This morning as I walked to the beach on a leaf-covered road that wound through a dripping forest, the normally quiet little stream that paralleled my path shouted as it leaped down the hillside.  It had been raining steadily for about thirty hours, but this morning the rain had let up, although as I walked along kicking the huge yellow maple leaves that lay strewn everywhere, it still sounded as if it were raining as the water dripped from the trees which had been partially stripped of their finery by the high winds.

     Here in the Northwest it can rain steadily for an entire day and not deposit more than a few inches.  You rarely see the intense frog chokers that you see in the rest of the world.

          The temperature was mild, about 56 degrees, which is typical after the great Pineapple Express sweeps through from the vicinity of Hawaii bringing wind and rain and “warm” air, and I expected to see large numbers of slugs.  The only slug that I saw, however, was one that had stranded itself on the pipe railing beside the path that led down the steep slope to the beach.  There were a few earthworms sliding slickly along the black asphalt pavement, but not in the great abundance that I have seen before at other times.

    The beach had been eroded by the rains, and once again I wondered why on earth when they had converted the private property to a park, the stone bulwark that had been there previously had been removed only to be replaced with severed logs with their roots chained to metal stakes that held them in place.   These logs did a sorry job of protecting the beach against erosion and in the few years since the stone had been removed the land had eroded significantly.

         The stream ran down a small spillway onto the sandy beach, cutting a deep trench through the sand, and the brown fresh water pointed south as it ran into the sea indicating that the tide was coming in.

         Most of the mushrooms that I had photographed in the past few weeks had fallen into slimey clumps of mush, but there were a few small ones scattered here and there amongst the fern and moss.   The mushroom season seems to reach it’s height here in late October, and I saw and photographed several species.  I also ate some that I deemed to be safe.  Perhaps I’ll post the photos later.

I recently traveled to the nearby town of Puyallup, driving along a road that paralleled the Puyallup River.  I noticed that the rich bottomland along the river in the town of Fife, that had once been daffodil, berry or vegetable farms were now covered with apartments, homes and businesses.   The homes were built right up the the levee that kept these bottomlands from flooding.  The hillsides that lined the valley, steep and wooded, now had homes built on the steep slopes.  And these were relatively new homes.

Last Saturday and Sunday a big “Pineapple Express” swept through the area.  This is the common storm that sweeps into the Northwest from the vicinity of Hawaii, bringing in warmer temperature and lots of rain.  It appears that much of the problem that resulted after the storm involved flooding of buildings that have been built on flood plains.  Also there were numerous instances of hillsides slumping or sliding down to the valley, carrying homes and businesses with them.  I thought of the recent building that I saw along the river and on the steep slopes when I heard of the problems that occurred in some areas after the storm.

Why do zoning laws continue to permit building on flood plains and steep hillsides?   Why are these areas rebuilt after each successive flood?  Why do local governments allow the land with the richest soil to be covered in industrial parks and suburbs?

No wait…we lost time (counting on fingers). Daylight Savings Time came early…seems like this was decided upon as a means to save energy. I think that I also heard that some companys stood to make millions over this decision. I dunno…
I set all my clocks ahead yesterday afternoon so I wouldn’t have to do it when I came home early this morning. Then I woke up two hours earlier than I normally do and couldn’t go back to sleep.

The Pineapple Express still is tearing through the area today…a steady good rain with wind about 25 mph from the Southwest. I enjoyed watching it as I sipped my hot coffee this morning. The rain overflows from the eaves and falls on some metal sheets that I put up to protect the shingles. This is right outside my second floor bedroom window and provides a soothing splashing that lulls me to sleep.