Changes to Grangers schedule in November

NOT BAD--If it weren't for the heavy fog in the early morning hours and some of the evening hours, the days have been pretty decent lately. We had a dash of rain in the night on Saturday, so things were pretty damp Sunday morning, but with the sun coming out and brightening up the orange and yellow foilage, it looked like a pretty nice fall day. More scattered showers are expected this week after a freezing Monday evening and Tuesday morning, but hopefully they won't turn into downpours and things will be fairly dry this evening, as this is the big night, Halloween. Here's to all the trick or treaters out there: have fun, and be very careful as you cross the street and go from house to house!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Oct. 31-Nov. 6 are Tristan Parke, Carol Blalock, Brad McNally, Ginger Moonen, Ryan Vincent, Anna Kuhn, Carol Carver, James Turner, Starla Hanson, Jessie Hoven, Diane Tischer, Bill Schwarze, Gary Huber, Linda Palmer and Elizabeth Davison. May all of you have very happy birthdays!

Celebrating their anniversaries this week are Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Wika, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Wegdahl and Ed and Sue Edminster who have been married 40 years this coming week. Congratulations to all those celebrating anniversaries and here's to some wonderful celebrations on your special days!

MORE SAD NEWS--It seems that Wahkiakum County has been hit with many losses lately and we learned on Sunday that we lost one more last weekend with the passing of Elochoman Valley resident, Jerry (Gerald) Knowles. He and his wife of 42 years, Jonnie Lawson Knowles, had six daughters together, and Jonnie said that in spite of their many ups and downs, had a happy life. Jerry was one of the original District 4 firefighters and was to be commended for his service in his 25 years there. We offer our sincere sympathies to Jerry's family, which also includes his sons from a previous marriage. His service will be held tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 1, at 1 p.m. at the Dowling Funeral Home in Cathlamet.

NORSE HALL--Don't forget that you can buy lefse and other goodies this weekend at the Sons of Norway Lodge, Norse Hall, on Puget Island. Contact Susan (Kerry) Brown on Puget Island or Jan Silvestri in Cathlamet for more info. Please keep in mind that their Bingo night is held on the second Saturday evening of each month, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. and games beginning at 6 p.m., and they are offering cash prizes to the winners of each game.

MULES--After getting warmed up in the first half of last Friday's football game against the Toutle Lake Ducks, it was great to see the Mules football team chug the "Mule Train" into gear. At half time the score was only 16 to 0, and it was a pretty good battle getting that much. However, in the second half, they kicked the throttle wide open, got the Mule Train up to speed and beat them soundly, 38 to 7, yeah Mules! With it being Senior night, there were lots of pictures being taken, with plenty of teary-eyed Moms and Grandmas out there, and maybe even a Dad or two, as this would be their last home game in regular season. This grandma could hardly believe that her "little" blond grandson, Austin Good, was a Senior already. The years have certainly gone by fast!

The game that was scheduled for this Saturday afternoon against Manson has been cancelled and I'm told that a game against Naselle will take place next weekend for the KM trophy. Soon after, the playoffs will begin. We hope to see lots of red and black wherever we wind up. Go Mules!

UP NORTH--Eighth grader, grandson Luke Sechler, has been on a winning football team in Seattle and he's been wracking up some dandy yardage and more touchdowns as well, so he's feeling pretty confident as they head into the playoff games this weekend. We hope they'll continue their unbeaten record as the playoff rounds unfold during the next couple of weeks, and I'm hoping Luke scores even more touchdowns!

VETERAN'S DAY ASSEMBLY--On Tuesday, Nov. 8, there will be a guest speaker at the Wahkiakum High School Veteran's Day Assembly named Therese Pasquier from Vietnam. She was one of the first of those known as "the boat people" and were rescued by the U.S. Navy. After being transported to Guam, then Camp Pendleton in California, where they joined many other refugees, they were eventually sponosored by a Lutheran Church in Illinois and settled there. She has become an outstanding citizen with a multitude of credits attributed to her hard work and dedication. Currently, she and her husband Steve, live here in Puyallup. Her children are told they are not to settle for grades less than an A, as they are "A"-sians, not "B"-sians, so she is instilling a strong work ethic in her children, as she had herself. Come and here her story that will inspire you, as we often take things for granted here, and people like her see this great place we call America, as a land of opportunity if you are willing to work for it. She sounds like a truly wonderful and inspirational person.

GRANGE CHANGE --At the very last minute, I got word that the Pomona Grange was being cancelled at our Skamokawa Grange last Monday, so I didn't get much of a chance to forewarn anybody about that. The new date and place for that group to meet will be in Long Beach at their grange on Nov. 10 at 2:30 p.m., so if you are a Pomona Grange member, you are invited to attend that meeting.

Also, a meeting held last Monday evening by the Skamokawa Grangers resulted in a change in their November meeting schedule. They will hold their first meeting as usual, which is the second Monday of the month, and that falls on Nov. 11, but it will not hold the second one scheduled for Nov. 25 as that's just way too close to Thanksgiving, so we're giving our members a little break for the holidays.

TIDE GATE--I hope you all read the front page of The Eagle last week in regard to the tide gate installed near the Wahkiakum County Fairgrounds. While we were all under the impression that this tide gate was being installed to help ease our flooding worries, Mr. Darren Haupt of the Conservation District made it very clear that this was a fish enhancement project and had nothing to do with easing the threat of flooding. (Column 3, first paragraph.) He made it quite clear that this tide gate was meant to allow water in to the slough and not let it out, and after one look at the construction of it, certainly confirms that. It's hard to believe that the Diking District that we thought was working for the people in this area and for the good of their property, would agree to such a plan. We have all been duped once again I guess, as this latest project was certainly not in the people's best interest, only the fish, who do not vote, pay taxes or volunteer at our fairgrounds that is in real jeopardy of being flooded. We were also under the impression that one could not do something to their property that would adversely affect another, but as we've seen before, that's been the way they are allowed to do things here and get away with it. With this huge push to swamp 800 acres in the Skamokawa area, don't think that because your property isn't directly involved that there won't be restrictions placed on it, as even after taking thousands of acres for our now "just ducky" refuge, adjacent land owners could not do improvements to their own land because of the deer that are practically non-existent anymore. Personally, I think the word "conservation" is a bit too long as I'm thinking the first three letters describes what's happening here much more accurately. But, look on the bright side, maybe we can be the next big TV show, "Welcome to the Wahkiakum Co. Swamp" a place where people used to live.

OUT OF THE PAST--On the first day of November 1963, which was a rainy Friday, Krist Pedersen took his youngest son, Marshall, his father-in-law, Ralph Everest and friend, Kenny Sorensen, on a trip over KM and headed to Naselle. Once there, they watched the Mules beat the Comets and bring home the KM Trophy after a 27 to 0 score. Everyone on the east side of the hill was mighty happy about that outcome! Not feeling so great however, were Art Wright, Vernon Baker, S. Petersen, and Lilia Bunn as they all had to go to the hospital due to various ailments, so Grandma got busy and sent them some cards and paid them a visit one day as well. She did that in between attending a Dorcas meeting, Harmony Club meeting, Rebekah's meeting, cleaning the Congregational Church for the services for Walter Irving that Saturday, (which was the largest the church had ever seen), going to Rosburg with Mayme Johnson and Mrs. Leonie Olson for a special lodge meeting, then attending the church fund meeting, then to Halloways' for a Stewardship tea, a funeral for Arthur Oakes who passed away suddenly while doing yard work, and then to Grange, not to mention baking three loaves of bread, along with five loaves of fruit cake and cookies in between housework and getting all the Christmas shopping done. Grandma Everest was a busy lady indeed during the first part of November! The month began wet but it was interlaced with a couple of nice dry fall days in between rain systems. All this according to my Grandma Elsie Everest's diaries.