As promised in the Christmas letter, here is an update on our trees. In 2010 we posted pictures of seedlings that we planted after an alder harvest. Here's what five years does to seedlings where we live.

In a 2006 posting, I showed a couple of pictures of a local rodent, a mountain beaver, commenting that they munch on tree seedlings.

The fisher, a major predator of mountain beavers, is a house-cat-sized member of the weasel family; it was hunted(for fur) to extinction on the Olympic Peninsula early in the 20th century, and only recently has been reintroduced to Olympic National Park. The absence of fishers has allowed mountain beavers to proliferate, so that their browse on young saplings has become a problem for reforestation efforts. Here's what one mountain beaver did to a Sitka spruce sapling that we planted in 2010. It was completely stripped in March of this year.

When we planted our seedlings, we did not pre-treat with any sort of herbicide, so we have a luxurious crop of salmon berry, wild raspberry, gooseberry, thistle, young alder, all sorts of things. So once in awhile we go into an area and sort of cut back the vegetation to give the young conifer saplings a head start. See John at work with a machete around some Doug fir:

One of the goals of conservation of our property is the cultivation of a mature forest as well as healthy wildlife habitat. So, when in 2011 we found a single western toad which is considered near-threatened in our area, we were delighted. Well, this year we experienced a veritable explosion of baby western toads. They no longer appear to be threatened, at least on our property. Another reptile we see in the spring is the rough-skinned newt:

Our other big project this year was the upgrade to the home that we converted to a vacation rental. We named it "The Aerie" after the eagles nest hidden in a tree top near the house. Naming it was easy. Preparing it for guests took more work. We stripped out all the carpet, replacing it with bamboo flooring. Upstairs we toe-nailed bamboo to the subfloor, but the bottom floor concrete slab required a more elaborate installation: first a vapor barrier, then 1/4" cork sheets, laid for sound proofing and insulation. Finally we used a click-together floating bamboo floor on top of the cork.

Now on to the fun stuff. Skiing in January. Biking around Victoria in March. Hiking west of Ucluelet (British Columbia) on the same vacation.

At the beginning of summer we loaded up Bo's and Leah's household goods that were stored in our barn and returned them to their new home in Del Rey Oaks. The view of the collected "household goods" inside the moving truck shows a preponderance of water-sports equipment. I wonder why!

Back in Port Angeles, we entertained the grandsons and son John for a week. We hiked the newly-dam-free Elwha River; first, we went along the bank of the former Lake Mills - that which formed behind the old Elwha Dam. Then we hiked around the river mouth, where sand bars are forming rapidly as sediment formerly trapped behind the dams is washed into the Strait.

We made ice cream; we had fireworks.

Rashaad stopped over for a quick visit and a hike - flying between Chicago and the Bay Area with a quick stop in Seattle. Pictures of the proud grandma at right. Mischa didn't end up in any of our pictures this year, but she and I spend hours together on the phone each week. Click on her name in this sentence to learn about her present activities.

And finally, the pictures of John's new (for us) fishing boat. A 2007 Hewescraft. Twenty-two feet long, aluminum hull. 150 hp Yamaha outboard and 8 hp kicker. John is well pleased with the purchase. We expect that next year's fishing season will see us more frequently on the water.

Last of all, here is an especially lovely scene with which to close the year 2014.