Coast Chronicles: The merrie month of May

Published 6:37 am Monday, May 2, 2022

Now that property taxes are paid, Canada geese are heading north, the daffs have come and gone, the hummers are back, and the days are longer, I guess we can say we’re solidly into spring. We’ve had five sunny days in a row! as well as a crush of tourists as clam digging was added to the calendar. And that nine pound trout pulled out of Black Lake by Layne Whipple. Wow!

Garden notes

Apropos that: got an email from Nancy Allen, who’s charted and organized both the Oysterville Garden tour (coming up on the 21st) and “Music in the Gardens” later this summer (July 9), “We wanted to let you know we are having hanagumori [cherry blossom viewing] in our yard and thought you might like to visit this weekend for coffee or a martini.” Yes, indeedy. I stopped by Saturday afternoon and got the whole tour starting with the flowering cherries (though we had, by that time, lost our martini maker to fishing).

Nancy said, “When we first moved we asked a gardener friend to put in seven cherry trees for us and a couple years later I said, ‘But where are the cherries?’ Well, we were informed there would never be cherries — these trees are ornamental! Then we thought, ‘Just as well. What would we have done with so many trees of ripening fruit?’”

I have one ornamental cherry just inside my front gate. It provides a welcome home when I brush under it, especially now when blossoms fall on my shoulders. My Montmorency (sour) cherries are just completing their blooming phase, while the Liberty Apples are in full glorious bloom, singing “It’s May, It’s May the lusty month of May.”

I love watching the year proceed from one season to the next as mirrored in the garden, or the skies. Now we know the honking of geese means to look up and northward, as their long loopy lines of flight skim the clouds; and that those beauties zinging around mean it’s time to keep the hummingbird feeders filled (one part sugar, four parts water).

These longer days are heaven-sent. Even if it’s raining, we still have more light: my solar lights have no problem now marking the path ‘til past bedtime. These alternating warm/wet days is the season called “38 shades of green” by my one-time neighbor Sojourner Smith. (I wish she were still at the other end of the path through our adjoining wild lands.) Though, shoot, just at the wrong time I’ve lost my mower fellow, so I’ve been cruising the grocery store bulletin boards trying to decide on an appropriate handy guy (or gal). Maybe I’ll even yank that darn mower cord myself and wake my machine from its slumber.

Booster #2 and covid updates

By the way, I took the plunge and got my second booster last week at the county building on Sandridge. (My arm was pretty sore for a couple days, but, aside from a nap or two, I had no other obvious repercussions.) The shot is now available, free, for anyone over 50 or anyone with an autoimmune condition. I know that Fauci has said we’re out of the “full-blown pandemic phase,” and some misguided judge in Florida (is it the water there?) with no medical expertise has seen fit to override the CDC mask recommendations. So our covid numbers have gone up in recent weeks, as they have in many other places as people jettison their masks.

I’m still wearing mine in grocery stores, or anywhere inside where I don’t know everyone. I use the New York Times covid tracking site which allows you to monitor county or state numbers anywhere in the U.S. (tinyurl.com/yh8dzhyf). You can set up your own slate of counties/states to watch. I’ve included Pacific, Clatsop, Yakima, King, Multnomah, Pima (Tucson, Arizona) and a couple other places where I have friends.

When I checked in on Monday last week, our Pacific County numbers were insane: a reported increase of 5,600%! I checked with our county health exec Katie Lindstrom and she wrote me, “We have seen a bump in cases the last couple weeks, but not by that much. Our data shows 3,843 cases total with 10 new cases in the past seven days. It’s possible the site you’re using got some older data that they just received.”

“Now all that said, we have seen an increase and it does not include all of the people who are testing positive at home right now … so it’s likely more than 10 for this last week. I’m sure some of the increase can be attributed to the mask mandate lifting, but some of it also just may be the natural progression of the disease. The BA.2 (a sublineage of the omicron) is more infectious than the original. It has become the dominant strain in Washington.”

Meanwhile, the folks who handled my booster were so professional and friendly. Nurse Kim Oliver gave me the most gentle poke; and her boss, health program manager Todd Strozyk, wanted me to assure folks that even if your free testing kit has an expiration date “you can extend that out 90 days — it’s still good.” And more free home testing kits are available at Timberland Library, Ocean Beach Hospital, Long Beach City Hall, and the Pacific County building on Sandridge. Todd also said, “Tell folks that if they do test positive to please contact us online so that we can keep track of the virus.” www.pacificcountycovid19.com/index.html. You can track covid data and also sign up for a vaccination at this site.)

Calling all hams

Last weekend while walking at Pacific Pines, I ran into Dori and Cary again getting the place all spiffed up for us: repairing the restrooms and bringing in the picnic tables. The park is open now. Then, just a couple days before, I stopped by and spoke with Mike and Jeff Isakson (a father and son team) who were sitting inside their trailer parked at the gate doing … what exactly?

I poked my nose in to find out. “We’re here to activate the parks and we’ve done 10 so far including Leadbetter, Bottle Beach, West Haven, Willapa.” Activation in ham radio lingo captures the moment “a contact is made between two legally licensed and operating stations exchanging call signs.”

There’s even a state parks “activation program” and guidelines provided by the parks department: stats.parksontheair.com/info/activator_guide.pdf. Parks on the Air (POTA) “encourages amateur radio operators in developing their skills, fostering community and demonstrating the hobby to the public. There are thousands of parks available in the program and each will present a unique experience.”

Mike and Jeff are from the Radio Club of Tacoma (w7dk.org and note they have an extensive newsletter archive, The Logger’s Bark.) I asked if they knew either Dick Lemke or Frank Wolfe, the only two hammers I know. Then I realized, no, they’d only know call-numbers and I didn’t have those on the tip of my tongue. Anyway, Jeff said, “We’re having a great time.” Mike added, “The sun spots have been messing up our signals a little.” (As for me, I was glad the sun was out, spots or not.) Sunday Mike texted me, “We completed the first leg of our trip in Lincoln City and we activated 31 parks in our quest!”

Between the upcoming O’ville garden tour, the riot of ornamental cherries, covid boosters, hummers at the feeders, and hams in the park — it’s just another standard (extraordinary!) week on the Peninsula.