Omen for the Decade

Snow Geese on Skagit Flats

On the first day of 2010 we saw an omen. We were cruising along I-405 on a hardware store errand. Traffic was very light since most of you were home watching the Rose Parade.


As the designated driver I was keeping a sharp eye out for hazards. In the road ahead I spotted what might be road kill. But it looked different. It seemed taller than your normal pancake possum.

As I calmly approached I saw that the lump was actually two varmints. One was a furry and the other was a red tail hawk holding it down. He was in my lane. The hawk looked me right in the eye. Hawks have very good eye sight so I know he recognized me.

I’m a pal. I feed ‘em. I watch ‘em. I don’t hurt ‘em on purpose. He looked at me and held on to his varmint. I passed about two feet away at 65 mph and when I checked my mirror he was still there.

But I don’t know what the omen portends.

Which brings us to the annual eagle trip. Every year we try to visit the eagles on the Skagit River because eagles are majestic. They sometimes put on a show. On this trip it was particularly rainy and foggy.

On the way back we decided to try the Barlow Pass route. It had been closed for several years due to sliding into the Sauk River. The Sauk has eagles but not as many as the Skagit.

The road to Barlow Pass from Darrington turns into gravel and is only one lane wide in many places. On this day it also had snow and ice as well as rocks in a couple places. It’s steep too. Remembering the hawk I held on.

We made it to the pass and down to Granite Falls just fine. No worries.

If you’re not familiar with the eagles on the Skagit you should Google images of “Skagit River Eagles.” Plenty of good photos. We haven’t done the raft trip version yet. At some point that might be interesting. I don’t know how they keep warm in the raft. It just looks like a cold wet place to be.

Back in Newcastle they announced the ground will break for the new library this year. Actually it’s already broken. The construction company doing the street for the interim transit center has parked a lot of orange machines along the edge. Inevitably somebody managed to break the library ground.

Before the road work for bus transit we had a right turn lane going into the Safeway strip mall parking lot. We lost that lane. So I was right about the plan posted on the internet that I thought did nothing to make the roadway wider. It didn’t. After the busses finally begin to use the new bus stop we’ll have to find a different way to get into the parking area from Newcastle Way. I wonder if anyone thought about that.

Watch for more omens in the coming months.

Al