The main Islands, San Juan, Orcas, Lopez, Shaw are supported by Washington State Ferry System. The large boats can carry over 150 cars.
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What you don't see in the map above, are the 100 plus small islands.
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Josh, you can buy one of those and of coarse you'll need a boat.
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Eric

What beautiful country. I was in Seattle for 2 weeks on business back in '98. I was working on the 26th floor of the federal building downtown and what a gorgeous view I had of Mt. Rainier. That year, there was a drought while I was there and the views were stunning. I took a boat trip up to Victoria on the weekend and remember sailing by some of those islands. It will last in my memory forever.

teauteau,

Speaking of drought, looks like this will be one of the driest January on record.

See link below

Eric

Here is a link that might be useful: January Seattle

And we've had an unusually wet January - after a string of drought years. Those El Nin~os used to come every twenty years - now they come every few years. Climate change? :-)

Jack

we are wet and brbrbrbrrr colldddd, 8 degrees F wind chills, and the wind wont die down, a bit unusal for this amount of wind here, our electric co-ops been doing research for wind generation in south IN and its been a flop, I bet that they are generating some wattage now, it feels like Kansas over here, whens spring going to get here.
cold and windy in South Indiana
josh

I took a boat trip up to Victoria on the weekend and remember sailing by some of those islands

Text generator

Good thing you sailed on pass. We have our own form of Home Land Security. he he LOL

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Eric

If all ya got is them muskets, yer in a heap of trouble LOL
josh

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Eric - Where do y'all buy that old smoking powder? I thought that was a thing of the past. They say that if you had a bird's eye view of a civil war battle, you wouldn't see anything but a heavy layer of smoke.

In 1862, 23 young men here organized themselves as the Woodville Sharpshooters and rode east to hook-up with the Confederates. They only had 11 rifles among them, since not everyone owned two - one gun had to be left home for the family. Half were killed in battle and the rest wound-up in a Union prison camp at DeWitt, ARK, where they died from starvation and exposure. Only two of them returned home to Woodville. My grandfather knew them both personally and they shared their first-hand accounts with him. They had bitter feelings - mostly about their unbelievable treatment in the yankee prison camp, which made the Bataan Death March look humane!. My father recorded some of that oral history on an old reel to reel tape recorder in the late forties. The tapes had deteriorated by the time I decided to have them re-recorded. Too late - all lost!

Texas never should have seceded. This wasn't plantation country. Some people had one or two slaves, which were mostly treated as family members, but slavery wasn't of any economic importance here. Nothing changed with emancipation. All the freemen here stayed right where they were. Lots of great oral history in our black community about all that and, surprisingly, never much hard feelings about their treatment by local landowners. Most were freely given large tracts of land after the war as belatd compensation for their years of unpaid work. Their descendants still live on that land - in fact, they own the best land in the county. I have acidic sand and they plant in dark "gumbo" bottom soil! Half (well, many:-) of them have the same last name - Hadnot, a major cotton grower in the 19th century.

Sam Houston, then Governor, fought hard to keep Texas in the Union - and died a heart-broken and destitute man as a result. But he was not disloyal to TX - Lincoln asked him if they could send federal troops to "maintain order", and Gov Houston declined, saying "I totally disagree with Texas's decision to secede, but I will not raise one finger against her."

Jack

Josh, I'm 8 degree now without taking adding into the windchills. Time to stay home and inside. Still planting seeds and up-potting transplants. Have tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and eggplants, up and transplanted. Just seeded zinnias, marigolds, more peppers and more tomatoes on Friday. My house will be looking like a jungle before I can get them out to the canopy. Looking at another canopy, twice the size to have additional space.

8 degrees without the windchill !!! Id seriously think of running away :0)

Eric ,was Washington state involved in the War Between the States?
josh

Where did you go, Eric? thought you might like to talk about the South's struggle to gain independence from a tyrannical central government. LOL

Jack

Josh, I did run away for 8 years, moved to Tampa, FL. Then I inherited my farm and just couldn't stay away as a absentee landlord. Moving from a town of 125 to Tampa was a cultural shock. Staying there for 8 years was a learning experience. We had no family, no friends, no job and no housing when we moved there. We lived in a hotel for a week before we moved into the projects. The hotel was the kind that rented some of the rooms by the hour, if you know what I mean. The projects was worse, we stay there for 4 months until I mentioned to my mother that we finally could sleep thru gunfire. She sent money for us to move out of there.
All the years down there taught us to depend upon ourselves and not extended family and friends. I guess you could say we all grew up during that time.

Here I am.

Jack, "Hadnot" had-not but now they do. :~)

It's a shame about the tapes. Gone forever.

My neighbor, who twisted my arm to join the NPS volunteers, buys FFFF black powder off the Internet. He usually buys 10 or maybe 20 one pound cans at a time.

( This will probably pop up on the Home Security's Radar )
Big brother eye in the sky

Josh,

Captian George Pickett was here before the war. Went home to join C.S.A General Pickett - Pickett's charge.

The Islands had their own little dispute going on, from 1859-1872 Pig War. San Juan Island had Americans on one end and the British on the other. See link below if you want a little history.
Should know more about Washington State history, but I don't.

8 degrees is cold, windchill or not, but I still would not move to Florida. You are way ahead of me on starting veggies. Way to go!

Eric

Here is a link that might be useful: Pig War

Ok , Eric if I pop in for a visit Ill make sure not to shoot any pigs LOL
You guys take your pigs and your property lines very seriously :0)

josh

Hows the weather that is coming in to TX and KS? Our weatherperson is calling for 4+ inches of snow to come in to my area on Friday/Saturday and more for Monday.

It's been a mild winter here so far. Washington. We did have snow in March last year.

Eric

They just changed us from the 4" to 6-8" for Fri/Sat and an additional 1-3" for Mon/Tues. I'm getting sick of snow. Otherwise, I think we have had an 'average' year, just cold enough to kill off bugs and hopefully weeds, without massive below zero days.

Its 25 above F here tonight, the last 2 days the highs have been hovering close to the 40 above F mark, but the wood pile is dwindling, its amazing the amount of wood one can go through during a winter here, it would be frightful if I lived further north. We keep our house, drafty hundred year old place it is, we keep it between 65-68 degrees F to try and conserve fuel, also I learned long ago if you keep your house at extreme temp differences than the outdoors its hard on your body to adjust working outdoors, in summer we keep the house right around 80 or a little above, its easier on the electric bill too.
keep your fires burning
josh

Well I have to say, you guys can keep your cold weather. LOL! It's currently 44f right now and should run close to 50f all week. Good chance of rain on Friday.

We do get snow on occasion. Here are two photo in Dec. 2008

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Eric

Here is a link that might be useful: Friday Harbor, WA.

Well, the snow is here. Weathermen is calling for 10 inches between tonight and Monday night, just those 2 nights. Already over 3" of fresh snow since 10 am.

Josh, I was within 1 hr of you earlier today, Monrovia, at a farm equipment auction. I was wondering if you might have been there. Since I don't know what you look like and the amount of people there, it would have been like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

well he is kind of pin head. Josh, In Just kidding. Don't flame me.

Eric

Watch out Eric, we'll send this snow back west to you. Along with the frigid temps that are coming in behind the snow.

Look Im gone for the day and someone starts picking on me, well Eric I guess Ill just consider the source :0)
Just kidding
No Marla I went to Brown County and bought a new Boer Buck (goat) Man it started to act like a blizzard there, I jetted back south LOL
josh

The further north we got, the worst it got. We left the auction early, too many dealers there, because my son got called into to work. He plows snow in Lafayette. Plus he supposedly had the day off.

Now, they are calling for another 13.2 inches starting Monday overnight and continuing til at least Wednesday. Enough, Enough. I gave my boots away, I should've kept them.

Well our weather man is calling for 3 inches here, what happened to global warming, just joking, refering to its d#$@! cold. Its 26 F windchill is 18 F, and the furnace is running overtime, even though its only set at 66 F.
Im thinking of going to visit Jack, LOL
josh

Our temp this morning is 13. They're talking about a cold blast AFTER this snow. Miami yesterday was cool at 60 something. Yes 60 in Miami, is enough to bring out the jackets and 'winter coats'.

Lets go to Miami :0)
josh

Been close, definitely don't want Miami, too much crime. I rather just go to outside of Tampa. Those big towns down there have too much crime. I lived there for 8 years and I've heard that it's worse now than then. If I could move the climate, even hurricanes, up here with the values that I respect, it would be great.

Sorry if I offended, I'm just a small town country girl that can't handle 'town/city' living. And that covers most areas, not just the south. I just enjoy the southern weather better than the MidWest.

Never been to Florida, biggest city Ive ever lived in was Indy when I went to college.
Josh

Eric:

Now I know someone who lives on an island off the west coast, I met a person who lives on Newfoundland Island on the east coast.

Cool!

Jay

Jay,

That is cool. I have to tell you though, my relatives discovered the New Found Land. The Vikings discovered America long before Columbus did.

Eric

Yeah, but the Natives found it first, hahahaha :0)
And my grandma is a native, Lakota, so my realitives found America before yours nananabooboo
LOL
Josh

Josh, my great-grandmother was Shawnee, Indiana Shawnee. She was given a land grant in southern Indiana. The other side is Irish. Don't get me mad. Can you image?

Yeah I can imagine, I married an Irish girl, shes got me whipped LOL :0)
The Irish, if they love you its forever, even if they kill you they still love you hahaha
josh

Irish, what happens if I call you English?

Eric

Sorry, Eric, calling me English doesn't bother me. I think the only things that show the Irish in me are temper (when needed, I think), reddish hair (once upon a time) and the love of the land.

Actually those traits are Indian also, except the red hair.

I only brought up the English because we have the NPS English Camp on this Island.

The Camp, British Barracks 1859-1872 is known as English Camp today. Many of the soldiers were Irish not English. It's just one of those Politically correct things.

Eric

Historically the English sent the Irish to the military as fodder. The officers were English english, but the troops were Irish.

I need to tell you that after being stuck in the house for 2 days now, I really appreciate your pictures of things NOT SNOWY. My camera is in the vehicle, or I would post some pictures.

Marla ????

I need to make a list of GW members names.

If you like, I can help with posting photos.

Eric

Yes, I have 2 sign-ons. myfamilysfarm and hanselmanfarms. Do you type your name on each post or is there something that automatically prints that?

I type my name everytime. It's only 4 letters. Yours being 5 takes a little more effort. LOL !

E R I C

My memory isn't long enough to remember to type it. Old timer's, I guess.

MARLA, yep I can do it.

Im so glad to be only thirty something :0)
josh

How about 34. 2 years old in 1978

Eric

Caught that did you, of course you would Eric :0)
josh

Time will get you too, Josh.

Yeah I see it sneaking in slowly, I am now noticing as my wife loves to point out, (shes 12 years older than I) Im not 25 anymore. Im a little (ok alot) fatter now, a little slower and my back hurts, most of this was foretold when I got hit by a car while riding a motorcycle when I was 17. I thought as most teens that I was cool and indestructible, WRONG. My body is paying for it. My doctor says the injuries have pretty much aged my body at least 15 years.
josh

Josh, start NOW but working SMARTER not harder. I have checked out some library books on handicap gardening and trying to incorporate some of the practices into my life. Also, remember you don't know how much someone else hurts, nor does someone realize how much you hurt either.