Lighthouse of the Week, February 22-28, 2026: Destruction Island, Washington, USA

 

For this week, the lighthouse is no longer in use, and it is located in a wildlife refuge, the Quillayute Needles National Wildlife Refuge. It's on Destruction Island, which is an island I never knew existed until I saw an article about the seabirds on it, particularly rhinoceros auklets and tufted puffins.  I also did not know there were Pacific Ocean puffins in Washington State. Unfortunately, their status is not great, which is not an unusual thing these days. There's a great picture of the lighthouse and island at the beginning of the article.

It also has a lighthouse, as I said.  Here's what I can tell you about it, via Wikipedia.

• Constructed: 1891 
• Automated: 1968 
• Height: 94 feet (29 m) 
• Shape: Conical 
• Light: First lit 1891 
• Deactivated: April, 2008 
• Focal height: 45 m (148 ft) 
• Lens: First order Fresnel lens (removed) 
• Range: 18 nautical miles; 34 kilometres (21 mi) 
• Characteristic: White flash every 5 seconds

I'll go to Lighthouse Friends, too:  Destruction Island, WA  (They provided the picture of the lens, which is now in the Westport Maritime Museum in Westport, Washington.

Pictures, including the lens, are down under this line.

Lighthouse of the Week, February 15-21, 2026: Port Washington, Wisconsin, USA

 

Though this is a couple of weeks behind, I'll catch up quick. This week I'm featuring the Port Washington (Wisconsion) Breakwater Lighthouse, because President's Day happened this week. 

This is an interesting lighthouse, as you will see.  First of all, though, see where it is. By description, it's about 25 miles north of Milwaukee on the Lake Michigan coast.

For some reason, I can't get to the Lighthouse Directory right now; I hope that's temporary. So here's a description from Wikipedia:

• Constructed: 1889 
• Foundation: Concrete 
• Construction: Wood (first) steel (second) 
• Automated: 1975
• Height: 18 m (59 ft) 
• Shape: square pyramidal tower (first) Art Deco tower on square base (second) 
• Light: First lit 1889 (first tower) 1935 (second tower)
• Focal height: 78 feet (24 m)
• Range: 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi)

An excerpt:

"This light, constructed of steel plates in an Art Deco style, stood on an open concrete platform which in turn perched at the end of the breakwater forming the northern limit of the harbor. The fourth order lens was retained. As with its predecessor, no provision was made to house the fog signal's keepers, and they continued to live in the old keeper's dwelling in town. Funds for the light were appropriated in 1934 and first light came the following year.

Full automation came late to this light. The old lens and its lantern were removed at an undetermined date, but keepers continued to operate the fog signal manually until 1975. The light continues in use, with a second but much shorter tower standing on the southern breakwater to mark the other side of the entrance."

Another site about it:   Port Washington Breakwater, WI  (Lighthouse Friends)

Pictures, of course:

Speaking of volcanoes

 

Since I ended the last post on a volcanic note, I'm starting this one the same way. One of the more entertaining video views of volcanoes right now is the camera that watches Guatemala's Fuego, which has frequent explosive outbursts. During the day it releases big puffy mushroomy ash clouds, and at night it has some spectacular glowing ash outbursts.  An example from a couple of days ago is below.  This is taken from a live webcam.  Winter is the best time to watch due to the lack of clouds.

I wondered if anyone had ever tried to look into the crater of Fuego while it was doing its erupting thing. Turns out someone has tried.  See below.

While I was gone...

 

I haven't gone anywhere, actually, but I found myself unable to post to my blog for days due to scheduling conflicts.

And then so much broke loose.  Now, I admit to watching the Olympics in this interim or interregnum, or whatever you want to call it, and that did distract me from writing a few posts here.  

And then the war started a couple of days ago. It remains to be seen if the world will be a safer place when this is over.  Right now, I guarantee it is not a safer place.

Since the President was unable to send the world economy into a death spiral with either plan A  -- firing Jerome Powell, or plan B -- willy nilly imposing and invoking tariffs -- he has now moved on to plan C, attacking Iran, which has now threatened to shut down the Straits of Hormuz, through which lots and lots and lots of oil is moved.

One thing is certain -- in so many different ways, the path forward is unstable and unpredictable.  Which is rarely ever a good thing.

But hey -- Piton de la Fournaise erupted while I wasn't posting. At one point early in the eruption, it appeared to be erupting from seven vents (where does it think it is -- Iceland?)  So Mother Earth ignores the travails of its denizens and just keeps flowing along.

Eruption pic:

Sulfur dioxide cloud:

Pizza: it's what's for breakfast

 

This is a Scientific American video about why leftover pizza is healthier for humans than fresh, hot pizza. It also has a reference to go with it (which I'll provide), from the esteemed journal Foods.

Here is the reference: Li H, Liu B, Bess K, Wang Z, Liang M, Zhang Y, Wu Q, Yang L. Impact of Low-Temperature Storage on the Microstructure, Digestibility, and Absorption Capacity of Cooked Rice. Foods. 2022 Jun 2;11(11):1642. doi:10.3390/foods11111642. PMID: 35681392; PMCID: PMC9180724.

Glorious Katherine does a glorious Turandot turn

 

I knew that Sarah Brightman had sung the "Nessun Dorma" aria from Puccini's Turandot, which is famously and usually reserved for male tenors;  I recently discovered that the gorgeous and supremely talented Katherine Jenkins (also a decent dancer on Dancing with the Stars) had done a version too. This version doesn't have the same production extras that Sarah's version has.

Listen to it here:

That's a somewhat fetching cover picture, too.

Lighthouse of the Week, February 8-14, 2026: Perry's Victor and International Peace Memorial, Ohio, USA

 

OK, I've been there.  I've been to the top of it.  I've even been directly over it in an airplane (headed to Milwaukee, I think), and knew what it was.

I didn't know it was a lighthouse!  But in fact, it is the tallest "aid to navigation" in the United States, probably (though I didn't check) one of the tallest in the world.

It's not primarily a lighthouse, it is, as the name indicates, a monument to a naval battle in the War of 1812, the Battle of Lake Erie. This was the battle won by Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, which after he won it he communicated "We have met the enemy and they are ours."  Thus, on the island near where that battle was fought, there is the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. (And a bit ironic, as you'll see.)

To further help out, this is where that is.

And this is what the Lighthouse Directory says about it:

"1915. Active; focal plane 335 ft (102 m); white light, 3 s on, 3 s off. 352 ft (107 m) round granite tower topped by a bronze urn. Floodlit at night. ... This is the tallest aid to navigation in the U.S., 75% taller than Cape Hatteras Light. The tower commemorates the 1813 naval victory of a U.S. fleet led by Oliver [Hazard] Perry over a British fleet; it also recognizes the peace that has prevailed between the U.S. and Canada since 1815. An elevator carries visitors to an observation deck 317 ft (96.5 m) above the lake. A new visitor center opened in May 2002. The tower was closed for repairs and restoration during 2012. Located on the northeastern portion of South Bass Island, which is accessible by ferries from Catawba Island and Port Clinton."

(What I underlined is the ironic part, given the uneasiness between Canada and the U.S. due to the current Imbecile-in-Chief.)

So of course I will have pictures and a video.