Long time floating homes resident Tom Dugan passed away March 15—two days before St. Patrick’s Day. Tom and his wife Blaise moved to Gate 6 ½ from A Dock in 1997. He loved the view from their south-facing deck, except for a line of unsightly debris along the shore which...
At 6:45 a.m., on January 29, Jane and I were awakened by the spooky sound of loud voices outside our bedroom window. I glanced out to see a brightly-lit workboat from Parker Diving Services preparing to haul out the home next to ours. An early high tide necessitated the inconvenient...
Gate 6 ½ resident Helen Vandeman has produced a new documentary about five salty senior women in the Bay Area and Washington state who were pioneering mariners. Helen will host a showing at the film at the Sausalito Library on Friday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m. The women profiled include...
Recycling paper, plastics, glass and metal is more or less straightforward. But what about the next level of recycling: batteries, light bulbs, left-over paint and solvent, and appliances? These ordinary household items are classified as hazardous waste, by virtue of the chemicals or metals or materials they contain. Keeping these...
Michael Petersen, who lived and worked in the floating homes community for nearly half a century, succumbed to leukemia last week. After chemotherapy treatments, he had a brief remission, and was seen working on the docks, walking with the aid of hiking poles. As Issaquah resident Mickey Allison recalled recently,...
Shopping carts left in parking lots can be vulnerable to vandalism or theft. In March, someone upended one of the newer FHA carts into the marsh off the Gate 6 1/2 parking lot. This month, I spotted a blue FHA cart on the corner of Harbor Drive and Gate 3...
Holiday celebrations take many forms on the waterfront. Blaze Nash transported carolers around the Waldo Point Lagoon on her little red tugboat Otto. Gate 6 1/2 and Issaquah staged progressive potlucks with entrees provided by the Floating Homes Association; Issaquah partiers were encouraged to wear Christmas sweaters: ugly, festive, fun,...
On the day after Thanksgiving, two vehicles belonging to visitors to Gate 6 1/2 were broken into and burglarized in broad daylight. The smash-and-grabs were reported to the sheriff’s office, and two deputies responded to take a report. These are the latest incidents of vandalism or burglary in our parking lots....
On a perfect Saturday, 18 people from Issaquah, East Pier, Yellow Ferry, Gate 6 ½ and Richardson Bay Marina cleaned up our waterfront shoreline. We filled more than 18 bags of recycling and trash! The volunteers gathered for muffins and an orientation on how to complete the data cards. Noting...
A Labor Day weekend to remember—or forget—depending upon how one managed to survive the heatwave. Joy Dryden (West Pier) describes the intense heat—105 degrees in the shade—on the afternoon of Friday, September 1: I decided at the most heat (105°) to seek refuge at my air conditioned office. As I...