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Klaus @ the beach!

by Kaylah Stroup
world’s most handsome puppy!

These last few weeks Klaus and I have had to schedule our walks around the times that my landlord wanted to show my apartment. Klaus is an excellent dog. He never chews anything he shouldn’t. He’s never had an accident in the house. He doesn’t just randomly bark like some dogs buuuut he does bark at strangers. If someone comes over he doesn’t know, pulls in our driveway or walks in front of our house while we’re outside – that’s when he barks. Not only that but he has a REALLY frightening bark. I trust that he would never hurt me but if I didn’t know him I would definitely be scared of him. Obviously, I figured it’d probably be best to get him out of the house while it was being shown to potential renters.

Despite my best efforts, he’s never really liked the beach. Any time in the past I’ve taken him he’s just been a nervous wreck. This last showing, I just didn’t feel like walking around the neighborhood again so I loaded him up and we went to the beach to give it yet another chance. Surprisingly this time, he didn’t completely hate it! He even put his front paws in the water which is huge deal considering the fact that I think the noise of the waves coming in was what really freaked him out the most on previous visits.

We wandered to the far end of the beach, and I did my best to tie his leash up to some driftwood. It wasn’t super secure but he was happy to just lay down beside me while I fiddled with all the tiny pieces of trash I gathered for a new found on the beach arrangement. It ended up being a ton of fun! I loved sitting in the sand with him and just soaking in the sun. Warm November sunshine, time with Klaus, and making pretty things out of nothing – these are a few of my favorite things.

raninbow trash, cleveland, lake erie

It took long enough but this puppy and I might finally be beach buds! I just need to find a better way to tie him up, maybe just a way longer leash? Any ideas?
xoxo

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two minute beach clean

by Kaylah Stroup
beach trash, lake erie, cleveland, green, plastic

Since my last found on the beach post there have been some definite improvements to my favorite beach. Judging by the marks in the sand, they did that thing where they just plow everything into a dumpster. It gets rid of all the driftwood, a lot of the sand, and some of the trash. I’m not 100% sold on this method of cleaning up the beach considering the fact that it just pushes a lot of the trash into the remaining sand, making it sort of like buried treasure. Better than nothing, I guess. It does nothing to stop more stuff from washing up though.

I mentioned it briefly in one of my previous beach related posts but I recently started following a bunch of other folks who really love the beach, and all things beach related. Seriously you have to check out plastic monster! I wish they posted more. This fills up my explore feed with even more of these beach lovin’ people. I’m normally a little creeped out by how “smart” the internet it, how it shows me what it thinks I want to see, but I’ve really enjoyed being exposed to more beach combers and their finds.

Something I kept seeing was the hashtag “2minutebeachclean“. I was super excited to find so many other people who helped pick up their beaches. It was also reassuring to see that my beach isn’t the only one with these issues, that it’s a global problem! I mean, obviously it’s not a good thing that it’s a global problem but when I share these posts and everyone comments “MY beach isn’t that dirty! Lake Erie must be gross!” you start to think “Oh no! What if it is only my beach!?”

After browsing instagram for a little bit I felt inspired to do my own two minute beach clean. The photos below show everything green I picked up in a short stroll from one side of the beach to the other. It’s a fairly quick walk. I just used google maps to measure it, 530ft wide. I was planning on writing “this was obviously longer than a two minute beach clean” but I guess technically it could have been since it’s such a short distance. It definitely didn’t take long to pick it up. As with every one of my found on the beach posts, I spent more time organizing it all for photos than I did picking it up.

plastic, lake erie, plastic pollution
lake erie, great lakes, trash, beach trash

According to the 2 Minute Beach Clean website, June 11th is first annual beach clean up day. Even if you don’t live near a beach, take a few minutes out of your day pick up some litter on your daily walk, from the parking lot, from the ditch, etc. Every little piece counts!
xoxo

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found on the beach // balls

by Kaylah Stroup

For as long as I can remember I’ve suffered from chronic headaches. I’ve been to the doctor, had CT scans, and tried just about everything. Last year I started having vision problems too so I visited the optometrist who was actually the first person to give me some helpful hints. My vision problems, and subsequently my headaches, were being caused by some overworked muscles in my eyes. Basically I stare at my computer too much. When I’m not on my computer I’m reading, playing video games, or some other task that strains my eyes. I got reading glasses (which look pretty darn cute!), and began paying a lot more what I was doing the days I got headaches.

Last week my head and eyes just felt off. I wasn’t able to look at my computer for very long at all without starting to feel a headache coming on. My house was clean, and it seemed like no matter what I did I’d somehow end up back at my computer desk to check emails, or edit “just a few” photos so I had to get out. All that just to say I spent a lot of time at the beach last week.

It wasn’t long after arriving to the beach this day before noticing I was finding a lot of balls. It was just one after another. All different shapes, sizes, and conditions. There was even a soccer ball but didn’t fit in my little framed area.

I am constantly amazed at the things that wash up. The balls are really interesting to me (uhhh, phrasing) because unlike the other things I find on the beach I would presume most of these are lost as opposed to being intentional litter. Not that I think people throw lighters on the ground, I’m guessing those are lost most of the time too. I just imagine dogs whose owners have thrown the tennis ball just a haaaaair too far and they get lost out in the water for a while before finally washing back to the shore.

You can find previous sets under my “found on the beach” tag.
xoxo

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Asilomar State Beach – tide pools

by Kaylah Stroup

The one thing I was REALLY excited about along the coast was visiting tide pools. I feel like I know quite a bit about mammals, I can identify the vast majority of things that live on land but the ocean is another story. It’s a mystery to me, and for that reason I am beyond intrigued by it. I’m not landlocked in Ohio. I’m less than a mile from Lake Erie, but like I’ve mentioned more than a few times we don’t have cool things living in the lake. We have some fish, I guess, but in all the time I spend wandering the beaches I really just find trash. So tide pools were my priority on this trip!

I did a bit of research on tides and the best places to go along the coast; one name I kept seeing listed was Asilomar State Beach. As luck would have it the timing worked out so that we’d be pretty close to there around low tide.

I couldn’t get out of the car, and down to the water to rip my shoes off fast enough. We were in what I thought was the perfect spot to find things. It was rocky, and the tide was low but it was actually too low. Everything that I was finding wasn’t covered by water and really just looked kind of gross. It was exciting but a little bit of a let down since I had hyped tide pooling up so much in my mind. I thought it would be this activity I would just go crazy for and instead I was just like “Oh, that’s cool but it looks disgusting…” I poked around trying to find these vibrant, lively looking anemones that I thought the area would be full of but eventually gave up deciding maybe tide pooling isn’t as easy as photos make it look and it wouldn’t be something I’d get to experience on this trip.

We eventually got back in the car, and moved on down the road a bit hoping for better luck. Jeff could tell I was bumming and was insisting we keep on looking despite the fact I was just ready to get to our next destination. I was disappointed (read – crabby) that everything I was finding was either dead, wouldn’t let me near it, or like at the last spot, gross looking because it wasn’t under water. I was shooting the little dude above when Jeff shouted “Kaylah! Get over here!” I was all “Don’t yell me! Gosh!” I walked over to where he was to spot this insanely beautiful starfish. I let out my squeal of approval to which Jeff gloated “Is it okay I yelled at you about that?!”

This was my very fist time seeing a starfish in the wild, not in an aquarium, and excuse me if I sound dramatic but it was magical. It’s so crazy that that’s a real living thing. Nature is wild, y’all! From there things picked up. The starfish was definitely the highlight but I also finally found some anemones who were actually under water and they were every bit as beautiful as I had imagined.

The tide came in a lot quicker than I had hoped and it was time for us to move on so I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted checking out the tide pools. Moral of the story here I guess is that tide pooling is all about timing but when you get it right the reward is so great!

This really, truly sparked a love! I’m already researching hot spots to check out along the Washington and Oregon coast (hopefully we’ll get there sometime in the next year or so). I am dying to get back and immerse myself in this world of critters I know so very little about. I feel like I just got this tiny taste of what’s like and I want to learn so much more.
xoxo

You can find more posts from our road trip under the “travel” tag. 

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found on the beach – feeling blue

by Kaylah Stroup
It’s beach season again! Swimsuits, sun, swimming or… ya know, trash. If you’re a new reader and totally confused already, be sure to check out the tag found on the beach.

Last week I headed to my favorite beach to get some fresh air. Still feeling a bit like there was a dark cloud hovering over me I figured spending the evening watching the sun go down over the lake, and listening to the waves hit the beach would do me good. I guess I forgot how much I loved that place, I was instantly at ease. It didn’t take long before I was compulsively picking up lighters. I wanted to do another set of beach trash photos but didn’t necessarily want to do another rainbow gradient. I do love doing that, and will most certainly do it again in the future but I waned something new. So…I picked up everything blue I found, all while singing this song, of course. I walked for around twenty minutes, really probably less. Just one swoop across the beach and this is what I gathered.

lake erie, beach trash, trash
Crazy how many milk jug rings!
I considered leaving the collection there for others to find but felt a bit guilty not tossing everything. I’d love to do something with these things other than just taking photos, that’s actually been floating in my mind the last few times I’ve went to pick up trash. I’m just not sure what to do yet…
xoxo
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Beach Fort

by Kaylah Stroup
I know, I’m always talking about how much I love the beach but I really just can’t get enough. It’s my absolute favorite place in the fall. Whenever I’m stressed I know that I can head to the beach and everything will be fine even if only just for the short time I’m there. Earlier this week I went to the beach but wasn’t really feeling any of my other regular beach activities, like picking up trash, reading, or looking for glass. At the same time I wasn’t ready to go home yet. I looked around and noticed an abundance of drift wood. I’ve always wanted to build a fort on the beach but was distracted by other hobbies. So I set to work! In around an hour I made a neat little fort complete with stump inside to sit on and a sign outside!

view from inside

I know the few times I’ve found drift wood structures on the beach they instantly made my face light up, I hope mine makes someone smile. After I finished, I sat back and admired my work from a bit of a distance. Someone else showed up at the beach shortly after that. As I walked up to my car I turned around to see them heading toward my fort. I like that the second I stepped away they had to check it out. I’d like to do more things in public that other people will find after I’m done, and admire.
xoxo
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found on the beach

by Kaylah Stroup

It’s been since April that I posted a new “found on the beach” photoset. For the most part they’ve been keeping the beach fairly clean. The last few weeks though, it’s been a wreck. Shards of broken plastic, tons of bottles, and of course, the normal tampon applicator. Ugh. While looking for a place to lay out the days findings I was only able to spot one area that had sand and was mostly clear. After I dumped out my bag and started sorting the pieces I looked up and spotted toilet paper right beside me. I don’t know if it was clean or not but I guess I found the one thing that I cannot handle finding on the beach. It grossed me out so much. I pushed it away as best I could with some driftwood, and crossed my fingers I wouldn’t find any “treasures” while putting together my photo.

I guess the one positive of the current state of the beach that I’m finding really neat things for my photosets. My favorite things to find are always little people, like army men. Basically tiny versions of anything are cool in my book. I was more than pleased to find two little plastic cars on this trip.

As you can see I’m still finding tons of lighters for my little project. It blows my mind that there are SO many of them on the beach. I know lighters are easy to lose, but geez!

Quick FAQ – things that get asked every Found on the Beach post.
Do you keep the things you pick up? No way. Once in a while I’ll keep something I really think is neat but I’m no hoarder.
What do you do with it when you’re done? I toss it in the trash where it belongs.
Was this really all from the beach in one day? For the most part, yes. Sometimes if I find something I really think is neat on a day I’m not collecting for a photo I’ll pick it up and hang on to it until the next time I want to put together one of these.

I recently made a Found on the Beach
tag. I try to keep the tags for things I post about regularly except in
cases when I really really love the series, and I think this finally
deserves a tag!
xoxo

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Lake Erie cairns

by Kaylah Stroup

Are you guys familiar with cairns? A cairn is literally just a human made pile of rocks. Sometimes they’re used to mark trails, or signify someone has died in a certain spot. In certain areas they’re used as a hunting implement to direct animals toward a game jump. Other times, and in this case, they’re made just because they look really awesome. Basically there are tons of reasons one might build a cairn, and tons of places you might find one!

I remember the first time I saw cairns. I was on a camping trip, and we were kayaking down the river. We rounded a corner and, to the left, the rocky shoreline was covered in these stacks of rocks. There were TONS of them, and some were taller than me. I didn’t know what they were, or why they were there but I instantly loved them. I excitedly took a few photos. It was another year before I saw another one which I shared a photo of here! Four more years passed, and finally last week I spotted another while walking on the beach. It was only three rocks high, so hardly a cairn at all but it inspired me.

Before I knew it I had built a whole bunch of them. Our beaches here in Cleveland aren’t very rocky, at least not the ones I frequent but we do seem to have an abundance of bricks. I used a combination of rocks, bricks, logs, driftwood, styrofoam, and even trash to make mine.

wendy park, cairn, whiskey island, ohio
Rock stacking

They’re just piles of rocks but I can’t get over how awesome my little creation looked. I built them on a section of the beach that sometimes completely disappears when the tide comes in. I doubt my structures lasted more than a day or two but I hope someone spotted them before they washed back into the water. 

Don’t be surprised to see if you see more of these popping up on the blog later this summer. I’m hooked! I’m excited to go back and see what I can do with a little bit more time, and on a day when there are more large pieces of…well, whatever waiting for me! Building things on the beach is easily one of my favorite hobbies.
xoxo 

Check out my found on the beach tag for more interesting beach related posts!

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This year I…

by Kaylah Stroup
played in tide pools for the first time ever.
got a big fat crush on Toronto!
grew lots and lots of plants.
tried more new foods than ever, and even kind of fell in love with cooking.
got to cross off a really silly goal that meant a whole lot.
then celebrated with a spur of the moment road trip tattoo.

started helping Anji out at the flower shop on occasion.

made the beach a cleaner place one neatly organized arrangement at a time.
made pals with lots of new critters including the always adorable Foxy Lady, and Tramp, and some friendly squirrels along the coast.
fell even more deeply in love with both the desert, and my favorite adventure partner.
did some highly questionable things like moving a mattress and lockers on top of Jason’s car.
spent a great deal of pedaling, a lot of the time just to go sit at the beach.
moved into a new apartment.
got back into one of my favorite hobbies.
experienced some truly magical sunsets, my favorite being in Morro Bay.
bought a new car two days before the end of the year!

And oh so much more!

For the past few years I’ve been doing a “This year I…” post. See 2011, 2012, 2013, +2014. 
If you do a “This year I…” post, leave a link in the comments. I’d love to check it out. 
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