You will see when you pull off of the ferry that Friday Harbor is a ‘main street” town without any parking lights, overpasses, or four lane highways. When traffic gets busy and the ferry needs to unload in the summertime, a real person often directs the cars with a whistle and their arms. There are no pedestrian lights, either. Jaywalking is not unheard of and usually doesn’t get a second glance. There is a four way stop and people actually take turns with going through it. Often people in crosswalks will motion for a car to go ahead … read full article

I remember the first time that I saw the shore of San Juan from a boat. I squinted to try to get a closer image of the houses that I had only seen from driveways in my car. How different everything looked from the water! Homes with docks and boat moorings and front patios on the water side seemed to have a secret life on the side that faced the Salish Sea. Long and winding wooded driveways visible from the interior of the island led to sparkling shiny homes with boats at the ready to escape to Canada’s … read full article

OPALCO is offering a new energy assessment tool: The Home Snapshot Energy Assessment. The new assessment is more comprehensive and skillful than the energy audits formerly performed by OPALCO staff and is offered for a fee of $25.

What this includes is:
• 2-hour Assessment & Consultation with a BPI Professional
• New CFL Light Bulbs Installed
• Low Flow Shower Heads Installed
• Written Reports Detailing Recommendations

Some items recently discovered during Energy Audits include:
• Recalled Electrical Panels
• Recalled Heaters
• Insufficient Ventilation / Moisture (Mold) Issues with Attics & Crawlspaces
• Standing Water & … read full article

It’s that time of year again: the grass is threatening to grow and need mowing and the snow seems gone for good. Seed catalogs are coming in the mail and the flowering trees are starting to bud out. In my yard I can see the daffodils thrusting their long green leaves through the grass. These hardy and cheerful flowers can often be seen in fields of old farms, next to old homesteads, and in contemporary farms with livestock, a relic of the past. Nothing seems to like to eat the flowers, one of the first bulbs to give … read full article

If you obey these expectations, you will be looked upon as a welcome visitor rather than a confused tourist!
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• Do not leave your car alarm on when you board the ferry!
• Do not act as if you are in a hurry, even if you are.
• Do not walk off the ferry and walk up the middle of the road as if it were not a street for cars also.
• Do not come to San Juan dressed in a suit unless you are an attorney or going to a wedding or a funeral.
• … read full article

We had a precious little Welsh pony for our daughter. She was a white Welsh Pony with a coarse long mane and tail and we called her “Ladybug.” Our oldest daughter rode her for several years as a first horse on our farm in Ellensburg. Then when we moved she came to Friday Harbor in a horse trailer in the middle of the winter of 1977.

Horses by nature do not like to go in a trailer and be pulled by a car down the freeway. Ladybug was old enough so that her years of experience had taught … read full article

My family moved to San Juan Island with a small surge in island population in the late seventies. We began by renting on San Juan Island to see if we liked the place. It wasn’t long before we decided it was prudent to buy since we knew we were staying. We were in our thirties and we had three young children.

We learned that Halloween wasn’t the same here. For one thing, the owner of many of the stores downtown dressed up in costumes for the business day. The owner at King’s Market, Vi King, was always a … read full article