The orca whales, used to be known as killer whales, are back in the vicinity of Vashon Island. Above is a great shot taken by a friend of ours and I just lifted off FB. That is a pretty cool pic of the critter breaching.

It is too bad that Annie and the rest of the LA gang that were up here last month missed this. It is hard to predict when exactly the orcas will show up each fall and sometime it is earlier. First time I saw them it was September.

Time for a little story. I was fresh here on the Island and to the Pacific Northwest and it was 1972. My first job as a carpenter was working on a beach house on the westside of the island. I was getting two dollars an hour and I could stay there at the site. We had all the windows out of the old house which we were moving and remodeling. The house is right on the water I remember being woken by the sound of the whales breathing as they came up the channel. The sound of the half a dozen animals was echoing back and forth in the calm of the early morn. What an exotic way to wake and what a welcome to my new neighborhood!

I don’t know what this going to mean this year as the salmon season is closed due to the poor return of fish from the ocean and the orcas eat a lot of salmon. So will they still hang around? I guess they still have seals. Wild Kingdom out here, up to our armpits in nature.

Planting my cover crop on the corn field today, after getting it tilled yesterday. It’s not going to rain this AM, better get out there. Well, go get’em today whatever you are up to. Big whale loves, Felipe.