Happy New Year to one and all

THIS IS IT--Here we are, at the end of another year, and we will be saying goodbye to 2015 tonight! As I begin writing this column I can hardly believe this year is just about over! For those of you going out to celebrate the end of 2015 and welcome in 2016, we hope you have a fun time at your New Year's Eve celebration as well as a safe one!

Forecasters, at this point in time, are predicting several nights of freezing temperatures so just in case they're right, be extra vigilant on these damp roadways, lest they be icy and super slick! Afterall, winter did officially begin last week, so anything is possible!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Dec. 31-Jan. 6, are Duncan Cruickshank, Bob Stewart, Trynity Mendez, John Hoven, Greg Bain, Jim Blain, Mary Gustafson, Jessica Moore, Charlene Montgomery, Joe Montgomery, Brooke Luthi, Robbie Kerstetter, Jaxon Hoven, Taleah Wallin, Adele Whittle, Stephanie Crouse, Scott McClain, Becky Elliott and Renee Rose. Celebrating anniversaries this coming week are Milli and Jon Elven and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bigler. Enjoy your special days everybody!

SK. GRANGERS--Skamokawa Grange #425 meets on the first and third Tuesdays of the month with their first meeting on Jan. 5 and the second one will be Jan. 19. David Blalock is the acting president, so for further information, you can contact him at 360-747-8040 or Tom Blalock at 795-8729.

MULES BB--The boys basketball team will be playing in Onalaska Jan. 5 and their first home game of the new year will be Thursday, January 7 against Toledo. The Lady Mules will have their first three games of the year away, playing Illwaco on Jan. 2, Onalaska on Jan. 6 and Toledo on Jan 8, with their first home game of the year being held on Jan. 13 against Toutle Lake. Here's to some great success for these teams.

MIDDLE SCHOOL--The John Thomas Middle School basketball players are doing a lot of traveling in January, as all their games are away the entire month, starting with Toutle Lake on Jan. 13, then Winlcok Jan. 14, Napavine Jan. 20, Toledo Jan 21 and Onalaska Jan 25. Their one home game will be on February first before another four games away. Here's to a good season and safe travels for the team!

SONS OF NORWAY--A reminder to all members of the Sons of Norway, their first meeting of the new year will be held on Jan 6 at 7 p.m., at the Norse Hall on Puget Island. Also, bingo is held in the bottom level of the hall on the second Saturday of the month at 6 p.m., doors are open at 5:30.

NEXT SATURDAY--Members of the WHS Class of 1967 are invited to meet for lunch on January 9 at 1 p.m., in Longview at the Azteca Restaurant on Washington Way. Here's to decent weather and road condtions and a good turnout so we can catch up on all our classmates holiday doings and plans for the coming year!

EARLY THIS YEAR--If you love crab and oysters, don't forget that the crab feed in Rosburg will be held on January 23 this year, rather than in March, so be sure to contact your usual people and get those tickets today! You can call Dale Rose at 465-2234, Ken Elliott at 465-2271 or Nick Nikkila at 465-2595 to secure your tickets, which are $28 each. There are always some great prizes that are raffled off as well, so bring a few extra bucks for that. This annual event is sponsored by the American Legion Deep River Post #111 and is always a lot of fun, especially when the crowd joins in for the all time favorite, chicken dance!

SAYING OUR PRAYERS--We've had an up and down holiday season with various folks having to go to the hospital, and we want to send everyone a "hope you're doing better" wish, and we'll be thinking of you and saying our prayers as well on your behalf. One of our local guys, Jim Koziel had to make one of those hospital trips recently but according to wife Betty, he is doing much better now so that was good to hear. With continued therapy and all of our prayers, he's sure to be back to his old self real soon!

My brother, Ralph Pedersen is also one of those who had to make a trip or two to the hospital this month, so we're glad he's home and recovering as well, but a few extra prayers said in his behalf would surely be appreciated. We are hoping this new knee of his will be working like it's supposed to real soon with no other hiccups in his recovery!

I got a call from Ron Rust in Alaska and he's sure had a time of it lately as he found out that if you're diabetic, you should not soak your feet in Epsom Salts. It seems he came close to losing his foot after doing so, and wound up having to be flown out to a hospital for treatment, so we certainly wish him a full recovery from what was nearly a real catastrophe for him. He also wanted me to help spread the word about that warning that is on the E.S. box, and a reminder to be sure to read the entire label on any and all products before using them, even ones which seem fairly harmless.

HOLIDAY ROUND UP--It was a pretty special Christmas in many respects and one of those was the fact that there was a full moon on Christmas Day, which will not happen again until 2034. And for that to happen again and on a Friday to boot, well, that's so far out there, I won't have to worry about seeing it!

With Christmas Eve on a Thursday and Christmas Day on a Friday, many folks carried on family gatherings into the weekend, so there were multiple days of "food aplenty" and lots of good cheer throughout their homes. One of those families was that of Dolly Hartley as kids, grandkids and great grandkids enjoyed three days of meeting up with various family members, and some of them included both of Dolly's daughters, Sherry McCormack and Sharon Buennagel and their families. Extended family and friends getting to share in the holiday feast included Mary Wingate (Buennagel) and Bill and Kay Chamberlain.

David and Connie Shrum traveled to Idaho for the holidays and spent the time there with Connie's Mom, who had spent a few days here in our area the week before. While they were over this way, Connie's brother and his family came down from Seattle and joined them for an early Christmas dinner and gathering here.

Ron and Elaine Britt had several of their family members for dinner, which included sons Logan (Rochelle) and Lance, Shannon and little Elle Britt. This was little Elle's first Christmas, so that's always special and I'm sure the seven month old was fascinated by everything and everybody at Christmas this year!

Ralph and Peggy Pedersen had a mixed holiday as part of it was spent in the ER but luckily it was only for a few hours and not another overnighter, or longer stay, so the two enjoyed sons Tim (Margi) and Mark (Rhonda) and all the great conversations and good food that came along with them over the holidays!

Frank and Carolyn Pedersen had a house full when their three kids, Lor (Steve), Cindi (Jeff) and Scott (Jenny) and their sons, Kristian and Nathan were over for a big holiday BBQ, as Frank put a big roast on the spit for a slow-roasted, tasty main dish. With the hosts also attending family gatherings for Carolyn's side of the family and church doings too, the couple (and their kids) were plenty busy over the holiday season.

Kyle Sechler and Suzy Ekstrom treated the family to a fun Christmas Eve, complete with fancy foods and fun games. One of those games included a gift swap, which had Kyle's Mother, Katie Sechler, getting to choose last, which meant she got to pick her favorite gift of all, so that worked out great for her. The young couple made this a "dress up" affair, and with Kyle's Dad opting to show up in a tuxedo, well, I'm guessing he got the vote for the best dressed award, if there was one!

The Pete Sechlers had a surf and turf Christmas Day dinner which was held after a wonderful morning of unwrapping presents and a nice brunch with all the kids and some of the Nollan family as well. Some of their gifts had been subject to an earlier unwrapping event, when the new puppy thought it was time to open presents! Oh well, a quick call to Grandma Kay to make sure of who got what, solved the problem and no one was the wiser!

Like many others this holiday season, making it easy seemed to be the choice of many, and John and Nicole McKinley were among those that opted for a nice quiet holiday, with dinner at Mom, Connie (Quin) Bassi's and then just enjoying the rest of the holiday by themselves along with their two kids. These less hectic plans are always nice I think, as often times holidays get so busy, that you only wind up exhausted and crabby, so easy and quiet is the way to go!

Out here in West Valley, we had a pretty easy Christmas ourselves, as on Christmas Eve we had a ham and chicken dinner (beings we'd all had our fill of turkey not all that long ago) and leftover chicken is always good and the ham makes for a great pot of soup later on. We were fortunate enough to have had three of our five kids here for dinner with the other two calling to wish us a Merry Christmas. Due to several people still having to work during the day on Christmas Eve, we got together later that evening, so showing up later on were Brandon and Debbie Chamberlain, Brian, Austin and Bryce Good, Lisa Sechler and Robin Robbins, so our dining room table was ringed with family as yet another Christmas feast came to a close.

So, how many family and friends did you have over for a holiday feast? Give me a call and I'll announce the host/hostess with the most.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS--It's that time of year when many folks make those NY resolutions and many of them involve eating better and losing weight, while others are vowing to work less and enjoy life more, while some will even be working more to save up for something they really want, so while we may not always have the same goals in the coming year, I think one thing we could all share that would make things better, is to just be a kind person. If there were ever to be an epidemic of sorts, wouldn't an epidemic of kindness be a great one to experience? Here's to a kinder world in 2016!

OUT OF THE PAST--The last couple of days of 1950 saw warmer than usual temperatures, which State Rep. Julia Butler Hansen commented on, as she discovered ripe and juicy raspberries growing in her garden, along with violets, primroses and snapdragons. The William Canham family said that spring flowers were growing at his place on Puget Island and even his Easter Lily was in full bloom. In the telephone office, Grandma Elsie worked for Flora Tonkin as her father had suffered a heart attack on Dec. 30. The following day, the Everests celebrated 37 years of marriage and her sister, Jean, celebrated 24 years of marriage to her husband, Frank Shane. It was a busy night on the board of the telephone office; it seems the folks at the "drinking parties" were in high spirits and making lots of calls at the end of this year! With the closing of the year, the nice weather that they'd had for some time, came to an end, as the rains began late that night and they said hello to a wet 1951. This according to Grandma Elsie Everest's diary.