Smoky Water Follies was great success

COOLER--We've started this work week a bit cooler, as we had some cloud cover and some light sprinkles and more are due I hear, but we sure had a great few days last week and a super weekend as well. That was very welcome after such a soggy spell of weather. I think we've not only dried out a bit but we've gotten our spirits perked up as well, as that ole rain was getting mighty depressing. Now I think we are all suffering from aching backs and sore muscles as we try to tackle those overgrown flower beds, lawns, and the weeds in the garden before the next wet spell hits! While the sun is here this Tuesday morning, we'll definitely enjoy it and hope it winds up being nice for the holiday weekend coming up.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from July 1-7 are Dave Hjaltalin, Debbie Kuller, Steve Schwarze, Jim Wilson, Cameron Cothren, Christina Mendez, George Exum, Sandie York and Nathan Chamberlain. Happy birthday to all of you! Happy anniversary to Donna and Glenn Palmer who will be celebrating 50 years tomorrow (Friday), the Dean Seabergs, the Hap Andersons, the Al McClains, the Gary Emerys, the Paul Ehrenbergers and a 67'er and former "slough rat" Greg Lloyd, and his wife Cindy, get to celebrate year number four of their marriage next Wednesday. Happy celebrations to one and all!

GREAT TIME--Once again, the "Smoky Water Follies" was enjoyed by a lot of folks at the Skamokawa Grange Hall last weekend, and we grangers, and all the non-granger entertainers as well, are really happy that you came out to support us over this three day event. If "laughter is the best medicine" then we helped a whole lot of folks feel better as we heard lots of chuckles and laughs throughout the show and saw lots of smiles once the show was over. That was our goal, so, mission accomplished I say!

This has been a lot of work for the folks involved, so kudos to director Adele Swift and musical director Sunrise Fletcher for hanging in there through a lot of adversities this year. We were very fortunate to have a couple of young ladies come in at the last minute and take on some singing and acting challenges, so we really appreciated Nanea Carroll and Kate Martin. Way to go girls! I think the bug has gotten them now as they both said they are more than willing to join the cast next year; love getting the younger generation involved. Another couple of new ladies this year were Pam Emery and Christine Payne-Towler, who were great additions to the cast as well. Other than musical director Sunrise, we had a whole different band come together so we really appreciated Tony Jones on drums, Ginger Schmitz on trumpet, Sandy Wirkkala on the piano and Jeffrey Reynolds on the fiddle. They really saved the day with their participation this year! Andrew Emlen is always fantastic on his assortment of instruments that he plays and by doing his "Dance Boatman Dance" song with Jeffrey, they had the whole crowd singing and clapping along, it was really fun. When Mike Linn sang "Hard Times Come Again No More" accompanied by Jeff, it just made a brilliant performance even better. Larry Hendrickson, Steve Puddicombe, Gilbert Vik and Sunrise made up our barbershop quartet once again and they did their usual fine singing. We appreciate all the traveling to and fro in order for them to rehearse for this. And of course, we think the 'Larry and Steve duo' are just terrific at playing bad guys in our skits and they are our favorite villians of all time! Mitch McClean was another "newbie" in our cast of actors and we appreciate the fact that he pitched in as well. A couple of other veterans to the show were crooner Russ Durrah and also Mike Rees, who kept us chuckling with his "gaffes" skit and looked mighty snazzy in his top hat, tails and cane when he sang his song. All the people involved are wonderful to do this to help out the grange in its quest to keep the doors open for the good of the community, so a big thank you to one and all!

If you missed the show this year, we hope you'll keep the last weekend in June next year open for yet another fun and entertaining three day show. Mark that down now and spread the word; bring your friends or better yet, join us and tell your friends to come and see you in it!

NEW MONTH--Holy cow, where did June go? It's July already! This weekend is the Fourth of July with doings going on around the area. From Longview to Long Beach and everywhere else, there will be traffic galore as they head to holiday parties or off to a fireworks show someplace. Needless to say, be wary and watchful as there are bound to be those folks who are in just too big of a hurry and take chances that they shouldn't, so drive safe and drive defensively. If you are planning on going to any of the fireworks displays, you may want to do your animals a favor and leave them at home as all that racket is very hard on them, as are the crowds of people. If you leave them home, they can still get freaked out if left outside, so please keep them indoors where they will be safe and secure and let them have an enjoyable Fourth of July as well. May we all have a safe and wonderful Fourth of July celebration!

AFTER THAT--July is going to be a busy month, as after the Fourth, we have Bald Eagle Days coming up in Cathlamet, which includes the Wooden Boat Festival as well. The big parade, including the fireworks display is on July 17 and the boats and food and more things will be down at the marina the following day.

Then the decade of the 1970s will be holding a WA-KI-HI class reunion at the Skamokawa Grange and they will certainly be having a fun time getting reacquainted. If you want more information on that, contact Susan (McClain) Kuhn, email: sjmcq1@yahoo.com. The deadline for getting in on all that action is July 17. She tells me that an all school reunion is being planned for 2015, so if any of you went to school/graduated from Wahkiakum High School, keep five years from now in mind and there will be a huge, huge reunion going on. Should be great fun. I do hope they plan on handing out name tags; I already know that I'm not going to recognize half of the people after so many years!

On July 31, the second of the Silver Buckle Gaming series will take place at the Wahkiakum Fairgrounds, so all of you horse lovers need to spread the word. I hear they have some more fantastic prizes set up for the winners and the Skamokawa Grangers will be serving up sandwiches, so here's to another successful event for those that love to watch horses in action.

In between there, I hear there will be a new exhibit at Redmen Hall and of course, there are meetings for one thing or another just about every day of the week, so jump on in and join a group or offer to help one out. It's a great way to get involved and meet some truly wonderful, ambitious, community-minded people!