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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Digging Razor Clams

Digging razor clams is not like digging steamer clams. Some folks use a long narrow shovel and they may consider themselves purists but we have found that clam ‘guns’ work just fine for us. These guns are tubes, often made of plastic pipe but also made of aluminum or steel, with handles on the top. A clammer finds a clam ‘show’ – a dimple in the wet sand – and then carefully lines the gun up with that dimple and going at an angle with the handle a bit back towards shore, the clammer shoves the tube as far into the sand as she can. Then she puts her thumb or finger over a small hole on the handle and pulls the tube, now full of heavy, wet sand, out and with any luck, the clam will be in that sand. She may have to do this twice or just reach down into the wet sand and grab the clam before it digs away from her. These clam digs are timed with low tides and often are at night. We were lucky that our tides were in the early evening and the days are lengthening so we did not need lanterns and head lamps! There is a limit of fifteen clams per person per day. We got our limits each day. After digging, you have to clean the clams and that’s really the hard part. People get to drive on the beach to their favorite spot. We were lucky to be staying right on the beach so just walked out the door to our favorite spot!

The view from our room
Perfect clamming weather
Wish us luck
MA reaches for her clam
There it is!
Show me your clam!
Frist you push it all the way in
Then you pull, trying to avoid straining your back
And then you get the clam
A nice one
A limit of fifteen clams. Look out – that one is trying to get away.
Happy clammers
More happy clammers
Our two limits on the first day
Clammers at sunset
Ken and his brother in the clam shack, cleaning clams
A clam ready to be cleaned

Good Times at the Beach

Last week the dogs and I drove across the state and met Ken for a few days of razor clam digging. He’d been working on the Olympic Peninsula and the timing was good for a clam season. These seasons happen about once a month between November and April on the Washington coast. In addition to clam digging there was lots of other fun on the beach. Ken fished for surf perch. His brother joined us for one night. Our friend Mary Ann and her dog Frida and her friend Linda spent two nights there. The dogs loved running and chasing balls on the beach. Sky became seriously addicted to the ‘chuck it’ toy. We had some seriously good weather for February and some normal overcast and rainy weather too.

With three feet of snow on the ground at home, these crocuses were a welcome sight.
The view from our room
One of many creeks that pour into the ocean
We had some really good weather
Clammers at sunset
Bull kelp
Bull kelp
Northwest Crow
Surf perch
Sky is more interested in her ball than the fish
A stringer of surf perch
Luna wonders why Ken won’t throw the ball for her
A flock of peeps
Fishing for surf perch in the rain

Black Dogs in the Snow

What kind of photo situation is the most difficult? I am always challenged with photographing my black dogs and today to make it worse, it was snowing this morning, the light was flat and there was more than half a foot of new snow. But how much fun is this? These dogs like snow and they know how to have fun. It looks like they are fighting and trying to hurt each at times but they never do. Well, when Sky was younger and had her puppy teeth, she did make Luna’s ears bleed more than once. Speaking of Sky, she is now over six months old and weighs more than 50 pounds! How big will she get? Luna is 65 pounds and she has lots of long curly hair. She needs a haircut soon. I know, this is a lot of images of black dogs in the snow but we like dogs.

Here comes Sky
Yes, that is my stick, why do you ask?
Luna’s white beard
Oh look, the neighbors are going to church.
Let the games begin
Break
Luna pushes Sky into a snowbank
Sky explodes out of the snowbank
Shake
Even with all that shaking Luna is still covered with snow
Sky nearly flies down the hill
Why yes, I do have another stick.

Summer Memories on a Winter Day

These images are from last Thursday, the same day I photographed the bees. It was a very warm February day with the temperature approaching fifty degrees. Today it is near freezing and snow has been falling for hours. In the last week or so we’ve had nearly two feet of new snow but combined with warm afternoons, it is compressed and heavy with ice in the places exposed by the snow plow and shovels and in the trails that are heavily trod upon.

aspen leaf
yarrow
bubbles
bubbles in a partially ice covered puddled
bubbles
shadow
ice where the truck gets parked
ice at the bottom of the stairs
flax seeds
grass seeds
maple seeds
maple seeds
hop in the snow
hops on the vine
sunflower
sunflower stem
upward sunflower
downward sunflower
splash

Cahalen & Eli in Twisp

When I first thought about where I’d like to live, the Methow Valley was high on my list for two things – the terrific outdoor recreation possibilities (hiking, skiing, etc) and the arts. This area has a large number of creative people and it also supports the arts pretty remarkably for such a rural location. Last night we had the good fortune to experience a wonderful musical act – Cahalen and Eli in the Spartan Art Project which is currently located at TwispWorks. How can I begin to describe all of this? Let’s see – TwispWorks is housed in a former US Forest Service complex that was surplused by the federal government and put out for auction. A group of civic minded folks decided it could be a great incubator to support arts and small businesses in our valley and they raised enough money ($1 million dollars!) to buy it and then they had to start refurbishing the old buildings. Now it is home to art studios, classrooms, a natural history center, teen center and more! The Spartan Art Project is a 1951 travel trailer transformed into a gallery space supporting artists both local and from far away. It is the brainchild of three local artists. Last night Donna Keyser’s studio on the TwispWorks campus hosted a reception for the musicians and the audience.

Cahalen and Eli are two fine acoustic musicians based in Seattle. In the last week they have been featured on NPR and Folk Alley and probably other media outlets as well. They write many of their own songs and play mandolins, banjo and guitar and their harmonies are wonderful We were lucky to have such a talented duo in our tiny town of Twisp. One of the ways that the Spartan Art Project supports artists is with their ‘Intimate Performances’. This is the third one. As you might imagine, an old travel trailer does not seat too many people. However, the acoustics are wonderful and the chance to see these men performing up close was particularly entertaining. We reserved two seats so we could be up close and personal with the show.

Matt Armbrust, one of the three ‘spartners’ in this project introduces the musicians
After the performance, visiting with the musicians as snow falls.