Free tools for rural survival workshop

STILL WET--While we had some dry days last week, this month began with quite a bit of rain and a pretty nasty Monday. While things are supposed to be a bit drier for the next couple of days, it looks like the rain will be back by the end of the week. While it isn’t really very cold, with temps in the upper 40s and low 50s, the dampness seems to seep into old bones. I can remember snow falling on Valentines Day before, so I guess we should count our blessings that we only seem to have the “wet stuff” falling right now.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from February 4-10 are Alyssa Montgomery, Kathy Tarabochia, Jim Rainey, Ed Stornetta, Tammy Byers, Bernie Mendoza, Terrie Eaton, Bob Montgomery, T.D. Hall, Mandee Moore, Ronny W. Cothren, Shayla Almer, Alexyss Baldwin, Scott Pedersen, Dave Pedersen, Troy J. Kyle turns four years old today and little neighbor, Bailey McKinley, turns three on Monday.

Happy Anniversary wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Randy Montgomery and the Bob Olsens. May all of your special days bring you joy and happiness and memories for a lifetime.

GOOD NEWS--I was told that Arlene Luthi was coming home last week and has made a remarkable recovery after being hospitalized for quite a lengthy time with some serious health issues, so that was some great news. Welcome home Arlene. Take care!

SUPER BOWL--If you’re looking for a Super Bowl party to go to this Sunday, look no further than the Duck Inn lounge, as there will be a special food bar, prizes and more going on that day. Gather up your friends and spend the day rooting on your favorite team, which would mean that you’re rooting for either “horses or angels." In other words, that’s the Indianapolis Colts or the New Orleans Saints!

COMING UP AFTER THAT--If you like smelt, we hope you’ll head to the Duck Inn on February 12 and fill up on the silvery little guys, provided they come in, that is. Gary Emery is putting up signs and advertising this event sponsored by the Gillnetter's Association. You might want to call ahead to make sure they come in--795-3655.

VALENTINE DINNER--Come to the Skamokawa Grange Hall February 13, 6-8 p.m., for a bacon wrapped filet mignon dinner being held as a fund raiser for the fair by the Wahkiakum fair board. You can purchase tickets at the Bank of the Pacific and the Lower Columbia Reality office. This great steak dinner with all the trimmings, including wine and dessert, as well as entertainment, is only $25, so it’s a real bargain. Fair board president Becky Ledtke wants you to know if you are from out of town, you can call her directly at 795-3434 or 560-0371 to order tickets, or you can still call Jean at 849-0001. You might be the lucky winner of one of the great prizes they are raffling off as well. Good luck!

SCHOOL LEVY--Don’t forget to mail in your ballot by February 9 for the Replacement and Maintenance Operations Levy. This is not an extra levy, but will just replace the existing one that is expiring and is crucial to keep our aging schools repaired.

FREE WORKSHOP--If you’d like to learn more about how you can make it through the nasty weather around here, there is a free workshop entitled, “Rural Tools for Survival: Living Along the Lower Columbia” taking place at the Rosburg Hall on February 13 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be multiple speakers and there are multiple sponsors. For the first 20 that register, you will be given a free lunch and notebook, so call Jane Zepp at 360-249-2267 or contact her at: jzepp@colpac.org.

EAT/DANCE/NEXT MONTH--March is going to be a real busy month with crab feeds the first two weekends. March 6 at the Rosburg Hall and March 13 at the Norse Hall on Puget Island. On March 19, you can wear off those extra pounds you gained at those crab feeds, by dancing the night away at the Skamokawa Grange Hall!

Yes, the contra dance fun is back. It will be line dancing along with some squares and circles, and with free lessons beginning at 7:30 p.m., you can be dancing with everybody else in no time. The dance will go from 8 to 11 p.m. with the music being provided by the band, “Cascade Crossing” and caller, Rich Goss.

MORE BOOKS--Vivian Olsen wanted me to remind folks that she has more copies of the book “Norwegian Islanders in the Columbia River" by Rita Johansen, so give her a call if you’d like a copy.

GOOD JOB--The “Hoops for Heart” fund raiser at the John Thomas Middle school raised almost $400 and they had a lot of fun doing it. Whitney Kuller and Tanner Bergseng were the top fund raisers for this event. Way to go kids! Congratulations to all those who won in their categories and of course, this grandma was excited to see grandson, Austin Good, as one of the foul shot winners. Good job!

LOTS OF SPORTS--If you like basketball, you can catch lots of hoops this month between the middle school games, and the boys and girls JV and Varsity games. The Middle School plays this evening, (Thursday) at 5:45 p.m. at home against Napavine, and then Saturday there are games in Adna by both girls and boys, with the Middle School boys playing at home against Adna on Monday at 4:30 p.m., and then the girls play on Tuesday and the High school boys and the Middle School boys play hoops out of town on Wednesday. These kids are busy! It looks like something is going on almost every day except Fridays and that will change once District games begin, so if you like basketball, there’s almost always a game to take in.

If you want to take in some wrestling, you can head to the sub-regionals in Ocosta on Saturday at 10 a.m., and then the youth wrestlers will be at home next Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the high school.

Sometimes games get cancelled or rescheduled, so check with the school before heading out of town.

GOOD TRIP--Speaking of trips and sports, I just got back from Seattle where I got to see four of my grandkids score wins in the basketball category. While Blake, Tessa and Luke all played basketball and won their respective games, oldest grandson, Kyle, was a winner as a coach, as he coached Luke’s team. Tessa plays for her school and her team is playing in championship games this weekend. She also plays on a team called the “Hoopaholics.” That team beat the taller, more experienced team in a big game on Sunday night, so that was great to see as these young girls are showing some amazing basketball skills. As a matter of fact, they will be headed to a tournament in Beaverton over Valentine weekend and we wish them a lot of luck during their games on February 13 and 14.

It was a huge weekend for grandson Luke, as he got to have a whole weekend of birthday activities. He turned 10 on January 28. He had a family birthday one evening with dinner and gifts which included his grandparents, Fred and Sally Nollan and Uncle Fred and others, including me. Then he got to take seven friends to the Washington Athletic Club for a swimming pool party, which included a huge inflatable dinosaur to climb on.

With so many hoops games and party doings, I barely had time to do much else, but we did squeeze in a movie. The 3-D show, “Avatar,” was really something to see, a great visual treat! I also called fellow grangers Mike and Jane Rees while I was there, but found that Mike was not feeling well.

OUT OF THE PAST--This week in 1945, it was pretty wet and miserable all week but on February 7, one of the worst wind storms since 1934 hit the area. Lots of trees were down all over Puget Island, and power was out there, as well as in the Skamokawa area and phone lines were out all over the place until that night. Only the last day of that week turned out nice, which was a welcome relief after the storms they went through. It was time to go to the show that day, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was playing and Grandma Elsie Everest really enjoyed it.

In 1960 there were a couple of beautiful days among the gloomy, wet ones. Beverly Fritz Allen and children were here visiting her parents for a month from California. Grandma called Coral Linquist and chatted a bit and thanked her for the flowers she’d sent. Grandma had been feeling bum. After getting flu shots, the Everests were both feeling lousy for most of the week. There was a huge fire at the Hughes’ Hardware store; once they got to feeling better, the Everests took a walk down town to see the damage and had a bowl of soup at the Spar before going home.

In 1965, February 5 was an especially nasty day with high winds and hail, which caused heavy damage in Portland and on the coast, and by February 9, the temps dropped to freezing with ice everywhere. Cathlamet beat Ilwaco 63 to 44 in basketball that week. The situation in Viet Nam was getting worse. The Everests thought the world news just sounded bad all over. All this according to Grandma Elsie Everest’s diaries.