It is so hard to believe that it is November already. It has been an interesting year for me, but it has been a good one! You can kind of feel that “end-of-the-year” wind-down that happens every year.

Here’s what’s been going on the last few days:

It does feel like winter is coming, but here where I am the temperature is fairly constant and really only changes a few degrees between day and night right now so that is a bit strange. I am trying to get a bunch of projects done around here before any winter weather slows me down and I cannot get done the things I want to accomplish.

A few days ago I went with Chris to lunch at the casino. He showed me the ropes on getting a deal on the buffet, which, compared to the casinos in CO and even in Vegas, is a steal. It ends up costing $7.49 for all you can eat. Granted it is not a huge selection, but there is plenty enough to get full and it is very good food – unlike that garbage they serve at the previously mentioned places. They were constantly taking temperatures of the food and checking it to make sure it looked fresh WITHOUT stirring it around. They even made us fresh pineapple flambé. It was really good and I had never had it before. The buffet was Mexican food and it was very good quality. Pork carnitas, beef Colorado, fajitas, and the usual ground beef. They had an incredible chicken enchilada soup.

We discussed going over there for lunch in the morning but I had to ride over with him to a place the refuge manages called the Dawley House to take care of a few things. I think I had mentioned it in a previous post – it was donated to the USFWS (along with about 260 acres) and the office I work for oversees it. I guess in its heyday it was quite something. It was covered in aviaries and fruit trees, blackberries, shrubs, bushes, plants, other types of trees, ponds, and even a fountain. The house is really cool:

Check out the “eyebrow” windows in the roof – a very cool and rare feature. I believe the house was built in 1936. It is a pretty cool house inside and out. A caretaker lives in it to keep an eye on things so he has access to the fruit trees and bushes. I can go over and pick what I want as well when things come back into season. The apples are just coming on ripe and are quite good. I am not a big apple fan, but these are good ones.

Today I went to lunch with the Wildlife Officer and his buddy visiting from Wisconsin. We went to the grill at the golf course right down the road. It was bought a few years back by the local S’Klallam tribe and it is really nice and quite reasonable for the types and quality of food you can order. Both here and at the casino they have done an amazing job with the style of the buildings and the gardens surrounding them. They are beautifully decorated with colorful plants in the gardens and totem poles. I will be coming here more often.

I went down to the beach on Friday to check on things and saw this:

I guess they like to go to the beach too! That was a rather strange sight, but I have seen it before… just had not gotten a picture until now. The deer look pretty good this year – smooth coats, and they look very healthy and well-fed. I just hope the hunters aren’t well-fed.

In closing this post, here are a few pics from one of the trails I keep track of: