Coho Waiting for the Rain...

reblogged from QuestX

The beautiful autumn we've been having is definitely causing trouble for the salmon in the smaller tributaries...
...in reviewing the tributary to the larger creek, no salmon are able to move upstream beyond the first riffles, effectively restricting the coho in shallow pools.


This physically restricts the normal breeding patterns of coho: mates restricted, spawning site selection limited, spawning and redd progression restricted.



This is a very large pair, the larger coho is ~3' long.

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Coho Salmon - Competing for Space and Mates

reblogged from QuestX

Coho salmon competing for spawning habitat and mates... in a tributary of Woods Creek, Snohomish County, Washington.
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The Elephant Child (photos by Ian Salisbury)

Ian Salisbury, general manager of a safari lodge and amateur photographer, captured this scene, very reminiscent of Kipling's "The Elephant's Child" in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia.

After hearing that a lodge guest had witnessed a similar attack, Mr Salisbury took his camera to check it out, "The action was so quick, a couple of seconds, and fortunately I had the camera pointing in the right direction. Having spent 30 years in the African bush I realize how lucky I was to catch the scene."

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Today in... the Creek ~> Jockeying for Position.

reblogged from QuestX

Coho salmon jockey for position in a tributary to Woods Creek, Washington.




.For best viewing change settings to 1080 HD.

Today in ~> the Creek ... confluence... Woods Creek

reblogged from QuestX

Yesterday we took the time to film at the confluence of the forks of Woods Creek... while we were there we saw several salmon jump just below the confluence and caught one on video (see video below at ~ 16 seconds in).

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~> best viewed in 1080 HD (re-set your YouTube settings ; ) 
The west fork enters on the lower left; downstream flows to the right.
The Woods Creek confluence is north of Monroe on Yeager Road.

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Today in~> the Creek... just add water.

reblogged from QuestX

With yesterday's rains the water levels have risen dramatically and the salmon are on the move...


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The video was captured in 1080 HD, please change the settings (lower right corner of the video) to experience the video at it's optimum.

Today in ~> the Creek ... Coho Waiting for Rain

reblogged from QuestX

The water levels have definitely dropped since Sunday.
The water in the main creek is no longer high enough to allow for fish passage over barriers and the water levels in the smaller creek have dropped enough that the fish are effectively trapped in short reaches, are restricted to moving downstream, or are at/ near the confluence of the tributary and main stem of the creek.




^Video of Coho moving downstream today, waiting for more rain.

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Today in ~> the Creek ... Coho Salmon Spawning

reblogged from QuestX

Today in the Creek...


Every year when the late October / early November rains swell our Creek (a tributary of Woods Creek, Washington) Coho salmon are able to pass the many fish barriers and ascend the creek.

This year we knew the salmon were just a bit downstream of us for almost 2 weeks before the rains this past weekend allowed them upstream access. Now that they are here the eagles will not be far behind...

We've been incredibly distracted recently, but we're wrapping things up, catching up, and will be posting a lot again soon! . .

31 Days of Halloween!(+1!) Nov 1 - Day of the Dead

Make: Skulls!
Recipe: Krispy Treat Skulls!
Made:Skulls!



Make: Day of the Dead Skulls

Recipe: Rice Krispy Treat Skulls and Skull Cake

Made: Leather Day of the Dead Masks

~> The first recipe I'm posting for Day of the Dead is crispy rice treat skulls! Information about the skull cake will be posted second.



~~> Recipe: Rice Krispy Treat Skulls

Most of this recipe follows a regular rice krispy treat recipe!
Basically, the differences are that you smash up the rice krispies before you start and you mash them in to skull molds instead of a pan! (you can do this with any firm mold and they are great used as cake toppers or individual treats)
ONE batch would fit a 13x9x2 inch pan.


Ingredients:
Rice Crispy Treat 
3 Tsp butter OR margarine
1 package (10 oz., ~40) regular marshmallows OR 4 cups miniature marshmallows
5 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal (a bit less makes for a denser cast of the skull, can decrease to 5 cups)
Decoration (optional)
fondant/sugar paste or marzipan
melting chocolate
sanding sugar
sprinkles


Crush the rice cereal a bit in a heavy food bag (a freezer bag works fine); you can use a rolling pin or the back of a wooden spoon). Smaller pieces make for more detail in your castings of your food molds! (and make the treat much more dense!)
Use a light baking spray on your mold pan (I used the Wilton  3-D mini skull baking pan as a press mold).
Use a large saucepan (a paella pan or wok also works great ; ) to melt butter on low heat, add the marshmallows, and stir until melted in.
Add your crispy rice cereal and stir until evenly mixed and well coated.
Use wax paper or a buttered spoon/spatula to press mixture into molds (or you could lay it out on aluminum foil and cut it with cookie cutters).
Allow to cool.
These are best if served the same or the next day. If you need to hold them you can freeze them between layers of wax paper for up to 6 weeks.


~~> Recipe: Skull Cake

There are (at least) two good 3-D baking molds for "full sized" skulls available: Wilton and NordicWare. The Nordic Ware pan has a more complete skull shape, with the back of the skull being more rounded, but may be harder to find. Wilton also has a 3-D mini skull baking pan with molds for 4 complete smaller skulls which are great for baking or using as a press mold.
Prep baking mold (grease / lightly flour).
Fill with any standard cake recipe or mix (The recipes and mixes we have used are given here).
Allow to cool and remove from mold pan, breaking the edge of the cake/pan border with a butter knife.
After the cake has cooled, cut the un-molded edges flat and spread some frosting thinly across both facing edges to "glue" together.
Gently frost the cake. Using the Wilton mold I tend to frost the base differently than the skull.
Then pipe decoration. You can use a small plastic food bag with a tiny corner snipped off for piping.


~~~> Made:

  

           

  

Enjoy! 
 
DeWyk

31Days ofHalloween! Day30- Recipe: Skull Cakes, Glazes, Frostings & Molds

Want to make a special dessert for Halloween or Day of the Dead? All sorts of new seasonal molds have come out lately, especially for Halloween: cake molds, cookie molds, chocolate molds, ice cube molds, and some molds that can be used for multiple purposes. One of the "new" molds that I picked up a couple years ago is a skull mold for cakes. In this post I'm focusing on the cakes we make with that mold.

Red velvet cakes with cream cheese or whipped cream cheese frosting are our favorites for the skulls, they taste great and the colors are wonderful ; )  . Cake from preferred mixes, then hybrid recipes, are listed first; scratch recipes are last (frostings can vary, but i tend to use cream cheese or whipped cream frostings).

There are (at least) two good 3-D baking molds for "full sized" skulls available: Wilton and NordicWare. The Nordic Ware pan has a more complete skull shape, with the back of the skull being more rounded, but may be harder to find. Wilton also has a 3-D mini skull baking pan with molds for 4 complete smaller skulls which are great for baking or using as a press mold.
Prep baking mold (grease / lightly flour).
Fill with any standard cake recipe or mix.
Allow to cool and remove from mold pan, breaking the edge of the cake/pan border with a butter knife.
After the cake has cooled, cut the un-molded edges flat and spread some frosting thinly across both facing edges to "glue" together.
Gently frost the cake. Using the Wilton mold I tend to frost the base differently than the skull.
Then pipe decoration. You can use a small plastic food bag with a tiny corner snipped off for piping.

This is the cake we made this year. We had fun decorating it together ; )


Cake Box Mixes
Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake
Duncan Hines Classic Yellow

Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Dark Chocolate Fudge
Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Red Velvet Cake 

Store Frosting
Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting


Hybrids ~> Scratch/Box Mix Cake Recipe 
1 ~18 oz red velvet OR devil's food cake mix
1 ~3.5 oz instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs, beaten lightly
1 cup vegetable oil
CHOICE -> choose one of the following: 1/2 cup warm water, 1tsp instant espresso dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water (allow to cool), OR 1/2 cup warm coffee

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prep baking pan (grease pan, this is a dense batter and is great for suspending extras in the batter).
Beat together cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil, and espresso mixture (about 2 minutes on medium with a mixer).
Baking
9 inch pan (this recipe is appropriate for 2  9" pans) - bake at 350°F ~30 minutes.
Cupcakes (this recipe is for ~24 cupcakes) - bake at 350°F for ~20 minutes

Hybrid ~> Scratch/Store Frosting
a couple options here...
-Cream Cheese Frosting - soften 1 8 oz package of cream cheese and blend with a 16 oz can of vanilla (or cream cheese ; ) frosting.
-Fluffy! - 8 oz of whipped cream (home or store bought) mixed with your choice of any 16 oz can of frosting.
-Flavor Enhancer - add ~1/2 tsp of extract of desired flavor to 16 oz can of frosting. Almond extract added to chocolate is wonderful! OR add 1/4 cup of Nutella or peanut butter (and 1 tsp of milk) to a cream cheese, vanilla, or chocolate frosting!

I use paste based colorants to color my frosting, so I don't make the frosting runny.

Scratch Cake Recipe - Red Velvet

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

1 cup vegetable oil / butter / or coconut oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp (1 oz) red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp distilled white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare (grease and flour) 3 - 8" round cake pans.
Sift together into a medium bowl~> flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt.
Beat together in a large bowl oil/butter, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar until thoroughly mixed. Add the dry flour  mixture and beat until smooth (~ 2 minutes with a mixer).
Pour batter equally into the 3 cake pans.
Bake ~30 minutes (check with toothpick test). Allow cakes to cool 5-10 minutes, turn out of pan onto plate and then onto cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.


Smooth Glaze Coatings
Chocolate Glaze                                         White Glaze

8 Tbs unsweetened cocoa                         8 Tbs hot water
2 Tbs melted butter                                   4 cups powdered sugar
8 Tbs hot water                                         3 Tbs meringue powder
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbs meringue powder

~> To make the chocolate glaze, combine the melted butter, cocoa and hot water; thoroughly blend in the powdered sugar and vanilla. 
~> To make the white glaze, combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, and hot water; blend smooth.

The rest of the directions apply to both glazes.
Add just a little more hot water to get a thin, pourable glaze; the glaze will harden as it cools.
Put the cake on a wire rack over a tray or plate. If you have a 2 part cake mold, make sure you have already put the 2 halves together (toothpicks with frosting or a small amount of glaze will work), you won't have time to do this at this point or your glaze will cool! Pour the warm glaze gently over the skull, using the back of a spoon to smooth the glaze into the details (mouth, nose, eyes, etc.).
Let the glaze harden and gently place the cake onto the plate/ stand, using some glaze to secure the cake to the plate /stand.
This is a great smooth base, you can either stop here or add additional decorations over this glaze coating.


Scratch Frosting Recipes
Cream Cheese
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

In a bowl, thoroughly blend cream cheese and butter. Add the vanilla and mix. Gradually add the powdered sugar while mixing. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Stable Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting (stable at room temp and stiff)
8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups heavy cream

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract (if using mixer, mix on medium until smooth). While mixing slowly add the heavy cream, scraping the bowl occasionally while continuing to whip until cream holds a stiff peak.

Again, I use paste based colorants to color my frosting, so the frosting isn't runny. Make sure to set aside some frosting from your base color if you want to add any designs over the top.
If you have a 2 part cake mold, make sure you put the 2 halves securely together (toothpicks with frosting will work great) before you start frosting the cake!
To decorate smooth your base color over the entire skull, you can make the surface as smooth or textured as you like.

To add additional designs, first separate the remaining frosting into bowls and add desired colorants. Pipe the designs on to the base frosting.
If you aren't sure how you want to decorate your cake, I recommend a web search based on the type of design styles you like (don't restrict yourself to looking at cakes!). You can practice on wax or parchment paper first if you want more experience.


Enjoy! 

DeWyk

31 Days of Halloween! Day 28- Made: Drew's Angels ...

A steampunk convention this year asked several designers to present their perspectives on this year's theme

"Around the World".

Designer Andrew Dyrdahl's perspective on the theme...

 

Drew's web site ~> House of Dyrdahl and Etsy shop
and his Twisted Root Studio blog and Etsy shop.

RunWay Shots...

                    

                                                                                                                                                                

His inspiration for this project were some parachutes, which he used to create many of the pieces in this show. Each of the models represented a unique part of his international spy ring.

additional pics will be posted...

Enjoy! 
 
DeWyk
                   

31 Days of Halloween! Day27- Made: SteamPunk Costumes

I am changing the topic for today to COSTUMES, with the emphasis this year on steampunk.

The Tweedles

We attended a steampunk convention this year. Today is the last day of the 'Con, which is why I've gotten behind on my posts. What can I say? ... I got really distracted  ; ) .


Today's post is just a feast for the eyes and simply covers some ideas for steaming yourself up steampunk style!
This year I didn't get a lot of pictures, I was busy with "candy for strangers", more on that later too ; ) , but I will post pics from previous years too.

First, some friends...

A Tweedle, All Alone

 






 

My Flying Monkey!

OutBack Punk...

Protection from Con'flu?

Friends... From Around The World

DeWyk gets Assistance from Natives...

and Recommendations on Footwear...

Vamped Up!

Lovely.

'waaay OutBack

A Wicked? Witch of Oz-tralia ; ) and her Flying Monkey (a sister witch of mine)

Guest of Honour ~> Professor Elemental Interviewed by Father.

Modeling Lovely...

Research.Explorer.Imagine.

Studying Gods and Monsters

UnCovered.

Baggage!

S.M. Stirling Interview

There may be more images from the "Around the World" Fashions , but here is a look at Drew's Angels (Andrew Dyrdahl)

Too much to post here, more posts on this may show up later!

Enjoy! 

DeWyk