on the sidewalk waiting for the coin of the realm.

And, he's really good.

His saxophone was rescued from a junkyard in Wyoming and has obviously been brought back to life with loving care, giving it a really wonderful steampunk appearance.

The Really Big One

Aug. 23, 2018

A poster for an event seen at the bulletin board at Gordon's. Local real estate people and the Chamber of Commerce will not like this blogpost.

This poster advertises a talk by Charles Wallace, aka Chuck Wallace, Deputy Director of Grays Harbor Emergency Management. It is sort of unsettling the event is set for the date of Sept. 11th.

Anyway, Mr. Wallace has been working hard around the county in presentations attempting to inform people about our inevitable disaster when, not if, when the Cascadia Subduction Fault decides to unzip.

The last time this baby became undone was in Jan. 1700. The next cyclical geological shift in these plates could happen at any time-- five minutes, five hours, five days, five decades. We don't know. When it does happen it will be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

Imagine a 9 point or so quake where the epicenter moves offshore from Cape Mendocino up to Vancouver Island, lasting about five or more minutes. The coast will drop around six feet, followed by a giant tsunami where the effect will reach clear to Montesano.

Goodbye Ocean Shores, Westport, Long Beach, Seaview, Tokeland, Oysterville, Moclips. Adios to downtown Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Cosmopolis.

McCleary will only drop about a foot, meaning most of the century old plus dwellings in town will collapse, like mine. But our town will probably serve as a refugee station, with air supplies landing at Sanderson Field in Shelton.

Our current federal government's response to the Puerto Rico disaster after Hurricane Maria does not exactly inspire confidence in depending on outside help after the Cascadia unzipping takes place. I think Mr. Wallace is trying to let us know we need to be responsible for ourselves and prepare for the worst.

Check out Kathryn Schulz "The Really Big One" (2015) in the New Yorker
 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Hay! Look!

Aug. 22, 2018

Rolling up hay like this is illegal in some areas because their agricultural authorities say livestock should get a square meal.

West McCleary exit still closed

Aug. 21, 2018

State Route 8 remains bottlenecked for a few miles at McCleary. This has been a very long construction project.

Mason County has vanished

Aug. 21, 2018

Looking north down 5th Street from Oak. The forest fire smoke is so bad that the hills of Mason County are no longer visible on the horizon. When sunlight does filter through it has a red tint solar eclipse sort of light.

Vote Here

Aug. 7, 2018

Voting by mail has killed off the voting booth and the social ritual of filling out your ballot on the spot.

I poked my head in the door of the VFW Hall on Primary Day 2018 only to see a vast empty room save for two dour senior citizens sitting at a forlorn table with a big box on the surface in which voters could place their ballots. I felt like I had disturbed their nap and they were rather cross about it.

Skidmarks at Anarchy Intersection

Aug. 7, 2018

Skidmarks at a pedestrian cross walk on the Anarchy Intersection where Summit, Simpson, Main, and Third come together. I believe this is under the jurisdiction of WSDOT who likely won't place a much needed traffic light here until someone is killed or seriously injured.

Munching on apples in the shadow of Simpson

Aug. 7, 2018

A young deer enjoys a breakfast of apples under a lone tree next to the VFW Hall right across the street from the Simpson complex.

Path through the Pines

Aug. 7, 2018.

This path on the SW corner of Maple and Main goes through the Pines. But where are trees, you might ask.

The Pines was a name applied by Cal Clark in the 1950s to the final incarnation of one of the old-time two-story false buildings in downtown McCleary until it was closed by the IRS who padlocked the doors and then later burned (allegedly by kids playing with matches) after being abandoned for a few years in the 1980s.

On this lot at different times in history was a gathering spot for the local Greeks, it was also a house of prostitution upstairs, a topless bar in the 1960s, a family restaurant, a meeting spot for labor agitators in the 1920s-1930s, and a card room where Cecil "Primo" Boling was the dealer with his giant hands.

I recall watching the high flames shoot up from the roof which pretty much gutted the place. The burned out derelict remained standing for far too long as a wrecked reminder of McCleary's colorful past.

The former Timbear Cafe stands across Maple St.