How To Cement A Friendship

Being snowed in wasn't enough. Now we've caused a friend to wreck his car! One thing I'm sure he's learned: Being a good Samaritan doesn't always pay off. It's more like the old proverb (or whatever it is) that no good deed goes unpunished.

We asked a friend who has a 4 wheel drive vehicle & was able to get around fairly well if he'd drive up & down our driveway a few times to make a path for the propane truck that was due to come & fill up our propane tank. Like the good friend he is he came right over, but he had some trouble keeping on the graveled driveway once he came down through the woods from our community road into the open. Then, on the second run, going up the incline to the road he stopped, which was a big mistake. Underneath the snow was ice & he started sliding backward, unable stop. The car back ever so slowly into a big Douglas Fir tree off the side of the driveway. You wouldn't think the impact at such a low speed would do much damage but it smashed the whole back end of the car, popping the rear window with a sound like a rifle shot.

He promptly called his insurance company expecting a tow truck to come out shortly, but with storm problems all over the area they told him they didn't know when they'd be able to pick the car up. So now, even if the propane truck comes they have no way of getting close enough to fill the tank. David goes out every day to check on the amount left & luckily it is not going down fast. However, if I had it to do over I don't think we'd ever opt for propane again.

Still Snowed In

The first day it snowed I hooked a ride with a neighbor & went into town on the mainland to do a few errands & see how the roads looked. The neighbor had a 4 wheel drive, so didn't have much of a problem driving the roads, which were packed snow. Even the hills gave him no problem, but even with 4 wheel drive you don't gun it. That's when you get into trouble.

But after they predicted the wind storm, along with more snow, I jumped ship in the afternoon when I still could. David stayed--I think because he's just stubborn. He didn't sleep well because every time the wind gusted dangerously he woke up, but as usual, I slept like a log. Next morning I had to clean off about 6 inches of snow from my car & then I headed home--veeerrry carefully! Saw cars & trucks in ditches all the way home, although the freeway was clear & wet. Even saw a Volvo.

We thought that was the end, but no, last night we got another 4 inches or so. There's no way we can get out, so we asked our 4 wheel drive neighbor to drive up & down our driveway a few times to clear out a path.

Waiting For A Fierce Storm

We still hadn't ventured out in either car (one a Saab & one an Audi) since two days ago when the snow hit. Yesterday David tried to get his car, the Audi, up the incline at the end of our driveway, but ended up backing all the way down, which is about a city block long, through the woods & around a curve. He thinks maybe he didn't go fast enough to get enough momentum to get to the top, but it kind of spooked me & kept me from trying even though my car is heavier & stood a better chance of making it. A friend stopped by to leave a book & after he said he was going into town I decided to go with him just to see how the roads were & pick up a few items for dinner: ingredients for tacos. His car is a 4 wheel drive SUV & he had no trouble at all managing our driveway or the island hills.

Last night it got down to 10 degrees F., the coldest I think it's ever been here, at least since we've lived here. David is fanatical & fears the water pipes will freeze so he leaves all the cabinet doors open at night & the water dripping from all the faucets. Last night, as long as we had electricity (knock on wood!) he brought in a radiant heater from the garden house & put it in the hall near the thermostat hoping the slight rise in temperature that would be radiated would keep the furnace from going on all night. He is a notoriously light sleeper and every time the furnace goes on he wakes. I sleep the sleep of the dead. Usually, during ordinary winter weather around here the temperature doesn't get below freezing so the furnace rarely goes on during the night since we have it set to automatically go down to 66 degrees. The house is well insulated so rarely gets too cold. Even when we were out of electricity for three days one winter the temperature didn't get below 55 degrees inside.

Last night & this morning they've been telling us on the radio & TV that there's a big storm coming in later this afternoon, with high winds & snow, but rising temperatures. Any kind of wind with snow usually takes out the electricity here, so I told David I was leaving this afternoon & made a motel reservation. He wants to stay in the house & was planning to build a fire if the electricity went out, but since all the heat goes up the fireplace flue that kind of precaution will hardly affect the pipes, & since the temperatures are supposed to rise anyway he's debating whether to come with me.

Snowed In

I am sitting here waiting for the electricity to go out. It's almost lunchtime. We woke up to about an inch of snow, but about 10:00 a.m. it started in again. In Seattle this would be nothing to be concerned about. The plows would be making their rounds and once you got out of your driveway you could probably get to where you wanted to go as long as you stayed away from hills. But around here things aren't as easy. 

The biggest problem are the trees, but almost as bad are the hills. We love trees, and for 11.98 months of the year we celebrate all the trees on our island; it's the small fraction of days like this when they're a threat. Douglas firs were not made to support heavy snow. At the very least their branches collapse, at worst the whole tree topples over.

I'll never forget the snowstorm we had two years ago. It started with a windstorm the night before, knocking out our electricity. (This is a common thing around here and the utility company blames it all on trees. But still, other areas seem to cope with wind despite the trees.) In the morning, the dim prospect of no coffee sent us onto the mainland for breakfast, after a neighbor had cleared away a downed tree on the road with his chain saw. We met other neighbors at the restaurant who'd had the same idea and glancing out the window over our second cup of coffee we noticed a blizzard had started outside & was sticking to the pavement at an unbelievable rate. All we needed was to be snowed in with no electricity, so we sped home as fast as we could, grabbed our overnight bags which we kept packed for just such occasions, locked up and managed to get up the steep end of our driveway to the community road, only to discover another tree had come down over it. This time we tried driving around it and got stuck.

The snow was piling up fast, but David went out to the county road and as luck would have it, a county sheriff's deputy was passing. David flagged him down and the two of them managed to rock the car out of the ditch we'd made trying to get out. While I stood there waiting for him to find someone I could hear the cracking of tree branches that sounded like pistol shots in the snow-muffled silence, and every once in awhile, after the crack a swishing thud that meant a tree had come down somewhere in the woods. By this time I was very anxious to get off the island!

We finally made it, but we had to take several detours because of downed trees over the roads, & all the way off the island we could hear trees falling. I must say I was scared to death one would come down on our car. Four wheel drive vehicles were in ditches all over the place because in weather like that, 4 wheel drive is really no help. We did much better in our front wheel drive Saab.

We were one of the last persons to get a room at a motel on the mainland. Then freezing weather set in and made the roads all but impassable--even the freeways. We were three days in the motel so we made a party of it. The same neighbors we'd eaten breakfast with got a room too, so we had a cocktail party every afternoon and ate at nearby restaurants, all short-handed because employees couldn't get to work. 

Grand Theft: Obama Sign Stolen From Front Yard

Sign stealing this election year had been frequent in the big city of Seattle, but here on our little island? 

It was October, some years back, when we moved to another big city on the West Coast and I remember how puzzled I was by the yard signs that announced which houses supported which political candidates. Political signs had never been a tradition in the Midwest--bumper stickers and lapel pins, yes, but not signs. Even though we eventually got accustomed to them we never erected any ourselves, and when we moved to the island it was more like we remembered from the Midwest: no signs.

This year, however, was a landmark year with a very different candidate, and some of Barack Obama's supporters were very assertive about their choice. A few yard signs actually went up in our neighborhood--a first, for as far back as I can remember, for most of us live quietly and don't advertise our politics.

One of the sign erectors had recently moved from the big city, so this ritual was understandable, and once his sign went up his next door neighbor promptly followed suit with a second Obama sign.

They were there, undisturbed and unopposed by rival McCain signs, for about a month when one night they both mysteriously disappeared. Who had done it? Who had stooped to low down thievery and stolen the signs? The big city residents were furious. Although replacement signs soon went up, feelings were raw, and the victim reported that he suspected his neighbor across the road, who had a tendency to stir up trouble if there was trouble he could find to stir up. 

Someone else piped up that it wasn't a good idea to make an accusation if it couldn't be backed up by proof, and this pissed off the big city resident. How dare someone impugn the validity of his accusation? Especially when the accused neighbor was despised by everyone and even suspected of being a Republican?

Funny how bad feelings can be stirred up during an election year. How wonderful it would be if that's all we had to worry about!

We're Still Fighting To Stay Rural

The developers are always on our doorstep, so to speak, drooling over the money that could be made if they could just pave over most of the island with motels, fast food joints and the like. But this has always been a quiet, rural place and most of us would like to keep it that way even if we have to fight continually to do so. We've managed to stave off Walmart (that is, the mainland town has so far kept them at bay, thanks to several hard working business owners that led the fight to keep them out), but others are always lined up behind them to start a new fight.

The developers tried to intimidate the county commissioners at a land use hearing by ranting about how much money they'd invested in their shopping center projects and now the rules had changed and were so stringent, with the objections and appeals process taking so long, that they were losing money. By raising their voices they intimidated our three commissioners--the ones who basically interpreted the county's Master Plan--enough so they relaxed the height and square footage requirement on a building moratorium for a shopping center that had begun. 

The result was two of the commissioners were voted out of office in the November 2008 election. Now we'll see what happens!

A Seattle Times Columnist Describes Our Paradise

Here's what a Seattle newspaper columnist said recently about our island: (And this is why we love it here.)

" You could see the yellow kayak, bobbing through the waves stirred by a stiff breeze, at least a half a mile away.
The sea kayaker was making slow, steady progress against the southerly wind that Puget Sound knows so well, paddle dipping with power and purpose.

Fifteen minutes later, he came ashore at Cama Beach State Park and walked over, shaking saltwater off his waterproof clothing, pulling off his neoprene gloves.

"Is there a phone here?" he asked. "I need to call about where I'm headed tonight. This is the only sign of life I've seen around here."

The guy, traveling north to south down the Sound, had unwittingly capsulized one of the great things about living here.

Few signs of life. Less than an hour away from one of the West Coast's largest population centers.

In the minds of a lot of us natives, that sort of near-solitude is often relegated to the relics-of-the-past department. But it might be misfiled. Because of sheer luck of the environment that surrounds us and a few people wise enough to protect it, we still have access to special natural places decidedly not overrun by people, at least during the "off" months." Ron Judd

Photo:
Our Madrona tree sports its bright orange winter berries

Wild Life Casualties

For the most part we enjoy our wildlife here on the island, but have to be on constant alert lest we add to the unfortunate road kill. Deer appear to be unbelievably stupid, darting out of the woods across the road and right into or in front of cars. It's hard to blame the cars since--driving sensibly--we've had so many close calls ourselves and know there is no way to avoid hitting an animal that runs directly into your path. I'm particularly careful at night, but it happens during the day, too, and I'd never forgive myself if I hit one.

We had a family of wild turkeys that seemed to like our property, perhaps because it had a combination of gardens, open spaces and woods. I kept hoping it was slugs they were eating, for I could see them pecking about in the yard. For a long time we saw what we presumed was a mother with her three chicks, either pecking at something or quite adorably walking up the drive in single file, but as the chicks got older over a period of weeks, they disappeared one by one. We didn't know if they'd gone off by themselves or provided dinner for a coyote, but soon we were down to the one adult. They had become celebrities of a sort with our neighbors who weren't accustomed to looking out their windows and seeing wild turkeys, but for some reason the turkeys preferred our yard to sort of settle into.

Then, one morning David went out to get the morning newspaper and found a pile of large grey feathers on the edge of the driveway. There was only one explanation and we never saw a turkey again. We rarely see coyotes any more--maybe as a learned survival instinct they have become silent and more stealthy. But we know they're there. Every once in awhile the east side of the island, which is more densely populated than the west side, has a rash of disappearing pets and we know it's coyotes. Most people have learned not to let their small pets out alone at night.

Our bald eagles frequently dine on road kill although they prefer salmon or other fish. There is a nest of them somewhere near our property, although we haven't spotted it yet, and it's always a treat to see them soaring above the sound looking for fish, or perched on the top of Douglas firs waiting for other prey. We haven't heard of one taking a dog or cat, but nevertheless we watch our West Highland Terrier if we know they're about.

The Developers Begin Their Onslaught

The watchdog group I'd joined was an irritant to both the developers and the county. The developers were being challenged and the county was being monitored to make sure building codes and zoning laws were adhered to. Life on the island was approaching a never ending battle of wits: developers vs. watchdogs, with one developer in particular as the chief focus.

It won't come as a surprise to some that there are people who emotionally bulldoze their way through life on the assumption they're "entitled". They're entitled to do what they want, and if they screw others or objections are raised there must be something wrong with the other guys or their thinking. Because these people are going to get their way or else! This one was alleged to have built a shoddy housing development elsewhere on the island and now he was moving on to shopping centers, raising all kinds of red flags as he worked through the permit process.

First there was a piece of property he optioned and presented plans to build a motel, gas station, fast food restaurant and what he called a "fine dining" restaurant. The problem was, nobody wanted such things on the island. We were appalled! Please, not in our back yard! There were a few B&Bs but there was nothing in the zoning code that permitted motels so it was puzzling he'd even presented plans for it. He certainly hadn't expected 150 or so people to show up to object when he appeared before the planning board, but like so many others of his ilk he was both clueless and insensitive to what lay ahead and didn't expect what he got. 

When that plan failed he bought acreage further up the road to build an even bigger shopping center, and this time, instead of a "motel" he was calling it "short term rental units", imagining, I guess, that he was pulling the wool over everyone's eyes! Each time he presented his plans to the county there was an appeal by the watchdogs, on legitimate grounds, followed by a hearing at which he was challenged. The watchdogs always came out in force, organized via emails and phone trees. A legal fund was established and every time an attorney was required expenses were minimized by recruiting members as researchers. It was a real grassroots movement.

Hearing after hearing took place as various aspects of the plan were challenged. Besides the short term housing the watchdogs objected to the huge septic system which pumped effluent to a site up a hill several miles distant because the building site itself was not large enough to accommodate a drain field. The pipe carrying it would necessarily be laid on county property, which would make the county liable if the line was damaged in any way, but the hearing examiner granted the permit for it anyway.

Then the density of the project was challenged and it was becoming clear to the county commissioners that there needed to be some clarification and agreement reached as to exactly what would be allowed on the rest of the land bordering this road, some of it designated as Rural Areas of Intensive Development. What exactly would be allowed. They decided to slap a 6 month moratorium on all development in the corridor, but before they they could do it they had to have a public hearing and let the public speak. And man, that's when the ---- hit the fan!

A Watchdog Group Is Formed

We (and a whole lot of others who live here) saw our island as representative of relatively undiscovered pristine beauty and we wanted to keep it that way. Others saw it merely as a way to make an easy buck. When they see "undiscovered pristine beauty" an equation immediately pops up: housing developments + shopping centers = $. Clear cut a hill so you get a water view from most everywhere, throw up mediocre houses and sell them for twice what they're worth and in a few months you've got yourself a fortune! Pretty simple. No rocket science there. So who cares if runoff causes landslides and damage to neighbors' property! It's what property rights are all about! 

I happen to be a believer in property rights, but along with those rights come an individual responsibility not to rape the land, and responsibility is a word some have never heard or think doesn't apply to them. These people are everywhere, but, naively, we had higher expectations for this island when we moved here.  

The county seems to be erratic and ineffective much of the time in enforcing their own rules, so the result finally was that a watchdog group was formed to put pressure on the county to adhere to their own building codes and zoning laws. The group is a thorn in everyone's sides--the county's as well as the violators--but I, for one, don't feel completely helpless when I know, as a cohesive group, we are no longer compelled to just sit and watch as violation after violation make a mockery out of orderly growth.

We are making a difference!