JeffPUD (Jefferson County PUD #1) and BPA (Bonneville Power Administration) celebrated their new partnership last week, on Tuesday the 11th of June 2013. Here is a video report by Olympic Peninsula video reporter, Jeff Chew.

The City just closed the deal to buy the two parcels across from Bayview on which Tri Vo wanted to put 141 million dollar condos. (Next, with luck, something will happen about that ugly tower...)

Since Late 2009 Capitol Lake has been closed... Information about the New Zealand Mud Snail population in Capitol Lake.

According to the information on this placard, the snails can survive passage through the digestive systems of fish and birds. Also only one snail is necessary to establish a population.

The lake is closed to humans and their pets, in order to prevent spreading to other waterways. But what about wildlife, ducks, geese, other waterfowl and eagles?

Doesn't it seem possible that a duck or an eagle, for example, could ingest a snail, then fly to a different waterway, where the snail could be excreted (pooped out,) and another population could develop?

I am sure this has been thought of, but I can't recall hearing any discussion along these lines.

Does this make cause for an urgent effort to eradicate the snails? Is it irresponsible to allow the snail population to linger? I remember the lake draw-down in early two thousand ten. Those were ineffective. The snail is a very tenacious and hardy creature. If they can survive some measure of salinity, cold and dryness, then what might be necessary to provide an effective defense against their further spreading into the environment?

On Friday, June 14 from 5-7pm, Ron Patton, publisher of Paranoia Magazine will be at Last Word Books, 211 E. 4th Ave, Olympia, WA 98501.

 He'll be talking about the history of Paranoia: The Conspiracy Reader, it's recent resurgence from dormancy, the upcoming Paranoia Conference, and, a plethora of conspiratorial topics.

 RP will have current and back issues of Paranoia available for purchase, along with a few mind-blowing conspiracy books.

 Check out the website at www.paranoiamagazine.com

 https://www.facebook.com/events/458615727558701/

I haven’t written on this site in some time and upon checking back I notice there doesn’t seem to be much substantive “news” and the threads which seem to get the most comments are more likely than not to involve naked preachers. Regardless, I believe that olyblog readers are smart, community active and interested in public and civic affairs. 

As such, I draw readers’ attention to an article in yesterdays NY Times about the initiative which Mayor Bloomberg is undertaking – not as a mayor but as billionaire with a clearly defined sense of civic pride. See No money for guns. 

The article points out that Bloomberg “… in a sharp escalation in the battle over gun control, is seeking to punish Democratic senators by taking away the one thing they most need from New Yorkers: money.” He is “… send(ing) a personal letter to hundreds of the biggest Democratic donors in New York urging them to cut off contributions to the four Democratic senators who helped block a bill in April that would have strengthened background checks on gun purchasers.”

Now that’s what I call putting your (and your friends) money where your mouth is. Bloomberg realizes that the campaign finance system we have in this country is a perversion of Democracy and the Republic is (in fact) Lost as author Lawrence Lessig writes.

At the same time he knows that where 90% of voters want background checks and still the Senate can’t muster a filibuster-proof majority the a likely way to level the field is with money – the true mother’s milk of politics. The NRA wins, even despite huge public majorities, when the public doesn’t “show up”.

Inspired by CIA Guy's post about Westbay Drive:

State Capitol Campus Legislative Building Dome with 4th Avenue bridge in foreground

Loaded Log Carrier at Port of Olympia Marine Terminal

Deforestation plays a significant role in global warming (Internet Search).

Silver Lake Alongside Port of Olympia Marine Terminal Pier

See large size (5586x1040) version below the fold.

Sunday 9 June 2013, 180º panorama, from West Bay Rotary Park, including view of State Capitol Temple of Justice and Legislative Building Dome, and Port of Olympia with MV Silver Lake, mostly loaded log carrier ship alongside Marine Terminal pier.

In the fall of 2006, I had been a live-in volunteer at Bread & Roses in Olympia, Washington for about three years. That’s three years of experiencing and witnessing the direct effects of homelessness in the lives of people whom I had come to care for and love. Daily, they were tormented by predators, police, and policies – all things compounding to make it nearly impossible to recover from the cycle of homelessness. One co-worker described it as “being stuck on the side of the freeway, trying to pull into traffic, but cars keep whipping by, leaving you stuck where you’re at.” Resources were scarce and getting scarcer. Politics in Olympia had shifted toward a very pro-business/anti-homeless track. Getting rid of homeless people was the goal, as opposed to helping them to get off of the streets. This trend culminated in the summer of 2006 in the form of a Pedestrian Interference Ordinance that would strip people’s right to gather in public spaces – namely, our sidewalks – during certain times of day.

back in August of 1988 when you passed a sawmill, a plywood factory, a steel rolling mill, a veneer plant and occasionally a train while driving down this road.

I have wanted to get a shot of the mountain this vantage point for a while, finally got around to it a couple days ago. This is from Henderson, just up the hill where the road curves, past Pioneer Park where it crosses the Deschutes River.

'ti'swaq (name of the Mountain according to Robert Satiacum, Restore Native Names to Sacred Places more information)

The time of the Solstice is upon us, and lingering twilight has been ranging right up near to the Eleven O'Clock hour. These shots are from Percival Landing, at about 10:45pm yesterday eve.

Some photos from around town:

The Heron can be a difficult one to photograph. When I approached this one by the 5th Ave Dam, it waited a little before flying off to the opposite side of the dam, then it flew again further down to the rocks of the rip-rap, and gave itself a good feather ruffling.

wind under the bridge

And now for some flowers!

Yellow Rose