Some winters around here are relatively mild - a bit cold, short dark days and such, but overall, living close to a deep salt-water body, we don't experience heavy snowfall. Other winters the snow comes all the way down to the shoreline. February 2017 was one of those winters. The snow only stuck around at sea level for a few days, maybe a week, though the mountains were white for much longer. Meantime, we had a chance to ski along the Olympic Discovery Trail, right next to our property.

We do have our wildlife! This is the second year in a row that we've lost chickens to predators. In early spring I let the hens out to scratch in the garden, only to find one murdered and partly eaten. John spotted the culprit, a great-horned owl, sitting happily in a nearby tree, just waiting for the chance to finish his meal. Surprise! Owls kill and eat chickens, even in the middle of the day. So, back into their wire-topped pen went the chickens. Less than a month later, right at the beginning of April (one year to the day since we lost two hens, we found two more hens with their throats slit, dragged out of their pen into the garden. A predator had tunneled under the henhouse wall over night. So, we reinforced the henhouse, laying concrete blocks all around the perimeter. Then we set up the wildlife camera. Next night, the camera captured a fisher returning to see whether he could get in again. He couldn't, but the damage was already done: two dead hens along with the rooster.

There was one more interesting wildlife interaction this year. In addition to the usual complement of raptors (several species of hawks, eagles and peregrines), song birds, swallows, quail, ducks and geese, this year we had a fly-by of four migrating sand hill cranes. They stopped off in our field for a rest and a picnic lunch before going on their way. We didn't know what they were, so we called the Audobon center, where a fortuitously-visiting birder came by to identify them for us.

Last year I reported that a tree near our house shed a large branch. This year, we eyed that tree, along with a few other dead ones that were too near the house across the meadow. These trees were beyond our capabilities. We hired a tree service to cut them down. Some of the wood we donated to Kiwanis (who provides firewood to low-income residents). Some we kept ourselves, splitting it and sharing it with friends.

To make up for the loss of those trees we nurtured a couple hundred saplings through the summer, watering them in the garden. Just now, in December, we've planted them. Here's what the saplings (and the nurturer) look like during the summer(mud and all):

As you can imagine, the activities of our daily lives keep us pretty busy. We rarely travel. However, this past summer was a special exception. Grandson Justin graduated from high school; our son John hosted a gathering of the clan in Temecula to celebrate, and, having removed a layer or two of mud, we attended.

Having first said that we rarely travel, 2017 found us going across country yet again. This time, in October, we flew to D.C. to attend the 50th reunion of John's Vietnam-era comrades. There was a ceremony at The Wall and a sober gathering of the surviving infantry medics, of whom John was one. After that event we spent a couple extra days in the city. To be honest, we country folk weren't sure we could navigate the city by ourselves, so Mischa came with us. Together we spent two afternoons at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. We toured Mt. Vernon. We walked the city, experiencing the parks and monuments. Altogether the trip deepened our appreciation for our nation's complicated, fractured history.