A pod of Orcas was spotted from the beach. kcwebgirl Tweeted, “Just saw whales at golden gardens. Made my whole life!!!”

We’re guessing the boaters had a memorable view!

(Thank you Clamster for the video and Allison for the photos. More photos here.)

“The staff tried using a ‘pond leveler,’ basically a pipe under the dam, because the water was rising up to the level of the bridge between the ponds,” Potter says. “That didn’t work very well, so now our grounds crew is physically removing the sticks and accumulated sediment. They try to move the materials farther out each time to discourage expansion of the dam.”

Potter tells us that Parks employees will continue to monitor the dam.

Ashley Owens wrote this update on the MyBallard Facebook page:

Gilda the rescue dog returned home this morning and entered the house thru her doggie door. I woke up early and opened the door to my bedroom and there she was!!! Thank you My Ballard for the posting on the page as that is how we were able to know she was still in the neighborhood. Thanks to all of the kind neighbors on 57th who kep reporting to us the sightings. Thanks Maggie from 11th also for the note left on our door with information!!! very happy day to have her home and safe!

This one’s for the grandma living in Ohio who wants to see her grandson on MyBallard.

“Steep driveways make fun sled hills on Jones Ave NW! The Selleck family”

“Our puppy dogs, Stella and Hoku ala, are enjoying the snow, though it’s a bit deep for them!” Stephen writes.

Hello Kitty!

Hitting the roads. Thanks for the photo Tim!

“I’m sending along Ballard snow day coverage from Whittier Heights. This is the 12th Avenue block between 75th and 77th,” Chuck writes.

Lamont in the snow.

“Sharing one of our snow pictures! Love all the ones coming in!” Jen writes.

Lauren D. sent us this photo of the beach at Carkeek, looking to the north.

Madeleine hanging out in our plum tree this morning after a bit of sledding.

Rachelle sent us this photo of Harry Potter that three Whittier 4th grade girls created.

A sign of spring?

Snow angels, snow ball, walking to Honore bakery!

Kaden Ripley and Dori Buttleman in their snow day igloo. Designed by the dads!

Danielle sent us this photo.

Staying warm in the snow.

Baby Brielle’s first snow! 3 1/2 months old.

“My puppy Mika 1st time in snow,” Sharryn says.

Lexy loves the snow.

“Andie (age 13) and Anna (age 10) worked hard to put these snowmen together,” Scott writes.

“My neighbors across the street made this snow monster. No idea how they got the glowing eyes.”

Dog day in Ballard.

“Gerald Braveheart, the Scotty dog, is not afraid of a little snow!” MB writes.

Just chillin’ at Ballard Corners Park.

Amelia having fun in the snow near 70th and 8th while walking the dog. First time enjoying the snow as a toddler!

“This lady skied all the way down from sunset hill and was cruising around on the beach! what a trooper!” Brett writes.

“This is our dog, Marlee, catching a snowball at our house in West Woodland,” Matt and Sarah write.

Stroppy not trusting the snowman at Ballard Corners Park.

“The snow gave me a perfect excuse to support our neighborhood businesses and sled over to The Fat Hen for lunch,” Misha writes.

If you get tagged, Detective Young encourages you to report it. “There’s only one of me and it’s a big city,” he says, if it’s not reported, “I don’t know it happened.” He says you can report it by calling the non-emergency line (206) 625-5011.

Earlier: Quite a few houses, garages and some cars in Ballard were tagged early Wednesday morning or late Tuesday night. We drove down one alley and just about every surface, whether a fence, garage or house was hit.

Profanity has been edited from this photo

The tags include hate language, swastikas and profanity, all in the same blue spray paint.

The tags in these pictures that Dave sent us are just south of 65th St, near 28th.

Linus posted in the forum about the tags and coolbeans responded, “I would be the house with the disturbing message to share with my 9 year old. Many places within the block got tagged from a mailbox, another house, a garage, and a side of a van that the content was ‘too inappropriate to share’. A passerby commented that a lot of houses got tagged north of here. People are still finding tags they didn’t realize they had. Check your property.”

Linus spoke with police who said that “the speed at which it’s painted out is key to them revisiting or not.”

“KING 5 viewer MnemeImaging snapped photos of the owl as it snuggled next to a heating vent atop a roof of a bungalow on 7th Avenue Northwest near Northwest 67th Street on December 30,” according to this NWCN.com post.

“Neighbors gathered and were able to admire and photograph the stunning bird for about 30 minutes before he flew off into the sunset,” said MnemeImaging.

You can see a slideshow of three photos here.

Earlier: In case you missed the gorgeous double rainbow this afternoon, we received a couple of pictures.

“What a fantastic year of rainbows we’ve witnessed!” Amy writes. “This particular rainbow (above) is one of the brightest I’ve ever been lucky to see. And, we happened to catch it just as a very dark cloud moved in.”

Brian sent us this picture of the double rainbow and it looks like the pot of gold is somewhere along 24th Ave NW.

According to our news partners, The Seattle Times, there is a rare irruption of snowy owls in our region. “They will be here until about March, feasting mostly on voles and other small mammals, resting and fattening before returning to the Arctic for the breeding season,” writes Lynda V. Mapes in the article.

You can read the entire article here.

Unsure of what life would bring him, Tim took his last $26 out of the bank and bought a broom, bucket and garbage bags. For the last two weeks he’s been cleaning up Ballard’s business district. He is amazed at how well-received he’s been. “Everyone in Ballard is so friendly,” Tim laughs. An employee of a local business says Tim is a welcome addition to downtown. She says the sidewalk in front of her shop has never looked better and Tim is a delight to talk to.

Everything Tim owns is neatly packed away and organized in his truck – a bin for clean clothes, a bin for hygiene supplies, a bin for dog stuff and more. But Tim asks that you don’t feel sorry for him; he doesn’t feel sorry for himself. “It could be a lot worse,” he says, explaining that he has his two dogs that he loves dearly and a truck to live in. Some people don’t have all that.

Tim tells us that he is an excellent painter. He was responsible for painting apartments and doing odd jobs when he was employed. Like many newly-homeless unemployed Americans, he says he’s trying to raise money so he can get back on his feet. He gets $600 from the state each month for disability, but that’s not enough to survive on. “As soon as I get housing I’ll be fine,” he says.

If you’re interesting in helping Tim, visit Care Movement, our experiment that helps connect needs in the news with people who want to help.

Read this GeekWire article to get the background on the issue. (Photo courtesy GeekWire.)

Shortly after the hail, the sky lit up with lightning followed by a boom of thunder. Curious about what’s in store for the weekend? Check out the King5 weather forecast.

The trees were free from the city. Godfrey says that Pastor Tim Devine is now working with the city to see what can be done to either save the trees or replace them.

If you have information on who damaged these trees you can call Godfrey at 206-856-6259.

Ballardite Linda doesn’t buy it. “They actually told my husband that last summer when he called them. They even sent him a printout of the flight paths and told us only one plane flew over on a particular day, which is crap,” she emailed us. “They also told us only in extreme winds/weather would they change flight patterns, which is also a lie as we have sat on our deck on perfectly sunning skies…with the roar of planes constantly flying overhead.”

Other people have emailed us, too, that their concerns have gone unanswered or marked as “registered” by Sea-Tac Airport.

Sea-Tac is currently engaged in a Part 150 Noise Compatibility Study. According to the website, “The Part 150 Study process is designed to identify noise incompatibilities surrounding an airport, and to recommend measures to both correct existing incompatibilities and to prevent future incompatibilities. For Part 150 Study purposes, noise incompatibilities are defined as residences or public use noise-sensitive facilities (libraries, churches, schools, nursing homes, and hospitals) within the 65 Day-Night Average Sound Level (DNL) noise contour.”

“It is good to know that others are seeing this change over Ballard, but we need to do something now before it is set in stone!” Linda says. “What my husband was told last summer was that they do respond, but only if there is a public outcry. We need to act more like a community and band together to get them to stop polluting our neighborhood when there are other options that they can take.”

Just last year, Magnolia fought with the FAA regarding proposed changes to airplane altitude over Magnolia. Earlier this year the FAA decided not to change the altitude for planes.

Downtown Ballard merchants will be handing out candy from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday evening. If you want trick-or-treaters in the evening, add your address or block to the below map.

View Halloween Trick-or-Treating in a larger map

You can edit the map here.