Pat Neal

PAT NEAL: Most wonderful time of the year

IT’S THE MOST wonderful time of the year. There are so many things to be thankful for, like the fact that the Thanksgiving holiday is… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Thanksgiving: Knowing when you got it good

THERE’S A LOT of talk these days about holiday stress. It makes one think back in history when our traditional holidays were more of a… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Salmon’s gift to the future

MAYBE YOU’VE HAD one of those days. You wake up on an autumn morning and everything hurts. Nothing seems to move right. You feel like… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: My crazy uncle

I’VE GOT THIS crazy uncle. He’s got some bad problems. Maybe you can relate because you have a crazy uncle, too. As kids we were… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: All new fishing excuses

IT HAPPENS EVERY year about this time. People start whining about the sunny weather and wishing for rain, forgetting the warning about getting what you… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Autumn harvest frustrations

AUTUMN IS A time of gathering the wild abundance that grows all around us. There are so many hidden treasures to discover, it’s hard to… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Most wonderful time of the year

if only for a brief moment — there is hope… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: What day is it, anyway?

HOW WAS YOUR Indigenous Peoples Day? Formerly known as Columbus Day, the Port Angeles City Council voted to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day on the second… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The true cost of salmon fishing

ALONG ABOUT THIS time of year we get a run of salmon up the rivers. That’s where some folks prefer to fish for them: Where… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: On losing an old friend

AUTUMN IS IN the air. There is the smell of wood smoke, the calls of the geese flying south and the sound of the rivers… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The lost and the not yet lost

THERE ARE ONLY two types of mushroom pickers. Those that have gotten lost in the woods and those who haven’t, yet. The sudden arrival of… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Blue-tarp camping misery

THERE’S NOTHING QUITE like the sound of rain on the roof, unless you have a leaky roof. And the roof is a chunk of leaky… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: You can’t go crabbing in a tidal wave

THANK YOU FOR reading this. Sometimes I think if you didn’t read this no one would. But you do. I know that because of all… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The coming subduction event

IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news. The state Department of Natural Resources just came out with the latest version of its Tsunami Inundation… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Up in smoke

THOSE WHO IGNORE history are doomed to watch television. This enduring truth is nowhere more evident than the current notion that the smoke from wildfires… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The orca task force not to the rescue

THE VISCERAL SPECTACLE of the mother orca carrying her dead baby for 17 days and the emaciated female orca that might or might not be… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: There are no do-overs with the orcas

IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news. It’s bad enough enduring endless images of war, pestilence and medieval corruption in a modern setting but… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Stages of a Sasquatch sighting

THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA’S first Sasquatch Symposium, held last November at Studio Bob in Port Angeles, resulted in an outpouring of Sasquatch sighting reports from people… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Top tourist questions

AS GOODWILL AMBASSADORS of the tourist industry, it is our civic duty to share our precious local knowledge of the Olympic Peninsula with our foreign… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Salmonberry deserving of honor

THERE’S NOTHING QUITE like the first salmonberry of the year. It is a juicy mix of sweet and sour with a wild taste that can’t… Continue reading