Late Fall in the Garden: Not Much Left

Last year's winter lasted until summer rolled around in late July. Then we had a week here & there of summer & now we're getting ready for another El Niño winter. Bottom line: storms & generally bad weather ahead. I try to keep from complaining when I see the real hardships caused by the weather in other parts of the country, but it's hard. These hard winters wreak havoc on my garden, & then there's always downed trees & the loss of power, sometimes lasting for days.

The yellows, whites & pinks of my spring & summer garden have faded & I'm left with the hardiest of fall blooms. Still, here & there struggling Cecile Brunner pink rosebuds catch the low, slanted late afternoon sun & my spurges--a Mediterranean plant I saw all over Croatia--seem prettier at this time of year.

I love my Cecile Bruner ever-blooming antique rose climbers that, for me have required very little care. I let them have their head, pruning back heavily every few years just to keep them within the space provided, which never seems to be enough. It is one of those roses that surprised me with its growth. Many people complain that it's a house eater. I guess I didn't read the description carefully enough. Somewhere, in some garden column, I read there are 2 Cecile Bruner roses, one of which is a climber, & I unknowingly bought the climber. Don't know if this is true. Now that I have them, however, I'd never give them up.

Another of Our Public Beaches

I think this beach on the north side of the island has a particularly interesting history. In the late 19th & early 20th Centuries the island was heavily logged. In fact, even though today the island is covered predominantly with Douglas Fir trees it's extremely difficult to find any over the age of 50-75 years old. The magnificent tall & straight trunks were logged primarily for ship masts of the day & sent all over the world.

Until the logs were ready to be shipped to various places, including Europe & Asia, they were "stored" in a bay that overlooks the mainland & one of the snow covered mountains of the Cascade Range. One could walk from log to log clear across the bay, but such an exercise was dangerous. The lumber company eventually decided to build a bridge clear across the bay.

In the mid-1940s the lumber company closed the business and today all that's left are a few poles that supported the bridge across the bay, which can be seen in the top two photos. The bottom photo is part of a walkway installed by the county, making a portion of the beach wheelchair accessible. Across the bay one of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains can be seen in the bottom photo.

I Loathe "Island Time"

I love almost everything about living on this island, so I can complain about my pet peeve, which I attribute to the prevalent attitude called "island time".

I've mentioned this before, but I can't help mentioning it again. You need some kind of service--cleaning roof moss, mending something that broke, garden help, etc. You call the person you need, leave a voicemail giving your name, phone number & what it is you want done. Then you sit & wait. If you're lucky you get a return call in 3-4 days, but usually it's more.

If I were in the business of providing services I would return the call the same day I received it, regardless of how busy I was. Even if it meant I couldn't possibly get to the job for several weeks I'd tell the person that. But here the attitude is "Well, I'm too busy to get to it so I won't call until I have the time." It's far more polite, if you will, to at least let the caller know you got the message & to give an estimate of how long it will be before you can show up.

Is that asking too much???

Small Cove Traps Driftwood

Our island is a haven for driftwood collectors, but the driftwood is mainly tree trunks. Even if you have the equipment to deal with what amounts to full sized trees, however, you're out of luck since it's against the law to remove anything from public or private land. This particular collection is not within a park so it must be privately owned. I've never checked it out. I just come & look at it every once in awhile.

As you can see all the driftwood has collected in one spot here & not the sides, although only one side is visible in the photo. This body of water is a small, oval shaped cove with a small opening at the bottom, or south end. As the winter winds, which come from the south, blow these driftwood logs through the small opening at the bottom of the cove, they collect at the north end since there is nowhere else to go.

Invaded by Bald Faced Hornets

Before my husband got stung twice neither of us had ever heard of bald-faced hornets, but after his research there could be no doubt. Then we discovered 3 hives under the eaves outside & one under the deck. (Bottom photo. I neglected to take a photo before one of the eave hives was obliterated, but it was right in the corner in the middle photo.) Getting rid of the deck hive was a problem because there was fencing around it & it would be quite a job removing it just to get at a hive.

All this time I thought it was bees buzzing around my lambs ears flowers (second photo), but apparently each species is

drawn to different flowers. I was a little more careful, when, on closer inspec-

tion I saw the lambs ears buzzing was caused by hornets.

There was no alternative but to call the exterminator. He confirmed my husband's identification & went about his business. They no longer use poison spray directly on the hive. A less lethal spray is now used on the area surrounding the hive. It attracts the hornets, they eat it & die. What else can you do when wildlife like this becomes a real pest.

And speaking of wildlife our robins did not return this year to raise their 2 or 3 broods. It seems to me I read that robins have about a 3 year life expectancy, so it could be they'd reached theirs. Despite the hassle of their trying to build a next on our window ledges & the resulting mess under the windows, we missed them.

We haven't seen a coyote yet this summer, either!

One of Our Few Public Beaches

There aren't many areas on the island that are open to the public because most of the land is owned by private individuals. Almost all that are public are owned by either the state or the county, but they're all a delight to visit, because none of them are ever very crowded & have remained almost pristine. And, to be truthful, they aren't always easy to find since they're not well signed.

Some of these public areas belonged to private individuals who donated them, others were bought & donated by friends of the park system, & still others were bought directly by the county or state. The one on the right is on a spit on the east side of the island that used to be privately owned. It's quite popular since it has a lengthy sandy beach, & residents regularly bring their children to play. However, popular doesn't mean crowded.

The shoreline on the northeast side of the island consists of a number of bays & coves & the people who live on this side enjoy watching the sun rise, while those of us on the west side swear by our glorious sunsets. A lot of driftwood collects in the east side bays because they have nowhere else to go but to collect along the sides or dead end of the large bay on the north end, blown there by our winter winds which come from the south. Across the bay the Cascade Mountains frame this bucolic scene, although they are difficult to see in my photos because of the clouds.

This is a fabulous birdwatching area. Over 125 species of birds have been spotted, including eagles, hawks, shorebirds, great blue herons, chickadees, hummingbirds, & thrushes. In the fall snow geese & trumpeter swans use the area as a stopping off place on their migration route.

Our Island is Part Funky/Artsy

We have a lot of highly regarded artists on the island, and every Mother's Day weekend they organize an art crawl at which art lovers drive from studio to studio to view artists' work. One artist serves up a double treat, of not only his art, but an absolutely fabulous garden he & his wife have constructed over the years. It looks like it's professionally installed & cared for, but they do it all themselves.

Two photos on the upper right illustrate another of our artists, whose lair on his woodsy lot can be identified by this delightfully designed gate & metal sculpture.

The bottom photo is the funkiest of 3 small grocery stores we have. In addition to those stores we have a strip mall style shopping center, close to the center of the island, with a "supermarket" which most people use.

Developer Leaves the State

Several weeks ago I learned the most egregious developer on the island--in my opinion anyway-- apparently became disheartened by all the flak he was getting from our island watchdog group & moved to sunnier climes (out of the state) to wreak havoc there. He & his partner have consistently thrown temper tantrums at hearings because of all the money they said they were losing due to delays/objections that were thrown in their way, so I guess he got fed up enough to get the clue and leave. The property is now up for sale in 4 parcels.

While his plans were still under review he took the liberty of installing light poles for the parking lot of what was to be a strip mall, so now the property has been nicknamed Light Pole Park. Our island is mostly hilly & woodsy, so this flat, dry piece of property is an anomaly.

2010-11 The Longest Winter

The entire Seattle area is still complaining about the terrible winter, & the weatherman confirmed it by declaring it the worst winter in fifty years. Unlike the rest of the country we weren't snowed in or rained out, although we did get more than our share of rain. It was just plain bone-chilling cold. In cold weather my garden usually loses some of my favorites & gains more weeds, so my pale attempt to grow lavender in front of the garden house has proved futile. Most of it has died. It will give me a chance to try out a new species I've seen in several gardens.

My roses have suffered too, although a few bushes seem to have thrived on the cold. The new growth at this time of year always draws the neighborhood deer. They love the tender new rose growth, but I've learned that underplanting the bushes with garlic will generally keep them away. We have two pair of young deer who make the rounds at least once a day & one of the four is so pale as to be almost white. I'm hoping to get a photo of her sometime. We did have an albino deer on the other side of the island. The newspaper would print a yearly photo of it in someone's garden, but then it was killed by a car. Deer don't last many years around here.

Here it is the end of June & I think we've had a total of half a dozen really nice sunny & warm days when we could be outside. Both my husband & I were quite ill this winter so the weather didn't contribute anything to our sense of well-being. We were desperately longing for a wonderfully warm spring after the horrible winter. But our house is still in tact so we are grateful we weren't wiped out like so many were.

Photos

Top: This winter killed the lavender

Bottom: The lavender in a better year

Rose Tree a Year Later

My "Rose Tree" changes a little bit every year, so I make sure to take photos in order to track the changes. This year there is less growth outward, facing our house, & more growth on the opposite side. Branches have grabbed nearby trees & grown in that direction, giving the impression that our Sequoia & Douglas Firs have pink blooms at the top.

This rose is Paul's Himalayan Musk & needs plenty of space to stretch out. It's a perfect rose to grow on dead trees, which is where I originally planted it. For last year's photo go to:

http://lifeonislandtime.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-rose-tree.html

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.