Another Almost Ruined Thanksgiving

Long timers around these parts remember the Thanksgiving Day storm of 1983. That, apparently, was the grandaddy of all storms--wind that tore down trees & blew off roofs. So this Thanksgiving's snow storm doesn't even come close to rating, but as every Thanksgiving approaches we have to wonder if it's going to happen.

This year it was snow--only 2" but enough to worry us about endangering family who have to come over the hill from the east side of the island. First we considering postponing everything until Friday. Then, when the weather report indicated rain early in the day along with rising temperatures we decided to go ahead & directed everyone to go the long way around from the north.

Everything worked out

One Of Our Sunsets

In spite of a lot of complaining about the weather this summer we did enjoy many of these sunsets!

Some States Baked In Heat This Summer...We Froze

This photo is typical of what our summer was like this year, with the addition of fog that normally hangs over the Sound most mornings in the fall & winter, obscuring the water. Every day, when I got to the back page of the newspaper & looked at the temperature map of the United States just about every state was colored gold, which meant "hot", while the coastline of Washington, Oregon & Northern California were green strips, signifying around 50F.

I doubt that we had more than 10 really nice days this summer, so we feel cheated. I think it made us crabby because we also felt cheated when the county commissioners told us they were going to put a tax referendum on the ballot since they had cut the budget all they could & there was no alternative to raising our taxes. Well, the tax referendum failed & the county commissioner for our island was roundly turned out of office in favor of a candidate who vowed NOT to raise taxes. (Now there are 3 women commissioners: 2 Democrats from the other island in our county, and our 1 Republican, whom, I'm afraid, will be constantly outnumbered when she differs from the other 2 on the subject of taxes.)

Other than throwing a commissioner out of office--a man who had been a well liked & respected newspaper editor before he ran for the commissioner job & was handily elected--other than that excitement, the island got a new bridge to the mainland, which is good news & much appreciated; the result of our state senator "bringing home the pork". None of the locals who benefit from pork complain when their elected representative bring it home. It's only other people's pork that's bad!

A Lovely Sight; Update On Our Bandit

A beautiful sight greeted me as I glanced out the kitchen window this morning: a sunrise regatta taking place across the sound. It was such a peaceful sight & one of the reasons I continually thank my lucky stars that I live here. In fact, I'm sure it was a bit too peaceful for the participants since they were getting very little wind, even with spinnakers.

Our island bandit has been returned to Seattle to face charges for his Washington State crimes. Oddly enough, we got more information about him from the New York Times than we did from any of the local papers. When you think about it the way he turned out was hardly surprising given the way his harlot of a mother brought him up. Not only did she abuse him, she rarely fed him, so he got an early start breaking into houses & stealing food. And now she wants to cash in on all of this by signing a book and/or movie deal. Pretty pathetic.

Island Bandit caught in the Bahamas

Early yesterday morning our most infamous island resident, Colton Harris-Moore, who's now become a national, even international celebrity was captured on an island in the Bahamas, of all places, leaving a trail of stolen money, cars, planes & boats.

I can't help but believe he somehow wanted to be caught. Why else would he have picked a tiny island, where his 6' 5" frame stuck out like a sore thumb, & then brazenly break into businesses not seeming to care whether security cameras recorded him or not.

There are TV satellite trucks all over our island and reporters are looking for any smidgeon of gossip that would make a good story. Apparently they're hanging out in droves on the road near the mother's house as well as a small grocery store he once robbed, interviewing anybody who will talk to them. Thank goodness Colton's stomping ground is at the southern end of the island & nowhere near us, although I have half a mind to drive down just to see the circus.

Many residents would love to be able to see him prosecuted here, but he faces so many charges from other states, & now another country, that it will undoubtedly be years before he comes before the Island County court system. Our sheriff may face a difficult re-election when his term ends since his office has received numerous complaints & grumbling regarding their failure to catch him when he was still here. He plundered houses here for 2 years before he moved on to other hunting grounds & it's hard not to want to put the blame somewhere. The trouble is, the island still has extensive wooded areas where he was known to hole up, so the task wasn't easy. In one letter to the local newspaper a resident expressed his bitterness at having to install a security system after having been burglarized several times by Colton. I doubt that community meetings held by the sheriff has done anything to improve people's attitude toward island law enforcement.

A Lesson In Determination

David's mission this spring has been to prevent the robins from building a nest on the molding ledge outside our bathroom window as they did the previous year. He failed the first time. After sweeping nest material away every day for over a week & thinking he'd succeeded he went out to look one morning, only to find a completed nest. So okay. Wait till the kids have flown the nest & sweep it all away again. Fine. Mission accomplished.

Trouble was, robins raise 2 or even 3 families per season & soon they were back replacing everything David had swept away after the lst nesting. This time David devised a rather crude solution. He nailed plastic netting over the entire molding, but as a consolation prize nailed a piece of scrap wood to the house siding several feet away from the molding, not the least convinced they would really use it. But he was shocked several mornings ago to find that they had indeed used the ledge to build a new nest.

Of course the black plastic netting looks hideous but I'll never convince David to removed it as long as the robins insist on squatting.

We Discover Some Unobtrusive Boarders

While David was concentrating his energy on preventing Charles & Harriet, our resident robins, from constructing a nest on the same window molding ledge they used last year (& losing the battle), a sweet little chickadee was unobtrusively setting up housekeeping in an ornamental birdhouse just outside my garden house.

We were thrilled, because we'd never expected any birds to use it. It was mounted on top of an old shovel that was shoved into the ground next to a climbing rose where it's been languishing for at least 10 years, sadly in need of redecorating. No one's taken up residence in it before, so we were doubly surprised when we saw mama chickadee busily flying in & out.

We don't know exactly when she moved in, & her comings & goings were so quick it took a while to determine what kind of bird she was. Every time I went to the garden house, though, I tried to take a good look without approaching too closely, because I could see it would upset her. When I saw a chickadee flitting from tree limb to tree limb & rapidly scolding me as I entered the garden house I knew she was our tenant.

Once she got the nest ready, which she did by entering through the bottom hole, she plugged up that hole with moss & began using the "upstairs" entrance through the little heart. I'm so glad to see a real birdhouse getting use after all these years. Little joys matter.

A few years ago a hapless little chickadee built a nest on the ground next to one of my climbing roses, which I discovered while weeding the garden. There were eggs in the nest that day, but when I looked about a week later, sadly, there were only some tiny down feathers scattered around the nest, & I knew the feral cats had been at work.

Another Gas Station Is What We Need Here (Not)

This little flea market is nothing to get excited about, but it used to be a sort of run down shop called "Dan's". I went into Dan's once years ago just to see what he had, & it was dark & dank & mostly junk. I think Dan "refinished" stuff. I put it in quotes because it seemed to me he & his dog just mostly lolled around instead of refinishing, but maybe I'm wrong.

Then several women took it over & transformed it into The Spare Room, giving it an exterior paint job that needs doing again, but what's the point, as I'll explain. There are actually 2 stores--the other is to the left of this building but not in the photo. They cleaned it up & have antiques on consignment--nothing slick, but just the sort of thing that fits a place like this. I like to go in there every once in awhile just to check on what they got in, & so do most of the people on the island. Some of the consignment pieces are handmade furniture--nothing fancy, but things you could use on an outdoor porch or patio--chairs, tables, chests.

Sadly, The Spare Room will be torn down soon to make way for progress: another gas station & convenience store. We've been lucky enough so far to avoid such wonderful modern conveniences, but our favorite developer (wink, wink!) bought the property & that's what he plans to do. It's across the street from a strip mall that he wants to build & that we've kept him from building for several years since he's violated several county statutes before he even broke ground. And then the economy dumped, so for us, the good news is it's delayed both projects.

There are 3 gas stations on the island already, all of which have convenience stores of a sort. It's kind of like stepping back in time to go in the 2 oldest, because they're old & creaky & stuff is crammed in like you'd expect from a little 40's store. We like it that way.

One of the problems we have on the island is that people see how beautiful it is, they love it, they decide to move here. And then they want to change it. There ought to be some places that stay pretty much the same, if that's what the natives want!

My "Rose Tree"

My rose tree thrives regardless of the weather. In spite of what it appears to be, it is really a climbing rose called Paul's Himalayan Musk. I saw it in a rose book one day about 10 years ago. Someone had planted it to wind & climb into a dead tree & since we had a nearly dead maple tree that we didn't want to chop down I thought it would be a wonderful way to use it.

It's turned out to be beautiful, but not exactly the way I'd planned it. Mother Nature likes to do things her own way, so once it starting growing the up trunk it found & clung to a healthy maple shoot next door before climbing on up & finally jumping to a couple of other trees that you can't see in this photo.

It's amazing to see it change from year to year. This is the first year, for example, that we've seen rose blossoms growing inexplicably on a nearby sequoia; that is, if you don't see the front of the mother plant & old dead tree first.

December Weather Extends to June

One thing we Northwesterners are accustomed to are the long, dreary, grey & rainy days of winter. So when June comes we rejoice, because although it doesn't usually mean summer is here, at least we get a taste of it every now & then. This June, however, has been just like December, the only difference being the grey lasts 10 hours longer, from about 4:00 am. to 10:30 p.m. People who get depressed find this climate very difficult.

There's an occasional pleasure boat on the sound, but not like regular summer traffic, & with little wind to fill their sails they seem a bit pitiful, especially next to the power yachts that pass them like brash kids feeling their oats. The Seattle to Vancouver Island hydrofoil, The Victoria Clipper, is back in regular service, though, and passes our house about 9:15 every morning. We love seeing it glide speedily by, leaving a long & narrow white foamy wake. The ship presents a lovely contrast to our grey, with it's bright British red, white & blue hull.

The roses are blooming & have loved the extra rain, but this is perfect weather for black spot so I'll have to keep my eyes open.

Island Volunteers Build Playground

Here's another reason I cherish this island & it's life style.

Three days is all it took. It goes to show what people can accomplish when they come together for a common goal. Our island Rotary donated the money for materials to build a children's playground, then the call went out for volunteers. They ended up with a large group of enthusiastic workers, primarily parents.

I read about this venture in the local newspaper but I had no idea how extensive this playground would be until I drove by every day & it came alive before our eyes. The weather the second day could have been better, but on the third day it was cold, with sheets of rain compounding everyone's misery. Still, it's a story these people won't soon forget, & they have every reason to be proud. I'm anxious to see how attendance at the park holds up because so far it's been packed every day that weather permits. (We're still having what I guess is supposed to be April showers!)

Island Infamy

I went to my Homepage this morning, only to be greeted by the photo on the right & a national story on the Today Show, weekend edition featuring the island's most infamous Home Town Boy, Colton Harris-Moore! (No, that's not a link.)

We have the national media nosing around, looking for angles to report on a local island criminal who happens to be a very elusive teenage thief. Apparently he even has a fan club on Facebook & people are selling tee shirts & other items with his likeness stamped on them. His fans seem to think it's, what, cute or something that he's terrorized everyone on our island as well as the San Juans nearby, stealing boats, an airplane, cars and electronic stuff? Well, it's not cute if you've been one of his victims.

How this kid has eluded the law is a mystery. He's burglarized innumerable homes, including our next door neighbors, who are only part time residents. He seems to smell when a house is empty, breaks in & makes himself at home, eating things he finds in the freezer or refrigerator, then stealing what he wants. Word is that he lived in one house for over a month, even driving their car, before he moved on.

After being caught the first time & turned over to the juvenile justice system (he was 18 then), where he was "incarcerated" then escaped from a minimum security facility, he's been on the lam ever since. It's certain someone's helping him--maybe more than one person. One of his previous friends was interviewed for the NBC story said, "Colton & I used to say we wanted so much money we could bathe in it." The trouble with people like this is they are somehow instilled with an entitlement personality. They want what other people have, but the only way they want to obtain it is to steal it. With Colton's intelligence there's no end to what he could do putting that mind to work constructively. But it seems we're seeing more of this all the time. You want something? Take it from someone else! my theory is the government's "generosity", in terms of entitlements, helps promote this mentality.

Robins and Whales

Bucolic is boring, perhaps, but it definitely describes island life this past winter. To our everlasting relief there was no snow at all & only a few windstorms that never seemed to live up to their potential. We had power outages, but never long enough to have to consider a move to a motel for a few days.

The recession has resulted in a small silver lining here on the island. The developers have crawled back into their holes until the financial climate improves. But they'll be back. The island is just too luscious, too ripe not to be raped, & they're just biding their time.

The whales, after wintering in Southern California, have turned up here on their usual spring stopover in Puget Sound before moving further north. The sound used to be rich with shrimp, which the greys love, & the two native pods of orcas look for chinook salmon. Orcas are fascinating animals. Our native pods return & spend the summer in the waters around the San Juan Islands & Vancouver Island in Canada, but there are a few groups of transient orcas who generally troll the coast & feast on seals & occasiononally a grey whale. Several weeks ago a pod of transient orcas appeared in the sound & was seen to trap & attack a grey whale just below our house, while many people stood helplessly by & watched in horror. The poor grey was mortally wounded & eventually died & washed up on a beach further south. No one has ever been able to supply an explanation to account for such a wide divergence in diets between the transients & natives.

David is fighting what is probably a losing battle with a group of robins that continue to try & build nests on top of our window moldings. Last year he gave up on one robin couple who completed a nest & subsequently raised 3 offspring but this year he's determined to thwart their efforts. He says robins have no redeeming value but are able to spread the word to others they know that home sites on our moldings are safe & sheltered from the elements. But we're beginning to feel like victims from "The Birds". We can't understand their determination in the face of the constant frustration of David's "broom sweeps" as well as the fact that dense woods that surround our house that would surely be a better choice. Note the messy construction as well as what looks like 2 nests. We're wondering is one is meant to be a decoy or merely a start that turned out badly.

An El Niño Winter

It's an El Niño winter here in the Northwest. We love 'em, albeit a bit guiltily, since this means most of our bad winter weather is pushed south into California! So far we've had only one wind storm of any consequence & our electricity was only out a few hours. Just about any wind storm around here means downed trees & loss of electricity. Our power has been out as long as 3 days over the years, which means life goes on in a nearby motel since we can't flush toilets or have running water.

We've even seen the sun on numerous days, which is unusual in this part of the country. The 100 yd. walk to our mailbox up on the one lane community road, which is fortified every summer with new wood chips on a path, seems hardly damp. Most winters we have to don garden boots to slog through the low spots which get boggy from the incessant rain.

Soon we'll be seeing whales as their spring migration to Alaska begins a bit early & yesterday I sent for a new, larger hummingbird feeder to replace a smaller one that is less popular with our little friends & also easier to clean. I go through about 6 lbs. of sugar, from the middle of March to the end of June, when they go farther north, but this year they'll probably appear sooner too.

Photo: In an ordinary winter our wood-chipped path to the mailbox is only navigable in boots.