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.