Mrs. S.T. and I are enjoying a few days on the western side of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, one of the few temperate rainforests in the world. It's wet and there's a jungle out there. No gorillas in this jungle but there are elk. I got some pix of a couple of baby elk feeding in the forest yesterday. Some of them will go on Flickr if I ever get this truckload of pix edited. Remember John Cleese's line when playing Mr. Gumby in Monte Python, "I would put a tax on holiday snaps"? It would bankrupt me. Anyway, everybody's favorite little beast in this area is the ubiquitous banana slug, something like a snail without a shell that can grow to several inches long. They live live in the slow lane, peeking around with those eye stalks you can see above. They won't hurt you (or you them) if you pick them up but they will slime your hand. The park ranger in the lower picture knows how to deal with it.
WHAT I'M LOOKING AT WHILE I WRITE THIS: Lake Quinault, Washington.
TOMORROW: I'll be getting to Seattle on Saturday. Could be something from there, could be another from the rainforest. Come back and see.
5 comments:
Why he's a cute little guy and I did not even say,
"EEWWWW, gross!" HA More rainforest please.
That's big! I have never seen a slug with such a colour...
Neat. They are welcome to stay in the rainforest and out of my plants. I like the 2nd photo - gives perspective on their size.
But now Mr Gumby has got me thinking of Withnail & I, when the hapless duo is caught in the countryside in the pouring rain, and Withnail wails to a local passing by on his tractor, "we're on holiday by MISTAKE!"
Sounds like your holiday is going much better.
I found a giant slug, of about the same size, in my yard here in St. Louis this week. I published a photo of it on my blog, but the one where I stuck my hand in for scale wasn't sharp. It was about this size, though!
Someone mentioned I should see the "banana slug" and then here it is!
I don't think I ever understood more than half of what Mr. Gumby said.
But I remember John Cleese as Anne Elk, sorry Miss Anne Elk.
Good on whoever it was that was willing to pick up the slug. Got to admit, it's the best looking slug I've ever seen.
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