Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone

SPRING?--I'm not sure folks were thinking it was too Spring-like as the rains were coming down sideways and winds were blowing like crazy, but according to the calendar, Spring officially begins this Sunday, so put on those bright and happy dresses and let's hope the sun shows up to make it a truly Spring-like day. Flowers are blooming so it's beginning to look like Spring, although when it froze awhile back, they looked a bit sad with their heads bowed to the ground, but by golly, the snowdrops, primroses and daffodils are obviously more resilient than I thought as they bounced back and are blooming away.

Hummingbirds showed up at our place last weekend, so up with the feeders and on with the show--they are so fun to watch! We have four distinctive species of hummingbirds in Washington, with the Rufous being the most commonly seen around here, followed by Anna's, Calliope and Black-chinned hummingbirds. If you are feeding the little guys, make sure you don't make your solution too strong as the extra sugar can actually damage their livers.

By now you know that if you forgot to set your clock ahead last Saturday night, you were really out of kilter all day Sunday. I even know one 67'er who set her clocks back an hour, so I guess you know, she was way off! Remember, it's Spring forward, lose an hour; Fall back, gain an hour.

IT'S GREEN DAY--Today is St. Patrick's Day so I hope this finds you wearing green! Even if you're not Irish, you should enjoy all the Irish food, like corned beef and cabbage, which I'm sure will be served up in most restaurants everywhere. If you're not in for that, I hope you get some green frosted cupcakes, cookies or other goodies; you've just got to be enjoying green somehow today! Happy St. Paddy's Day everybody!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from March 17-23 are Connie Bassi, Nova McNally, Sig Hjaltalin, Gaylene Johnson, LeRoy Wika, Carol Wegdahl, Randy Hoven, Wade Parker, Cathy LaBerge, Katie Turgeon, Vern Barton, Mathew Kyle and 67'er Sandi Quigley. Happy Anniversary wishes go to Dan and Jenny Cochran, Mr. and Mrs. James McCoy and Mr. and Mrs. Brett Deaton.

RECYCLABLES--When I went to our local recycle containers the other day, located near our Skamokawa Fire Department, I was a bit dismayed, as someone had left their garbage bags there and the animals had gotten into it. Please folks, this is very costly to the people who are giving us access to containers nearby in which to place recyclables. If people abuse it and dump garbage there, we may not have that convenience much longer. Some folks even said they wash paper plates and put them in the bins after using them thinking that it's a good thing, but stop! It's not alright! Paper that is contaminated with foods, greases, etc., can ruin an entire batch of recycled paper.Don't forget to remove any personal info from them for privacy sake. Anyway, we hope you'll take advantage of our containers the correct way and three cheers for all of you that do!

HEAD TO THE HALL--Don't forget to check out the antiques display and sale at Redmen Hall, a great way to sell your things and help out the hall at the same time. This historic building has had a lot of hard workers and a multitude of volunteers keeping it up over the years, which is no easy task, so I hope you'll continue to support the Friends of Skamokawa as they help keep this eye-catching Central School on the hill for years to come. Call 795-3007 for more info.

CHECK IT OUT--If you're looking for some good articles and pictures about Skamokawa, go online and check out the website: Skamokacentric which is put up by our own Kathleen Morgain, from Twin Gables Bed and Breakfast. She also has a calendar on there that I believe you could add your event to, or ask her to, and that would be a very good thing, as we are one busy little community.

ALL CLASS REUNION--According to Susan McClain Kuhn, the All School WA-KI-HI class reunion will take place next year so it's time for all of you Mules to get your classes together and plan on coming! First of all, you need to get on the Mule Train FB page and get included in all the chat about this reunion, and then help decide when you want it, which has been narrowed down to either right after Bald Eagle Day or the weekend before the county fair. This is a lot of work for the heads of all classes that help organize these reunions, so let's make it as easy and fun as possible. See you next summer!

SEE DANNY--It's time to think about buying plants and such, so why not head over to our local nursery, Skamokawa Gardens, and check out what owner Danny Silverman has? One thing about his plants, they are always gorgeous and hopefully you'll not only buy your starter plants from him, but some full blown spectacular baskets to give to some special people in your life come Mother's Day! If you're looking for a certain something, talk to Danny and see what he's got in his big green house on Steamboat Slough!

As always, if you're planning a huge project in your yard, you need to think about utilities. When in doubt, call the PUD or city or telephone people, or whoever else you might need to call, as one wrong shovelful of dirt could land you in a world of hurt! Call Before You Dig, that's the utilities' motto!

SAD NEWS--I'm sure many of you remember a couple of our favorite former residents, Tom and Sherry Vaughan, who lived in the old Eggman house, which now houses the Hatiers. I learned recently that Sherry passed away at the age of 82, her full name being Elizabeth Crownhart-Vaughan, but all of us here knew her as Sherry. She was a wonderful woman, who was very warm and sincere and was just one of those comfortable hostesses; super nice, and with her culinary talents, was able to provide her guests with a variety of tasty dishes. She was a multi-talented lady as well, as she was a historian, a published author of several books, a civic activist and she was an exceptional classical guitarist and pianist. Surviving her are her husband Thomas, and children Stephen, Meagan, Margot and Cameron, 10 grandchildren and a brother, George. Her husband Tom was well known around here as a very knowledgeable historian and author, and with his powerful voice, made for a perfect actor for one of the Friends of Skamokawa's early musical shows at the Lurline Auditorium. We send our deepest condolences to Sherry's entire family.

ANOTHER LOSS--I heard from my cousin Dave Pedersen last week and he told me that his dad's wife MaryAnn passed away last Tuesday, at the age of 87 in Leesburg, Virginia. MaryAnn was a real sweetheart and we really enjoyed meeting her when they came out west for reunions and visits to Seattle with other family members. I certainly wanted to send our condolences to the Guy Beaghler family back East, as well as our other relatives who may be reading this online across the states. You'd be amazed at the following this paper has.

NO COMPARISON--As this week begins, it is wet and windy and just not very nice, but it pales in comparison to what the poor people in Japan are dealing with after the massive earthquake there last week and the devastating tsunami that followed. It shows that in the blink of an eye we can have everything and the next, it's gone. Now that we have gotten the news about the four nuclear reactors over there that are melting down, and radioactive material in the atmosphere, we can only hope and pray for all of the people over there, as well as for everyone that may be affected by this entire tragedy.Our sympathies are with all those suffering in Japan right now.

We were happy to hear that a former resident, Patricia Songer, got the good news that a brother who was in Japan at the time, came through the event just fine, so all of her family were extremely happy. They had a double worry because many of their family members live in Hawaii and at first nobody knew how bad the tsunami would hit there, but luckily things weren't that bad, so that was good news as well.