Pat Neal

PAT NEAL: Bale bucking blues

DRIVING AROUND THE old hometown can make you feel old. Gone are the days when the food in our markets was raised just down the… Continue reading

 

PAT NEAL: Survival of the wilderness pests

THIS IS A story about wilderness pests. It is told as a warning to others. I remember this disturbing episode like it was yesterday. Because… Continue reading

 

PAT NEAL: The camas are blooming

THERE’S A LITTLE piece of history blooming now right along U.S. Highway 101, a few miles south of Forks. The camas are blooming. In 1806,… Continue reading

 

PAT NEAL: The call of the Swainson’s thrush

THIS MUST BE my favorite time of year. We’ve emerged from hibernation and all danger of frost has passed. The birds have returned from the… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The Olympic Peninsula driving guide

THE SIGNS OF the season are everywhere. The roar of the lawn mower, the stench of burning charcoal and the seasonal spike in gas prices… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: We’re opening the Upper Hoh Road

OFTEN WHILE GLIDING along the paved roads of the Olympic Peninsula, you wonder at the difficulty of travel in this land before the age of… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A family favorite skunk cabbage recipe

THE SKUNK CABBAGE is a swamp-dwelling harbinger of spring. Named for its distinctive aroma, the skunk cabbage can produce knee-high yellow flowers surrounded by a… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Fond memories of opening day

ONE OF MY many guilty pleasures is to look through copies of old newspapers as a way of looking backwards. For example, in a 1965… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: De-extincting our salmon

WHO SAYS THERE’S no good news? Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based company, announced the birth of three dire wolf pups that represent the world’s first “de-extinction.”… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A homesteader’s journal

SPRINGTIME MUST BE my favorite time of year. When even though the days are getting longer, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The April Fools’ fallout

HOW WAS YOUR April Fools’ Day? Mine was the best ever. Like other holidays, April Fools’ Day requires extensive preparations. To get ready for Christmas,… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The life list

BIRD WATCHING IS my life. Some of my best bird-watching has been done with a chainsaw. Considered unethical by the same people who say it’s… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Highway history on the Peninsula

BUILDING ROADS ON the Olympic Peninsula has always been a challenge. In the days before roads, people traveled along beaches at low tide when the… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The road report

IT TAKES A big man to admit you’re wrong. Unfortunately, I am not that man. While I’d never admit to being wrong, I have been… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: No answer is an answer

IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news. Demonstrators flooded the streets of Port Angeles, making their voices heard in a crowd. One reporter said… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Fix the road

IT’S ONLY FEBRUARY, but our Olympic Peninsula tourist season has already started. While profiling and stereotyping is wrong, when you see an RV the size… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The day after Valentine’s

“IT MUST BE nice to be a fishing guide.” If I had a dollar for every time I heard this, there is no way I… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Digging potatoes in the snow

THERE ARE FEW things I enjoy more than digging potatoes in the snow. I know, I should have dug them sooner but it’s just another… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A hard winter

IF I HEARD this once I’ve heard it a million times from the old-timers who claimed that winters in the old days were a lot… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: How’s the fishing?

HOW’S THE FISHING? If I had a buck for every time somebody asked that question, I wouldn’t waste my time as a wilderness gossip columnist.… Continue reading