Hood Canal First Week of July.

We spent last week overlooking Hood Canal, making day trips by Kayak and pontoon boat.

Eagles, like the one above were pretty common, as were giant flocks of Blue Herron and curious Seals.

We took a boat tour that lead us into the Indian reservation, up past where Mr. Nalley had once damned up the river to grow wheat during the summer months and released the waters so that his rich East Coast clients could hunt for water fowl in the soggy grey days of winter.

Ike had pneumonia right before we got there, so he and Sweetie showed up a day late, to give him time to get better. This is the second time this year Ike’s had pneumonia, remarkable only in the fact that he’d never had it before in all the years he’s been around. We are cautiously blaming the ketogenic diet he is now on to control his seizures.

The tour lasted until the sun slipped behind the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula. In the last few rays of sunshine, the seals swam close enough to touch—breaking the surface of the smooth water long enough to take stock before diving in search of another meal.