The Three Tree Point community in Burien lost long time resident last week. Louisa Rice, wife of Ray Rice, passed away.

The residents will surely miss her. She lived in the house on the tip and most beach residents knew her as the host for hundreds who gathered on the Rice family lawn to watch the annual Fourth of July fireworks show held each year on a barge anchored in front of the Rice residence.

Plus that, she was a champion walker and spent a lot of time chatting on her daily hike down the south beach on sunshiny days. I spotted her one day herding a small flock of four or five chickens along the road.

I stopped and chatted with her because I used to have some Banty hens when I was 8 years old living in Portland. They laid eggs in lots of spots in my dad's backyard garden. I talked to Louisa about getting some Buff Cochin hens and building a hen house and maybe get a rooster to wake the neighborhood up in the morning.

She never did. Maybe just as well. There are a lot of otters that live around the Rice rock bulkhead plus eagles, herons and even sea lions.