I hate commuting, but the sights are sometimes okay...

[elfs]

Organ donor

I hate commuting, but sometimes there's something worth seeing as I tool around the city.

The other day, on the way into work, I saw three raptors over the freeway. Two of them were the more common kestrels we get, but one of them was a huge bald eagle, and it was dive-bombing the road trying to get at some roadkill, but kept getting spooked by the cars going by. It was fascinating to watch, but I was driving too fast to get out the camera and take pictures.

There's a ancient steel shack just on the edge of the Duwamish river that I've been trying to get a photograph of for months. Whatever it is they do in there, it generates steam that comes out of every window and seam, and when the weather is just right, just cold and dry enough, the steam billows out in huge gouts that would make a steampunk's heart swell with envy. Such opportunities are rare.

The light in spring is not as good as in autumn, but I keep hoping for just the right sunny day when I have same time during my commute to drive through Georgetown, one of the oldest industrial sectors of Seattle, and photograph the buildings there. There was one, about a month ago before daylight savings time kicked in, but I'd forgotten my camera that day.

One picture I did get is this one. This dude is a future organ donor. Southbound on highway 509, he goes roaring past me doing nearly twice the legal limit. The only reason I got this photo was because he was stopped by a road crew cleaning up an accident that had wrecked the highway divider and reduced the traffic to one lane. Once past the bottleneck and undeterred by the carnage he'd just witnessed, he roared off again at stupid speed. 509 is straight, flat, and relatively empty until the big hill that leads down into Seattle; it's a popular starting strip for many ovely confident young men with crotch rockets. I only hope this guy's heart and kidneys serve their next occupant well.

Comments

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

Heh ever hit a Cicada at 60mph? those bugs carry enough mass to HURT.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

One of the more amusing staff meetings involved the two of my co-workers who are riders sharing motorcycle-induced bug consumption stories while waiting for our boss to show up.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

ladyallyn (I think) said she got beaned by something like a Japanese beetle doing about that... serious ow... yeah. There's a reason I wear a full-face Shoei and keep it closed as much as sanity allows.

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

Large Japanese Beetle like thing......maybe a June Bug?