WHILE THE JEFFERSON County commissioners consider how to regulate the location of adult businesses, Janet Emery has an R-rated show going on right outside her window.
Emery is the owner of Kinetic Koffee Kompany on Kearney Street, across from Kah Tai Lagoon.
While all kinds of creatures — otters, weasels, raccoons — come crawling out of the lagoon, Emery said, it’s the wildlife on the hillside behind the coffee shop that is stopping traffic.
“They do this prance dance thing before mating,” Emery said.
“You don’t need National Geographic.”
The star of the show is a large blacktail buck that has taken up residence with his cadre of concubines under the holly trees.
Last Thursday, Kinetic customers in cars lined up in the drive-through lane watched in fascination as the buck made overtures to a doe.
“He puts his head down, and they kind of bow to each other,” Emery said.
The drive-through window, dubbed the “National Geographic window” by the regulars, provides Emery with a program rivaling anything on the Nature Channel.
And while the buck is not the biggest she’s ever seen, Emery said, the buck definitely is a stud muffin, and judging by his antlers, he also has been around the block a few times.
Mature blacktails develop large antlers with four points on each side, and this buck has a king-of-the-forest air.
Emery’s customers report seeing him prancing up Lawrence Street, oblivious to cars.
“He’s like a peacock,” Emery said.
Next door to Kinetic Koffee at the Victorian Clipper, owner Debbie Hinton said she has noticed the buck hanging around for several days.
One day, she saw it running down the hill, apparently spooked by something, and out into traffic, but it veered up on the sidewalk before getting hit.
Further down the block, police station staff said the buck is a familiar sight when they come to work in the morning.
But they have had no calls from people concerned about it or other large bucks in town — they only hear about deer after they have been hit by cars.
While deer are usually not dangerous, bucks can become very aggressive during rutting season, usually the month of November on the Olympic Peninsula.
A bird-watcher near Umatilla, Ore., learned that the hard way last week during a visit to a wildlife refuge on the Columbia River.
According to a report in the Tri-City Herald, the man moved close to the buck, which was lying down, to take a photograph when the buck got up and charged.
Using one arm to shield his head and body, the man managed to grab an antler with the other and wrestle the buck down.
Then he climbed atop a picnic table until help, summoned by his wife on a cell phone, arrived.
Emery said the Kinetic Koffee buck isn’t mean, although she did find it a little unnerving to arrive at work one morning and step out of her car, only to realize the buck was standing a few feet away in the dark.
Catwalk style
For the third year, POSH Hair Salon is putting on its “Hair Rock on the Catwalk” style show.
The show will be Saturday, Nov. 13, at 8 p.m., and it’s going to be as wild as ever.
Held the first year at the former Water Street Brewery, the hairstyle and fashion show drew such a large crowd that it was moved to the American Legion Hall last year.
There, it drew 300 exuberant fans, many in their 20s and 30s, who rocked the rafters as groups of models took the stage and strutted nonstop to rock music on two runways built out into the seating area.
Last year, after all the models reappeared for the finale, everyone got up on stage and danced.
DJ Miro will again provide music for the show, POSH owner Kasey Ellis said.
Each of the salon’s six stylists, plus Ellis, chooses her own theme, then picks a group of clients and friends to be her models.
The stylist designs a distinctive hairdo, makeup and outfit for each model to fit the theme.
Male models are part of the mix — the first year, one was dressed as a leopard with cropped hair dyed blond with black spots.
Last year’s show included flappers and Hollywood starlets garbed in sequins, fur and feathers.
The themes are usually kept secret until the night of the show, Ellis said, but one stylist has chosen a safari theme, guaranteeing a wild night.
Ellis, a native of Port Townsend and a 2000 Port Townsend High School graduate, took over POSH in August from former owner Jennie Townsan, who remains on staff.
Hair Rock on the Catwalk is the salon’s way of contributing to the community.
This year’s show again benefits the emergency winter shelter, which is in the American Legion Hall’s basement and opens the day after Thanksgiving.
Tickets for Hair Rock on the Catwalk go on sale later this week.
They are $8 in advance and $10 at the door of the American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St., Port Townsend.
A bar will be set up in the back to serve beer and wine, so, like the nature show at Kinetic Koffee, it’s for adults only.
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Jennifer Jackson writes about Port Townsend and Jefferson County every Wednesday. To contact her with items for this column, phone 360-379-5688 or e-mail jjackson@olypen.com.
