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---the
president’s column:
The
S.I. COMMUNITY CENTER BOARD meets Weds., January 14, 7:00. The meeting
agenda includes selection of a slate of proposed officers for 2009.
All Islanders are welcome to attend. Let me know if you have other items
to add to the agenda.
** ANNUAL MEETING AND POTLUCK DINNER. The annual meeting and first
potluck of the year is Saturday, January 17, at 6:30. We will try to
keep the meeting and election of officers short, so we can have more
time for a short and interesting program.
** ANNUAL DUES. Annual dues/directory cards are attached to the
January Shore Lines. The suggested minimum is increased to $15 per family,
to help cover our expenses of hall maintenance and improvements, plus
our ongoing activities that include publishing the Shore Lines, Fourth
of July Parade, Summer Arts Festival, Halloween party, Holiday Arts
Festival, Christmas program, hosting various community-oriented meetings,
and potlucks.
As the outgoing President of the Samish Island Community Center I'd
like to thank everyone for their support of the SICC and it's programs,
and especially the wonderful Board Members with whom I have had the
pleasure of working, Kathleen Packard for editing and publishing the
Samish Shore Lines and to the volunteers who distribute it, Eileen Andersen
for scheduling Community Center reservations and maintaining the web
site, Debbie Emerson for yard work at the Center, and all others who
have provided cleaning, maintenance, parade and program assistance.
This is a great community.
-----Chuck Davis
The EDGEWATER GARDEN CLUB will meet at 9:45 am for visiting and
refreshments on Tuesday, January 27th at the S. I. Community Hall. The
business meeting will begin at 10:15 am. Our program, “Ornamental
Grasses” will be presented by Sandy Dixon,Skagit County Master
Gardener, at 11 am. All are welcome!
The
SAMISH SENIOR SINGLES will greet 2009 at a “brown bag”
lunch at the home of Kathleen Packard, 9920 Samish Island Rd, on Friday,
Jan. 23rd, beginning at 11:30 am. Questions? Call 766-6752
“Sports
Stories 2008” in the Skagit Valley Herald’s New Year’s
edition, listed as 2nd of 10 outstanding events B-Ed
track achievement in winning their school’s first Class 2A State
track &field title last May, propelled by Danielle Nordlund’s
17 ft.-2-1/2 in. leap to win the girls’ long jump.
The SAMISH ISLAND SNOW PHENOMENON OF DECEMBER ‘08, WITH STEADY
BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES
(The Poll says we’re Poles apart)
The Shore
Lines editor took a poll of 6 rather randomly selected Islanders residing
north, south, east and west on this our peninsula.
This editor was probably the “flakiest” of the respondents,
enamored as she was of the “winter wonderland” effect, our
giant evergreens coated in thick, heavy white, as she blissfully walked
(hobbled) down Halloran Rd., from rut to rut. Yet even this Nature-wired
individual had to admit the endearing beauty of rain-cleared roads,
with their new promise of easeful driving.
Two typically thoughtful, even-minded respondents gave balanced replies
to my “liked/disliked” inquiry. Yes, if you didn’t mind
having your Christmas plans disrupted, forgot you owned a car, and settled
in comfortably in front of the fireplace. for some 6 days. you could
appreciate the aesthetic beauty of 16-24 inches of snow, among the rarest
of local experiences. On the other hand, there were those who just had
to get to town, larder low and Christmas visitors expected, and we know
how some visitors never cancel, no matter.
Two others of the “balanced” folk enjoyed the beauty of the
local scene, even though one canceled a trip to family east of Seattle,
and another to a daughter near San Francisco.
But, laying aside the very idea of “balance,” we proceed to
respondents who found the snow event “very disruptive.” For
one, the Snow Grinch had stolen Christmas, and “dreaming of a white
Christmas” is just that, a dream. Boots of 3 different heights
were required, dependent on the direction one took—out the front,
back, or side door.
But, I guess taking the cake was the following response: “Winter
wonderland! are you kidding?! I was really happy to get back to work
again since I’d started drinking too heavily! Plus I had to use
my vacation time for the days I was trapped at home. When I use vacation
days, I want them to take me to a warmer climate! One morning it was
3 degrees on my outside thermometer.”
(The above takes the prize for candor, lending journalistic heights
to this earnest, folksy publication)
Beyond the varied points raised by my six interviewees, key factors
in reactions to the snowy period seemed to be things like the size of
your wheels, the length of your driveway, and whether a guest trying
to depart would actually find a departing plane at the airport. Then,
of course, didn’t we miss our annual Christmas Party, the first
time canceled in my 21 years here, and surely longer. (Just for starters,
we never got to hear Rob Martin’s unique observations of the snow
grinch!)
Of course, a highlight of this “winter event” was the generosity
of neighbors with big wheels who collected grocery lists from less mobile
friends, or the neighbor across the street who got the shoveling going
on your driveway, or one Islander’s e-mail request for info on
road conditions from here to Bow, Burlington, Chuckanut Drive, receiving
helpfully detailed responses from 13 Islanders. The most succinct of
these was, “The roads are hell! If you don’t have to go to
town, don’t.”
Of course there was the feeling of insult piled on injury when the “wild
wind event” of Dec. 29th took out power for some 10 hours on, typically,
the western half of the Island. The saving grace was that it didn’t
happen during those low temps! In closing, if any of you out there has
your own unique experience of the December snows, do send it in for
publication by the 1st Thursday in February . Of course, that’s
for anybody who will still recall the December snow in February.
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SAMISH
ISLAND E-MAIL LIST
Because it proved so useful for disseminating updates on local road
conditions in the snowy days of December, more Islanders who use e-mail
may want to sign up for “Samish Info” online. Web master Eileen
Andersen has submitted the instructions for doing that:
"If one wishes to join the Samish Island e-mail list, go to www.samishisland.net
and find in the left column the words "Sign up for Mailing List"
under Activities and Groups. On the Mailing List page, look for instructions
"How to Sign Up" (basically you enter your e-mail address
and press the purple button). You must be a Samish Island resident or
property owner to join this list. If the web master doesn't recognize
your name or e-mail, you will be contacted. SICC asks that messages
be important or useful information for the Samish Island community as
a whole, in order to limit # of messages received by members."
COMMUNITY
COOPERATION BLOG,
on the web at www.samishsaves.blogspot.com. The Blog can be used to
save gas [by combining errands, sharing rides, sharing tools and equipment,
all communicated a lot quicker than the monthly notices in the Shore
Lines. Contact Steve Hoffman at 766-4488 for details.
The
SAMISH ISLAND COMMUNITY HALL is available for rentals throughout
the year; islander’s rate: $75; five hours or less: $50. Contact
Eileen Andersen, 766-8202, or info@samishisland.net to schedule your
family gathering wedding, party, meeting, or event.
"Natural
Skagit: A journey from mountains to sea", Skagit Land Trust's
premier coffee table book. Over 200 photographic images of the stunning
landscapes, people and wildlife of Skagit County. Contributing writers
include internationally renowned author Tom Robbins, Pulitzer-Prize
winning journalist Bill Dietrich, & regionally respected naturalists,
editors and conservationists. (Two photos from Samish Island resident
Therese Ogle are included among the spectacular images.) Your purchase
supports the Land Trust in working with property owners to protect the
natural resource features of their land forever. Available for purchase
at the Mount Vernon Food Co-op, Easton’s Bookstore and others,
or online (Skagitlandtrust.org.)
NOTICE:
Licensed crab fishers received two catch records cards with their
2008 licenses. The summer card should have been submitted in Sept. The
fall-winter card must be submitted to the Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife (WDFW) by January 15 - even if you did not catch any crab.
To submit catch reports, crabbers may either send their catch record
card to WDFW by mail or file their report on a special web page on the
department's licensing web site. Catch record cards may be mailed to
WDFW CRC Unit, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091. The online
reporting system will be available though January 15 at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/.
Crabbers will have the option to decline receiving a winter catch card
when purchasing their 2009 fishing license, which may help you avoid
a $10 fine that will be in effect for failure to submit 2009 catch records.
ADS
(Yearly reminder on policy: The Shore Lines prints ads submitted by
Samish Island dues-paying residents, and service ads for businesses
based on Samish Island. (Ads for off-island businesses cannot be accepted)
FOR
SALE: Burton Punch 137cm snowboard; great condition; $100.00, 766-6396,
Rousseau
FOR SALE: adjustable work out bench. $30. 766-7805
WANTED TO BUY: child’s rocking horse (the bouncy kind) 766-7805
HOUSING
RENTAL: Waterfront Cottage available for short stays; Perfect condition.
360-766-6686.
SERVICES:
---Piano and accordion lessons. Lois Yale, member of the WA.State Music
Teachers Assoc.., offers beginning through intermediate lessons in her
home on Samish Island. Call 766-8713 for lesson availability.
NEEDED:
We are new to the island and would like to get some firewood. A
local referral would be greatly appreciated. E-mail is the best point
of contact. Many thanks. marnie_pennington@hermanmiller.com.
THANK
YOU to all the islanders who helped our Golden Retriever, Skagit,
feel loved during his last hours.
And thanks to the Morrows and Grace's who gave him a home away from
home.
TIDE
CALENDARS for 2009 are available at Blau’s Oysters for $2.50,
proceeds going to the Community Center
INQUIRY:
Anybody out there have the interest in tracking Samish Island’s
weather particulars (temperature, precipitation) on a daily basis???
John Guy did it as a hobby until he turned 100. His January column was
easily the Shore Lines’ most popular feature!
Items
for the next Shore Lines should be submitted in writing to Kathleen
Packard, 9920 Samish Island Rd., by 5 pm on February 5, 2009 (first
Thursday), 766-6752, or e-mail: kwpackard@wavecable.com
The OldFarmer’s
Almanac Engagement Calendar 2009 quotes Martin Luther King on his
January 19th birthday, “even though we face the difficulties of
today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” This January 20th, the
first black man becomes President of the United States—perhaps
part of that dream....
”In
the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible
summer.” Albert Camus
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