Only on vashon- The Weekly facebook rundown 12/04/20

Here’s what’s been happening over the past week in the Vashonites and Vashonites Rant groups. 

Two pigs were spotted walking down the road toward the airport on Wednesday. After forty people ascertained that it wasn’t a joke, it evolved into a discussion of the deep psychological symbolism of pigs in fairy tales. Such tales, group members informed us, were meant to couch warnings about the dangers present in the Northern European medieval swamps. And I can see why a pig walking down a road in a world built for people and their machines is a potent reminder of what it’s like to be vulnerable in a world of predators and pestilence. 

Some folks recommended shaking a pan of grains to lure the pigs. Where exactly we should lure them to was unclear.

A few members informed us that the pigs were very careful. They used the crosswalk correctly, looking both ways and waiting for traffic to clear before they crossed. Perhaps someone could lure them to the corner of the movie theater? 

And speaking of loose animals, there were goats spotted at the high school. 

This led to a discussion about The Goat Lady. It turns out that The Got Lady is a name given to several different women, for a variety of reasons, only some of which involve suspected witchcraft. 

The wallaby hasn’t escaped in a while, and neither has my dog, who is routinely described by group members as having eyes like half moons and a face made of gentle snow. But an astute group member shared a picture of a llama tethered to a sheriff’s car. By the hurt look on his fluffy face, it’s clear he was framed.

In other animal news, an off-islander with extra deer tags asked permission to hunt on people’s private land, a request that caused no bother or backlash whatsoever. Ok, it devolved into people posting pictures of deer skulls and vertebrae hanging from coat racks. There was also a long discussion of whether or not promoting vegetarianism 100 comments deep into a thread on hunting was appropriate or not. This seems to miss the mark. It’s not inappropriate so much as ineffective. When I was young and idealistic, I would take “meat is murder” stickers and pop them on pork chops at the grocery store. And then there was the “eating animals” sticker I put on stop signs. But now the stop signs in town just say STOP STAY HOME. 

An old and unsettled argument has resurfaced in the group. How fast should one drive on Vashon Highway? Is the posted speed limit a maximum or a minimum? The signs are not clear on that matter, so it’s left up to each individual driver to make their own interpretation.

Lastly, there was quite a treat in the group last week. A group of divers showed us the underwater cliff just off the south end. It’s called Dalco Wall, and it’s a submerged forty-foot sandstone cliff. The video shows the local wildlife that lives on and around the cliff. I recommend taking a look at the video. 

We’ll see you next week!

Author: Anna Shomsky

I'm a former teacher and a data engineer living on Vashon Island. My writing has appeared in Five on the Fifth, Women on Writing and on the Post-Culture Podcast. I wrote and produced the radio show Whispers of Vashon for 101.9 KVSH. I’ve had short stories published in the anthologies Island Stories and Chicken Scratchings, as well as through the Open Space Literary Project.