To start, here’s the posting on the County website with the latest news for H1N1 – be sure & read it!

Then, I found & wanted to post the listing below to help you & me tell if we had the flu…here’s the scoop:

From American Red Cross: The Difference between Cold and Swine Flu Symptoms

Fever
Cold: Fever is rare with a cold.
Swine Flu: Fever is usually present with the flu in up to 80% of all flu cases. A temperature of 100°F or higher for 3 to 4 days is associated with the flu.

Coughing
Cold: A hacking, productive (mucus- producing) cough is often present with a cold.
Swine Flu: A non-productive (non-mucus producing) cough is usually present with the flu (sometimes referred to as dry cough).

Aches
Cold: Slight body aches and pains can be part of a cold.
Swine Flu: Severe aches and pains are common with the flu.

Stuffy Nose
Cold: Stuffy nose is commonly present with a cold and typically resolves spontaneously within a week.
Swine Flu: Stuffy nose is not commonly present with the flu.

Chills
Cold: Chills are uncommon with a cold.
Swine Flu: 60% of people who have the flu experience chills.

Tiredness
Cold: Tiredness is fairly mild with a cold.
Swine Flu: Tiredness is moderate to severe with the flu.

Sneezing
Cold: Sneezing is commonly present with a cold.
Swine Flu: Sneezing is not common with the flu.

Sudden Symptoms
Cold: Cold symptoms tend to develop over a few days.
Swine Flu: The flu has a rapid onset within 3-6 hours. The flu hits hard and includes sudden symptoms like high fever, aches and pains.

Headache
Cold: A headache is fairly uncommon with a cold.
Swine Flu: A headache is very common with the flu, present in 80% of flu cases.

Sore Throat
Cold: Sore throat is commonly present with a cold.
Swine Flu: Sore throat is not commonly present with the flu.

Chest Discomfort
Cold: Chest discomfort is mild to moderate with a cold.
Swine Flu: Chest discomfort is often severe with the flu.

Singing with the guy who wrote it....

When you hear somebody say, “I’m just worn out today,” or “I’m so tired,” are you like me? Immediately the poem forms in my head:

Though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand
Vanished from my hand
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.

That’s closer to it…here’s McGuinn, Hillman, & Crosby with Bob himself:

Singing with the guy who wrote it....

When you hear somebody say, “I’m just worn out today,” or “I’m so tired,” are you like me? Immediately the poem forms in my head:

Though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand
Vanished from my hand
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.

That’s closer to it…here’s McGuinn, Hillman, & Crosby with Bob himself:

That's the eighth graders hiking Mount Baker in September....

I was looking over the San Juan Public Schools Foundation website & they just updated it with a long list of cool stuff the kids have done in the past year or so. You owe it to yourself to check it out – the site’s list is located here.

(And there’s a “Donate now” button on the page if you want to help the schools out…this is a great time to give!)

Townsend's Big Eared Bat...they're here, hiding in barns....

Rare? We thought it was maybe extinct, since it hadn’t been seen since the 1940s on the island. But Russell Barsh and Boyd Pratt found one, as KING5 reports, with video.

I asked Lisa Anderson how the PAT went on Monday, and she said it was a good one, especially in the present economic climate:

The San Juan Public Schools Foundation held their annual Phon-A-Thon Monday evening and the community “answered the call” to the generous $50,000 matching challenge from KINGS MARKET and FRIDAY HARBOR MARKETPLACE (Valmark Corporation).  “We are on track to meet that goal but need everyone who pledged Monday night to send in their contributions to be eligible for the full $50,000 contribution.  This will give the schools the $100,000 that is so badly needed for textbooks and equipment,” said incoming Foundation president Lisa Anderson.

The Phon-A-Thon is one of several projects that the Foundation puts on every year where 100% of the proceeds are donated to the classrooms of the public elementary, middle and high schools. Continue Reading

Piles of 'em...

There were still a bunch left out front of the Market Place this morning, as you can see…get yours soon!

In the past, we’ve had more kids signed up than volunteers…time to turn THAT around! Here’s the scoop from Melina:

The San Juan Island Library is seeking adult volunteers to help in its Reading Buddies program. An orientation session for new and returning volunteers is scheduled for Thursday, November 5th from 5:00 to 6:00 pm to give prospective volunteers information about the program. Parents of elementary school-aged children wishing to learn more about the program are also welcome.

The Reading Buddies program matches adult volunteers one-on-one with elementary school -aged students to give students a reading opportunity and to encourage their love of reading. Student reading buddies may learn reading skills and gain more reading confidence. Reading Buddies meet at Friday Harbor Elementary School or at the public Library for about 30 minutes each week. Continue Reading

Last week’s session had a good turnout, even with the the rain. Here’s more from San Juan Healthcare’s Susan, for Thursday’s free class at 5:30pm at Village at the Harbor (these classes are a community service):

Hope you can come to the Healthy Heart community meeting to be held Thursday evening. We had a wonderful response to last week’s meeting – people turned out in spite of the rain – only in the Northwest!  Joyce Thomson from Islander’s Physical Therapy will lead this week’s session.  She promises to teach us how exercise can be safe and fun in addition to supporting a healthy heart and healthy lifestyle.

The Class of 2008's theme: Recycling, with gusto!

It’s this week at Friday Harbor High – dressup days all week, with the parade, pep rally & game on Friday, against Meridian…the parade’s early this year (4:15pm) because there’s a jv football game at 5pm, with the varsity playing under the lights at 7:30pm. See you there!

Here are photos from last year’s parade (it was fun!) as well as the 2007 parade.

Gotta admit – I liked going to the League of Women Voters‘s forum last week to hear the folks running for things, and the discussion of the local ballot questions. It was civil & respectful, and it looks like we’ve come a long way since the Election of 1800 (probably helps that we don’t have tv “news” here). Here’s a bit from the Miller Institute about 1800, when Adams & Jefferson were going at it:

It is not surprising that the 1800 election reached a level of personal animosity seldom equaled in American politics. The Federalists attacked the fifty-seven-year-old Jefferson as a godless Jacobin who would unleash the forces of bloody terror upon the land. With Jefferson as President, so warned one newspaper, “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood, and the nation black with crimes.” Others attacked Continue Reading

The ferry heading to Friday Harbor, late Saturday after the grey lifted...photo by Josie Byington

You saw all the rain on Saturday….grey & wet & muddy & really wet. Later in the afternoon, Josie & I were heading to the mainland on the ferry when the clouds broke…she caught the picture above, right as we swung past Blakely, as she ran to the stern of the ferry & got the other ferry as it was going away from the rainbow, out of the lifting mist.

In the other picture, one of the coaches from a visiting ball team was capturing the low clouds…

The islands, disguised as Scotland....

Jerad ties up the Chelan, this morning....

I had heard that Jared from the ferry had gone skydiving but I couldn’t catch up to him, so I swang by Wells Fargo to ask his partner Leila what was the deal…she said she had gone, too!

Jumped from 14,000 feet, with both of them together…she said it was great & she’d do it again, anytime.

(By the way, what IS the past tense verb for “swing”?)

The show opens the 29th....

You know, I’m always telling you about cool stuff to do (things, of course, that I think you are gonna love), and I think this is one of ’em…

Last summer, Helen from Island Stage Left was telling me how excited she is about Rabbit Hole, which opens the Thursday before Halloween at Roche Harbor. I asked her for a bit of info about it, and here’s what she sent:

Rabbit Hole: A quietly moving play by David Lindsay Abaire, that’s also witty and warm, the story explores the reconnection of relationships and the possibilities of hope after great tragedy.

Without sentimentality or mawkishness, Lindsay-Abaire weaves a simple and honest tale of loss filled with brilliant dialogue, all-too-familiar characters, unexpected laughter and finally a sense of hope for Becca and Howie’s uncertain future.

With honesty and humor, Rabbit Hole is a rich journey that searches hope, comfort, and forgiveness in the darkest moments of our lives.

The cast is Krista Strutz, Daniel Mayes, Carolyn Marie Monroe, Ann Cozzalio and Will Tranfo.

This material is not suitable for children under 12.

Performances Oct 29 – Nov 29 at the Roche Harbor Pavilion. No performance on Thanksgiving.
Thursday – Saturdays @ 7:30 and Sundays at 4:00

Leigh Freeman

Ever since longtime islander Leigh Freeman married Julian Thorsteinson a few years ago, he & she have been living in Vancouver where he’s still selling real estate, like he did here for ages… his website there tells all about it.

It was cool that he was in the islands last week, which included the chance to go to Orcas & see his daughter Alex score two goals in FHHS’s 3-2 victory Thursday (we’ll have to make sure he goes to all the playoff games!)

I ran into him on Saturday’s ferry & he says things are going well for the kids & for business.

Emma (left) and Elle congratulate each other after the muddy game....

The Wolverines scored early & late & made that stand up for a 2-1 victory over Nooksack Valley Saturday afternoon. The game began in a torrential downpour that lightened up to a Northwest mist in the second half, but FHHS adjusted to the sloppy field conditions by the time things got rolling. Forward Emma Ytander notched the first score, rebounding her own shot off the keeper to put it away at 17 minutes.

The Pioneers slipped a low corner kick in to make it 1-1, but the Wolverines answered at sixteen minutes of the second half with Elle Guard finishing a rebound off the keeper’s hands off another shot by Emma.

The girls are now 10-3 heading into an interesting week and a half which features home matches with Mount Vernon Christian (Tuesday), periennial state power Seattle Christian (Thursday), and the season-ender with La Conner (Tuesday the 27th), who beat us earlier this month.