Humpies

The Dungeness River (about a mile from our place) is now overrun with thousands (as many as 100,000) of Pink salmon or humpback salmon known locally as pinks or humpies.  They are small (about a foot to two feet long) and I am told they are the most abundant of our Pacific salmon.  We spent the afternoon watching their migration up the river to spawn.   During their spawning migration the males develop a humped back and yeah, you got it, that is why they are called “humpies”!  (The pink color of this fish's flesh is due to their diet of shrimp and krill.)

At different points along the shallow river, you can watch the females dig a trough with her tail.  The male swims up beside and I am guessing, he then fertilizes the eggs as they are deposited.  At least that is what is supposed to be happening, but you really do not get close enough to see the detailed “operation”.

Exciting to see so many salmon and hopefully they will produce a large hatch available for catching in next year’s fishing season! 

No Waste Wednesday #35–Subscriptions

Reference:  Resolution posted 12/31/12

I gave up magazine and newspaper subscriptions many years ago.  Not only do they cost (introductory offers are inexpensive, but eventually it adds up), the continuous receipt day after day, month after month means stacks and stacks of paper.  And the glossy pages of magazines are not always eligible for the recycle bin.  Plus, magazines are so full of advertisements, the articles are practically lost. 

Almost all magazine and newspaper content are now found on the internet.  International and National news are now real-time.  Local news feeds to my Facebook page throughout the day.  Informative blogs on subjects that interest me are everywhere.  You can even access favorite magazines on-line.  Colorful photos of creative ideas are endless.  Instead of tearing out a page to save an idea or image for future reference, the photo and link can now be saved or pinned to a virtual “bulletin board” on my Pinterest internet account. 

Why do I need a hard copy?  I do not.  Stop and save a tree!

No Waste Wednesday #34–No Words

 

 

 

Recent Facebook post from a friend.  Perfect.

No Waste Wednesday #33– Old Fashioned Cake Mascara

“Way back when” in my high school days, one of my girl friends used old fashioned cake mascara.  It was applied with a brush wand and worked wonderfully.  Of course, she had beautiful eyes to begin with; but the cake mascara seemed much smoother with no clumps.  Very beautiful and soft looking.  Unlike my tar-based tube mascara—used back then and now. 

I think I finally found an equivalent cake mascara on Etsy.  Made with vegan products of soy wax, oxide and other natural ingredients.   The cute little tin container can be re-used.  It is unclear whether I can return the empty tin to the maker for refilling, but worth pursuing.  If not, maybe I can learn to make my own?

No Waste Wednesday #32–Keep Purging

The Zero Waste lifestyle takes some time to adopt, especially with the slow purging of previous purchases not following the guidelines.   A friend of mine mistakenly thought we had finally eliminated our garbage pick-up.  Although we are consistently down to one medium trash bag every two weeks, the pick-up is still required.  As we use up products contained in plastic or canned goods, our dry trash fills up.  Slowly plastic is being replaced with glass containers or recipes made from scratch rather than canned/packaged. 

If you have elected to follow along with our commitment to zero waste, I would encourage you not to be discouraged with a full trash bin.  The lifestyle change takes time.  Just the adjustments we have made in the last 7 months have made a huge difference.  Hang in there.

If you need encouragement, watch Bea Johnson’s YouTube video featured by Sunset Magazine. 

Watching this video was my original inspiration to begin!

No Waste Wednesday #31–Souvenirs

Several years before we learned of the zero waste movement, the idea of purchasing souvenirs during a trip was abandoned.   With the exception of one small painting, all the souvenirs we bought over the years were tossed at some point.  T Shirts.  Pens.  Trinkets.  These days we will either buy a consumable--local homemade jam, cheese, bread hot from the oven—or another painting by a local artist.

Another idea someone passed along—buy the T Shirt from your second store before the trip.  Enjoy it and donate it again.

Art Show

The month of October I will be showing some of my paintings at the Olympic Theater (in their “intermission gallery”) in Sequim.  Not sure if I am ready for this, but I guess there is a first time for everything.  Pondering which to hang with the following to consider…and I will probably complete a couple more in the next two months.  There are a few I need to photograph and they are not included below.