we interrupt this retrospective for a news update

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/weasel/Minkprintout.shtml

Mink are small members of the weasel family. Dark
brown in color, mink have long been sought after
for their pelts. Though they only reach 2-3 lbs
in size, mink are aggressive and predatory. They
will prey upon most anything including rats, mice,
fish, rabbit, birds, eggs, insects or muskrat.
Because of their long and sleek design, mink will
commonly find their way into chicken coops or
other animal holding cages where they can kill
several of the captive prey animals in a short
period of time. This characteristic - random
slaughtering of prey animals - sometimes confuses
the animal owner into thinking local vandals
are responsible. They also like to line their kill
up in a row which leads to further confusion. It's
hard to imagine such a small animal could be so
destructive, aggressive and organized. But if you
raise quail, pheasant, chickens or some other small
bird, hope the local mink don't find out!

Mink like to live close to water. Dens are commonly
made on the banks of streams and creeks but they
may choose a location under a rock or log. Mink are active in most every
state except one or two in the southwestern region
of the United States. Since mink are usually nocturnal
and secretive, they are not easily seen. Generally
they are not the first animal thought to be responsible
for local damage unless the land owner is familiar
with how mink behave. But once they learn of a good
food supply, they will be persistent and resilient.

A mink broke into our chicken coop Wednesday night and killed all of our chickens. Roger will reinforce the coop before we acquire more hens.

In other news, I just have to include this picture of little Suzie building a snowman in Thursday's snowfall. She started with a tennis ball and kept at it for over an hour.

Sorry it has taken so long to start my retrospective. It was harder than I thought to locate pictures from twenty years ago.

Here's pix of my friend Peggy Sue's digs on Lopez. This is where she was living when we first started looking for a place. We really thought we'd end up on Lopez near her. Lopez had some advantages like only being thirty minutes away instead of a hour or more on the ferry. But we didn't find any parcel that had all the qualities we wanted so we began to look on San Juan. Good thing we didn't buy on Lopez as Peggy Sue moved back to Friday Harbor a few years after we had bought here. It's so nice to be on the same island!

After much dickering with the sellers, the property finally closed in May of 1989. We started camping on it right away. Usually we would spend at least one weekend a month there at least during the summer. And each summer we'd spend at least one week of vacation really "improving" the place. The second picture shows an improved situation, so it must be the second summer. You will note a tarp over the tent, AND a camping cupboard that housed some of our equipment while we were away.

One year we came back to find that honey bees had discovered our cupboard and built quite a hive. Needless to say, we decided to let them have it rather than argue the point.

Here are pictures from that same camping area today. My brother-in-law Eric now owns this real estate and may build a house on it one day. But the view down the valley is now full of alders.

To be continued . . .

First Trip to Friday Harbor - 1973

I found an old photo album with very blurry pictures of my first trip to visit my friend Peggy Sue the summer of '73. Had to be summer even though I'm wearing that heavy coat of Peggy Sue's. June can be very cold up here in the corner of the nation. Hmmm, that would make me twenty years old. (I'm sure that's lemonade in my hand.)

If George, Barry, Ken, or Peggy Sue have any clearer pictures of this trip, please send them my way.

By the way, this week is the anniversary of my first year as a retiree. Hooray!