Nice weather is time to get winter ready

STILL NICE--It's hard to believe that we're into October already and we're still experiencing sunny skies and just gorgeous weather, rather than the rain that most of us expect this time of year. If you haven't gotten those outdoor chores done yet, well, you sure can't use the weather as an excuse except to say that you were too busy having fun in the sun to do all that winter prep work, and who could blame you? We don't often get long dry stretches like this during these Fall months, so it's hard to buckle down and think about nasty weather when we're still wearing sunglasses! The cooler temperatures at night are a reminder that seasons are a changing though, so don't get lulled into putting off those preparations for winter too much longer!

Don't forget, some of our local businesses are already cutting back their hours as they prepare for the days that start later and get darker earlier, so check out their latest ads for hours of operation and continue to support our local businesses.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from October 4 through 10 are Joan Evenson, Deb Gribskov, Kylee Montgomery, Holly Luthi, Matt Helms, Richard Hoven, Justin McClain, Colin Montgomery, Jeff Baldwin, Cindy Turner, Richard Robinson, Peter Vik, Kevin Vik, Rolly Armstrong, Doug Manary, Kari Claussen, Lisa Frink and a very special birthday for granddaughter, Tessa Sechler this week, so here's to you kiddo, and may all of you have super birthday celebrations this week!

Celebrating their anniversaries this week are Marty and Sue Kuller, Mr. and Mrs. Rob Meyer and Adam and Samantha Pedersen, who held a second wedding this week for all of us on the west coast, as they held their first wedding back east. Enjoy your celebrations everybody.

NEW BIRTHDAY--Ty and Jennifer Norris welcomed a baby girl into their home recently, so we've got a new birthday to add to our list. Laura Lee was born on September 24 and joins a brother, Justin at home. Congratulations to the parents and grandparents, Gary and Betty Huber, as I think they were tickled pink to welcome this latest bundle of joy to the family!

NICE CELEBRATION--Ken Bunn celebrated his big day with a camp out with friends a couple of weeks ago, and from what I hear, everyone had a great time. I failed to mention Ken's birthday in my column, so happy belated birthday to you, Ken. Wish I could have been at the beach to share in the festivities

THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY--Don't forget that this is the big Columbia River Country Days celebration with Punkin' Chunkin going on over at Two Islands Farm Market this Friday and the big dinner at the Covered Bridge on Saturday in late afternoon, as well as doings at the fairgrounds during the day. Looks like the weather is going to be great and so it should be a real fun time! Hopefully you've gotten your tickets by now for the dinner. Call Carrie at 795-3278 to see if more are available as well as for more info concerning this special, fun-packed weekend!

REDMEN HALL--The Friends of Skamokawa will be showcasing some local talent with their newest exhibit to open up this Saturday at Redmen Hall with photographer Nick Deal. There will be a reception for the artist that day at 1 p.m. The exhibit is called As I See It and will run through the weekend of November 17 and 18. You may remember seeing some of his work at the hall along with many other photographers, but his work was so popular that he was asked to come back and put on a one man show so come and check that out at the hall, Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

GOOD JOB--How about those Mules? Wow, there have been some awesome football games and to beat Adna at last was a true feat. Way to go Mules! The team will be in Napavine tomorrow night (Friday) with the JV team playing them on October 8 at home. The Warriors have a bye this week.

The Lady Mules play at Adna at home tonight, (Thursday) and then play away on October 6 and 9. The cross country team will be at Northwest Christian for their meet today. Here's to all of our school teams. May you see victory!

GREAT RIDE--The third annual BJ Helms Memorial motorcycle ride took place this past weekend and the group that went had a great day to ride, as well as some great camaraderie as they remembered their dear friend and loved one.

BOYS VISIT--Kyle and Blake Sechler made the trip from WSU in Pullman, back to Seattle this past weekend to visit their folks Pete and Katie and were on hand when little brother, Luke, celebrated his 80 yard touchdown run in his latest football game. Once the weekend was over, it was time for dad to make the trip back to the Wazzu campus with his two eldest sons and check out their college digs, which had changed since they'd first started school.

GREAT TRIP--Well, you may have heard by now that I was away for awhile, and since coming home from a nice long vacation, I've been laying low, thanks to a very nasty cold that I got, along with a bad ear problem, so I've had my share of bugs in September and hope that this new month cuts me some slack! At long last, Bill and I took our first cruise and headed north to Alaska; one of the few places Bill has never been. Of course, I've been there many times, but it's been awhile and with an added train ride that was scheduled to carry us up into Denali National Park, well, that was a place I'd never been either. They have had some torrential rains up there and the train tracks were washed out in many places and so we only got to take the train a short distance and then had to be transferred to motor coaches, so that was a big disappointment, but it beat derailing and winding up down a cliff or in the middle of a raging river. We actually saw vehicles that had been swept away and towns that we were to have toured, evacuated and homes lost, so changing plans was pretty minor in comparison to their troubles.

Our cruise into Glacier Bay occurred on a crystal clear, blue sky day, which the ranger said had only happened a handful of days all summer long, so that was fantastic. The glacier cracked, groaned and popped and calved while we were right there to witness it, so again, our timing was perfect. A clear day in Juneau allowed us to get some wonderful pictures as we boarded the Mt. Roberts Tramway there and enjoyed the center and shops at the top. In Anchorage, the sun shone again and gave us a picture perfect view of Mt. McKinley, which people said had not been that visible in ages, so it was the perfect ending to our trip. Along the way, we wound up seeing mountain goats, bear, moose, whales and of course, eagles, which some thought were tame as they seemed to be there just for us! The caribou had already left the area for the winter, so they were nowhere to be seen. With the snow falling as we left Denali and shortly after we left Anchorage, our trip up north was definitely made at the perfect time, and will be one we will always remember.

CATCHING UP/COMING UP--Now that I'm back again, I'll have to do some catching up with what's been going on around town. Here are a couple of things I do know, and one of them involves my opinion of the removal of the crosswalk in the middle of Cathlamet. This is a ridiculous idea and I don't know when they took the survey about its lack of use, but I find it quite busy and totally necessary to keep it there! Let's make some noise people and keep that crosswalk where it is!

I also know that the Skamokawa Grange will be holding a Pomona meeting this coming Monday at 5:30 p.m., with a potluck at 6:30 p.m. and their regular meeting at 7 p.m. Plus, the Skamokawa Grange Hall will be the place to be for a salmon barbecue put on by Mike Backman, who is running for county commissioner, on October 20 from 4 to 8 p.m. so come and meet Mike and see what his plans are for our county. He will also be holding a dinner at the Grays River Grange on October 13, also 4 to 8 p.m.

Plus, the Sons of Norway will be holding bingo at the Norse Hall on October 13 so all you bingo players should be heading there next weekend.

Please give me a call for other events I've failed to mention that you would like folks to know about. Just leave a message if I don't answer the phone!