I decided to give you a look at another one of the sights we saw at Watershed Park this past Sunday. I suppose I could have posted another scenic shot of trails and trees but why not treat you to one of the living creatures of the forest. This is Scaphinotus Angusticollis, better known as the Ground Beetle. He was just sitting there minding his own business. He didn't seem to mind the photo op too much.

Living in the Olympia area since 1994 I've been to most of the local parks and trails. There aren't many that my wife hasn't been to either, but today we took 2 of our 3 kids and went for a walk through Watershed Park. This is a place we will definitely be returning to. A nice clear trail winds through lush green old growth forest. There are several foot bridges that cross small creeks & the moss hangs from many of the trees. As you look off to the side of the trail you see trillium, fern, skunk cabbage and plenty of Gandonerma Applanatum. It took us about an hour to walk the trail at a leisurely pace, and that includes stopping for numerous photos. This truly is an area that besides the trail itself has been left in it's wonderfully natural state. For myself and my family this shot from our walk is our contribution to Scenic Sunday.

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My wife and I both work on Saturdays. Today when we came home our daughter asked if we could all go on a bike ride. No problem we said. Earlier this summer my wife got a new set of wheels. A couple of months ago she ordered a sturdy basket so that our French Bulldog Otis could go with us. We loaded up the bikes, kids and the dog and headed for the Chehalis Western Trail. We put Otis in the basket and secured him in place just in case he decided to jump out. My wife took off and it didn't take long before he looked like Joe Cool, cruising down the trail with the wind blowing through his wrinkles. After putting on a few miles we headed back for the truck. We lifted him out of the basket and set him down. You should have seen him strutting around. Boy was he proud of himself. It was pretty darned cute.

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Abe, if you happen to see this post please keep on doing what you're doing.

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A few days ago as we were walking through downtown Olympia we spotted this beautiful Mimosa or Silk Tree. It seems we caught it at the right time as it was just covered with clusters of these blossoms. To learn more about this showy tree click here.

In my last post I had mentioned that we were downtown for an event. It was "Sand in the City", a sand sculpture contest. Well, we went, we saw, we photographed, we loaded said photos on computer, then promptly (and quite accidently) deleted them. Oops! While we were there though we spotted this beautiful bronze sculpture titled "Motherhood" by Simon Kogan. The plaque reads (b. 1959 - ) Donated to the City of Olympia Art in Public Places Program, September 29th 1999. Is the boardwalk at Budd Inlet an odd place to put such a statue? All I know is it seems to attract a lot of attention. Whenever we there people are gathered around admiring it.

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Before my wife and I went out for dinner tonight we took a drive out Highway 101 past these handsome bovines. On the way back my wife managed to catch this Skywatch Friday shot reflected off the window and mirror. We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and for more great Skywatch Friday photos click the link below.

About a half hour north of Olympia sits the city of Lakewood where I grew up. Actually at the far end of this lake right about in the middle of the photo. This photo was taken from the bridge that crosses the lake. You'll learn a little more about the lake and see the bridge pictured here. As a kid, I boated, rafted, swam and fished this lake, usually with my best friend John. We would pack a lunch and raft from home to the bridge where we'd tie up. Then we'd put on our masks and go diving to see all the treasure that had been thrown off the bridge. Old appliances, stolen bicycles, you name it. As for this shot, it's a trip down memory lane, and our contribution to Watery Wednesday.

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This evening while driving through downtown Olympia we spotted this beautiful gold medallion on the Bank of America building. Knowing that over the years numerous banks have changed names, been bought, taken over and absorbed into the entity I decided to find out a little more about the connection between The 1st National Bank and Bank of America. I found out that the story is way too long to post here, but if you're interested in a short explanation click here. 

Okay, so last year for my birthday my wonderful wife told me she wanted to get me a dog. She knew I wanted a Boston Terrier. We already had a French Bulldog (Otis), but he's kind of slow moving. The Boston is more of a high energy dog without being all out hyper. Enter Muffy, (August 2008 birthday present). She has been wonderful. She's a great companion for Otis as well as the rest of us, she is as friendly as can be, (to people that is) and she's just a loving dog. So, why the worried look you ask? I don't know if you noticed but over her shoulder is this year's birthday present, a sexy new 24" iMac!!!!!! Wahoooooo!!! I've been waiting for years to get one, and now finally here it is. As soon as I brought it home today I started clearing the old PC off the cool gray retro tanker desk. Then I started unboxing it. Once it was all set up and in place I have to admit, that modern silver iMac sitting atop that desk was pretty cool. Cool enough I think that someone is a little worried that she's being replaced. I told her not to worry though. There's room in the house for both of them. Then I told her not to get any hair on it.