A little pickle, a fireball and an Indigenous astronaut
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
CALIFORNIA
Here’s a whale of a tale — with a happy ending — from Dana Point Harbor, California. A gray whale gave birth astonishingly close to Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari’s catamaran sailboat. The whale had been “acting strangely” and “swimming in circles” when Capt. Dave’s staff noticed the blood. “Normally, when you see blood in the water, it’s not a good sign,” said Stacie Fox, who has worked for the marine tour company for three years. When Fox realized the cow was giving birth, she quickly alerted the captain. It was a momentous occurrence, one for the sightseers’ bucket list. “It is kinda hard to put into words how amazing it was,” Fox told the Los Angeles Times. The staff said the birth was the “first live viewing in the 25 years they have been watching whales.” Normally, the whales give birth in the lagoons in Baja California, Mexico, at the end of their yearly migration from the Arctic waters.
If you’re wondering about the scale of our marine mammal brethren, the Oceanic Society reports that gray whales reach 40-50 feet in length and can weigh more than 70,000 pounds. The babies aren’t exactly teeny either, popping out at about 2,000 pounds and already 14 to 16 feet in length. They’re mighty cute, though, according to Fox, who said the whale calf looked like a “little pickle.” Probably not a gherkin.
IDAHO
The long-running CBS reality show Survivor held some surprises for its 43rd season: Mike Gabler, a heart valve specialist from Meridian, Idaho, was not only the second-oldest winner in the show’s history — he was 51 during the filming — he also pledged his million-dollar winnings to charity. Gabler plans to donate the entire prize to the Veterans in Need Foundation in the name of his father, Robert Gabler, a Green Beret, the Idaho Statesman reported. “There are people that need that money more,” Gabler told Survivor host Jeff Probst, citing the suicide epidemic and veterans suffering from psychiatric problems and PTSD. It seems fitting that someone who specializes in life-saving heart valves would be in possession of such an enormous heart himself.
CALIFORNIA
If you happened to be watching the news on Jan. 20 and saw bright pink waves at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego, there was no need to adjust your TV, or your brain: You had not been accidentally dosed; the surf was. Scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography poured 15 gallons of nontoxic pink dye into the Los Peñasquitos Lagoon in order to figure out how the saltwater surf zone interacts with freshwater. That hot pink fluorescent dye did make for some pretty psychedelic photos, and it will also provide scientists with some useful information, NBC San Diego reported. Scripps said it will help researchers understand the spread of “sediment, pollutants, larvae, harmful algal blooms and other important material near the coast.” We love it when science gets its groove on.
WASHINGTON
Living in a “surveillance state” a la 1984 definitely has its downsides. But at least when remarkable celestial events occur, you can bet dollars to donuts that everybody and their Auntie Tootie is going to upload videos of it. A bright green “fireball” — basically a meteor on steroids — was seen streaking across skies in western Washington on Jan. 17. According to the American Meteor Society, “A fireball is another term for a very bright meteor, generally brighter than magnitude-4, which is about the same magnitude of the planet Venus as seen in the morning or evening sky.” The technical term for this is “Amazeballs!” as the videos clearly attest; Kiro7.com included several in its report. The American Meteor Society urges anyone who sees a fireball to report it to them, noting the object’s brightness, its color, and the length and duration of its journey across the sky.
CALIFORNIA
Speaking of celestial events, astronaut Nicole Mann, Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, made history as the first Indigenous woman to walk in space. (Mann is the second Native astronaut in space; John Herrington, Chickasaw, was the first, 20 years ago.) Mann has been living in the International Space Station with other crew members of Expedition 68 since Oct. 6, 2022.. Indian Country Today shared Mann’s message for children in her community: “Please know that I carry your hopes and your dreams with me to the International Space
Station.”
Tiffany Midge is a citizen of the Standing Rock Nation and was raised by wolves in the Pacific Northwest. Her book, Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s (Bison Books, 2019), was a Washington State Book Award nominee. She resides in north-central Idaho near the Columbia River Plateau, homeland of the Nimiipuu.
Tips of Western oddities are appreciated and often shared in this column. Write [email protected], or submit a letter to the editor.
