Living on the Peninsula, Summer 2012

SUMMER 2012

ANIMAL TALES

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA SUMMER | JUNE 2012 & Jefferson County Leader Supplement to the Sequim|Gazette and Port Townsend

Pg. 6

Playful Hoh Rain Forest river otters

Pg. 11

Olympic Gentle Paws

Pg. 16

Bloodhounds sniffing around for purpose

Pg. 22

Equine group rides to the rescue

Pg. 25

Puppy Pilots lead the way

Pg. 39

Back Country Horsemen

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360.452.3322 Open Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 9:30 pm Sat. & Sun. 12 noon - 9:30 pm Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Your journey to beating cancer just got shorter.

You don’t have to leave the North Olympic Peninsula to get exceptional cancer care.

Located in Sequim, Olympic Medical Cancer Center delivers world-class cancer care close to home. This year, we’re celebrating the anniversary of our 10-year affiliation with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, which gives our patients full access to the world-renowned therapies developed at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s. If you’re dealing with cancer, Olympic Medical Cancer Center can help. To learn more, visit omcforhope.com or call (360) 683-9895.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

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Fun at the Fifth!

Active Retirement Living.

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Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

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DEPARTMENTS 10

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18

Food & Spirits

20

Heart & Soul

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Basil Chicken, Taiwan Style!

Who can you talk to about a dead cat?

SPOTLIGHT 6 11 13

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Contact us:

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P.O. Box 1750, Sequim, WA 98382 360-683-3311 Patricia Morrison Coate: patc@sequimgazette.com

Playful Hoh Rain Forest river otters mimic human families Canine Connections

The Living End

Bonds eons old

Now & Then

Photographic journal

Puppy Pilots leading the way There's just something about lavender

28

Iris Edey's love and flowers

Sniffing around for purpose

31

What's in a name?

Equine group rides to the rescue

39

Blazing the back country

Welcome aboard the schooner Adventuress Bloodhound search and rescue

California woman traces family roots to peninsula

Design:

226 Adams St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-2900 Fred Obee: fobee@ptleader.com

Vol. 8, Number 2, Living on the Peninsula is a quarterly publication. © 2012 Sequim Gazette © 2012 Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

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Good Gardening

A boutique nursery within Over the Fence

Cathy Clark

Cathy Clark earned a bachelor’s degree in art from Calvin College, which led to a career in graphic design. She has been an award-winning designer for the Sequim Gazette since 2004. She enjoys traveling and reading history in her free time.

Clark can be reached at cclark@sequimgazette.com.

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Brother and sister river otters atop a fallen nurse log stalk Taft Creek, looking for their next coho salmon or perhaps a frog or two.

Playful Hoh Rain Forest river otters mimic human families A

s Henry David Thoreau reflected on humanity at Walden Pond almost 200 years ago, so Olympic National Park Ranger Jon Preston does today at Taft Creek in the old-growth Hoh Rain Forest located on the West End of the Olympic Peninsula.

Preston, who is upbeat in his approach to nature in comparison to Thoreau’s deep transcendental musing, often focuses on the wily antics of a family of river otters who inhabit pristine Taft Creek.

The Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center-based ranger could use the same webbed feet that propel the river otters when waterborne. The center is located under a lush canopy of spruces, red cedar, vine maple and other coniferous and deciduous trees. Rain usually falls by the bucket from September through February, the prime time for river otter action in the creek, with average totals of 140-170 inches easily surpassing the 120-inch average at nearby Forks, the rainiest town in all the lower 48 states.

Taft Creek, the center of the action for observing Preston’s family of river otters, is just steps away from the visitor center, which is 18 miles inland off U.S. Highway 101, at the end of the Upper Hoh Road. The center’s interpretive display, set up several decades ago by Hoh Rain Forest scholar and author Ruth Kirk, offers retro-style glimpses at the flora, fauna and geology of the

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Story by Chris Cook | Photos by Jon Preston

Hoh River Valley region.

Taft Creek’s name was given not in honor of an employee, explorer or scientist, but in the spirit of West End pioneer humor.

Former Hoh Rain Forest Ranger Smitty Parratt tells the tale of Taft Creek in Poseidon Peak Publishing’s “Gods & Goblins,” Olympic National Park’s place name book. U.S. Forest Service crewman Charley Anderson named it 100 years ago after thenPresident William Howard Taft, who served from 1909-1913, Parratt states, because “the spring-fed creek had no head and wandered aimlessly around flatlands with no idea of where it was going”.

Having the rain forest wilderness of Taft Creek right at his back door at the interpretive center provides Preston with a unique opportunity to observe the daily and seasonal activities of a family of five river otters with which he’s become well acquainted.

“We used to occasionally see river otters, they were a passing thing, until the salmon started coming back,” Preston recalls.

“The salmon numbers shot up when we replaced a culvert 11 years ago. Suddenly these otters would come out and hang out for months … I was able to start to figure out their routine.”

One winter weekend Preston invited me out to his station for an up-close look at the river otter family’s feasting on spawning salmon. The nearly dead, black and crimson red scaled fish were

obviously dying and an easy target. It was amazing to be so close to the wily animals in action in the wild as they scurried up a mud bank to a flat grassy section that served as their dining table in the wild. No long hike and binoculars were needed. The river otters were right there, running around like your pet dog would in your backyard. It was like stepping into the frame of a Disney nature adventure film.

This visit came after Preston had observed the river otters for years and he knew exactly where to look for them and was able to tell me what to expect.

“It starts in morning upstream, they start chasing fish,” Preston says of knowing when to go out to see the river otters.

“You hear a chirpy bark in the distance” that leads you to them.

“I observed them, following them around making their paces.

I was able to pick them out as a family of five — mom, dad and three kids, with one being younger. I began to watch the brother and sister picking on each other and Mom intervene … watching these things I made a connection — it was just like my own family in a way, as far as being a parent intervening.”

Seeing how the river otter captures a salmon also was intriguing to him. “Taking down one of those big fish is no small task.”

Preston went from observing to interpreting for others the life of the river otters at Taft Creek, introducing visitors to what

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

he’d been observing. The visitors, especially children, he says, became engrossed in seeing nature in action in a natural setting.

“It’s something that’s been going on since the beginning of time.

I don’t know of a place in Western Washington that has that kind of experience, where you can get that kind of experience so easily.”

While observing river otters elsewhere is not uncommon, with the otter found just about anywhere freshwater fish are found in Washington, you might spend all day trying to catch a glimpse of them.

The sea otter is a marine mammal that weighs between 30-100 pounds. They are the heaviest members of the weasel family, while the river otter is a semi-aquatic mammal that usually weighs between 11-31 pounds. The river otter’s streamlined figure allows it to glide through the water. It has a thick neck, almost-hidden eyes, webbed feet, short legs, broad hips with a tapered tail that makes up about onethird of its body length, a great sense of smell and hearing. They live in the wild to about 8 or 9 years of age. They are most active at dawn or dusk and usually cover about a mile and a half to three miles per day, though they are capable of swimming two dozen miles in a day.

While at the Hoh Rain Forest station, “it’s like being at the Woodland Park Zoo, but it’s not a zoo and no one is feeding them.”

A bit of drama was added to the Taft Creek river otters’ lifestyle in 2011 when Preston noticed a female bobcat hanging out in the forest surrounding the creek. The river otters customarily would haul up the exhausted, no longer struggling, spawning salmon up to the shoreline or atop a log that spans the creek. “The bobcat hides out at bushes at the end of a log,” Preston says, while the otters get sidetracked by being playful with each other. “With the other otter egging it on, they jump off the log and chase each other around. The bobcat grabs the fish and jumps back into forest.”

While the smooth-furred animals look docile when poking their round eyes above the Taft Creek surface, they can show their ties to the weasel family when accosted. The Anglo-Saxon root word for weasel is “weatsop” and defined as “a vicious bloodthirsty animal.”

Preston tells of the plight of a U.S. Fish & Wildlife crewman he met who was trapping beavers in a culvert to relocate the animals whose dams were causing road failures due to flooding around the culvert.

“He was driving down in a truck checking traps and found a trap with a river otter in it. He hauled it out by the tail, letting it go. In five seconds he was bitten four times, right up his leg. There’s not a lot of animals that mess with them. They have teeth sharp enough to capture a slimy salmon,” Preston said.

“The river otter is a formable animal. It doesn’t have hands, it’s a freshwater version of a seal. A seal can usually bit the darn thing in half, sea lions grab fish by the head and swallow them whole. River otters have to, start to finish, kill a fish and then eat it. That’s a lot of effort, goes on for about 15 minutes and is exciting to watch.”

Preston has faced his own danger during a close encounter with the mother river otter when she almost landed on him. Dressed in camouflage clothing, he positioned himself near their feeding area on Taft Creek. For almost a half-hour, with camera in hand, he did not move.

“I heard them coming downstream. The female Mom pops out of the creek and almost lands in my lap. She sat there gathering herself, then Dad comes downstream and looks up, he and I made eye contact.

They have pretty good eyesight. There is an inherent curiosity in them.

If you’re sitting low to the ground not moving, they sometimes come and take a closer look at you. There’s a mud slide they went up and down. The kids hung out in one spot, Dad is kind of on the lazy side.

He picked his spot and Mom traveled between two of them.”

He clicked off two shots with his auto shutter set. Fortunately, with a bark and not a bite, the mother slid back into the creek.

The river otters’ seasonal feeding reaches its peak from early September into the first two weeks of January, during the salmon

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Dinner time is anytime for Taft Creek river otters when spawning coho salmon are easy prey.

Spawning coho, almost black near death, swimming in Taft Creek are prime food for hungry river otters and an important part of the ecological cycle of the Hoh Rain Forest.

Spring-fed Taft Creek nurtures the freshwater plants the river otters slink around in.

The beauty of the vibrant green plants lying in and reflected in the crystal-pure water rivals the finest paintings of the Impressionist school of art. Photo by Chris Cook

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A cautious mother river otter eyes the camera held by a seated Jon Preston. He quietly sat and waited for this moment in the damp rain forest spawning season. along the banks of Taft Creek.

Up to 3,000 spawnThe animal splashed out of ing salmon flood Taft the creek onto land much Creek, Preston esticloser to the camera than he anticipated. mates. “Bring your rain coats, this is also the rainiest time of the year.”

“They are like sumo otters, just bloated,” Preston says of the annual feeding frenzy. “They hit fish hard at the beginning then

get selective. An explosion of salmon at the location gives it away. (The river otters) are like a car driving through a crowd of people who are trying to get away.”

Preston also has through careful observation discovered where the river otters burrow their nests at Taft Creek. “The entrances can be underwater like a beaver’s. (At Taft Creek) they are downstream of the Hall of Mosses bridge, at the head of the pond … easily seen downstream of the bridge in wintertime.

The river otters’ diet runs to fowl, too, migratory ducks to be precise.

“They behave like mini white sharks,” Preston says of his first-hand views of river otters ravenously attacking the water fowl. “They ambush, go under the duck, pull it down by the feet.” All that’s left is “a whole bunch of feathers in the stream vegetation,” as Preston describes the scene. “In a cloud of feathers all the rest of the ducks take off, making a very loud honking sound as they explode into the forest.”

Eagles feed on salmon in Taft Creek, too, providing action in the air above the only opening in the forest in this area where they can feed on the fish. Their wide wing spans aren’t made for the tight turns needed when two fight for a fish. They zig and zag, Preston says, nicking alder trees. The loser in the airborne fishing

derby can end up looking pretty undignified for an eagle.

“They usually calculate where they are going,” he adds. “Here, they run into branches panicking. I saw an eagle hit a branch one time and fall into the mud. The eagle was walking in the mud and couldn’t take off. The eagle walked and walked humiliated, finally making a running take off on the road.”

Above and beyond the river otters’ salmon and duck feeding is the weasel-like animals’ role in completing a time immemorial cycle that makes up the rain forest ecology. As the river otters — plus bobcats, cougars, coyotes and other animals found in the Hoh Rain Forest — digest and excrete their intake of salmon and other prey, they transfer nutrients from the salmon to the trees and plants of the rain forest.

“Ninety percent of the mass of fish moves into the terrestrial environment,” Preston says. “It ends up on land and feeds the forest protecting the baby salmon. The nutrients are a critical component of this cycle of salmon. There’s been a multitude of research done on salmon carcasses and what happens afterward.” If the salmon cycle was broken over centuries the rain forest would likely turn into grass lands, Preston opines. The river otter waste product is “like packets of fertilize that deliver themselves,” he says.

Campers wishing to experience the unique Hoh Rain Forest environment find a year-round campground with 88 sites located in an old-growth forest. A National Parks pass is required to enter the park and there is a per-night camping fee.

Go to www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/visiting-the-hoh.htm for more information on facilities and the Olympic National Park’s visitor center located there.

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Some of the members of the Gentle Paws therapy group get together for a monthly meeting.

From left, Director Chris Cornell and Bree, Carolyn Money and Hunter, Dixie Keltner and Izzy, Chris Spirz and Cocoa, Scott Cameron and Gina, Lois Bowling and Meg, and Linda Keck with Boo.

T

here are many acts of love that elevate the human spirit. The connection between canines and humans is one that transcends age and situation. The generous people in the Gentle Paws therapy group volunteer their time and family pets as a gift to the community in the form of visits to nursing homes, schools, libraries, hospitals, retirement homes and adult day care settings. In addition to having fun, the dogs and their handlers encourage children to read, bring joy to older members of the community who are no longer able to have pets of their own, and participate in local events.

The Gentle Paws organization began in 2000 through the efforts of three local, civic-minded individuals: Chris Cornell, Sue Tyler and Jackie Ortelli. Cornell, who is a retired

Canine Connections Gentle Paws Story and photos by Kelly McKillip

civil engineer from Phoenix, Ariz., and an American Kennel Club obedience judge, has remained the director of the volunteer organization for 12 years.

The thriving group of 46 handlers and their dogs visit 23 settings from Port Townsend to Forks, making about 15-20 visits monthly. Over the years, the group has been a presence at events such as health fairs, dog shows, Kiwanis children’s fests and the Irrigation Festival parade. Every July, Gentle Paws offers a free pet sitting station during the Sequim Lavender Festival where visitors can leave their animals while they enjoy the fairs and farms.

Greywolf Elementary School is regularly on the visit list. In addition to the two-way outflow of affection, the children are encouraged to read to the dogs.

School psychologist and counselor Cheryl McAliley, first-grade teacher Cathy Green and fourth-grade teacher Vicki Lemke believe the dogs give the youngsters incentive and help them become comfortable with their reading skills.

Renee Mulliken, who teaches second grade, says that some of the students initially

were fearful but warmed up by first coming close to the animals to see what it felt like to touch a soft nose or a furry ear. And visits are not without practical application. On a day her class was learning how to make linear measurements, the dogs were measured to determine their length and height and comparisons made as to which one was tallest, shortest and had the longest tail. Mulliken finds children who are on the autism spectrum really connect with the dogs, often conversing with them. Class members have written news stories about the dogs and their handlers.

Another location where dogs and children connect is the Sequim Library. The dogs are goodwill ambassadors, says branch manager Lauren Dahlgren. The children don’t feel self-conscious while reading to the dogs. Dahlgren has wanted to have this type of program for years and is very happy that it has become a reality. Alyse Johnston brings her son, Sid, to the library reading sessions. Their family is planning to adopt a pet soon and reading to the dogs gives Sid a chance to interact in a soothing way. Other children who don’t have pets at home will come to the library to get their doggy connection.

The Gentle Paws volunteers also make frequent visits to retirement and assisted living facilities such as Discovery Memory Care on Washington Street. Smiles and lots of

Cavalier King Charles spaniel Lucy gets double attention from residents at Discovery Memory Care during a Gentle Paws visit.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

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petting go on during the visit. Beth Stark, life enrichment director, says contact with animals makes all the difference to the residents.

Handler Karen Borman, who brings her Cardigan Welsh corgi Drummer for visits, says the events are lots of fun.

The experience of reading to the dogs allows children to talk about their lives and pets at home. The older folks will just glow when the pets show up for visits.

Celene Wendt brings Hannah, a husky/ shepherd mix that she adopted from a shelter. Wendt is happy to share her pet, finding it a very simple way to bring joy to others.

Therapy dogs come in all breeds, sizes and personalities. One of the smaller animals in the group is Cricket, an ever-alert chihuahua/miniature pinscher belonging to Ardythe Wendt. Much more relaxed, Shetland sheepdog Josie listens intently to first-graders read at Greyvery large and huggable is Polly Sarfield’s wolf Elementary School. dog, a Leonberger named Trinity.

Paws at various times during the year. Dogs must be at Cornell often is present at the visits with his three least 1 year old, in good health, have annual exams, tests for therapy dogs, Labrador retriever Mercedes, flat-coated parasites and receive appropriate vaccinations. There is no retriever Bree, and his lap-loving pomeranian Fox. fee to join Gentle Paws or attend practice sessions, but there There is no age limit to becoming a therapy dog is a $10 cost for the test. Additionally, dogs and handlers handler although those under 18 years old must be acmust be registered by a nationally known therapy organizacompanied by an adult and all participants must be able tion such as TDI, which charges an initial fee of $40 and an to control their animals. Handlers with Gentle Paws have annual renewal of $30. The cost includes $3 million liability ranged from ages 8-90. The dogs must pass basic obediinsurance coverage. ence and temperament tests and be certified by a Therapy Cornell encourages anyone interested in learning more Dog International (TDI) evaluator. Cornell happens to be about becoming a member of Gentle Paws to contact him one of two evaluators for Washington along with Judith at 360-681-4440 or by e-mail at cornellc@olypen.com. More Bell, who also lives in Sequim. information about therapy dogs in general can be found on Practice sessions and tests are sponsored by Gentle A resident at Discovery Memory Care in Sequim visits with the web at www.tdi-dog.org.

Chris Cornell’s lap-loving pomeranian Fox.

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

The schooner Adventuress sails by the Port Townsend waterfront. The schooner’s presence in town has contributed greatly to enhancing Port Townsend’s reputation as a welcome port for wooden boats. Photos courtesy of Sound Experience

Welcome aboard!

The schooner Adventuress is hitting its pace just as it turns 100 Story by Fred Obee

I

t’s hard to imagine Port Townsend Bay without its signature schooner, the historical, 101-foot Adventuress. Long and sleek, it leans slightly as its white, gaff-rigged sails fill with wind and the bow carves through the blue waters of the bay. Against the backdrop of sparsely populated islands, Adventuress is a timeless vision. Is it 2012 or 1920? It’s an easy illusion to get lost in.

But as iconic as it is today, as few as seven years ago everything about Adventuress was in doubt. The nonprofit environmental education organization that owns it, Sound Experience, was in debt, the ship needed extensive and expensive restoration and some wondered whether Adventuress should even stay in Port Townsend. To get more financial support, maybe the ship should move to a larger, more prosperous corner of Puget Sound, some suggested.

Catherine Collins, the executive director of Sound Experience for the past seven years, remembers that debate well.

“It was a pivotal decision to keep Adventuress in Port Townsend,” Collins said.

But deciding to stay here also meant Sound Experience would have to crank up the outreach machine and win more supporters around the sound. With a clear mission of environmental education, they got organized and started expanding their circle of friends.

“We reintroduced the membership to the work Ad-

venturess was doing,” Collins said. “We said, ‘Everyone is welcome. This is your ship.’”

What came next was nothing short of a blossoming.

Rebuilding, restoring

Adventuress ramped up the number of sails it conducted for the public and increased the schedule around the sound, and as the ship’s profile grew, so did support from outside organizations and individuals. One generous donor contributed $500,000 to an endowment for the ship’s maintenance, and in the first year, that fund earned $25,000 for restoration. Unfortunately, the recession hit the following year and like virtually every investment fund in the nation, the endowment lost money. It would take four years for the fund to return to its original principal amount.

Needing more cash for restoration of the ship, Sound Experience turned to its elected representatives for help and Congressman Norm Dicks secured $180,000 in federal funds toward the restoration. The fact that Adventuress was named a National Historic Landmark in 1989 helped secure that grant and others. With money for the work in hand, the organization officially launched the Centennial Restoration Project with the goal of completely renovating Adventuress in time for its 100th

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

birthday in 2013. The staff and crew decided to commit themselves to a high quality restoration, so every fix at this point is one that will last 50 years.

As luck would have it, Sound Experience’s goal of expanding its membership came just at the dawn of the social network explosion and in 2010 Partners in Preservation offered grants to the winners of online voting. It was an awkward moment for Port Townsend. In addition to Adventuress, the Customs House, which houses the Port Townsend Post Office, also was vying for the grant money. Ultimately, Adventuress won the competition and $125,000 in its “Vote for the Boat” campaign and another key part of the restoration puzzle was solved.

The last major step in the renovation is restoration of the hull. Sound Experience will need to raise $300,000 to complete the job. When that work is finished, Adventuress will be as sound as ever, just as the ship hits the centennial mark in 2013.

Endowment for the future

Putting the restoration work mainly in the rear view mirror will then allow Sound Experience to turn its efforts toward building the endowment, Collins said. They have $500,000 in the bank now and will need to build that fund to $5 million.

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Above: Adventuress plows through the water in a brisk breeze. The ship is used as a platform for environmental education focusing on Puget Sound’s marine environment.

Photo by Elizabeth Becker Above, right: Program participants learn to fold sails after a day on the water. Along with learning science and making new friends, the young people learn that many hands make light work.

If that goal can be reached, “We will be covered in perpetuity and Adventuress will sail forever,” Collins says, her eyes brightening at the enormity of that challenge and the boldness of that vision. “That’s the goal. We’re setting up the people in the future to be successful.”

Looking back, Collins says reaching out to all of Puget Sound, and to a certain extent, the rest of the nation, to help support Adventuress was an obvious step, but so was keeping the boat in Port Townsend.

Unlike almost any port around the sound, Port Townsend has a growing workforce of skilled shipwrights who know wooden boats and Adventuress is helping support expansion of that workforce. The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding uses Adventuress as a classroom, whether it is rebuilding interior bunks or sewing a new main sail. And now, when Adventuress calls for bids on work, local folks who learned those skills are the winners, not because hometown people are favored but because this is the place on Puget Sound most ready and able to take care of a nearly 100-yearold schooner. It is an important force in the local marine trades industry, in training and wages paid.

Adventuress also is building community and changing lives in other ways, Collins is quick to point out.

First, Adventuress is a ship on an environmental mission, welcoming people aboard to learn about the complex web of life in Puget Sound. They are dedicated to delivering powerful shipboard youth and adult programs that emphasize environmental stewardship, leadership, community and historical preservation.

But in following that path aboard a schooner in close quarters with others and with chores to accomplish, lessons of collaboration also are imparted. It is common for young people to come away from an experience on the boat feeling better about themselves and more secure in their own lives, Collins said. Adventuress is about the science, that’s for sure, but also is about building a welcoming community that is physically and emotionally safe.

That last point was driven home for Collins recently on a public sail for families who are battling cancer. It was especially moving for Collins, herself a cancer survivor.

For that one afternoon, the focus was on blue water, seabirds, porpoises, plankton and kelp. For one afternoon, hospitals, tests, procedures, radiation, chemotherapy and a prognosis were left in a historical schooner’s wake.

“It’s super personal,” Collins says of the many-faceted mission Adventuress is on. “It doesn’t get any more personal than that.”

To learn more about Sound Experience and the programs offered aboard the historical schooner Adventuress, visit soundexperience.org or call 360-379-0438.

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Above: The Port of Port Townsend is perfectly suited to take care of Adventuress. Here, the ship is transported on the port’s big travel lift. Restoration of the ship has been a long process, but is now on the final lap.

Photo by Elizabeth Becker Below: Young people haul away to raise the sails on the historical schooner. In addition to environmental education, program participants learn the value of working together for a common goal.

Photo by Elizabeth Becker

Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Waterfront dining at John Wayne Marina

Fresh local seafood, steaks, pasta, cocktails, wine & beer.

• Containers • Drop Boxes • Recycling • Residential Refuse • Demolition Drop Boxes • Construction Debris Boxes

www.docksidegrill-sequim.com • 360-683-7510 • Reservations Recommended 2577 W. Sequim Bay Rd. at the John Wayne Marina • Dockside Lunch 11-3, Dinner 4-9, Wed.-Sun.

1-800-422-7854 • Phone: 452-7278 • Fax: 417-0122 2058 W. Edgewood Dr. • Port Angeles

You’ll be resting in the comfort of your own home the SAME DAY . ❃ Fully Accredited ❃ by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine

• Hand Surgery • Gastroenterology

(360) 683-8544

Including EGD and Colonoscopy, with the option of anesthesia

• Foot Surgery

Jakdej Nikomborirak, M.D.

• Pain Management

Diplomate, American Board of Sleep Medicine.

With Fluoroscopy-guided epidural steroid injections

• SSDS is an innovative health care facility designed for minor outpatient procedures.

• Cost-effective alternative

• General Anesthesia • Bronchoscopy • Urology • Dental • Knee Arthroscopy

We provide an experienced and professional atmosphere for a positive surgical experience.

Sequim Same Day Surgery 777 North Fifth Ave, Suite 113 Sequim, WA 98382

Serv ing

What is Sequim Same Day Surgery Center?

eP th

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(360) 582-2632

Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Bringing healthy sound sleep to the Olympic Peninsula for the past 13 years.

“Dr. Jak” treats all types of sleep disorders including: Since 1983

• sleep apnea • restless leg • insomnia

• parasomnia

(abnormal behavior during sleep)

• narcolepsy, etc.

Sleep studies are conveniently performed in Sequim.

Please check with your insurance provider.

Most Self Referrals and Insurances Accepted.

15

Wife and husband pair Sheri and Tim Whetstine spends a Saturday afternoon training their dogs Ruckus and Tule for search and rescue together.

Sequim couple trains bloodhounds for search and rescue Story and photos by Ashley Miller Sheri and Tim Whetstine, of Sequim, never have to worry about losing their car keys. They have noses that work at least 1,000 times better than the average person’s.

The couple — retired firefighters and a paramedic from California — are active members of the Northwest Bloodhounds Search & Rescue group based out of Kitsap County. At 19 months and 5 years old, their “kids” Ruckus and Tule are in training. The dogs, purebred bloodhounds, are trained to trail scents.

Working dogs

Though cute and cuddly in appearance, every signature physical trait on a bloodhound serves a specific function, Sheri Whetstine emphasized. At 140 or more pounds, bloodhounds are strong and have high endurance, and are able to track for more than 130 miles.

Long, drooping ears sweep the ground stirring smells upward. Wrinkled skin around the face helps trap scent particles. Even drool has an important role, keeping scent moist.

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When a bloodhound sniffs a scent article — which can be anything from a piece of clothing to a cloth that’s been wiped across a seat where a person once sat — chemical vapors undetectable by the human nose bombard the dog’s scent receptors and create an “odor image.” Using the odor image as reference, the dog can locate the subject’s trail and distinguish it from the multitude of other odors surrounding the trail.

“Bloodhounds are good at what they do,” Sheri said.

“They have one of the best noses for scent on the face of the planet and will keep going until they either find what they are looking for or until you pull them off of it.”

Giving back

Northwest Bloodhounds Search & Rescue members focus on finding missing people. Searches often occur in the middle of the night during poor weather conditions to assist law enforcement agencies in finding lost or overdue hikers, fishermen, children and elderly individuals who’ve wandered away from nursing homes. Members do not search for lost animals or criminals.

While the work is rewarding, the end result isn’t always a happy ending, Sheri said, which is why a portion of training is focused on working with cadavers.

“Bloodhounds are very sensitive and if they find a deceased body, they take it personally,” she said.

When Sheri and Tim first joined the Northwest Bloodhounds Search & Rescue, it was for personal reasons. She was searching for purpose after retirement. He wanted something to throw his energy into.

“When I stopped being a ‘hero’ I felt lost,” Sheri admitted. “I wanted to keep giving back.”

The experience has evolved into more than either of them ever imagined possible.

“Having a canine partner is so rewarding,” she said.

“I am synced mentally with the dog in a way that cannot be described.”

A few years ago, the Whetstines were called to help locate a missing 5-year-old boy who wandered away from his campsite. It was windy — blowing more than 40 miles per hour — and the terrain was dense and mountain-

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

ous. Chile — Sheri’s former bloodhound who’s since died of natural causes — trailed the scent for an hour wandering to and fro, much like a young child would.

Men and women on all-terrain vehicles set out in the direction that Chile led them and eventually found the child a quarter of a mile up the mountain. He was safe and uninjured, a fact that might not have been true if he’d endured the elements overnight.

“It’s not about being a hero or receiving recognition,” Sheri said, her husband nodding in agreement at the statement. “I don’t even care if it’s my dog that finds a missing person. Just being part of the group that saves a person’s life is incredible.”

‘Mission response ready’

Each and every mission is conducted in an orderly fashion. Handlers are trained in CPR and registered with the Washington State Department of Emergency Management. They set out in hiking boots with orange shirts, cargo vests containing identification, whistles, a radio with GPS, maps, water and other critical supplies.

The dogs are harnessed in leather with strong nylon

leashes and chain collars. Each canine must complete a minimum of 60 scent trails and then pass three field tests to be certified. Together, the teams search for lost or missing people. They don’t get paid or rewarded. It’s all by volunteering.

The unit goal is to have handlers and their dogs “mission response ready” in 12-18 months. This means obtaining Washington Administrative Code and unit requirements, attending classes and field training sessions, and completing regularly scheduled unit trainings.

Twice monthly K-9 training sessions are offered, and highly recommended, to help socialize and train bloodhounds.

As the Whetstines approach “mission response ready” status with Ruckus and Tule, they express an interest in getting involved with the Clallam County Search & Rescue branch.

“A lot of people and organizations don’t know what we do or how it’s done,” Tim said. “If they did, I guarantee they would call us more often.”

Search and rescue

Northwest Bloodhounds Search & Rescue handlers are registered with the Washington State Department of Emergency Management and are ready to search for lost or missing persons as unpaid volunteers. Members come from all walks of life and are located throughout the state.

For more information, call 360-620-4068 or go online to www.nwbloodhounds.org.

Sheri Whetstine praises Ruckus, a 19-month-old bloodhound in training, for successfully finding her glove in a grassy field.

EXPERIENCE

30 combined years of dental excellence

Val & Larry Take a stroll back in time and enjoy a home-cooked BREAKFAST, LUNCH or DINNER At the Old Mill Open For Dinner Wednesday through Sunday

721 Carlsborg Rd., Carlsborg, • WA Phone: 360-582-1583 Tues. 8am - 3pm • Wed. thru Sun. 8am - 8pm • Closed Mondays

INTEGRITY

2nd opinions always complimentary

Cocktails Beer Wine

COMPASSION

After all, family is our middle name

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

Back Row: Dr. Nathan Gelder, Dr. Brian Juel, Jes, Heidi Front Row: Krystal, Nichole, Pam, Amy

321 N. Sequim Ave., Suite B Sequim, WA 98382

681-TUTH (8884)

www.sequimfamilydentistry.com

MeetCharla Wright Life Enrichment Director

Charla Wright, Life Enrichment Director, brings to Avamere a Master’s in Education and two decades of experience designing programs addressing goals in the areas of cognition, physical, social and emotional domains. The Activities Program reflects Charla’s years of experience in designing and implementing life enriching curriculum.

~ Your Life. Our Commitment ~

Olympic Rehabilitation of Sequim

1000 S. 5th Ave. • Sequim • 360-582-3900 • Fax 360-582-3903

www.avamereolympicrehabofsequim.com

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

• Sewing machines • Sewing Tables • Quilters’ Fabrics • Scissors, Notions • Embroidery • Gift Certificates Designs Repairs • Parts • New & Used • All Makes 609 W. Washington #12 • 681-0820 • sequimsew@yahoo.com www.sequimsewingcenter.com 17

&

Who can you talk to about a dead cat?

HEART Soul

By Karen Frank

Seventeen years ago I stopped at Sequim Bay State Park to have lunch. I watched three kittens vying for table scraps under a nearby picnic table. I asked the people camped up the hill if those were their cats.

No, they said, they were just kittens who had been abandoned and were trying to survive on leftovers.

Over the period of a week, I returned several times to the park to catch the kittens and bring them home with me. They lived in a burrow in the ground at the top of the bluff. The first two weren’t hard to catch — tuna was a great incentive — but the third one eluded me, even though she was the tiniest, until I borrowed a large humane trap and put smelly salmon inside.

Those feral kittens were wild things. Untouchable. One time I went into the garage to feed them and they were gone. Except they weren’t. They had burrowed under the floor of one of the cabinets and curled up together in that space. Finally, Kokomo let me pet her, then Eleanor, but Thunderfoot was aloof. Every time I looked under the bed for him, he’d hiss and leap out at me. Then one day I heard a deep rumble while I petted Eleanor and discovered it came from him, from his hiding place under the bed. Not long after that day, he crawled up into my lap, wanting love.

Kokomo had brief psychotic episodes in which she warred with the toilet brush. Eleanor tossed her head from side to side as she played with her scratching post. And Thunderfoot — well, the name fit. He was a wild man, but also my sensitive boy cat.

T’foot died two weeks ago, the last of that generation of beloved cats. He was a tuxedo cat, black with a white shirtfront. He seemed to be OK, although old and tired, and then he got sick and then he was dead. Dana and I tried every medication the vets suggested and gave him fluids, but none of it did any good. He had just reached the great struggle of his dying.

Working at home as I do, cats are my everyday companions. They go to the slider to have it opened, and left open, even during the winter. They follow me into the bathroom, then decide they want to leave again once the door is closed.

The warm physicality of them comforts me.

But they don’t live long enough and when each one dies, I grieve. They leave a hole in the house, an absence of being. I see them out of the corner of my eye. I expect them to come when I put out the food bowls. I miss them.

Yet when there are always wars and murders and fires and fathers and children dying and starving people, I feel sheepish about talking to anyone about my sadness at Thunderfoot’s passing.

There is usually someone with a greater reason for tears than us. And if they are being stoic, not visibly suffering, how can we talk about our smaller sorrows or joys?

One of my friends always seems to have a more obscure and dangerous disease than me, or know someone who

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does. If I had shingles on my arm, she would talk about someone who had shingles covering their whole body inside and out, but laid in their hospital bed singing. If I had a neurological disorder, she would have a tumor growing slowly into her brain.

This effectively shuts me up.

Maybe that’s the purpose.

Equally effective in silencing me is the dagger of “still” which many people wield.

“Are you still missing your father?”

“Are you still in bed with that flu?”

“Are you still unemployed?”

“Are you still …?

What a list of rules we have about what we are supposed to feel and think and how long we are supposed to feel and think it!

Yet we were created with the capacity for all of life’s emotions and the feeling of them and their expression is our wholeness. It undergirds our art and literature and music.

Our sighs, our tears, our laughter, are our prayers. A friend said that she had an ongoing prayerful conversation with the universe and I think that this is what it consists of.

Those of us lucky enough to have spouses who share life’s nitty-grittiness with us have a leg up. But one person is not enough. Spouses have to go off to work or to Arizona to visit sick relatives or they have their own fears and griefs.

We can feel disappointed and aggrieved or we can make more friends.

As we get older our losses accumulate. We may watch a parent die or see one of them descend into a chronic and debilitating illness. I’ve watched a friend move across the country to be with a long-lost love, another disappear into a nunnery and, later, an older friend cross that bridge between life and death. I hold them in my heart. I smile about their quirkiness. I remember times of deep sharing.

But, as with Thunderfoot, I no longer can touch them or hug them. I may hope to reconnect with them in the realm of pure spirit, but this human, embodied existence retains only their imprint on my heart.

We may be heav yhearted, but ultimately we create new families of relatives and friends as we go along. I like warm, huggy friends.

Playful companions

who don’t judge me or analyze me. Friends with openhearted, infectious laughs like my grandmother’s.

Individuals capable of radical hospitality, as our ministerial intern put it.

So, who did I talk to about Thunderfoot?

I talked to my brother who, as a child, chattered without ceasing. As an adult, he gradually became a good listener, particularly after I stopped thinking of him simply as my little brother.

I cried, mostly, and rambled incoherently to a cat-loving friend.

I sat in the sun listening to the birds sing, letting the warmth start to heal my heart. I walked the cobbled beach, teetering from rock to rock, skating on seaweed. I talked to myself, to the water, to the universe. I shook my fist at the mountains and asked what was the point of all the dying.

Nobody can fix it. No one can answer those questions.

But people can listen. They can hug you and touch your heart. Choose carefully when you share your tender spots, but share them.

Karen Frank has an M.T.S. from Seattle University in Transforming Spirituality. She is a writer, spiritual director and photographer in Port Townsend. You are welcome to contact her at karenanddana1@q.com with questions or comments.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Olympic Hearing Center

Improve Your Hearing.

Improve Your Life.

Hearing loss affects all aspects of your life, but only as long as you allow it.

• Weʼll help you take the first step in staying closely connected to your family and friends by providing a comfortable, personalized experience.

• We offer only the worldʼs finest equipment and the education you need to make todayʼs miniature devices an unobtrusive part of your active, everyday life.

• NO HASSLE, NO PRESSURE GUARANTEED. Contact us today!

Curtis Miller, M.A., CCC-A, F-AAA Clinical Audiologist

Olympic Hearing Center

PROUD PROVIDER OF PHONAK

538 N. Fifth Ave. Sequim, WA 98382

360-681-7500 LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

19

GOOD Gardening

A boutique nursery within Over the Fence store Story by Beverly Hoffman. Photos by David Godfrey

Jerri Sanford, owner of Over the Fence in Sequim, defied conventional wisdom of downsizing during a weakened national economy and instead stepped boldly forward with a different idea — branching out and extending her business. Yes, with fear; yes, with shaky knees. In the past year she hired Dawna Emerson-Hinton, who managed Vision Nursery & Landscaping in Sequim for six years. She spent much of her time at Vision in garden design and creating baskets/containers.

Together, Jerri and Dawna have etched out the rear section of the store to create a boutique nursery where patrons can choose an exquisite pot and then fill it with a variety of one-of-a-kind plants. Jerri’s husband, Fran, has built a potting area where Dawna can work her magic in creating a planting that highlights color, foliage and texture.

Dawna laughs as she considers the long road she’s taken to this new adventure. She credits her grandmother for her love of plants. Her grandmother, Ramona Hand, was a self-taught landscaper and was the first female contractor in Washington. She was a Renaissance woman, with a variety of interests, including gardening, interior design on homes her contractor husband built, her family and her own home contracting. Dawna’s grandmother and grandfather built a hexagonal home in the upper hills of Kent, now named Carrollwood, which was featured in Sunset magazine. Her eyes soften and become misty when she remembers the many lessons her grandmother taught her.

Dawna opted for a degree in forestry because she loved the outdoors, but has found herself on a slightly different path toward artistry — a jewelry maker, landscaper, floral designer, cake decorator. All of these forays, she suggests, have given her opportunities to learn more about classical design elements. In her present work, she brings an enthusiasm, a confidence in her artist’s eye and a commit-

20

ment to price her work fairly. Along with her work at Over the Fence this past year, she also has been a consultant for Skagit Gardens, giving classes and doing design work for the Tulalip Casino.

Before designing a planted pot, she asks clients what colors they don’t like, any plants they don’t love, the conditions of where the pot will be sited and whether it will be solo or grouped. Then she’s off to work, sometimes with a creation in her head and allowing the creation its own journey to completion.

Step by step, she moves through both the art and science of creating a beautifully designed planter.

The location of the planter automatically limits plants she chooses. Sunny spot or shady? Windy? Our valley has many microclimates.

What color is the pot? The size? If there is a great deal of texture in the pot, she softens the design with more of a monochromatic design. If it’s fairly neutral, she chooses both complementary and contrasting colors.

She chooses a plant that offers drama like ornamental grasses or canna; some that will be fillers such as coleus, huerchera or dusty miller; and then some that are spillers such as bacopa or creeping jenny. The dramatic plant, the thriller, should be in the back of the planting to add depth rather than in the middle where most people plant them.

Then she places a piece of sphagnum moss in the bottom drain hole. She cautions against using rocks (or packing peanuts) because they can stop water flow and then plants end up root-bound.

She takes the pot to the permanent site rather than trying to hoist it afterward when it will be heavy. She fills it with Organic Black Gold mixed with a bit of Soil Moist, a polymer that holds water and will offer a bit of needed nourishment in August, when it’s hotter and people are tired of daily water-

ings. She mixes in a 14-14-14 Osmocote into the soil.

Every other week, she uses a water soluble Peters fertilizer.

An aha-moment for me was to learn that she does not plant the fillers and spillers upright; rather, she angles them so that the foliage “face” is looking at people. She illustrated by showing that an upright plant shows mostly stems. She wants to see foliage.

Dawna loves her clients and feels especially supported by women. Over the years, they have recognized that her work is art and delight in the details of her efforts.

At home, she knows her biggest supporters are her husband, Doug, to whom she’s been married for 27 years, and her sons Ethan and Dakota, both in their 20s. Check out the planters she’s recently planted at Over the Fence that face the corner parking spot. In the one still left to plant, she hopes to incorporate both vegetables and flowers to show how easily they can cohabitate and how decorative and textural vegetable plants can be.

Dawna’s enthusiasm shines in her smile, in her passion for the richness of soil and the beauty of plants. As an artist, she’s serious about her work and constantly hones her craft.

Stop by and meet her. You’ll probably leave with a smile on your face. It seems her enthusiasm is contagious.

Dawna Emerson-Hinton

At Over the Fence, 112 E. Washington St., Sequim 360-681-6851 Thursday and Friday, alternating Saturdays 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Prairie Moon Design Consultant Monday-Wednesday, by appointment 360-460-1523

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Quail Hollow Psychotherapy PLLC Joseph L. Price, PhD 360.683.4818

The ocean is our playground... come play with us!

Fun adventure cruises in the Pacific Northwest on the waters of the Salish Sea, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Haro Strait, the San Juan Islands, Puget Sound, and the Hood Canal.

Friday Harbor Day Cruise

Three great dates to choose from!!

Saturdays-- June 30, August 25 or September 23, 2012, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Enjoy a relaxing and scenic cruise to beautiful Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. You’ll have approximately 5 hours to explore Friday Harbor shops, eateries, museums and galleries, or do some hiking, biking or kayaking. The waters around the island are rich with marine wildlife, and we frequently get to visit with J, K or L Pod on our way to the island! Call today to reserve!! Only $98.00 per person.

Pacific Northwest Marine Wildlife Cruise

Saturdays-- June 23, July 14 or August 4, 2012, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca and the waters leading to the San Juan Islands provide some of the best opportunities for marine wildlife viewing in the world. These waters offer a huge variety of wildlife including four whale species often seen in the Pacific Northwest. A 6-hour wildlife search for ONLY $85.00!! Don’t let this opportunity pass you by!!!

Join us for the Exhilaration of Exploration:

DayLight ~ NightLife Casino Cruise ~ Aug 12 - 14 Explore by day the scenery and wildlife that makes this one of the most beautiful places on the planet...And discover the rich nightlife of two beautiful casinos in classic Northwest style.

Hood Canal ~ Aug 19 - 21

Combines a cruise down the Hood Canal (nothing like you’ve ever seen from the highway) with an on-board BBQ with the Captain and crew as well as stays at two world-class golf resorts: Port Ludlow and Alderbrook.

As we sail between the two, our on board geologist will discuss the geological importance of the Hood Canal.

Neah Bay Expedition ~ Sept 10 & 11

A classic Northwest adventure experience...One of a kind historical artifacts at the Makah Nation museum, salmon-on-a-stick BBQ dinner, overnight accommodations, Tatoosh Island Marine Wildlife Sanctuary sail-by and more.

Call or visit our website for other scheduled events and harbor cruises

1-360-452-6210 ~ www.ExpeditionsNW.com LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

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Andy’s inquisitive sniff puts a smile on longtime horse lover Brian Pettyjohn, who holds treats in his other hand.

Equine group rides to the rescue: Rehabilitating horses, educating owners

E

Story and photos by Patricia Morrison Coate

“The essential joy of being with horses is that it brings us in contact with the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit and fire.”

ven as her body weight has crept up with good groceries since February, a once neglected and starved black bay mare still turns away from those who tend to her — unless there’s hay in hand. But Valerie Jackson and Diane Royall brush aside her brush-off, knowing trust once fractured mends slowly. They also know months of patience and green grass will put the mare right — and eventually in a carefully selected home. The rural Sequim friends and neighbors began rescuing horses in Clallam County six years ago with meager means but lots of heart.

The emaciated mare is one of seven, from a group of 16 horses seized for severe malnutrition and neglect in Clallam County, being brought back to health by Royall, Jackson and other volunteers under the Olympic Peninsula Equine Network, a division of the new nonprofit Eyes That Smile. The rest have gone to other foster and adoptive homes.

A month after the seizure, Royall wrote on Facebook, “I am sure many people out there are unaware of how painful it is go without nutrition (starve) for extended periods of time. We as humans may know how it feels to miss an occasional meal, which is entirely up to us. Our pets and livestock get to wait around in a pen or on a chain anticipating when that next meal

22

– Sharon Ralls Lemon (the highlight of their day) will come. When the meal does not come, the poor animals get very stressed out and begin to lose condition. It is the human factor here that is responsible to all of the critters we choose to bring into our lives. To make sure they have what they need.…”

Joining forces for horses

In November 2011, the women met Brian Pettyjohn of Port Angeles through other horse groups. As Royall recalls it, after getting to know their situation, Pettyjohn proclaimed, “Girls, you need help!” However, with a good-natured grin, Pettyjohn protests he was much more diplomatic when he offered his leadership skills to Jackson and Royall. With roots as a Texas horseman and at the urging of his wife, Joanne, in March the 74-year-old Pettyjohn set up Eyes That Smile, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation with the Olympic Peninsula Equine Network as one of its divisions. Pettyjohn is president, Jackson

and Royall are vice presidents and Gayle Baker is treasurer. The organization’s nonprofit status with the IRS allows it to accept donations to continue its rescue/rehabilitation work and to establish an equine therapy facility on five acres the women own and another six the organization is buying.

Jackson and Royall have nothing but praise for their new partner: “Brian has brought new energy and inspiration to our hopes and dreams of really getting this facility up and running like a real shelter. He has given us direction and support. He really cares about people and the animals and has some great ideas about where we should be for our community and how we can be there to help others.

His past (volunteer) experience should speak for itself with other agencies in Clallam County. Brian really puts his heart and soul into his pet projects and we are very blessed to be one of those projects.”

As a youth who rescued and rehabilitated his own horse, not only did Pettyjohn want to see Jackson and Royall’s success stories grow, he’s been single-minded in legitimizing their work in the public’s eye. They know they’ve improved the lives of horses and their caregivers — now it’s time for the everyone else to know, too.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Above: After being rescued in February, Mandy, a black bay, has gained between 100-125 pounds in the care of the Olympic Peninsula Equine Network.

At right: Snowball, a large pony mare, is recovering from scratches, a bacterial skin infection caused by standing in mud, and a severe sign of neglect.

“We’re recruiting 15-20 members for an advisory board and the traits we’re looking for are horse expertise with business, and mental health and financial expertise,” Pettyjohn said. “We will depend on them for counsel. A lot of people in the community are horse people and we want to be sure we get every piece of information we can (on horses and equine therapy). Just because we love horses doesn’t necessarily mean we’re as knowledgeable as we should be.”

Rescuers Diane Royall, left, and Valerie Jackson, right, show off Karma, a 10-month-old pinto filly, and one of their recent success stories. They treated her for severe malnutrition, poor-quality hooves and worms.

Rescue

In the past half-dozen years Jackson and Royall have criss-crossed Washington helping horses and people in need.

According to Royall, “ We’ve helped market and place horses, arranged for vets and clinics and shipping, picked up large horses, plucked auction horses out of peril (of slaughter), relocated horses for owners in dire straits not able to care for themselves, let alone horses. Sometimes when the family gets back on their feet we return the horses with bows in their manes and supplies for the horses.”

The horsewomen explained that there’s a sliding scale of “rescue” from mild to intense intervention and they work with individuals, other shelters and law enforcement 24/7. Sometimes all that’s required is educating people about or assisting them with the proper care of their horses or counseling owners on the best course when they no longer can keep them.

“We’ve found there are a lot of old people here and what happens is when the caregiver of a horse dies, the family doesn’t know how to or can’t care for the horse,” Pettyjohn said. “We’ll offer (human) training or have the horse signed over to us, nurse it back to health if need be and put it up for adoption. With the old horses we get, we’re helping the owners and we’ll be training those horses for social and physical therapy for next year.”

In the best of cases, owners plan ahead, as in the case of Andy, a 16-year-old Tennessee Walker gelding whose owners wanted to travel, so they signed him over to Royall four years ago. “I taught him some manners,” Royall chuckled, as he nuzzled her for treats. “He’s not perfect but I think he’s wonderful. You’d be amazed at the number of purebreds we’ve rescued,” she said.”

It’s a sad fact — some people call themselves “horse rescuers” when in reality they’re hoarders, barnyard breeders or collectors of “free” horses. “Unfortunately, ‘free status’ leads to neglect,” Jackson said, “especially for horses advertised as giveaways to any and all online.”

“These horses let us know how much they appreciate us,” Royall said. “From the February seizure, there were two the vet said had a 50-percent chance of survival, but within a couple of days, the gelding started whinnying because he was so excited, like he was saying, ‘You’re gonna feed us? Again? Today?!’

Animals, when they feel neglected wonder, ‘What did I do?

I was the best horse I could be.’ They get their hearts broken.”

Added Jackson, “It gets to the point we don’t want to have the horses re-homed again so we try to interview people as thoroughly as we can by checking references, seeing their property and giving them a basic education — but you gotta let them go.”

Therapy

“I’ll talk your arm off because I love what I’m doing,” Pettyjohn said about the group’s plans to launch equine therapy programs next year, following standards of The Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association, a mental health therapy program, and other accredited groups.

At the nonprofit’s planned 11-acre facility southwest of Sequim, the immediate goal is to raise enough funds to build a covered corral and offices for a veterinarian, mental health and equine specialists and hire some staff.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

“All I pay my psychiatrist is the cost of feed and hay — and he’ll listen to me any day.”

– Author Unknown

Pettyjohn said a horse is one of the most reflective animals of a human’s personality. “If you’re afraid, the horse knows, if you’re aggressive or passive, horses know, too, but if you’re friendly, they respond very well.”

He’s sensed and seen first-hand the silent language of acceptance between horse and human.

“For example, take a quadriplegic child balancing to the extent he or she can, with regular therapy all of a sudden that child is holding the saddle horn. Or when I see a normally non-communicative or autistic child talk to his horse — oh, boy! That’s the first step to opening that little brain up,” Pettyjohn grinned. “I’ve seen it happen! It’s amazing when that horse penetrates where humans can’t. You can see things

Eyes That Smile/ Olympic Peninsula Equine Network

PO Box 252, Sequim, WA 98382 855-50-HORSE or 855-504-6773 Website: www.eyesthatsmile.org

23

At right: Karma and Snowball feast on hay, carefully watchful of a stranger taking their photo.

At far right: Diane Royall, with treats in hand, gives Johnny, a 9-year-old paint, an affectionate rub, while Andy watches.

Johnny’s owners became unemployed and signed over the well-treated horse to Royall.

He’s been adopted and will move to a new home soon. happening in that child’s mind. It’s something just short of a miracle.”

Other physical and emotional challenges are harder to see, such as the anxiety with posttraumatic stress disorder or the diffidence in attachment or oppositional disorders seen in children. In those cases for healing wounds, Pettyjohn said, “We give the client a task to do with the horse that it normally wouldn’t do voluntarily and have the client, without force or intimidation, get the horse to do it. When they’re successful, it establishes a bond of trust.”

“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” – Winston Churchill

The road ahead

“We want to be recognized for equine communication and for potential owners — a little bit of knowledge goes a long ways in protecting these horses,” Jackson said. “Brian is

the reason we are even dreaming of setting up a horse rescue facility for Clallam County! He and his wife, Joanne, each have their own individual histories involving horses and they both share our love of them. They want to help us help the horses and through them bring equine-assisted therapy programs to our community.”

“When people need help, we’re glad to educate them but we need help, too,” Royall added. “There’s no worse sinking feeling than seeing the hay go down and wonder when funds are going

to come in, but we’ve never let anybody go hungry.”

To make a tax-deductible donation to Eyes That Smile/ Olympic Peninsula Equine Rescue, contact PO Box 252, Sequim, WA 98382, or call 855-504-6773 for donation information or rescue calls.

The organization will have an open house from 1-5 p.m.

Saturday, June 20 at 554 Roupe Road, Sequim. Some of the rescued horses will be on-site and there will be training demonstrations.

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Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Leading the way

Paka, a yellow Labrador retriever, is one of the puppies undergoing guide dog training on the peninsula. Her name means cat in Swahili.

S

itting calmly on their haunches and with big brown eyes, Paka, Delilah and Desiree are a trio of youngsters on their best behavior. At least they are trying. Whether they know what lies ahead is uncertain, but they seem to understand they are in school and are doing their best to learn.

“The basic goal for our puppies is self-control,” says Deb Cox, the driving force behind Puppy Pilots, a Sequim guide dog raising club. “The dog learns we are the most important thing in the world — and they learn to be calm.”

Becoming a guide dog for a visually impaired person is the highest rung on the service animal ladder. The dogs must be perfect, able to avoid distractions of every kind and be ever mindful of their owners.

The dogs trained on the Olympic Peninsula come from Guide Dogs for the Blind. The organization was established in 1942 and is located in San Rafael, Calif., 20 miles north of San Francisco. In October 1995, an additional campus 25 miles east of Portland, Ore. was established in Boring, Ore. The vast majority of dogs are bred from specially selected stock and most are Labrador retrievers. Labs have proven over time to have the best disposition and they also exhibit a willingness to work and they thrive on praise.

Cox is now training her fifth dog since the founding of Puppy Pilots seven years ago. Cox said the group got started after she put out the word and 25 people showed up for a meeting. Today they have two meetings a month.

People who want to be a puppy raiser first meet with Cox and she fills them in on the responsibilities. She does a home visit to make sure there’s a good place for the puppy and then goes over the training regimen. Potential puppy raisers often start out as sitters, relieving others who go on vacation or otherwise aren’t available for short periods.

“We’re always looking for new sitters and raisers,” Cox said. The dogs can’t just be kenneled if their handler goes out of town. “They can’t go two weeks without training or they backslide,” Cox said.

Guide Dogs for the Blind pays for any veterinarian bills, but puppy raisers have to pay for food and other supplies. To cover those costs, Puppy Pilots has regular fundraisers.

Puppy Pilots club members help raise and train guide dogs for the visually impaired Story and photos by Fred Obee

The main purpose of the Puppy Pilots program is to acclimate the dogs to all kinds of environments. Buses, offices, busy sidewalks, parks and public buildings. Even restaurants and coffee shops are fair game and most proprietors allow the dogs in when they see they are on a mission. The dogs stay with the raisers from puppyhood until they are 15 months old. At that point, they go to Oregon where a determination is made about whether they are ready for harness training.

“We call it going to college,” Cox said. Not every dog makes it through the process to becoming a guide dog. About half will wash out or be trained for a purpose other than guiding the visually impaired.

Kelli Walker and Kim Rosales are two puppy raisers in the Puppy Pilots club. They say they were well prepared to take on training a Guide Dog. “For me it was about what I expected,” Rosales said, and she credits the training she received for that. The No. 1 question the puppy raisers get is: “How can you give up such a beautiful dog?”

Cox, Walker and Rosales all say it’s not that hard because you accept the terms when you begin. “You go into it with a different mindset,” Walker said.

She works at Rodda Paint Company in Sequim and brings her puppy to work with her.

“She’s well socialized with the customers.”

And, they say, once the dog does go away for additional training, they are kept in the loop on how training is going and where the dog ends up.

Puppy Pilots collaborates closely with the Sequim Valley Lions Club, which sponsors White Cane Days, a benefit for the visually impaired. The

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Lions are sponsoring one of the puppies being trained in Sequim now.

Puppy Pilots always is looking for volunteers.

They have one puppy raiser living in Port Townsend and they always are open to finding new people in communities across the peninsula.

Ultimately, the puppy raisers say, the best part of the job is knowing a dog they trained has become a life-changing companion for a visually impaired person.

“That’s the best part.”

Cox said.

To learn more about P uppy P i lot s , c ontact Deb Cox at deb@ puppypilots.org.

Desiree is the oldest of the puppies now being trained in Sequim by Deb Cox of Puppy Pilots.

25

There’s just something about lavender Sequim Lavender Weekend expects crowds from far and wide

P

eople say we who live on the North Olympic Peninsula are lucky. Given the purported annual rainfall of only 15 inches, mild weather that has no hint of tornadoes, hurricanes, severe snowstorms or heat waves into the 100-degree mark, and spectacular views of mountains, water, flora and fauna, well, they are right, we are lucky.

Add the glorious lavender that grows almost wild in the Sequim area and you’ve got paradise.

Granted, there are lavender farms throughout the country, as well as the world — indeed, Provence, France, has long been celebrated for its lavender fields — but Sequim is actually trademarked as the Lavender Capital of North America® and the climate for growing lavender mimics that of Provence.

“Sequim is special,” says Scott Nagel, executive director of the Sequim Lavender Farm Faire. “We have the perfect microclimate for growing lavender.” This, he says, was discovered nearly 20 years ago when local farmers were looking for a new crop to help sustain Sequim’s rural life.

There’s just something about lavender that attracts attention.

Whether it’s the heady scent that permeates the air during the early summer months, the fields of blooming purple plants at family farms tucked into the folds of the North Olympic Peninsula, or the plant itself, a burst of blue-violet blossoms at the end of spiked foliage whose essential oil is purported to have healing power, lavender beckons.

The proof is in the fact that, come mid-July, upwards of 30,000 people will find their way to the lavender fields for the 16th annual weekend celebration.

What’s the draw? Well, there’s all the aforementioned perks that make the North Olympic Peninsula a destination of choice.

But the weekend event, which features an up-close look at everything lavender, including farm tours, a street fair, lavender in the park, concerts, cooking-with-lavender demonstrations and arts and crafts booths, is the biggest reason for the population boom in July.

“There are lavender festivals everywhere, but nothing like what we do in Sequim,” Nagel maintains. “We put on the best lavender event in the country.”

Mickie Vail, director of operations for the Sequim Lavender Farm Faire, agrees. But, she takes it one step further, calling Sequim and its surroundings a destination resort.

“People come for the three-day celebration and then stay a week or so visiting the other areas of interest here,” she says.

That’s all well and good, but, again, what is so compelling about a plant whose name is derived from the Latin word lavere, meaning “to wash”?

Mary Jendrucko, festival director for the Sequim Lavender Growers Association, says it’s about communing with nature.

“People like to come out to the countryside, to look at nature, to enjoy the rural environment and see the lavender,” she says. At the farms on tour for example, families can enjoy a picnic lunch amid the lavender plants. That’s a difficult find

26

Story by Mary Powell • Photo by Cathy Clark

in a big-city setting.

Jendrucko and her husband, Paul, are well-known in the area for their handmade bandannas filled with lavender. These colorful creations are meant to bring calm and comfort for those who wear them, which, by the way, are of the furry type — dogs, that is.

“People come because of the fascination of lavender,” adds Carmen Ragsdale, who, along with her husband, Steve, own Sunshine Herb and Lavender Farm just outside of Sequim. “It’s beauty and long history is what draws the tourists.” One plant, she says, can be used in just about every aspect of our lives, from makeup to healing aspects to infusion in all sorts of foods.

Beginnings

Like all good ideas that turn into a successful venture, growing lavender in and around Sequim began with a vision, that being to restore the agricultural base of the fertile Sequim prairie.

The founders of the lavender movement, including Mary Borland-Liebsch of Olympic Lavender Farm, and Mike Reichner of Purple Haze Lavender Farm, tapped not only into the right crop, but also were founders of what has become a worldwide agritourism market.

According to those who keep the history books, eight lavender farms began planting between 1995-1998. Since then, at least 30 more have been established. Today, more than 150,000 lavender plants are in the ground in the Sequim area, with hundreds of thousands sold wholesale around the world.

The popular lavender event has grown along with the number of plants and in turn, has greatly increased tourism on the North Olympic Peninsula. Indeed, the Sequim Lavender Festival has been voted one of the top 100 events by the American Bus Association, and, as previously stated, Sequim is recognized as the Lavender Capital of North America®, a registered trademark.

Sequim Lavender Weekend

According to Barbara Hanna, communications and marketing director for the City of Sequim, Sequim Lavender Weekend is one of the largest, if not the largest, tourism events on the Olympic Peninsula. That translates into an economic boost for the area. When 30,000 or so visitors stay in hotels, eat in restaurants and spend money in local shops, it boosts city coffers.

“The city has a stake in the success of the festival,” Hanna says of its recent additional support of the two associations involved with the production of Sequim Lavender Weekend.

Because there are two associations — the Sequim Lavender Farmers Association and the Sequim Lavender Growers Association — the city decided to rename this year’s event the Sequim Lavender Weekend.

The Sequim Lavender Farmers Association, which

sponsors the Sequim Lavender Farm Faire, and the Sequim Lavender Growers Association, sponsor of the Sequim Lavender Festival, fall under the new umbrella name Sequim Lavender Weekend. With so many activities offered by each association, the city wanted a name that would attract visitors without confusion.

In all, 13 lavender farms will be open to tourists. In addition, the weekend offers an endless amount of shopping, food and fun at either the downtown Street Fair or Lavender in the Park at Carrie Blake Park. To be sure, there is enough to keep a visitor entertained for the three-day weekend.

“When people come to Sequim they have a good feeling about this community,” Nagel says. “The people who live here give the first impression, which is very welcoming. Visitors are looking for small-town, friendly America and they get it here in Sequim.” That, and, of course, the lavender.

So what’s the draw, the attraction to a purple plant? The answer is all of the above.

“People love lavender,” Vail says. “It’s amazing. You say lavender and people start gushing about how much they like it.”

And will our luck hold out with some of that mild weather and the infamous blue hole?

Mary Jendrucko assures she has taken care of that little detail.

“I’ve already ordered up good weather for the (lavender) weekend.”

Mary Powell is the former editor of the Sequim Gazette. She worked in the newspaper industry for nearly 20 years, was an education reporter and also the editor for the Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake. She has won several journalism awards, most for editorial writing. Now semi-retired, she volunteers for several local organizations and enjoys an occasional freelance assignment.

Sequim Lavender Weekend

• July 20-22 • Sequim Lavender Farm Faire Seven farms on tour: $10 advance/$15/weekend, military $10, children 12 and under free. Includes free shuttle buses to and from each farm. Lavender in the Park features more than 100 booths, lavender products, food, music, crafts, and more. No admission fee to Lavender in the Park.

• Sequim Lavender Festival Six farms open to the public. No admission.

Downtown Street Fair features 172 crafts booths, food court. Free lavender bundle with military identification.

• For more information regarding Sequim Lavender Weekend, visit www.sequimlavenderweekend. com, www.sequimlavenderfarms.org or www. lavenderfestival.com.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

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Loveand Flowers

A profile of botanical illustrator Iris Edey Story and photos by Kelly McKillip Watercolors by Iris Edey

Above: A symphony of violets will adorn the cover of the soon-to-be published book of Tony Edey’s poetry entitled, “Still Shakin’ with Laughter.”

There are two attributes that botanical illustrator Iris Edey says played a major role in her success as a watercolorist. The first is the natural talent she inherited from her grandmother and the second is the discipline she learned as the daughter of a British soldier, in the rigors of boarding school, and as a dressmaker.

Edey began her formal education at age 5 in Singapore where her father was stationed in the army. When World War II broke out, her father was captured and spent the next 3½ years as a POW. Edey, her siblings and stepmother managed to escape on the last boat out, spending nine harrowing weeks at sea, via Cape Town, South Africa, before returning to England. She subsequently attended boarding school for most of her childhood but also lived in Kenya where her father was stationed after the war.

At age 17, a love of sewing led her to become a dressmaker’s apprentice. Edey worked under a practiced seamstress, called a hand, in an atmosphere where distractions such as talking or listening to music were not allowed. Although she always had sketched and already was very disciplined, Edey believes that At left: The iris is Edey’s namesake and signature flower.

Right: Iris Edey creates her beautiful watercolor paintings using one of the drawings from her many sketch books.

28

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

In addition to flowers, Iris Edey paints beautiful watercolor botanicals of fruits and other plants. the attentiveness required to achieve success in the difficult medium of watercolor seeded itself in those years of repetitive and single-minded couture sewing.

At age18, Edey met her husband, Tony, in London. The two young people glanced at each other across the room during a church service and both knew that there would be no other. During the five years she waited for her husbandto-be to finish his education at the Royal School of Mines and complete his National Service with the Royal Engineers, Edey became an independent seamstress, worked as a lace saleswoman in London and became a nanny in Devon.

The Edeys married in 1959. His work soon brought the couple to Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, Africa, where their son and daughter were born. The family also lived in Venezuela, Chile, New Zealand, Europe and the U.S. Except for the time when her children were very young, Edey made sketches of the local flora in her notebooks. She always used pen and ink which required her to look and draw with great care, creating her sketches from front to back, as she does in watercolor.

In 1974, the family moved to Bellevue.

The next year Edey’s children gave her a gift of an oil painting kit. She took lessons at the local park and recreation center and began drawing in earnest again.

Studying toll painting taught her a lot about color and she soon became a teacher herself. Eventually, Edey decided that oils did not dry fast enough to suit her and she took up Sumi, a Japanese painting method which uses watercolor or ink on rice paper. Edey says it was the most difficult medium she has ever worked in, but the effort engendered

an unwavering love of watercolor.

The family subsequently moved to Colorado, where Edey created a great deal of art, often showing her work in four different galleries at the same time. She became a professional botanical watercolorist in 1981 and her business name is appropriately Iris’ Garden.

Iris is not only her namesake but also a favorite subject, although she paints many types of flowers and other botanicals.

Edey begins a work by tracing one of her sketches from the 14 books she has compiled. This template often will be used in different ways. Critical to her success is the knowledge of how to mix color, which is then applied with great care. She has done a lot of experimenting over the years and never stops learning.

The Edeys moved to Sequim in 1989. In the following years, Tony waged a winning battle against melanoma while also suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Iris says that, despite his illnesses, her husband never lost his sense of humor.

In 2000, the couple published the book, “Life Lines,” featuring humorous verse by Tony with illustrations by Iris. They began a second volume, “Still Shakin’ with Laughter.” Unfortunately, Parkinson’s claimed Tony’s life in 2009 before they could complete the work.

Devastated by the loss of her soul mate and inspiration, Iris stopped painting.

In 2011, Edey picked up her brush again and is back in full flow creating beautiful and intricate illustrations. She’s very busy preparing for an exhibit of more than 50 of her paintings for the Sequim Museum & Arts Center (MAC) exhibit in July.

With the help of her proj-

ect coordinator and fellow artist, Magdalena Bassett, Edey is publishing the second volume of Tony’s poetry. Additionally, a book of sketches, compiled from Edey’s 14 volumes, soon will be in print.

Edey believes her renewed energy and fitness are due to the Hatha yoga she has practiced for nearly 50 years and her love of the natural world. When not painting flowers, she can be found tending them at her Sequim home garden.

Iris Edey may be contacted at edeysqm@olypen.com or by phone at 360-683-4721. Her books will be available in July in Sequim at MAC, at 175 W. Cedar St., Pacific Mist Books at 121 W. Washington St. or online at Amazon.com.

Kelly McKillip always has loved writing and the arts and recently has forayed into combining the two in freelance articles.

She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Marylhurst College in Marylhurst, Ore., and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Hayward State University in California. She volunteers at the Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic and Museum & Arts Center in the Dungeness Valley.

A delicate rose becomes a work of art under Iris Edey’s careful hand.

This beautiful camellia is Iris Edey’s largest work to date.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

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Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

What’s in a name?

California woman traces family roots to peninsula

by Reneé Mizar, Communications Coordinator Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley

L

ittle did Pamala Kay Grender of Temecula, Calif., know when she accepted her grandmother’s gift of old, tattered family photo books that she was setting the stage for a five-year, historyseeking odyssey spanning two continents, several states and generations of kin she didn’t know existed.

In fact, when the genealogical journey that led her directly to the North Olympic Peninsula and compelled her to write a memoir about her newfound relatives began, she wasn’t sure how to pronounce the family name at the center of it all — Bugge, like “buggy.”

“My grandmother must have been so taken with her husband’s side of the family that she failed to tell her son, my dad, much about her nine brothers and sisters, most of whom, by the time he was a young man, had moved to the far West,” Grender said of her grandmother, Soneva Bugge Egge. “As a result, he never even got to know some of his aunts, uncles and first cousins.”

Inspired by the family photographic collection, some of which were postcards containing dated postmark

Author Pamala Kay Grender utilized several historical and genealogical resources throughout Clallam County, including the Museum & Arts Center in Sequim and the Clallam County Historical Society, while researching her 2011 book, “Faded Treasures, Vibrant Lives.”

and location clues, and armed with bits of information gleaned from her father and other relatives, Grender began her quest to reconnect the time-splintered links of her Bugge family tree. The culmination of those efforts, a family memoir titled “Faded Treasures, Vibrant Lives,” was published by Little Creek Press in 2011.

As Grender would come to discover, three of her grandmother’s West-venturing brothers – Hans, Jens and Samuel Bugge – settled on the North Olympic Peninsula beginning in the 1890s. All born in Norway, Samuel became a sea captain in Port Townsend and Hans and Jens successful entrepreneurial businessmen and civil servants in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.

Grender said among her biggest research surprises was discovering that the Hood Canal bridge is officially named the William A. Bugge Bridge, after Samuel’s son and former director of highways for Washington.

She also was surprised to learn of the impressive professional accomplishments of Hans and Jens in this area.

Although few visible traces remain of Hans and Jens Bugge’s entrepreneurial exploits in Sequim and the once-bustling seaport communities of neighboring Port Hans Bugge’s Bugge Cannery Company at Washington Harbor, Williams and Washington Harbor along Senow the site of the Battelle Marine Science Laboratory. Image quim Bay, their enterprises made the Bugge from the Virginia Keeting Collection, Museum & Arts Center in name a familiar one in the region around the the Sequim-Dungeness Valley

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Pamala Kay Grender (far right) and several cousins gathered for this photo at Bugge Road, located along Sequim Bay, during a family reunion in Sequim in July 2011. Photo courtesy of Pamala Grender turn of the 20th century.

Hans owned and operated an export business and commercial port via the long ship-docking wharf at Port Williams along with a hotel, restaurant, post office and store there. The eldest Bugge sibling also earned the nickname of Washington’s “Clam King” for his successful Bugge Cannery Company at Washington Harbor, which he oversaw for nearly two decades and which employed as many as 40 people during peak periods. Jens, a

31

Above: Bugge’s Tureen brand clams, packaged by the Bugge Canning Company. Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Collection

mercantile proprietor, also lived a life of civil service, serving as a Sequim mayor, city councilman and fire chief. Both also served as postmasters and in Clallam County offices — Hans as commissioner and Jens as treasurer.

At left: Moon Kist brand clam nectar, packaged by the Bugge Canning Company. Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Collection. Photo by Robert Cooper

While her book chronicles the lives of her grandmother and nine siblings, Grender noted that it is also the story of her own personal journey to uncover her family’s past. As a past board member of the Temecula Valley Historical Society and past president of the Temecula Valley Museum Board, as well as an active museum volunteer, Grender already was well-versed in the value that

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historical research, and localized historical knowledge especially, can play when combined with genealogical investigation.

Using a detective-like, multi-pronged approach, Grender’s research included gathering oral histories from relatives; utilizing the Internet via Google searches and subscription-based genealogy websites; and contacting museums, historical societies and research centers in locales where the Bugge siblings had lived. She said she spent three years gathering and compiling notebooks full of information before beginning to write the book.

She and her husband also made numerous trips along the West Coast over the span of five years, visiting Alaska as well as the North Olympic Peninsula, to conduct in-person research. In addition to visiting the Jefferson County Historical Society in Port Townsend and Clallam County Historical Society in Port Angeles, Grender said much of her peninsula-based research was concentrated at the Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley (MAC), located in Sequim.

In recognition of those newfound family ties to this area, an annual reunion of cousins on Grender’s father’s side was changed from its usual Midwest location to Sequim. Grender said five cousins joined her for the gathering in July 2011, which included a visit to the site of Jens Bugge’s cabin, now gone, on Bugge Road.

“One of the cousins, Steven Egge, as a very young boy, visited Jens Bugge’s cabin on Sequim Bay with his family.

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Steven, his parents and two brothers spent several vacations fishing on Sequim Bay while staying at the cabin in the ’50s,” Grender recalled.

Published in time for the reunion, Grender said “Faded Treasures, Vibrant Lives” has garnered a very positive reaction from her family and it also has resulted in her making contact with some previously unknown relatives and exchanging additional information.

“I was thanked by each and everyone one of my cousins who was given a book. All were grateful for the research that had been done,” Grender said. “One called to tell me she and her husband were taking off that very day for a trip to Norway. She said she had my book in her suitcase and that they would try to find the Bugges’ original hometown.”

Returning to Sequim this summer

Grender will return to Sequim this summer to present a program about the Bugge family, and Hans and Jens in particular, at 5:30 p.m.

Friday, July 13, at the MAC Exhibit Center, 175 W. Cedar St. in Sequim.

The evening event, which includes a book signing of “Faded Treasures, Vibrant Lives” and refreshments, is free with suggested donation and open to the public.

Grender’s presentation also coincides with the debut of a new MAC history exhibit about the local canning and maritime industries.

With the genealogy of her Bugge relatives now well-documented, Grender said she plans to direct her genealogy-sleuthing energy toward researching her husband’s family. However, as anyone thoroughly engrossed in genealogy likely will attest, one’s family research is never really finished no matter how much information has been gathered about a given relative or branch of the family tree.

“The Bugges were such a fascinating family, for the rest of my life I will probably continue gathering information about them,” said Grender,

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

who dedicated her book to her four grandchildren. “My grandchildren, who range in age from 2 to 14, are too young to be very interested but they each have an autographed copy of the book which, with time, I know will be appreciated. I felt it was important for both present and future generations to know and appreciate family members who had gone before them.”

Hans Bugge, posing with bags of the resource that would earn him the nickname of Washington’s “Clam King.” Image from the Virginia Keeting Collection, Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Blazing the back country T

By Elizabeth Kelly

he next time you are out hiking or biking or riding a horse on one of the peninsula’s many wellkept trails, you might ask yourself who keeps the trails clear of fallen trees and other debris. The answer more than likely would be the Back Country Horsemen of Washington volunteers.

A well-organized group of 160 members, the BCHW is constantly working to build and maintain both front and backcountry trails for everyone to use. “Our main goal is to keep public lands open to everyone,” said Peninsula Chapter president Jennifer Reandeau. “That includes all trails, lower trails for bikers and hikers and all the way up to and into the Wilderness area, where we can’t use any power tools,” she said.

Chapter vice president Del Sage, said that they have several different trail committees. “We’re sometimes limited to 12 heartbeats,” he said, “including horses and dogs.” He explained that they don’t want too many horses on a given trail at a time, so they try to limit the amount to 12 creatures.

If more than a dozen are going to a particular destination, the next group will start at a later time.

One of these groups met every Monday during April and part of May to work on trails on Miller Peninsula near Sequim. “We had anywhere from one to 12 people show up,” Sage said. “One Monday, I was the only one who came, but that doesn’t matter.” He said that among the chapter’s recent accomplishments is a bridge members built over the Little River near the Elwha area, for which they had to fell some trees. “We also made a walk log across Elk Creek in Forks and we’re building a bridge on Big Quil (Quilcene),” he continued.

Reandeau said that Sage is a leader on many of the big projects they do. “His education comes from years of logging.”

Sage was awarded the Lopper Award at a recent rendezvous of BCHW in Ellensburg. There were only three awards given statewide and the Peninsula Chapter was proud to have Sage be recognized for his many volunteer hours.

Sage’s horse Rocky assists him in his work. “Just throw a harness on Rocky and he is ready to go to work,” he said, explaining that Rocky is half draft horse and half saddle horse. “His daddy was an English Shire (often called the Gentle Giants).” For those who want to read more about Sage and his horse, they are both featured in the May 2012 issue of the free publication Northwest Horse Source.

Other achievements of the Peninsula Chapter of BCHW

are clearing and maintaining trails at Long Ridge, Aurora Ridge, Lillian, Elkhorn, Wolf Creek, Sol Duc, Bogachiel, Hoh, Quinault, Queets, Dosewallips, Mount Muller/Littleton, Happy Valley, Slab Camp, Upper Dungeness, as well as Foothills and the Olympic Discovery Trail.

“At some point, we will have worked on 70 percent of the Discovery Trail that will eventually stretch 100 miles from Port Townsend to west of Port Angeles,” Reandeau said. The members have built fences, gates and bridges for the Discovery Trail.

They also have cleared ground, built campsites, fire pits, corrals and watering systems for the stock camp at the Mount Muller/Littleton trailhead and assisted with projects at the Clallam County Fair and Salt Creek Recreation Area campgrounds, where they have painted buildings and assembled picnic tables.

“We also do noxious weed control,” said chapter director and trail maintenance coordinator Tom Mix. As a crosscut sawyer, Mix also instructs and certifies volunteer sawyers for work on fallen trees.

“As per agency policy, we do not certify volunteer sawyers for felling of trees. Trees fall on some of the trails every year,” he said. That often requires a crew to pack in and work for several days. “Depending on where we go, we have to operate within the land manager’s rules,” Mix explained.

Some trails cover up to seven different management rules and the volunteers agree to comply with all of them.

Each of the 36 BCHW chapters keeps track of its volunteer hours and Cate Bendock, volunteer hours coordinator for the Peninsula Chapter, said that in 2011 there were a total of 4,423.45 hours logged. “Both Tom and Del give countless hours,” she said. Figuring the labor at $15 an hour for most of the hours and $25 an hour for skilled labor, the hourly dollar value for last year came to $76,496.75. They also take into account equipment use. Working under detailed BCHW

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Top: From left, Jeff Mix and Del Sage pack in on Snow Brushy Trail.

Photo courtesy of BCHW. Above: Pack mules ready for the trail.

Photo by Elizabeth Kelly guidelines, the total of labor and equipment supplied for maintenance on the 583.7 miles of trails on the peninsula was $130,135.

Every year, as part of their goals to “work with and receive training under direction of public officials from Department of National Resources, U.S. Forest Service and Olympic National Park,” the members coordinate with ONP rangers to host a “Mule Barn Day.” This year the event was held at the Elwha Ranger Station where nearly 40 people came to learn about how to pack a mule for back-country trail work; protocol for hikers when they meet mule trains on the trail; good horse/mule behavior for trail work; how and what to pack in your saddle bags; and a reminder of

Back Country Horsemen of Washington – Peninsula Chapter P.O. Box 1931 Port Angeles, WA 98362 www.pbchw.org

39

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Tom Mix, left, and Larry lack of Olympic National Park, clear a Sol Duc River trail with a 10-foot crosscut saw.

Photo courtesy of BCHW. the 10 essentials to carry always: compass, maps, water and iodine purification tablets, sharp knife, whistle, space blanket with cord, matches and striker paper in a container, matches in another container, fire starter material and a first aid kit.

Another important mission of the chapter is to work with youth groups such as the Boy Scouts and 4-H to provide them with Leave No Trace (LNT) educational skills, including animal skills, while working together with BCHW on the trails. One teaching practice is how to yield appropriately on the trail — “bikers yield to everyone, hikers yield to equestrians and equestrians yield to no one.�

The international program, LNT (www.int.org\leavenotrace), provides succinct and direct ways to preserve the environment for everyone. Their teachings include how to dispose of waste properly; leave what you find; minimize campfire impacts; respect wildlife; find suitable camping sites; and plan ahead and prepare. The chapter hosts an LNT tent at the Clallam County Fair each year to help make the public aware of these practices.

Beginning on June 27 and on July 11, 18 and 25, the Peninsula chapter will join with Kiwanis to offer horse rides for children with disabilities at Beausite Lake camp near Chimacum. A walker will accompany each horse and rider on either side of the horse to provide safety for the children. “There are some people who object to horses in the backcountry,� Mix said, and yet, it’s the horses and their riders that keep the trails open and often helped build them in the first place.

The unifying focus of BCHW, Peninsula Chapter, is horses and mules — riding, showing, packing, admiring or keeping them as big pets. However, not all members have horses or even ride, but have a concern to help keep the trails open for all. A 501(c)(3) organization, the local chapter networks with Back Country Horsemen of America (BCHA) in 25 other states.

If you are looking for an opportunity to make a difference, volunteer outside, learn about your environment and enjoy good company, read more about the Peninsula chapter of Back Country Horsemen on its website or send an e-mail to webmaster@pbchw.org.

Elizabeth Kelly has lived on the Olympic Peninsula nearly a dozen years. She has worked for three newspapers as a reporter and freelance writer. She also worked as a technical writer. She has traveled to all seven continents and continues to be curious about the world around her.

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Bonds eons old

THE Living END

By Dr. Sharon Jensen, DVM

Disclaimer: My “dog heart” was lost years ago to Clancy Cochran Jensen, a perfect GoldenMuttRetriever. My house now serves as quarters for our three feline masters.

Humans and animals have a long history of living together and forming emotional bonds. In what may be the oldest evidence of this special relationship, a 12,000-year-old human skeleton was discovered in Israel, entombed with its hand resting on the skeleton of a 6-month-old wolf puppy.

Perhaps best said by Dr. Ann Berger, a researcher and physician at the National Institute for Health in Bethesda: “The bond between animals and humans is part of our evolution, and it’s very powerful.”

The intuitive, forever bond that we have with our pets is in many ways beyond our understanding — very much as one might expect from such a lengthy relationship between different species over the centuries. In my daily practice as a veterinarian, I repeatedly bear witness to, and am in awe of, this powerful relationship.

Take a walk at the beach and almost without fail, you will see a pet and her human frolicking in the sand and waves.

Why? Do you have an answer? I really do not, yet this is a ubiquitous phenomenon, one that transcends reason and is based on love and trust. We bring out the joy of life in one another.

From 1980-1984, while I was attending veterinary school at Washington State University, the dean was Dr. Leo Bustad. A very jovial fellow, Dr. Bustad was one of the founding members of The Delta Foundation, a group dedicated to promotion of the human-animal bond. There were two other visionaries — two brothers, Dr. Michael J. McCulloch, a psychiatrist, and Dr. William McCulloch.

These professionals came to know one another as they shared the observation that pets were having a positive impact on their human clients’ health and happiness. Each had observed in his own practice (and personal life) this consistent theme. They speculated that there was much more depth to what they were witnessing. However, they knew that anecdotal stories were not enough to capture the attention of the medical community. Scientific research was needed.

Research findings accumulated that having an animal in one’s life helped reduce blood pressure, lower stress and anxiety levels, and stimulate the release of endorphins which make people feel good. The Delta Society knew it was time to put their now-proven theories into every day application.

The National Service Dog Center® was founded with a goal to focus on advocating for the acceptability of service dogs in public places. It also provides tools to help those with disabilities find a service dog trainer and understand their rights. Another organization, Therapy Dogs International (TDI®), is a volunteer group organized to provide qualified handlers and their therapy dogs for visits to institutions, facilities and any other place where therapy dogs are needed.

Many of my clients have service dogs and are very active in our community — from search and rescue, to reading with children, visiting nursing homes, and in the case of my neighbor’s dog Jag, apprehending criminals!

In the May 4 Seattle Times, an article penned by Jennifer Sullivan looks at the role cats play in the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals.

Since January, staff at Larch Corrections Center, a minimum-custody prison near Vancouver, have assigned two shelter cats to each live with a pair of inmates in the hope that

the relationships will result in better behavior — in both the felons and the cats ....

On a recent afternoon, Clementine, a small gray and white cat, spread out on her scratching post, staring at 35-year-old inmate Richard Amaro as he talked about her likes and dislikes. He boasted about her sunny disposition and said he and his cell mate are lucky to be assigned such a mellow cat, compared to their neighbors’ cat, the redoubtable Princess Natalie.

“This gives you a softer side; it makes you feel like you have a kid at home. When I’ve been out during the day I remember I’ve got my daughter at home waiting for me,” said Amaro, who is serving time for theft, harassment and contracting without a license. These cats, previously considered unadoptable, are eventually placed in homes outside the prison environment.

Cats enjoy sharing our homes and lives and in addition to their role at Larch Corrections Center, serve as therapy pets in nursing homes. I am on the staff of my three cats, Leif (who grew up on our sailboat and sailed to Mexico and back with us), Susie and Walter the wild-child.

The world would be a lonely place without the companionship of animals. Children raised in a loving family learn patience, emotional maturity, safety and trust from their pets and parents. As a child, I relied on my many pets for stability, comfort and friendship.

Rabbits, salamanders, turtles, kitties and puppies graced my life from my earliest memories.

Unconditional: always there, soft and furry, or small and slimy — I loved them all. Caring for these creatures who depended on me for their safety and welfare taught me critical life skills not otherwise available in my human family.

The flow and then ebb of life is much faster for our companion animals than for humans. This fact brings great joy and unspeakable grief as the relationship grows, deepens and, inevitably for the human member of the bond, ends long before we are ready. It is not possible to be fully prepared for the death of a beloved family pet.

A painful reality for pet owners is that we must eventually make end-of-life choices for our family friend. As a pet’s guardian, it is both an honor and a burden to have such a decision in our hands. Our pets trust us implicitly, unconditionally, and rely on us to make correct, compassionate decisions about their welfare. This honor and burden includes when to end their life. As a veterinarian, one of my more critical roles is to guide families through the lengthy, painful decisions around euthanasia. “How will I know when it is time? Is my pet suffering? Am I being selfish? What would you do?”

Clearly, this responsibility is a pivotal one in my work.

Those who have suffered a loss (and who hasn’t?) are familiar with the breaking waves of grief, rage, peace and anguish that they cycle through during adjustment to death. It is startling to newly graduated veterinarians how often these feelings manifest as rage. Our role is to remain involved, know that the rage is a key aspect of the grief process and simply be available to the pet’s family as they process their incredible loss.

As a veterinarian and as an animal lover, I am exposed to all sides of the inevitable health changes that come to our beloved pets with age. However, with advances in the

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Above: Angel Pairadee, a 1-year-old female golden retriever, cuddles with Dr. Sharon Jensen.

At left Leif (black & white) Susie in basket (larger cat) with Walter the wild child, grey.

understanding of veterinary care, age does not have to be a disease. As with our own health care, pet owners increasingly advocate for proactive health care for their family pets.

In my practice, all members of the family are considered, not only the pets. We see families through despair and loss of both pets and human family members — many a client stops by years after the loss of a husband/wife/child/parent or pet to share a cup of coffee with us, cry, smile or sit quietly.

There is much to learn from those who come through our office doors.

Jensen owns Blue Mountain Animal Clinic in Port Angeles.

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&

NOW Then Glendale Creamery/ Nash’s Farm Store, Dungeness

S

tanding on the corner of Sequim-Dungeness Way and Towne Road in Dungeness is a century-old structure that already possessed a rich and colorful history before becoming home to Nash’s Farm Store in 2011. Located within eyesight of the historical Dungeness Schoolhouse, the Glendale Creamery operated in the early 1900s and is credited as being the first creamery in Dungeness.

Beyond its functioning as a creamery, which included having operated under the banner of the Dungeness Cooperative Creamery, the building later become a new location for the Dungeness Tavern, which operated into the mid-1990s.

Historical photo courtesy of the Museum & Arts Center in the SequimDungeness Valley Current photo by Reneé Mizar, Museum & Arts Center in the SequimDungeness Valley

Hood Canal bridge

T

he Hood Canal bridge has been a crucial transportation link for Jefferson County for decades, but in February 1979 it sank in high winds, severing the umbilical to Kitsap County. For four years, people had to drive around the sound to get from Kitsap to Jefferson County. Some locals actually remember those days fondly and say the lack of access kept at bay the crush of a growing population and preserved small-town values.

When half the bridge was reconstructed several years ago, it again was closed for about six weeks, causing Jefferson and Clallam County residents once again to look only to each other for their needs, and, instead of being hurt by the bridge closure, sales for many local merchants went up. Today, the message of local resilience is again a prominent one, as communities recognize the value of building strong local links in good times as insurance against the bad times. During the last reconstruction, the bulge in the middle that slowed traffic was removed and now motorists have a straight shot across the top of Hood Canal.

Historical photo courtesy of the Port Townsend Leader collection Current photo is by Patrick J. Sullivan, Port Townsend Leader

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

Serving:

Port Angeles • Sequim Port Townsend • Discovery Bay Kingston • Edmonds • Greyhound Amtrak • Downtown Seattle Sea Tac Airport • Seattle Hospitals Olympic Bus Lines is an independent agent of Greyhound. You can now purchase your Greyhound tickets locally at your only nationwide reservation location on the Olympic Peninsula.

• Free WiFi on board • Providing complimentary home-made chocolate chip cookies from the “Oven Spoonful” in Port Angeles.

Port Angeles/Sequim

Late night or early morning flight?

Ask us about special hotel rates!

(360) 417-0700

Outside the area toll free

(800) 457-4492

www.dungenessline.us

Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER | JUNE 2012

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You Pick or We Pick Berries and Lavender

Come enjoy the beautiful sweeping view.

A perfect way to spend a day!

JUNE STRAWBERRIES

Order gourmet preserves www.graysmarsh.com JULY RASPBERRIES LOGANBERRIES BOYSENBERRIES BLUEBERRIES ARTICHOKES

AUGUST BLACKBERRIES CORN

JUNE-SEPTEMBER FRESH L LAVENDER, LA AVENDER, AVENDER, BUDS, OIL & PLANTS

6187 Woodcock Road, Sequim • 360-683-5563

Be Festival in July 44 sure to visit the farm during Lavendar Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER | JUNE 2012