There was an earthquake! It had a 3.4 magnitude and an epicenter on the Kitsap Peninsula. Whether or not we felt the earthquake was a topic of much discussion, including where we were when we felt it. Someone who’s more ambitious than me could draw up a heat map of the best places on island to feel an earthquake. I’m mid-island, and I didn’t feel it, but then I’d just assume any shaking was my husky gazelle-jumping around the house or trying to dig a hole in the floor.
The perennial debate has resurfaced- should dogs be leashed? When I was a kid in Connecticut, everyone let their dogs roam. It was technically illegal, so there was a dog catcher whose job was to snatch dogs off the street, bring them to a kennel in town, and charge people to get their dogs back. This resulted in an arms race between dogs and dog catchers, with dogs getting smarter and dog catchers getting meaner.
Vashon doesn’t have an official dog-catcher, but there are plenty of vigilante citizen-dog-catchers, who will bring your escaped dog to the vet, where they will fail to find the chip they put in your dog themselves, and you’ll find out on Facebook that he’s there. Luckily it’s free to retrieve him, so it’s all a fun adventure.
This debate has raged so often, that we’ve devoted a whole post to breaking down the rules for the various public areas on Vashon.
Lately we’ve all been getting each other’s mail. We could come up with some sort of redistribution system, or just pay whoever’s bills come to us and keep whatever packages arrive. Here’s what happens to packages that arrive at my house, so no one order chocolate ever, please.
Christmas is fast approaching, and there are only a few crafts and goodies available to buy from the groups. All the dog sweaters and pajamas have sold out. However, you can still get a car so long as you’re willing to trade it for a van.
There are also still some Christmas cards featuring Jesus the Shepherd Christ vs Santa the Red Menace Claus. Christ is portrayed by the guy who worked in the card shop draped in a curtain. Santa’s p;ayed by the neighbor. I really want one, so someone please buy one and send it to a friend, and with any luck it’ll be misdelivered to my house.
Since the end of the year is coming up, we’re voting for the best thread of the year, and by best we mean any superlative, really. It could be the funniest, nuttiest, most enraging, most memorable. The top vote-getters so far are the thread in Visual Delights Vashon about whether pictures of spiders are appropriate or not and the one about changing the high school Pirates mascot. I voted for that one because it taught me so much about the history of piracy, the prominence of female pirates, and the Robin Hood ethics of the high seas.
Start popping popcorn, because group members have promised to post videos of people dumping garbage in the dumpster behind the vet’s office.
In heartwarming news, Masksforvashon.org have delivered over 10,000 masks since March and are making more. They’re available at Varsa 10-1 on weekdays. They’ve perfected the art and are making three-layer masks that are recommended by the WHO.
And with winter comes potential storms. I learned from the comments that during the inauguration of Bill Clinton, a storm washed away part of the water taxi dock. I wonder what will happen this January.
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.
