Pat Neal

PAT NEAL: Hunting season excuses

AND SO, ANOTHER hunting season passes astern. I hope yours went better than mine. It was a shipwreck of failure, blame and excuses. Hunting experts… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Spawned-out salmon important to ecosystem

IT WAS DAYLIGHT on the river. The shadowy forms of overhanging trees appeared like a tunnel in the twilight. There was the sound of water… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The day after the election

THERE’S NOTHING QUITE like tent camping in the rain forest during the monsoon season. The rain falls like it’s being sprayed from a hose. The… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The Halloween hunt for Bigfoot

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE a hard day’s writing to make me glad I’m not one of the country’s leading Bigfoot researchers. I won’t bore you, dear… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Predicting the coming winter

IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA) issued its 2024-25 U.S. Winter Outlook. It was not a… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The autumn menu

AUTUMN IS A time of plenty on the Olympic Peninsula. The salmon are running. The game is fattened and the berries are ripe. This is… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: It’s apple picking time

IT WAS DAYLIGHT at the homestead, but I was more than a little late for breakfast. I probably missed it by 50 years or so.… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The composting chronicles

IT MIGHT HAVE been the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson who was credited with saying, “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Disaster preparedness month

SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL Disaster Preparedness Month. It’s time to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies. This year’s theme for disaster… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A good time on the Peninsula

1890 WAS A good time to be on the Olympic Peninsula. That was before the coming of the railroads and the industrial age that slaughtered… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Heed the wilderness warnings

IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news. We almost didn’t need a bombshell press release from Olympic National Park to ruin our weekend with… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The season of harvest

SEPTEMBER IS THE season of harvest, when we gather the fruits of our labors. It is the realization of a dream to have a small… Continue reading

Pat Neal/For Peninsula Daily News

PAT NEAL: A case of mushroom fever

BY NOW, I think we’ve all had it up to here with people complaining about the rain. That’s crazy. Psychologists have finally identified this chronic… Continue reading

Pat Neal/For Peninsula Daily News

PAT NEAL: The wrath of the Thunderbird

YOU KNOW LIGHTNING’S getting closer when you feel the thunder in your bones. That’s how close it got during the recent storm that battered the… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The seven stages of device deprivation

WITH THE MIRACLE of climate change, people living in the southern states of this great experiment in democracy we call America are bailing from their… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The legend of the paper salmon

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: Firewood fever is catching

WITH THE RECENT spell of rainy weather, firewood fever has hit the land. It’s time to cut firewood for the winter so it will have… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A friend of the salmon

BEING A GUIDE on the rivers of the Olympic Peninsula calls for more than just a big hat, a rubber boat and a can of… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The perils of fire season

EVERY YEAR ABOUT this time, people who live in the woods start to get a little nervous. It’s like the old logger said. This might… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The joy of camping

IT’S THE SIMPLE things that I enjoy most about camping, like the smell of burning driftwood and watching the sparks from the fire shoot up… Continue reading