Only one week left to finish that shopping!

CALMER--After last week ended with such windy, wild weather, we can only hope that this week is a bit quieter and calmer, as falling trees and power outages are not something we want to endure again. Many of us were lucky and kept our power on in spite of several power "bumps" but others on Puget Island or in the Cathlamet or west of here, endured some outages. The road to Longview was littered with limbs and one can see the extensive damage to the guardrails as large trees came down and blocked the road and got the guardrails on both sides of it; definitely not a day to be out and about! From what I can see, we'll get some rain this week but hopefully, no wind, as I'm sure everyone will be busy doing their last minute shopping as the countdown is on; just a week to go folks!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Dec. 18-24 are Jose Castillo, Alysha Twiet, Christa Hoven, John Hoven Jr., Riley Brown, Angel Brown, Kimmie Wright, Gwen Gorley, Linda Price, Ron Hendrickson, Wendy Lechner, Donna Olsen, Kristen Souvenir, Hillary Price, Jimmie Lou Cleveland and cousins Barbara Moore Johnson, Ron Clement and Sherry Stewart. Here's to all your birthday celebrations. Have a good one!

CALENDAR--Local artists Mike Rees and Judy Vandermaten have teamed up and have put out a small desk calendar which features a different picture of Wahkiakum County every month, so if you're looking for a unique item for someone, that would make a nice gift. The calendars are available at Tsuga Gallery for just $9 and the first picture features Redmen Hall, so we hope you'll check them out and maybe buy a few. Proceeds from this calendar benefit Tsuga Gallery.

GREAT GRAND-DAUGHTER VISITS--Ralph and Peggy Pedersen were quite pleased when grandson, Adam Pedersen, came from the East coast to visit them. Better yet, he also brought his daughter, one and a half year old Bailey, with him last Sunday, so the house was abounding with toys and coloring books and the sound of little feet running down the hallway. Adam was pretty brave bringing the little one out here all by himself, but with wife, Samantha expecting again in a couple months, it was the only option. He was quite proud that at the end of their very long airplane journey, which included a couple of stops along the way, the crew of the airplane thanked Miss Bailey for being the ideal passenger, as most people on the plane had no idea there was a toddler on board as she was good as gold and quiet as a mouse! Not only did she get to visit her great grandparents, but she saw her great, great Aunt Kay Chamberlain of Skamokawa and great, great Uncle Frank and Aunt Carolyn Pedersen of Longview. While the little miss can't talk a whole lot, she has been taught some sign language techniques as well as the "take a deep breath" technique, which helps diffuse an upsetting situation, so she definitely impressed all of the family members that day. Adam and Bailey left for their home in Virginia last Tuesday and I'm sure Momma Samantha will be overjoyed to have her baby back. The family hopes to be back with their latest addition during the first part of the year, so we will be tickled to see another little girl in pink pretty soon!

KAYAKING--There aren't a lot of days left to go kayaking this month, but if you're interested in a class or tour, be sure to contact Columbia River Kayaking at 360-747-1044 and see if they have something to your liking still. However, during their 2015 schedule, beginning in May, they will have all kinds of things going on, so you can check the full schedule on-line. If you find something you're interested in, be sure to book early as they get busy once the weather starts warming up. The Wilderness First Responder course will be held at the Skamokawa Grange again this year, so with that course scheduled for May 17-23, you might want to book early so that you get a $50 discount. There are many places to stay in the area, so you might want to check those out as well. Call the above number and they'll give you all the information you need to make your kayaking adventure in our area one that you'll enjoy and always remember.

RECAP--The Skamokawa Grange had a nice turnout to their free community dinner last Saturday. The big winner of the $300 basket was none other than Gene and Karen Healy of Puget Island, who bought tickets at the Wahkiakum County fair in August, so that certainly paid off for them. For those who know, Gene is my cousin, but "no", I did not draw the winning ticket so there was no favoritism there! According to Carol Blalock, it sounded like the basket of goodies was going to be shared amongst the family and other organizations, so that was a win, win situation for everybody! Congrats to the Healys!

SCHEDULES--Another year is upon us and if you're a group that is holding any fund raising events or just special events, we hope you've contacted the Chamber of Commerce in Cathlamet and submitted them to their calendar of events. The next big event that I know of that will be taking place in Skamokawa, is the Wahkiakum Fair Board's Valentine Diamond dinner which will be held in February and their main raffle item is a $600 diamond bracelet, so we hope you'll be buying tickets for that beauty soon. More details on all of that will be out later, but keep that in mind as it should be another wonderful steak dinner evening!

MULES--The Mules will be playing basketball in Napavine tonight, so we wish both the junior varsity and varsity teams good luck and safe traveling. JV games start at 5:45 p.m., with the varsity game following. After the game tonight, they will be taking a little break until the home game with Onalaska on Jan. 6. The Lady Mules will be playing Napavine at home tomorrow night, Dec. 19 and both the JV and varsity teams will be playing then. Good luck ladies! Their next games will be on the 26 & 27 for a Christmas tournament with varsity players only. Their first game of the new year will be at home against Onalaska on Jan. 7. Be sure to check with the school before you travel as there is always a possibility that schedules have changed at the last minute.

MORE LOSSES--One of my classmates, Noni Gilbertsen Meredith lost a cousin of hers recently, so we send her our sympathies, as well as to all the other family members of Eric (Richard) Gilbertsen, who passed away on Nov. 23 and whose services were held last Sunday, which would have been his 53rd birthday. I haven't seen him since he was a little boy as he played with his brothers in their family room covered in white carpeting. I was pretty amazed that his mother, Andrea, had the courage to put white carepting anywhere with several little boys in the household! It's tough to have family members who pass away too early and it's made even harder it seems when they leave you during the holidays, but it helps to think of the good times and happy memories, as those good times will live on in our hearts forever. Again, our condolences to the Gilbertsen family.

Since last week, I did see where the services for Inez Danielsen have been decided and will be held Jan. 24 at the Norse Hall at 1 p.m. She leaves behind her son, Raymond (Judy) of Cathlamet and a daughter, Virginia (Fred) Ostling as well as a brother, Bob Ohrberg, both of Puget Island as well as all those extended family members and so they all have our deepest sympathies.

PATIENCE--As we enter in to this last week before Christmas, I would urge everyone to practice patience and extreme care when traveling, as often folks are in a hurry to get things done, and you know how the old saying goes: "The hurrier you go, the behinder you get!", so while we'd like to get there fast, you may not get there at all if you drive too fast or pass when you shouldn't! T'is the week to take a deep breath, calm down and do what you need to do with patience and understanding' a little kindness towards others while shopping, and we'll all enjoy the holidays a whole lot more!

EARLY--Beings we will have early deadlines next week, be sure to call me by Sunday if you'd like to include any news or announcements in my column next week as I'll be turning it in early on Monday morning. And of course, if you need to put an ad or anything else put in the paper, you should have it in as early as possible on Monday as well.

OUT OF THE PAST--This same week back in 1944, the first couple of days were wet and foggy but then it cleard up but got quite cold. The war news was bad and it seemed hard to get into the Christmas spirit with a war raging on overseas. Luckily, by the end of the week, the news had improved and that good news came just in time for Christmas. On Dec. 19, Norma Pedersen married Jay Hall in San Pedro, CA. A couple of days later, her Dad, Jonas Pedersen of Puget Island, stopped by the Everests to give them some lutefisk, which they planned on having for Christmas dinner. Stopping by the telephone office was Irwin Anderson who was in the Army and he operated a switch board just like the Everests. George Doumit came by and they bid him good-bye, back to the military I am guessing. The telephone office was busy and got busier as the days got closer to Christmas and unfortunately, Grandpa Ralph Everest came down ill, so both daughters, Carol and Marian, helped fill in for him and they took turns tending to holiday things while the others worked. On Dec. 24 it was almost like having a white Christmas because the frost was so thick. On this night, Jean Irving Bussone had a baby girl. Krist Pedersen took sons Ralph and Frank to the movies, and then that evening the Everests opened gifts with daughter Carol and the rest of the Krist Pedersen family, although one year old David wasn't feeling so great and so he slept through it all. Daughter Marian came by fairly late to visit for a bit as husband, Leon Healy was home with the sleeping children. Later on the Pedersen family all headed over to the Jonas Pedersen household as all the family was gathering there on Welcome Slough that evening.

In 1949 the week began with snow and "beastly cold" weather. The Everests went to the show, "Lost Boundaries" which they thought was good, and then had dinner at Jim's Cafe. Mrs. Bunn stopped by with the girls and later on Ruby Everest and daughter Patty were there as well. Later on they went to the school musical which was very nice Grandma said. Everyone was busy baking, wrapping presents and getting ready for Christmas. However, disaster struck on Dec. 23, when the Wiseway building in downtown Cathlamet burned after a furnace exploded. The telephone office and apartment where the Everests were was soon consumed in smoke and water was leaking from the attic from fire fighters efforts and they pulled hoses through the office as well and so there was much soot and and stench to deal with for all that were in those offices. Cathlamet Sheriff Harry Hayes contacted the Kelso Fire department via short wave radio and they came to help and brought more gas masks to use because of the heavy smoke. The fire was called in by Douglas Frick and George Witham who operated the Wiseway Tavern. Hazel's Hair Salon, operated by Hazel Curtis, had extensive damage done to it and the sport store operated by George Kozikar was also heavily damaged. While there was a lot of smoke damage at the telephone office and liquor store, at least there was no fire damage. It was a late night as there was much cleaning to do before anyone could even go to bed, and everyone was tired, dirty and saddened but glad things weren't worse. However, Christmas Eve was spent cleaning as water had leaked on the telephone board and it was quite a mess. Luckily Mrs. Kapron came to help Grandma Everest, along with the family members. It was a dirty, dirty job and all were exhausted after a couple of days of that.

In 1964, it started out a very chilly 21 degrees but by nightfall, it started to snow and it was a very white world on Dec. 19. There wasn't any Dorcas meeting that evening, but not because of the weather, but because little David Nelson was sick. There were many accidents due to the weather those couple of days. Grandpa Ralph Everest was pretty thrilled as he got a nice bonus check from the bank where he worked part time. On Dec. 20, it was a very sad day, as Elva Mast, one of Grandma Everest's dearest friends, passed away in a Seattle hospital. By Dec. 22, it had warmed up and rained and floods abounded with Oregon having to be declared a disaster area. Thousands were homeless due to the raging rivers. On Christmas Eve, Grandma walked with neighbor, Mrs. Kendall up to the Congregational Church where they attended the services of their long time friend, Elva. She was just 59. Rev. David Nelson officiated with Mrs. Nelson as organist. Pallbearers were Leon Healy, Jerry Curtis, C.R. Kerstetter, Arnet Danielsen, Dale Dasch and Arnold Johnson. Honorary pallbearers were Ralph Everest, John West, Alvin Robbins, Henry Boege, Denny Noonan and K.O. Lawrence. All this from the diaries of my Grandma Elsie Everest.