It's another hot day on the Lake, so why not join me? Get in your kayak, canoe or sail along with me as we visit houseboaters around the lake. Our route will start at Northlake. Then we'll go up the west side of Lake Union, back down the eastern shores and finally go a short distance into Portage Bay.
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Charlie Jones enjoys his afternoon swim. |
Karen Eckhart sends greetings from Lee's Moorings. "We welcomed new neighbor, Ron Henry, to our dock. While the Hubberts vacationed in Hawaii, their rooftop served as a birthing room to a mama goose who laid 4 eggs. Bob & Sylvia are now uncle and aunt to three young geese! Bob Bowman (our resident nature boy) not only discovered the goose nest at Hubberts but also introduced Steve and me to wood ducks! We have a mama, papa and baby wood duck family that hangs out with us in Fremont. They are absolutely beautiful, a bit shy and most polite. Last but not least, we all survived the yearly Fremont Solstice Parade and had no meandering nudes on our dock."
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Libby and Delilah beat the heat. |
Marty Greer reports the Westlake residents of docks at 2460 & 2466 spent as much time as possible in the water during our heat wave. To prove this she sent on some great photos. Resident of 2460, Charlie Jones, son of Stacy & Tony, celebrated his 1st birthday with a "pool party" on July 25th. He's become a regular among the afternoon group of swimmers in our channel. Tia Monahan, of 2466, spent this summer swimming in the Seattle Summer Swim League for the Pop Mounger Penguins at the Parks & Recreation pool in Magnolia. On the final meet of the season, Tia took the gold in the "100 free", silver in the "50 fly" (missing gold by only 1/10 of a second!), and 2 bronze medals in the relays. She's looking forward to swimming for Seattle Prep in her first year of high school this year. Go Tia! Beating the heat, and keeping up with the latest water sport, is Libby Kutcipal, also at 2466 and her dog Delilah. Neighbor Barrie Taraday took a break from her Danskin triathlon training to test out Libby's board. By the time we go to press, Barrie will have celebrated her 65th birthday by competing, for the 7th time, in the triathlon on August 16th. Barrie says that this year her goal is more "completing" rather than "competing"! Babysitting her four toddler grandkids several days a week also keeps her in tip top shape! Neskia Chuck Co-op & 2466 welcome Betsy & Dave Chappelle and family to the dock. The Chapelles bought John & Candace Battle's houseboat. Anxious to try out their new home, they moved in June 3rd, just hours after John & Candace left, bringing only a mattress! A short time later the power went out on the dock, so they experienced the real reason we live in this community: neighbors bringing candles, flashlights, wine, and assurances that power would be restored "by and by". A day later the sewer plugged up - on a weekend, of course. Welcome to houseboat life! Dave & Betsy, along with their dog, Solo, moved from their life-long residence on Mercer Island where they raised their 5 children. Betsy is an occupational therapist at Children's Hospital, and Dave is an "out-of-work contractor" (his description). They arrived with the most beautiful 1946 20-foot custom Chris Craft with a mirror finish, and have since acquired all the requisite water toys. A custom fit family for this dock!
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Chance, son of Mark Koenig & Erin Roche, celebrates his first birthday with ice cream in Vermont. |
2420 Westlake Cooperative welcomed an assortment of new folks in recent months says dock reporter, Ann Bassetti. They are: Erin Jacobs & Andy Krause (barely moved in, great flowers already!) and Amy MacLearn & Daniel Wigdor (Amy takes full advantage of fun activities; Daniel is rarely seen --alternate residence at Microsoft perhaps?). Renter Maureen Pirog finally succumbed and bought a houseboat. She will be splitting her time between here and Indiana, as she is a professor at two universities. We're glad Dan Kranzler got a reprieve, to stay another 6 months in what is now Maureen's new house. He is regularly seen relishing rowing and swimming. (Would've been too bad to move out at the beginning of summer!) At the last moment, owners Jessica & Kevin Vanderzanden discovered an issue with the structural plans for their new house to be built. What the heck, they said, and moved into their cute old funky little house for the duration. It's great to see them some place other than meetings. Finally, everyone out did themselves with flowers this season and Mike Erickson's tomatoes are amazing! Erin Roche & Mark Koenig, owners of a houseboat on 2420, are living in Burlington Vermont with son, Chance who celebrated his first birthday on July 4th.
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Beau-Bob |
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Sunken Boat |
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Diver Chuck Murry aboard floated boat. |
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Agua Verde and kayaks on a summer afternoon. |
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Portage Bay Beaver Lodge. |
Log Foundation Jann McFarland is sad to report she and Sid lost Beau -Bob, their much loved seven-year-old Pixie Bob kitty to Cryptococcus, a type of fungus. The symptoms are a runny nose and later a loss of appetite. It can be cured if caught early enough. It was very hard to diagnose. Apparently it is an airborne disease but is also found in the soil, and in pigeon droppings. "This was a kitty that never left our dock, we have no pigeons, and our soil comes in bags from a nursery." There was more bad news for Jann and Sid when their 1934 Chris Craft runabout sank in a thunderstorm. But diver, Chuck Murray raised it from the deep using flotation barrels. Jann, eager to use her Electric Boat Co. season pass, spent a good part of the hot days touring the lake with her new camera. She found lots of activity at the kayak rental and Agua Verde restaurant in Portage Bay one afternoon. And, she investigated the large beaver lodge under the freeway in Portage Bay. She noticed the vehicles on the freeway were oblivious to the huge beaver lodge beneath their wheels. Some kayakers said as many as a dozen or more beavers live here. A local newspaper report said a person was seen vandalizing the beaver lodge with a hacksaw. Jann also reports: "An amazing coincidence occurred recently when Tricia Rendina, Flo Villa on FVE, came by to pick up a key to the FHA office in her new capacity as head of the Houseboatique. Sid's mom, Irene was visiting and when I introduced her to Tricia and said she was from Lummi Island, Tricia said her family was also from there. It turns out Tricia's mom, Laura and Irene were childhood friends growing up on the island about 85 years ago and hadn't seen each other in years - they are both in their nineties now. Their two families were the first settlers on the Island. In late August, Tricia hosted a luncheon reunion on her houseboat for the two friends where they talked non-stop for five hours and vowed to get together on the Island in October." Jann says she and Tricia now feel like they are "cousins".
Members of The Lake Union, 2031 Fairview Ave. E. are thrilled to hear that Shelley Hightower and her daughter Eva are returning to their houseboat after six years of living on shore. "We're looking forward to getting our water legs back and connecting with old friends in the neighborhood." Our reporter, Tiff McNamara says, "We will have three children growing up on our dock!" Michael Alba & Katie Dickinson are proud new owners on the dock. Welcome to renters Andrea & Dave Reith as well as Sara Congalton & Ryan Kadletz. All of our new residents definitely enjoy the houseboat lifestyle; lots of kayaking, boating, swimming, fishing and sitting on the roof enjoying the sunset.
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Giff with friends on road trip |
Mallard Cove Giff Jones writes: "Elwood", one of the Jim & Angie Caputo houseboat cats, and not coincidentally, the name of Jim's Melges 24 competition sailboat, took 6th place in San Francisco's US National Championships in June. Jim, who works for Google, searched easily for renovation info about adding a new deck and (news flash) nursery! Angie left before the walls fell, surfacing in Egypt for a two and a half week girlfriends' tour of the Middle East. Two Caputo's: one passport. Baby's due end of October. Ex houseboaters, Barry Burgess and Dean Sampson plus Tenas Chucker Jim Donnette joined Giff Jones and four others for an end-of-July, 5 day "no Harley's" BMW motorcycle ride and camp-out in a BC mountain wilderness. Meantime, Mary Jones worked while Giff played. She, along with Eastlake P-Patch co-coordinator Barb Donnette , Tenas Chuck, and Eastlake landscape designer Lisa Hummel, spent several months honing the garden expansion project. (See separate article on page 6.) Across the dock, DDS Bob Berman expressed excitement about moving his new dental office to South Lake Union. Next door to Bob, the Mallard Cove welcome mat is out for couturier Mel Matsui who just purchased (late) Susan Dearborn's houseboat. Mel was recently in the field of men's designer jeans. Speaking of fashion, we've never seen so many tuxedos on the dock: Paul Ellingson was selected this spring, for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Award for the Northwest. Bruce Lippke, UW Professor of Forest Economics, was honored by the Washington Policy Center on July 23, with its 2009 Environmental Innovator Award for his "... consistently thoughtful, scientific and innovative work on forest sustainability." Neighbor Doug Hanel has been listed once again by Seattle Magazine (6/15/09) as one of Seattle's best docs. Dr Doug has made the cut each of the past 3 years. Speaking of Ellingsons, Paul and Linda's niece, Amy Ellingson, is moving into her first home in the Dox Co-op. Tim & Melissa Ahlers' houseboat was featured this spring on HGTV's "Hidden Potential" reality show. An exterior update has been rumored so there's apparently still some potential left.
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Tui Tui stamp sheet proof |
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Frustrated racoon mom. |
Tui Tui. Robby Rudine was one of 8 stamp artists invited to participate in a festival in Minden Germany to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Minden. (In 1759 the Hanoverian King George II of England and his German troops defeated the French and Saxons near the Weser River as one act of the Seven Years' War. The British Military still celebrates this victory.) July and August's Festival focused instead on peace in Europe and is called La Vie en Rose: Forever Friends in Europe. Dogfish, Robby's nom de timbre, issued three new Tui Tui stamps at the main post office in Minden on August 2, 2009. See image of the Souvenir Sheets Tui Tui issued at the Festival.
Joellen Winter, Salix Moorage on Portage Bay, says husband Stephen has just published Gyre Straits - a wacky and irreverent look at environmental politics. It's a fun read that also provides some fairly serious review of development and pollution issues facing so many communities these days.
Houseboat Harbor Katie Miller, new FHA Board member says she snapped a few pictures of a mom and 3 baby raccoons that crossed her float and proceeded onto the top of Don Brownlee's boat. "Poor Mom was having quite a time trying to get the 3 young ones to stay together and to go where she wanted!"
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Joyce puts on the finishing touches. |
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Turn right at the cow! |
Willow Cove, Portage Bay Joyce Black reports a special project. "Twenty some years ago I moved aboard my little houseboat. Each day, on my way to work and back, I passed a darn concrete pole....there is nothing like living on the water, but passing that ugly pole interrupted my serenity for all those years. I began saving broken Mexican pottery in anticipation of one day doing something marvellous with the old pole. At long last my neighbor, Martha Keck suggested it was time... I have a friend, Colleen who does mosaics, so in early summer, she showed up with lots of material, including a ceramic Bessie the cow. Colleen, Martha and I began to transform the old pole into a neighborhood landmark. Another neighbor, Pam Campbell, 3146 PBPE , donated a trunk full of broken shards and other treasures. My husband Dave was not as grateful as I was, since he had to muscle the big trunk up the stairs from Pam's dock and roll it down Portage Bay Place to where the pole resides. It has been a great project and a chance to meet so many neighbors. The pole incorporates contributions from other neighbours.... including the new copper top. Stop by and take a look. Instead of giving directions to turn right past that old pole, now we tell people to turn right at the COW."
That wraps up our summer trip around the lake. Don't forget to check out the special photo album about her trip to Thailand, Burma and Bali from Joyce Black.
The Waterlog is getting bigger and better every issue. Thanks go to dock contacts for the terrific stories and so many photos to accompany dock news.
Please submit your dock news to Marilyn at isobel.rob44@gmail.com I look forward to receiving stories and photos from you.
Back to the Summer 2009 Newsletter.