Langley Small Boat Harbor in April 2008. Photo by Sue Frause.

Langley's landscape is changing and locals have a voice in how it's going to look down the road.

If you're curious about the future of Langley's waterfront, The Friends of South Whidbey Boat Harbor is holding a community meeting on Monday, September 8 at 7 PM at Langley City Hall. The meeting will focus on the benefits of expanding Langley's Small Boat Harbor. Currently, the marina has 41 slips, most of which accommodate boats up to 35 feet. Slips are available on a first-come, first-served basis and unlike many marinas, there are no reservations. There is no fuel available, either.

The issue of expanding the small boat harbor will go to the voters of South Whidbey during the General Election on Nov. 4. A property tax increase of 9 cents per $1,000/assessed property value is being asked to pay for the first phase of the project.

Another issue affecting Langley is the closing of the Langley Clinic at the end of October. The closure leaves the community without a primary care facility, which has provided primary medical care services to the people of South Whidbey for more than 40 years. But with Dr. Whittemore closing his practice, and no replacement practitioner in place, 3,600 patients will need to go elsewhere.

For background information, read Maintaining Primary Care Services in Langley, prepared by Dr. Doug Allderdice. He co-owns the Langley Clinic building on Second Street with Dr. Steve Shapiro.

Letters of support to keep the clinic open may be sent to Dr. Roger Case, c/o Whidbey General Hospital Board. The hospital board meeting is Monday, Sept 8. Steve Shapiro will hand deliver the letters to the board. Either email your letter to shapiro@whidbey.com or fax it to 360.331.5848.

Friday morning was foggy in this Missouri city. Sue Frause photo.

Mary Jane Aurdal of Clinton.

Mary Jane Aurdal of Clinton is in St. Paul, Minnesota for the Republican National Convention. She's one of the state's 77 delegates and one of only eight from Island and Snohomish counties.

To read about Mary Jane and the other delegates, click on this Herald story by Jerry Cornfield.

Good park job, dude! Better you than me. Brad Robertson photo.

My field correspondent in Clinton, longtime islander Brad Robertson, had an unusual visitor to Robertson's Whidbey Landing parking lot at the Clinton ferry. A big 'ol semi took up three parking spaces recently, and did a dandy job of parallel parking.

Brad said the truck was from R&R Transport out of Wyoming with a load of window walls. The driver left the trailer on the mainland and drove the cab on the ferry to go crabbing at the Clinton Park pier. He put $3 in for each of the three spaces, right next to a little red truck in space #4.

Here's a story Brad shared about his long haul trucking days:

In the early seventies I was a long haul truck driver for Reinell Boats out of Marysville for nine months. I delivered boats with a COE Freightliner as far north as Prince George, BC, as far south as Coos Bay, Oregon, and as far east as Salt Lake City, Utah.

I wasn't a hippie in the truest sense of the word, but my hair did cover my ears. On a trip to Coos Bay, I stopped for breakfast at Jubitz. The parking lot had dozens of big rigs and had room for dozens more. I sat down at a small table, and ordered pancakes and eggs with coffee. The room was half full. One table attracted my attention over the general din of conversation.

I could feel several of the table's members looking in my direction. I tuned into a monologue by the smallest old guy sporting a flattop haircut with white sidewalls. He was wearing blue Levis just like me, a plaid shirt, just like me, and a goose down vest, just like me.

"That girl over there," I ciphered as the old guy nodded over at me, "she should be wearing a dress." I felt a confrontation on the horizon, but I was outnumbered. I focused on the remainder of my food, and lived to fight another day.

So my question is: Why didn't the driver of the semi just walk on the ferry to go crabbing instead of driving the cab over? Turns out the trucker had his family with him, and drove up the island to "RV" it before heading back the next morning.

It's rained all week in Kansas City -- remnants of Hurricane Gustav. Sue Frause photo.

Hurricane Susan was headed for Hawaii in October, 1978.

I'm not sure how my grandfather would feel about having a hurricane named after him. His name was Alexander Gustav Veilleux, and although he's been gone for many years, he must be relieved that Hurricane Gustav was not as damaging and deadly as first predicted.

I Googled Hurricane Susan and yes, there was one named after me. Hurricane Susan was a Category 4 hurricane in 1978 that was the only cyclone to develop in the central Pacific. It was one of the three strongest storms in that area at the time. Initially headed for the Big Island of Hawaii, it diverted toward the southwest and eventually dissipated. Intensity was listed at 135 MPH.

If you want to see if there's a hurricane in your future, click on here.

I'm at the airport, headed for Kansas City via Denver. Fortunately, there are no hurricanes in Kansas, and hopefully no tornadoes. Weather is to be in the 70s and 80s, with occasional thunderstorms.

A guide points out footprints at Dinosaur Ridge,
located 30 minutes from Denver. Sue Frause photo.

Joel Connelly, Seattle P-I political columnist, has been attending national political conventions for the past 20 years.

The part-time South Whidbey resident files his final thoughts from the Democratic National Convention in Denver:

Democrats' convention everything but banal

Hurricane Gustav has forced the Republican National Convention to drastically alter its agenda. The convention begins today in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Photo USGS.

Christina Grant is all too familiar with disasters. The daughter of Louise Prewitt of Langley and the late Bob Grant, she flew to Louisiana last week with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As a member of the National Response Team, a select group of 25 staff members from around the US, her group was deployed to be in place for the arrival of Hurricane Gustav.

FEMA also covers all of the high profile special events such as the Olympics, G8 and most recently the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Christy was there to support local and state government in case something of significance happened during the convention, flew back to her home in Snohomish County and then re-packed and headed off to Louisiana.

Christy is also the Individual Assistance Branch Chief for our region (WA, OR, ID and AK) and responsible for coordinating the federal response for mass care, housing, emergency assistance and human services elements of disaster response and recovery.

She started out with FEMA in 1994 -- her first assignment was the Northridge earthquake in California. Since then, she's been involved with nearly 50 disaster operations from Micronesia and Guam to Alaska, Florida, New York, Louisiana, California and locales in between.

Sierra, Todd and Chris Peterson with Winnie. Sue Frause photo.

It's always sad when friends leave the island. Sure, you still keep in touch, but it's not the same. No more bumping into them at the grocery store, seeing them at The Clyde or having a spontaneous dinner together.

The Petersons are back! After 20 years of being off the island, they've built a beautiful home high in the hills of Clinton that overlooks the water and Olympic Mountains beyond. Most recently they were living in Mercer Island, caring for Chris' mom Thero North, who passed away several years ago.

Todd works as a consultant and Chris is Executive Director of BirdNote - Tune In to Nature.org. She founded the popular two-minute radio segments in 2002 -- they can be heard locally on KPLU 88.5 FM. Prior to that, Chris was director of Seattle Audubon for nine years. Sierra, a graduate of Stanford University, is currently a graduate student at Harvard University.

Welcome home, Petersons --- it's great to have you back on the rock!

Wasilla is the hometown of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who Sen. John McCain (R) picked to be his running mate in the upcoming Presidential election. It also used to be the official start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which was in Willow when I attended in 2004. Photos by Sue Frause.

One of the many spectators at the Iditarod. I forgot to ask his name.

The Iditarod start now takes place in Willow, 30 miles north of Wasilla. Suburban sprawl and a warming climate forced the race to move north. Gov. Palin is not sure about global warming and thinks the polar bears are doing OK.

The Sons of Norway were out in full force at the start of the Iditarod.

Watching the parade of people was as much fun as the race.

The Museum of Alaska Transportation & History is in Wasilla.

A car on display at the Museum of Alaska Transportation & History.