Porch Talk with Jim Mueller

by Donna Geer, Staff Writer

Not everyone I know admits to liking a good old “fart” card. Laughing at jokes with friends or sending the family funny birthday cards filled with pictures of monkeys or references to flatulence – it’s all good fun. Jim Mueller likes the goofy stuff. He even calls his fearless dog a chihuahuasaurus, conjuring up all sorts of imagery.

Jim’s been married to Sandy for 40 years. They met in Ballard in 1980 when he was at a music venue. When he retired from Boeing ten years ago, they decided to leave Burien. They looked at a lot of different locations, some as far away as Hawaii, but their daughter lives on Orcas Island, so Sandy suggested they look for something closer to home. She’d been to a retreat at a condo in Port Ludlow years earlier, and she remembered how beautiful it was. Jim didn’t need a lot of convincing. They moved to North Bay and Jim says they couldn’t have ended up in a better place. He likes being surrounded with like-minded people, who want the same things for the community that he does, and trees.

Jim Mueller

Jim really loves the outdoors. He grew up in Camas, WA, a small town on the Columbia River. Like a lot of kids back then, he and the neighborhood gang would be off on their bikes most days every summer, catching crawdads with friends in the Washougal River. As a teen, he was still hanging out at the river by the Camas paper mill. Most of his family’s vacations were spent camping in the woods in Washington, Oregon and California. Maybe that’s why he’s drawn to the Port Ludlow trails.

After high school, he joined the Coast Guard for four years as an electronics technician. It was a great steppingstone to leave home and do “jackass stunts away from the neighbors.” Though he claims he looked like he was twelve years old when he was in the service, he said he learned a lot about life.

Jim worked for Boeing for 35 years as a designer in the flight systems lab where he built lab equipment and test systems. He worked on the flight deck simulators for the Boeing 777 twin-aisle jet and even built the first control panel facsimile for the folding wingtips on the 777X. When I asked what he missed the most about his job, he talked about being part of a creative team that was doing state of the art technology.

That’s partly why he joined the PSO Bluebills (Peninsula Support Organization Bluebills). It was once affiliated with Boeing, but now it’s a 501(c)3 non-profit. Anyone who’s willing to lend a hand is welcome to join. The group provides all kinds of fall prevention services for people in Jefferson and Kitsap counties. Jim’s teamed up with other Bluebills to build wheelchair ramps and railings for people in need. Since 2016, he’s been the editor for their newsletter. He’s also created the graphics for the posters, signs, and banners for the annual Dove House Golf Tournament that’s held every August at the Port Ludlow Golf Course.

Jim just likes making stuff. Just about anything, really. Designing graphics for signs and newsletters, building furniture in his garage. He says he’s not a ‘fancy finisher’ when it comes to woodworking, but if you’ve hiked on Port Ludlow trails, you might have sat on one of his creations.

He’s designed and built 23 wooden benches. The first three were made of free scraps from a home construction site down the street from his home. Two of those benches are still on the Osprey Trail. The new Creekview Loop Trail, which connects to the Interpretative Trail, boasts the only legacy old growth Douglas fir in Port Ludlow, plus six of Jim’s newly built benches.

In addition to being on the Trails Committee, he’s also a member of the Greenbelt Committee. That group’s been working on wildfire fuel reduction from the common areas around evacuation routes. Volunteers pull out brush and trim the lower limbs of the trees during two-hour sessions on Tuesdays and Saturdays. They’re always looking for more volunteers.

He tells me he feels good when he’s volunteering, that he gets back much more than he gives. It’s given him purpose, filled his life up with meaning. Anytime he’s working on the Port Ludlow trails, and his muscles start grousing, all he has to do is look at the volunteers working next to him and he’s inspired to keep going.

Sometimes he wishes he’d seen more of the world when he was younger, but traveling’s lost its luster now. Besides, he really likes it here in Port Ludlow. Every day, he looks forward to the sun coming up so he can get out on the trails and listen to the birds. It’s another opportunity to walk his chihuahuasaurus and hunt for mushrooms. Where else do you get to do that outside your front door?

You can find these and other stories online at plvoice.org. As you already know, our little town is an eclectic mix of wonderful and interesting people. Some were born here and many more come from elsewhere, but all of us have chosen to make Port Ludlow our home. Every one of us has a great story, so let’s sit on the porch and have a conversation. We can share a cup of coffee, or tea, if preferred. You can reach me at sports@plvoice.org. Looking forward to hearing from you!