Things Hiding in Dark, Damp Places

I got some good ideas from my previous blog about getting good every-day event pictures. Basically, thinking back, I am pretty stingy about how much 'film' I use. I wait for a good picture and the moment passes while I'm setting up the frame. So I will practice taking more pictures more often and sort out the bad or vacant expressions (or use them for news articles.)

Also, I hope you enjoy my son's guest blog. He just picked a picture from a website about his favorite video game (Legend of Zelda) and attempted to write about it. But its fun for me to see him struggle through spelling and trying to write what he is thinking, and then feel good about his accomplishment.

The other day, I took the boys for walk on the beach...the South Jetty dividing the Ocean and the Columbia River at the most Northwest point in Oregon. The tide was very low and we looked in between the rocks to see what we could find:

Some of the creepiest things we encountered during our adventure were things quickly skittering under our feet into the nearest available crack in the rocks. I cropped a close-up of one of the monsters.

Then we quickly learned to steer clear of the pecking-beaked sea snakes that were constantly poking out of their holes nipping at us as we scaled the giant Jetty Rocks.

OK, so they actually didn't move and they aren't snakes, but I thought this picture looked kind of cool and scary all at the same time. I think they have little 'tongues' that come out, grab food out water when the tides in. I didn't stay to find out for sure, though--something about being trapped between giant ocean waves and multi-ton boulders kind of dampened the desire.


Then we had to watch out for the stinging seaflowers of death that sat so innocently waiting in the water for a careless googler to step into its trap.

Actually they were only about the size what quarter and the kids were throwing poor little sea snails at them to see if the anemones would eat them. All they did was fold in their soft, harmless, spiky-looking things inside to protect themselves.

Before long we encountered the Hissing Poison Beetle, able to spray a deadly poison at its enemies to paralyze them until it could get them with its vicious jaws.

Actually, this beetle was about the size of a Brazil nut and it really did hiss when we bothered it. I told the boys that maybe it was spraying poison which kind of freaked them out. So after they stopped panicking and I stopped laughing I confessed that it probably wasn't spraying Poison.



Finally we came across the shooting spike pillow flower which sits so innocent and soft-looking in the field until an unsuspecting wanderer approaches and then...

Actually I placed the yellow flowers on the ground next to the dandelion to add some color to the picture.

All in All it was a fun adventure. And it was great spending time with the boys.