Tug and barge

Sometimes it seems picturesque, and sometimes it seems irritating, but a lot of my river photos are taken through the base of the radio tower, because it's right outside my office window. And no, I'm not complaining! I feel very fortunate. I sometimes feel, though, that I should vary the foreground, especially for posting. However, since I spend so much time in my office, some of the most interesting river scenes and the widest variety of ships are the ones I notice during the course of an average day. On Monday, this interesting arrangement presented itself.

The tug (the Henry Brusco) is the small black and white boat on the right, and the barge it's towing is all the way on the left. In between there is quite a long distance, as you can see the complete gray-hulled Tasman ID in the background. If anyone can explain to me why there is such a long distance between the tug and the barge, I'd like to know. (I'm going to post this tonight, but I'll call Brusco Tug and Barge, the owner of these boats, in the morning and ask them about it, so if you're interested, please check back!)

[Update: As I sit here waiting for a callback from the tugboat company, Anonymous says, "Why the long towline? The clue is in the background--the ship on the hook with the bow pointed seward means the tide is really flooding hard-since barges dont have brakes, power or steering it is actually getting towed and pushed hard by the current at the same time-in case the tug had to stop, slow down suddenly, or make any other navigation adjustment, the current would keep pushing the barge-its a safety thing. Also, the ship is several hundred yards away from the towboat so the distance between tug and barge looks greater than it actually is because of the persepective."] I say, of course perspective plays a part, but the ship is not THAT much further out than the tug. It is a long towline - not longer than usual, they are usually this long. Thanks for the explanation.

Further, from Anonymous: "Any craft, whether it pushes or pulls a barge or other vessel w/out power is a tug boat--even though that is a big tug in the pic, that tow probably originated at the sawmill on the Skippanon and is hauling a load of sawdust upriver to Wauna."

We've been having truly beautiful days on the river - usually overcast early on, with picture-book clouds and sunshine by later in the morning. I always love the way the light brings out the gold color of the wood chips, but I haven't yet been able to capture the true color of its glow.

If you'd like to see some really cool photos of mountains in Central Oregon, check out Lee's Bend, Oregon, Daily Photo today for pix he took on his colossal hike yesterday.