Happy Mother's Day to one and all

OFF AND ON--As this work week begins, it's been an off and on day for rain and sunshine, as it depends on where you were and at what time of the day you were there as to whether or not you were steaming in your car or pulling the hood up on your coat to keep from getting wet. This past weekend saw torrential downpours which made travelling quite dangerous and made staying home a real big relief. We may be drying out a bit they say and I'm sure we'd all enjoy that as this rain/sunshine mix has made the grass grow so fast that it's hard to keep up the lawn mowing chores!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from May 8-14 are Stan Thacker, Tami Bosch, Lori Parke, Rosalie Webb, Christeena Bassi, Ashleigh Montgomery, Pat Thacker, Evan Quigley, Bryce McClain, Vicki Bergseng, Sage Miller, Jennifer Hanigan, Kay Cochran, Ashley Jorgensen, Merecedes Pedersen, Leslie Monroe and Pete Sechler. Hope your birthdays are extra special this year.

Happy Anniversary wishes this week go out to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Stewart, Frank and Carolyn Pedersen and John and Sharon Buennagel who will be celebrating 20 years together this week, so an extra special anniversary wish goes out to them.

Adding to the list of anniversaries for next year are Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Pedersen, oldest son of Mark Pedersen, who got married last Friday in California, so we welcome new family member, Annie, to our midst. Also, Heidi Nollan got married last weekend so we offer her and her new hubby a hearty congratulations.

HAPPENING TODAY--The ribbon cutting for the Dahlia House is happening this evening at 5 p.m., so if you'd like to check out the new B & B in the area, then you should head to 1919 Pillar Rock Road in Rosburg. Brian and Linda Elliott have done a marvelous job of renovating this grand old house and I'm sure you'd love to find yourself sitting on their lawn overlooking the Columbia River on a sunny day, so if you can, go check it out! Light refreshments are being served I'm told.

BIG DAY--It's Mother's Day this Sunday, so we hope you guys have made plans to take your Mom, or wife or special lady in your life out to dinner or bring her flowers or something, as we don't want you to wind up in the doghouse! Danny Silverman, owner and operator of the Skamokawa Nursery on Steamboat Slough, will have a gorgeous array of plants for you to choose from. You might also want to go and see Sue Kuller, of Kullerful Bokuets in Cathlamet, and don't forget the local eateries when you think about going out to dinner. Whatever you do, here's wishing all the ladies a Happy Mother's Day!

THINKING OF THEM--I heard that Hoby Thacker wound up taking a spill and has a broken leg, so we certainly want to wish him a speedy recovery. His daughter, Linda, wound up having knee surgery so she and her Dad were in the hospital at the same time, and we hope she recovers quickly as well. I saw Harley Codd the other day and I was glad to see that he was out of the hospital after an ambulance ride there recently. Dena Friddle is still in ICU and we want her to know we are thinking about her and wishing her the best. We hope everyone who's been feeling bum lately is on the mend and we send our heartiest get well wishes to all of you.

GATHERING--Family and friends of John Lindsey packed the Skamokawa Fire House recently as they gathered together in memory of John Lindsey. After everyone was done sampling the large array of tasty foods, a brief speech was given by his wife, Elaine, thanking everyone there for coming and remembering John. If you were unable to attend the gathering but you'd like to remember John in a special way, maybe a donation to the Skamokawa Fire Dept. in care of Duncan Cruickshank at P.O. Box 233, Skamokawa 98647 would be a kind gesture and much appreciated.

SYMPATHIES--We want to offer our sympathies to the familes of Wayne Helms and Mike Preston, who both passed away recently. I had known Wayne since we were both teenagers and was surprised when I moved to Skamokawa and found him living in this area. Our condolences to his wife, Annette, his three children and all their families. A celebration of life service was held on his behalf last weekend at the Inn at Skamokawa Landing.

Many of us locals were shocked to hear of Mike Preston's passing recently. While his main home base was in Arizona these days, where he basked in the better weather in the winter, he still maintained a residence here and loved to spend countless hours fishing in our area and sharing stories with us. Mike had been telling us of his recent life style changes which resulted in him losing a lot of weight and was looking goood, so I think that's why his death came as such a surprise to us. He was always a real nice guy and will be missed around here. Our sympathies to his entire family.

BINGO ON SATURDAY--Every second Saturday of the month, the Sons of Norway members hold Bingo at the Norse Hall on Puget Island. They invite all of you to come and play for cash prizes and purchase a snack and have a fun evening with your fellow friends and neighbors. The doors open at 5:30 p.m.

NO MEETING--Just a reminder to all Skamokawa grangers and friends of the grange, that we will not be having our regular scheduled meeting this coming Monday, May 12, due to a scheduling conflict. Our next meeting will be held towards the end of the month on May 26; potluck at 6:30 and meeting at 7 p.m.

RUN--The annual Great White-tail run will take place next Saturday, May 17, so all you energetic runners can take part in either the 5k or 10k run that day. This is really a special event this year as it is the 30th annual run, which is sponsored by the Wahkiakum 4-H group. If you haven't already registered, you can do so the day of the run at the Skamokawa Vista Park at 8:30 a.m. The run begins at 10 a.m.

NOT LONG NOW--The way this month is flying by, it won't be long until the Rods and Reels Car Show will take place at the Wahkiakum Fairgrounds, so all of you who want to enter cars need to be getting those applications in and all of you who just like to see a couple hundred gorgeous cars in one place, need to be keeping the date, May 31st, in mind and on your calendars. As always, there will be a wide array of prize tables given away, so we hope you'll buy lots of tickets, put them in the bucket with the corresponding prize table you'd like to win and maybe you will come out a big winner! This year there is a very unique tent set up as it looks like an older Volkswagon bus. This blue and white VW replica tent is really neat looking and you'd be the talk of the campground if you went camping in this! As usual, there are many great prizes which include a big screen TV, a self-propelled lawn mower, a tablet for all the computer whizzes out there, blown glass items by our local artisans, Kyle Gribskov and Treasure Collupy, a stay at the Skamokawa resort, and handmade stained glass and wooden items by Ray and Judy Danielsen and more, so come on down and check them out! We hope we'll have a wonderful sunny day so you can enjoy the great cars, great music and the food, with strawberry shortcake available for a small additional fee provided by the owners and operators of Sharon's Pizza, with all monies going towards the Dollars for Scholars scholarship funds for our high school seniors. If you'd like to donate something for this event and have not been asked, please call Lee at 360-430-4377 or give me a call at 795-3425.

VENDOR'S MARKET--We hope you've got June 28 marked on your calendar and are ready to do a little shopping that day, as the Skamokawa Grange is going to be the place to be to find some nice jewelry made by Pam Elliott, homemade pies by Kathleen Morgain of Twin Gables, some tasty jams and things from Islands End Farm operated by the Carol Carver/George Exum family and many gifts of lavendar from Rainy Day Artistry owner, Jill Merrill as well as others. We'd like even more, as tables are only $10 and you can be in the comfort of the grange hall and not out in the elements with a kitchen and restrooms at your disposal so that makes it quite handy. The Sk. United Methodist Church is also having a rummage sale, so you can walk across the bridge and shop there as well. That is also the Puget Island garage and yard sale day, so you can "shop 'till you drop" that day!

LIMITED TIME--There have been several folks who are not happy with so many conflicting events going on throughout the county but with only four weekends a month, there is just a real limited time frame to hold them all, so unfortunately they do overlap. There is always the hope that they aren't the same kind of event, so that they will draw different people and groups. Sometimes however, one has such varied interests that they'd like to attend several of these "same day" things and they just have to choose which one they want to go to the most. For the volunteers who work with several different organizations, it's really a challenge to try and "do it all" and while they'd like to help them all out, they can't be everywhere at once either. With that being said, if you are bored and have nothing to do, please think about calling one of the groups you're interested in and lend a helping hand with some of your time and energy. Trust me, there is certainly no such thing as "nothing to do" in this area!