- Olivine Bridge Natural Area Preserve (dnr.wa.gov)
This one-of-a-kind site, with its unique geologic formation, represents an example of native vegetation on serpentine soils at low elevations in the western Cascades. Ultramafic rocks such as serpentine (an olive-green, heavy rock) are high in certain minerals such as iron and magnesium, and weather to produce harsh, relatively sterile soils. These soils are typically inhabited by a relatively small number of plant species, some of them specially evolved, that can tolerate these conditions. Dwarfed trees, junipers and serpentine ferns highlight the odd plants, which persist at Olivine Bridge NAP. The 148 acre preserve also supports a mixed conifer forest.
- Mensa (constellation) (Wikipedia)
Mensa is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere near the south celestial pole, one of fourteen constellations drawn up in the 18th century by French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille. Its name is Latin for table, though it originally commemorated Table Mountain and was known as “Mons Mensae”. One of the eighty-eight constellations designated by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), it covers a keystone-shaped wedge of sky 153.5 square degrees in area. Other than the south polar constellation of Octans, it is the most southerly of constellations and is observable only south of the 5th parallel of the Northern Hemisphere.