Head to grange for Follies this weekend

DO NOT USE--To all Eagle readers, please do not send anything to my email address that had been in this newspaper as gremlins got into that account recently and told everybody I was in Madrid, Spain and needed some money. Well, obviously, that is not true! My apologies for the bogus e-mails you got and the best way to eliminate those is to take that e-mail address out of your address book and block all notices from it. If you have news, please just call me directly.

DRIPPY START--As this week began, it was sort of drippy, cloudy and cool on Fathers' Day, but it warmed up and got quite muggy by Monday afternoon. The sun is shining this Tuesday morning and they say we are supposed to have several days of warm dry weather coming up. With Summer having officially started, we're definitely ready for it to show up! I'd just as soon it warmed up gradually, as that sudden swing from 40 to 80 can be a bit much, but right now, I think we'll take whatever dry we can get!

THIS IS IT--This is the weekend for the Smoky Water Follies, the fourth annual musical and comedy revue held by the Skamokawa Grange #425 at the Skamokawa Grange Hall. I think you'll really enjoy this year's line up as we have some very talented folks on hand like Jon Peterson, as with his fantastic voice, he's going to blow you away his rendition of "Ida" and "The Spaniard that Blighted My Life." Nanea Carroll has a truly sweet and melodious voice and her lead in the "Be My Little Bumblebee" is charming. The kids, Nanea, Rueben Patterson and Tanner Collupy will surely want you to sing along with them on the chorus of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," which is always a fun one! Tickling the ivories for a short time will be Frank Loomans and we appreciate his participation in our show this year. We are also pleased to have the Goldinov children sing for us one evening; a special treat. One of our new stars, Debra Ochsner, is a real trouper, as she was in an accident that totally destroyed her car, but thankfully she was OK, and still able to go on with the show. I can tell you that the Harmony Hearts, consisting of Gwen Gorley, Kathleen Morgain, Pam Emery and Christine Payne-Towler, are sounding fantastic and they are a terrific addition to the show! Come to the show either this Friday or Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m., or plan on coming Sunday at 2 p.m. You've got just today to pick up your tickets at the Bank of the Pacific, Moore's Auto and Skamokawa Resort. After that you can get them at the door. Tickets are only $10 and all proceeds go towards the Skamokawa Grange. Doors open at the grange hall a half hour prior to the performance; extra parking will be available in the park area next to the hall and the building is handicap accessible.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from June 23-29, are Mary Baldwin, Charity Francisco, LaRita Bennett, Candice Hoven, Tim Doumit, Mary Nettles, Austin Luthi, Judy Marsyla, Stan Woody, Joel Moore, Jack Gorley, Bill Ower, Don Speranza, Larry Horman, Jonathan Hauff, James Anderson, Cliff Garrison, Clara Olson, Shyley Rae Johnston, and Katie Sechler. May all of your birthdays be extra special this year. My apologies to Keith Hoofnagle who got left out of last week's birthday column; he celebrated his special day last Monday.

Happy Anniversary wishes to the Tim Doumits, the David Whitneys, the Larry Hendricksons, the Fred Johnsons, the Bob Bronses, Susan and Randy Kuhn and Mark and Rhonda Pedersen. Enjoy your anniversaries everybody!

ADDITIONAL EXHIBIT--Keith Hoofnagel will have a new exhibit in the lobby area of Redmen Hall involving the flags of Wahkiakum County and will showcase a very special flag which came from WWI. It had been misidentified for some time, but has now been recognized as a Son in Service flag that was common back then and represents 14 members of the Redmen Lodge that were serving in WWI and WWII. This historical and patriotic exhibit will also show a reproduction of a 15 star flag, with 15 stripes, that was used in the days of Lewis and Clark. Call the hall at 795-3007 for more information. The hall is open from Thursday-Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Don't forget to check out the exhibit that is currently showing upstairs featuring three local artists.

PRAYER REQUEST--Cleave and Audrey Hedman have had some tough luck lately: Audrey fell and thought she'd just sprained her ankle but found out later that she had not just slightly injured her foot, but had indeed broken it. Then Cleave took a tumble down several stairs and I was told he was at the Rebound center and could use some prayers of his own right now.

FATHER'S DAY--Bob Hendrickson said he had a very nice Father's Day as an extended celebration with multiple family dinners and lots of phone calls and greetings and best wishes from one and all, so he felt very much appreciated.

Pete Sechler sounded like he had a good day that started with breakfast out, and then later on, a BBQ at his brother-in-law's place along with his in-laws and other family members, so it was a very nice day he said.

Bill Chamberlain surprised his son Nathan, and spent Father's Day in Texas with him, so he got to enjoy some 80 degree weather instead of being here in the drips and drizzle. After his trip to the flatlands of Texas, Bill could understand why they were all so enthralled with their trip to Washington last year with all our mountains and greenery, definitely not something they have down there!

GREAT TRIP--Awhile back, Gretchen and Jade Hauff went to Taft, Calif. to see Gretchen's folks Rob and Naomi Meyer, and little brother Dex. While they were there, they enjoyed a trip to the Boot Barn where little Jade got all decked out in a real cowgirl outfit, including the boots, belt, wranglers and a cowgirl hat to top it all off--pretty cute! The biggest surprise was delivered the next morning, as for Jade's sixth birthday, they all headed to Disneyland! It was a wonderful treat as Gretchen witnessed her Dad skipping through Disneyland, hand in hand with Jade, and Grammy Girl taking a ride on the carousel with her. It seems one thing Naomi and granddaughter Jade have in common, is their love of horses, so on the way back from Disneyland, they stumbled upon a horse ranch. Grandma and little Jade got to meet a real cowboy and take a ride on a Mexican rodeo horse, a thrill for the both of them, as it had been 21 years since Naomi had been on a horse. Gretchen says that in spite of her mom's health issues, she is doing fine and Rob is still as funny and crazy as ever, and working away at Nabors Drilling as an onsite safety trainer. The couple wanted to let everyone know they were doing fine and wanted to say hi to all their friends and family up this way, as while they miss everybody here, the weather conditions are better for Naomi down there. So, we were glad to hear the news that all was well with the family and that Gretchen and Jade had such a wonderful time while they were in California.

TERRIFIC TIME SAVER--I can attest to the convenience of having our new store available to us in Skamokawa and I hope you will make it a regular stop as well. Now it's just a couple of minutes away and I can have those olives I forgot or grab a pound of hamburger, or even grab a quick, hot bagel dog for my lunch on the road. They also carry a very large array of pre-made items in the cooler next to the ATM machine. They offer Seattle pastries and gluten free products as well as homemade bread from Twin Gables B&B. There's variety galore, so head to the store at the Skamokawa Resort!

CONFLICTING IDEAS--I mentioned the "Marsh Ranch" awhile back and wanted to know if anybody remembered where it was. Some folks are sure it was in the area of what is now the refuge, while former resident, Floyd Green thinks it was what was known as the Struthers/Lindsey farm, which had also been known as the Weist place. Gordon Weist was related to the McNally brothers, as Gordon was married to their sister. With each piece of information we see more and more links to people we know and didn't realize how they were connected. I'm the newcomer here, so I can't be of much help but I do enjoy trying to help others find all these missing links. For now though, we still aren't sure where the Marsh Ranch/Farm is and would certainly enjoy getting more info! I heard that Mrs. Marsh was a teacher here. Does anybody remember her first name, her maiden name or if she was from Skamokawa originally? Would appreciate hearing from anybody who has information on this family or ranch/farm.