Millhollens and Farmans visit

Enjoying Hood Canal Beach

During our monthly visit to Eugene for treatment we had several fun events: a 70th birthday gathering for Ted Hulbert, a birthday dinner for Bertha, with Roy who came down from Vancouver. We also attended a Cascade Chorus concert in which neighbor, Walt Stoeffler, is a member. After we got back to Hansville, Bertha and Gary and Anne Millhollen traveled from Eugene to Vancouver where they met Roy and Suzanne to travel on to Hansville for a long weekend. They arrived Thursday evening, the day a 29 day stretch of no rain was broken. We were hopeful that weather would be perfect for the weekend but that was not to be. Friday morning we took advantage of low tides and explored the Sand Dollar beach.

Sand Dollar Colony

It is amazing to see the nearly black sand dollar colonies with thousands of them clustered together. Of course we avoided walking on them but did collect some of the white shells of deceased members of the colony that had washed away from the colony. Later we stopped by the house to clean up a bit before going to the local casino for a great lunch buffet. On the way past Norwegean Point in Hansville we observed a submarine being escorted, you can see Whidbey Island in the background across Puget Sound.

Submarine being escorted by coast guard.

We spent the afternoon exploring Bainbridge Island with views across Puget Sound to Seattle. We also enjoyed exploring the Town & Country Market which is known for food products from around the world. That evening we feasted on Reuben sandwiches created by Roy from meats, cheese and bread from the Bainbridge Island market.

Seattle in the background across Puget Sound

Saturday morning after our oatmeal pancake breakfast we all loaded into Roy’s van for a trip to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park, just 60 miles from our place. We were concerned that the clouds might block the views of the mountains but were pleasantly surprised to have great views of the nearly 8000 foot mountains from the 5000 foot high ridge just 17 miles from sea level at Port Angeles. There were several deer grazing in the meadow that almost seemed tame to entertain us as we walked the trails for better mountain and valley view points.

Olympic range from Hurricane Ridge

As the clouds started to close in we moved out of the Olympic Mountains and over to Port Townsend to explore the historic town that was built in the 1890’s. We also visited historic Fort Warden but as the wind was picking up and rather cold we did not spend much time out of the van. We arrived home after a full day and had a light dinner before feasting on apple pie topped with ice cream.

Fort Warden Lighthouse near Port Townsend

Sunday morning we again visited the beach during low tide before moving on to Poulsbo, a historic town settled by Norwegians. We could not see the Olympic Mountains as we sometimes do as they were hiding in the clouds but did enjoy views of the marina and all of the activities on the waterfront. After another full day we returned home for pizza followed by ice cream. Of course all through the weekend there was lots of visiting but Monday morning arrived and it was time to say our good byes. We really enjoyed the long weekend, even though it seemed shorter than 3 days!

Kingston ferry on Puget Sound

Doe and Fawn adventure...

Recently we had an interesting deer story. Ray was out front using the weed eater when he noticed a doe and her two young fawns crossing the road in front of our house. They were startled by an oncoming car and the mother went on one side of our fence while the two fawns went for the other side of the fence. From the kitchen window Nancy saw the spotted fawns in our back yard with their mother on the other side of the fence in the neighbor’s yard. Soon after one fawn went into the woodsy section in front of our house and we saw her a few times. The other one kept running back and forth along the fence, with the doe watching from the other side. The babies make almost a mewing sound, like a young kitten when calling to their mother. The mother was trying to get the fawn to come and it ran into the fence a couple of times. It came onto our pickle ball court and Nancy got a picture of it looking at its mother across the fence. She also got fairly close to the fawn and took a couple of cute pictures with the telephoto, trying not to scare it too much. We kept watching the doe and fawn, and our neighbor was also watching. Sensing a little help was needed to reunite mother and fawns, Ray circled the house ending up behind the fawn and with gentle encouragement it moved towards the front yard of our house through the carport to the end of the fence. As we gently “herded” the fawn toward the road the doe moved along the other side of the fence keeping an eye on the fawn. They finally met up at the end of the fence where mother and fawn bounded across the road and into the trees. We didn’t see the second fawn, but figured it was hiding and would get back together with mom as soon as possible. We were sure the fawn must have been in a safe place hiding until the mother called it. A day or so later we talked to our neighbor who had just seen the doe and her two fawns. Apparently this doe has had twins for the last few years and we were glad to know the twins were back with their mother. The fawns were so cute and it was interesting to watch the drama. Of course we are glad the story had a happy ending. Occasionally we spot the doe and fawns in our neighborhood and have seen them another time in our back yard with the fence separating the fawns and doe. They no longer seem to be panicked by the fence and eventually negotiate back together. Soon the young ones may be able to jump the fence and we look forward to seeing that.