Lions Club food drive is this Saturday

HALF AND HALF--We had quite a variety of weather at the end of last week, as it was absolutely gorgeous last Friday, with t-shirt type weather and absolutely horrible on Saturday, which brought out the boots and umbrellas! Sunday morning wound up being pretty dry and decent but by afternoon, it was back to clouds and drizzle, so it was one of those half and half days.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Nov. 10-16 are Ray Lindsey, Jonnie Knowles, Jeff Twiet, Jeff Hedges, Shannon Moore, Mark Helms, Ashley N. Helms, Pat Ohrberg, Ty Briscoe, Virgil Cothren, Roberta Trotter, Misty Holland, Hap Anderson, Lynda Jensen, James Pedersen, Julianne Bell and Luann Davison. Hope all your birthdays get to be celebrated to the max!

Belated birthday wishes to Elaine Britt, who celebrated her special day last Friday, and a belated birthday to Kaden Chevalier who turned 21, quite the big milestone birthday for him, and for his grandma, Kerrie McNally, as he was her very first grandson. My how they grow up!

VETERANS DAY/SCHOOL ASSEMBLY--This Friday is Veterans Day, but there will be a ceremony held on Thursday, today, Nov. 10, to honor them at the Wahkiakun High School gym. This year the WHS Leadership team will be there to highlight the services of three local veterans, who are also longtime county residents, who served in World War II and the Korean War and they are: Tom Irving, Ralph Kenner and Ralph Keyser. Many locals have served and all who did are special, so don't forget to hug a Vet as we certainly appreciate their service to our country.

FRIDAY MOVIE--This week's movie at the Cathlamet Community Center will be a great show for kids as Buzz Lightyear continues on in this third part in the series with all his animated friends. The movie starts at 7 p.m., and parents are reminded that anyone under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Besides, this movie is great fun for all ages, so enjoy the free movie; can't get a cheaper night out than that!

THINKING OF THEM--If you happen to find yourself in the Yakima area on Friday, be sure to check out our Lady Mules as they are in the Volleyball tournament over there that evening. We'll be rooting them on from here so, go Lady Mules go! Also, kudos to them for being the 2B State Academic Champions in volleyball. What a fantastic accomplishment! Also Makenzie Anderson and Savannah Burdick were given Sportsmanship Awards during the playoff games. Great players and great students; a winning combination right there!

WALK-N-KNOCK--The Lions Club annual Walk-n-Knock food drive is underway this Saturday, Nov. 12, so we hope you'll have a bag of groceries set out on your porch for them. According to Lions Club spokesperson, Carol McClain, the food will then be divided between the three local food banks. The west end is also collecting food that day, but all of their food will go to the Johnson Park Food Pantry. Remember, all store bought canned items are taken, as well as all non-perishable items are welcome but no fresh veggies or fruits, or home canned goods are accepted. Please have your bag on your porch this Saturday morning and help this great group continue to do their good works for our community.

CALENDARS ARE IN--In case you didn't pre-order your Lions Club 2017 Calendars, you can still get one by sending your check to the Wahkiakum Lions Club at P.O. Box 214, Skamokawa, WA 98647. Calendars are $8 each and make a great Christmas gift to those hard to buy for folks on your list!

BINGO--Why not head over to the Norse Hall Saturday evening, the 12th, and treat yourself to some Norwegian goodies that they will have for sale, along with playing some rounds of bingo? Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with the games beginning at 6. Maybe you can win one of the cash prizes, but if not, you'll have had some fun and supported yet another great group of people! Plus, the Sons of Norway gals and guys will be happy to stock you up on pre-made lefse or just the lefse rounds, or some fresh made fattigman or krumkake. You can also use this time to order some for a later date, as the holidays are fast approaching and they make a wonderful addition to any menu.

GREAT MUSIC--If you're more into music than bingo, why not zip down to the Duck Inn this Saturday night and take in "The King Brothers" as once again, the great band, complete with saxophone is back in the lounge! The band starts earlier than other bands and quits earlier too, so don't miss out on these great guys and all their older rock music.

MEMORIAL ON SUNDAY--For all of you who knew Robin (Pee-Wee) Robbins, this Sunday, Nov. 13, a celebration of life potluck will be held at the Eagles in Longview, 1526 12th Ave. at 1 p.m., and bring along something to share.

ST. JAMES BAZAAR--The following Saturday, November 19, the Christmas spirit will be in full swing at St. James Family Center, located at 1134 Columbia Street in Cathlamet, as their annual bazaar will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The bazaar will have many local vendors with everything from walking sticks to jewelry and from soaps to musical CD's and everything in between. We hope you can check it all out!

One of the real fun parts of this event is the "Christmas Store" for kids under 12, as they get to shop for presents for their family members where everything will not exceed one dollar! Needless to say, no parents are allowed in the store, but volunteers will help your kids shop and get those gifts all wrapped up.

Take in some lunch there between the hours of 11:30 to 3:30, where they will serve hot dogs, chili, clam chowder and more, and also desserts and beverages. The usual Scandanavian goodies will be for sale as well, so don't miss out on those either, and you can snack on some while you listen to the music that will be going on from 10 to 4 by two musicians, Fred Carter and Kathleen Petersen, during two separate times.

They always have some great baskets to raffle off, and the drawing will be at 3:30, although you don't have to be present to win. All the monies raised from this event goes towards the St. James Family programs, so it's a very worthy cause. Mark "A Country Christmas" bazaar at St. James on your calendar right away, Nov. 19!

REDMEN HALL-- At the end of the month, beginning the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, Redmen Hall will be decked out in all its finery and filled with an array of local crafts and art by lots of local folks, so it will be a great way to kick off the holiday season. More on their festivities later, but don't miss out on this one of a kind shopping experience with musical guests throughout the holiday bazaar weekends leading up to Christmas. For more info, call 795-3007.

RECOGNIZED--Jason Rainey was named the September Employee of the Month at Swanson Bark and Wood Products in Longview. At the Employee Appreciation BBQ that was held, he was also recognized for a 49 percent increase in processed yards over the last year, as well as a 79 percent decrease in down time. Jason is a real go-getter and his bosses praise his "110 percent" work ethic. Way to go Jason!

RETURNS HOME--Mark Whitaker recently returned home after a trip to some interesting places. He just finished giving the very first Wilderness First Responder (WFR) courses in Greenland! The Campus Kujalleq Adventure Guide progam now has 14 new WFR certified students. Following Mark along on his journey via Facebook was fun. Mark posted some wonderful photos of the various vendor treats, like whale meat, seabirds and he mentioned some curry made from reindeer, so definitely not the typcial food that we find here, but pretty much the norm for there. His trip to the Greenland National Museum was certainly an eye-opener with all the wonderful cultural items there. It sounded like he had a great trip and adventure and the feeling of accomplishment of having completed this wonderful and successful training mission. Way to go Mark!

NORSE HALL--The guys and gals of the Sons of Norway, plus others, gathered last Thursday through Saturday at the Norse Hall and they cranked out a whole lot of lefse rounds and ready made lefse, along with sand bakkels, fattigman and krumkake. Boy, the place smelled good, but then with everything made with lots of butter and sugar, how could it not? It was great to see some new faces there who came to learn how to make the Norwegian pastries.

I got to meet our Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce head advertising gal, Paige Lake, so that was nice. We have often conversed via email, but had never met, so it was nice to put a face to all that information that comes across the computer regarding our community. I also met some other new faces and it's great to see them jumping in and getting involved in our area's many endeavors.

The Sons of Norway want me to remind you that if you have a child up to 10 years of age, they can come and see Santa and get a treat at the Norse Hall on Dec. 4 from 2 to 4 p.m. There will be coloring and cookie decorating and the usual fun time, so mark that on you calendar today.

DAD'S WEEKEND--Son, Pete Sechler enjoyed a great day with daughter, Tessa, over Dad's Weekend on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman. It was topped off with a huge win by the Cougars over Arizona, 69 to 7, so the massive crowd with all the Dads in it, were super happy. To top off the day, the father and daughter headed back to Seattle where Tessa got to check out some new wheels and enjoy her friends and family the next day.

GREAT JOB--Fellow classmate Greg Lloyd and his wife Cindy are making a special delivery to the hospital in Seattle. Cindy knits darling hats to give to the patients. From what Greg tells me, it looks like his wonderful wife has been very busy as they'll be taking about 100 of these knitted treasures to those who will truly treasure them What a sweet thing to do.

ANYBODY KNOW?--I posted a picture on Facebook that featured my Dad and me at a mini zoo that was once up along I-5 for many years and there were all kinds of people who remembered it. There was an elephant, camel and buffalo there amongst an array of other animals and the folks charged a modest fee mostly for the feed for the animals. We made several stops there back in the 50's and early 60's. Today, it is vacant land and the overpass where it was located reads "Park Road" but off the top of my head, I'm not sure where that is, but some think it may be close to the Mossyrock turn off. At any rate, does anybody know exactly where that is, and what the name of the petting zoo used to be? Curious minds want to know. Please give me a call at 795-3425 if you happen to know or have a clue as to how to find out about it; thanks!