The Salish Sea shook a little this evening as a magnitude 4.1 earthquake rattled things around 6:00pm. I didn't feel it as I was making supper, but it was felt on Bowen.



The earthquake was 16 miles below Friday Harbour, on San Juan Island about 150 miles or so south of here.



In other news, we solved at least part of the mouse problem this morning, as I removed a fatally concussed Norway rat from behind the piano. It had sampled some peanut butter on my mousetrap and although it didn't get caught, it sustained a nasty whack and was lying in rigor mortis next to the remains of its last meal. .



We think there are still mice cowering beneath the dishwasher, and that the rat was a single case. The traps are set for the mice, and we'll see how they do.



And speaking of fatal encounters with humans, it turns out that the bear that was captured and removed from our island was killed by the "conservation" officer who caught it. Bruno was killed by an overdose of tranquilizers. The consensus is that maybe the bear didn't have to die but that budget cuts in the Ministry of Land, Water and Air Protection have caused policy changes that prefer a quick disposal to a prolonged wild rehabilitation for human-curious wildlife.



Hey, if Bruno was living under my piano, I would suffer no crisis of conscience in dispatching him either, but this bear was on his best behaviour, sampling only the goat, which most observers think was actually killed by one of the dog packs that roam the island terrorizing the deer.



Busy day for a Friday.