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King tides, like pesky mosquitoes, occasionally discomfort those that are having a picnic in paradise. Water runs downhill, right into the lowest places around, saturating the ground, drowning earthworms and roots, making us humans frown, as we put on our boots.

Yeah, a few of us have lived in the lowlands for all of our lives and have never seen a wave of water lapping at the door.

Unfortunately, I have. November of 1990 was the month and year when Fir Island was filled by a failed levee. Yeah, the Skagit River can be a wild thing, all the way to the Salish Sea.

I’ve learned a lot abo...