Lots of Halloween events taking place on weekend

WILD ONE!--We sure had ourselves a nasty, wet and windy begining to the weekend, as Saturday was just horrible and by the evening, even worse. Many people lost power, which in our case, was caused by a big tree that came down and took out the overhead lines. Then more rain fell later on, after we had already recorded our 6-plus inches that day, so by morning, there was water over West Valley Road once again. For those of us who have lived here awhile, it's pretty normal but for others, it was a bit of a surprise! There was high water in all the normal places, like Covered Bridge Road, which should warrant a "do not attempt to drive thru standing water" reminder, as some folks tried it and got stranded and had to be rescued; not the way a person wants to end their evening! Kudos to all those crews, like the PUD, the County Road Crew and firefighters and ambulance crews, as they had a very busy weekend! We truly appreciate your hard work and dedication.

Thankfully Sunday only brought some showers off and on during the day, so the water slowly receded and after all the fog lifted on Monday morning, it was good to see the water still receding, ever so slowly, but with the sun shining, it was a great start to the work week. Here's hoping the drier forecast stays on track!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Oct. 26-November 1, are Hoby Thacker, Carol Blalock, Miley Montgomery, Nathaniel Norris, Calvin Grasseth, Christie L. Davis, Mike Wright, Tim Dickson, Maddisan Clar, Bobby Ferguson, Michael Nortrup and Maury Mooers. Hope you have wonderful birthday celebrations. Belated birthday wishes to Elizabeth Dahlen who celebrated her special day this past Monday. Those celebrating their anniversaries this week are Ty and Jennifer Norris and Jack and Gwen Gorley. Enjoy your special days!

MULES--This Friday night the Wahkiakum Mules football team will play their last home game against Toutle Lake, so we wish them a great game and hope they get to wow the home crowd. Varsity games being at 7 p.m. Go Mules! Congratulations on a game well played last week.

As a reminder, if there is need for a tie breaker game, it will happen on Oct. 30 and then on Nov. 3, the crossover game is to be determined.

FREE MOVIE--Also on Oct. 27, there will be another free movie at the Community Center in Cathlamet, but this is rated PG-13 and is said to be an adult comedy, so this one probably isn't for the younger folks. As usual, there will be free popcorn and it begins at 7 p.m.

HAUNTED HOUSE--This weekend the Haunted House will be open Friday through Sunday, with hours being from 7 to 11 p.m. the first two nights, and on Sunday, it will be open from 6 to 9. Remember, it's free to get in, but donations are gladly accepted and appreciated. A lot of work has gone into this Haunted House so I hope you'll reward the Rainey family by coming to see it!

CARNIVAL--Don't forget that the Halloween Carnival will take place this Saturday, Oct. 28, from 4 to 7 p.m., so if you have kids, this will be the place to be. There will be games, a costume contest, pumpkin carving contest and more, so don't miss it! Beings it ends at 7 p.m., you could then just head right over to the Haunted House and get to take part in both things. It should be a spookingly good time!

HALLOWEEN TIME--Halloween isn't really until Tuesday, but this weekend will be the time for the local businesses to hold their Halloween doings, so we hope you'll come out to support them. On Tuesday, we do hope you'll be extra careful when you're out and about, as little ones will be everywhere as they go from house to house and bagging up those Halloween treats! Many costumes can be dark, so hanging a glow stick around their necks would be a great way to spot them easier. Those parents who are able to, will try to go out while it is still light out, but with many working and the darkness falling so early, that may be impossible. Whatever you opt to do, we hope you'll have a spooktacular time!

BUSY WEEKEND--Just a quick reminder that there's a "Tidy the Town" project being put on this Saturday in Cathlamet by the Pioneer Church Association during the "National Make a Difference Day." This is put on across the country on the fourth Saturday of every October, so if you can lend a hand, meet at the Pioneer Church at 9 a.m., with tools and gloves in hand! For more information, contact Suzanne Holmes at 360-430-3771.

You too can make a difference here in Skamokawa, as just a short time of picking up trash along our highways or county roads near you would help us make for a more attractive area to visit. We would also like to encourage the use of litter bags in our vehicles so as not to be tempted to throw things out the window!

SKAMOKAWA GRANGE--The Skamokawa Grange will meet on Nov. 7 for the first of their monthly meetings but this is a special one, as this is their Election of Officers meeting. The meetings have been changed to an earlier time, so plan on attending 5:30 - 7 p.m. All members are urged to attend. If you need to contact someone about the activities or rental of the grange, contact Grange Master Levi Helms at 360-431-9506.

LIONS CLUB/FOOD BANKS--It's that time of year when local food banks really get hit hard, so if at all possible, please donate something to them when you can. An easy way to donate is just to fill a bag with groceries, and on the first Saturday of November, the Lions Club holds their annual food drive, so they'd come by and pick it up. How easy is that? You can just sit the bag out on the porch in the morning if it's not raining! To be sure that they come to your house, you can call Carol McClain at 360-795-3337.

THINKING OF THEM--One of our former residents, Laurie Miller has really been through a lot lately, as she had lost the hearing in one ear, which is certainly disconcerting, and we'd hoped she'd be better by now. Suddenly however, she started losing the hearing to her other ear, with no real reason yet discovered. For someone who has been a hard worker, and an avid singer at many, many events, this is just heartbreaking news. We wish that the doctors find out what's really going on with her and we want to send her our most caring wishes for her complete healing!

Henry Blankenship took a trip to the hospital recently and we were happy to hear he was back home again and doing alright. Same goes for Jerry DeBriae Sr., so we hope these two will stay away from the doctors and hospitals for some time now! We've heard of several who have come down with a bug and we don't wish that on anybody, so we hope all of you are feeling much better now. Speaking of bugs, did you know that you can prevent the flu bug from getting you, and it's as easy as stopping by our local pharmacy, don't delay, get your flu shot today!

DISASTER PREP--Last week's Eagle had a great, and timely, article in regards to Emergency Flood Instructions. I hope you read it, saved it and are taking this information to heart, as we are just in the beginning of the nasty weather, and this information is very relevent to our local area. For those of us who have lived here for many years, this is pretty much common knowledge and a no brainer, but still a good reminder for what to do. For those of you who are relatively new, then this is something that you may want to be sure to incorporate at your house and in your plans. It used to be that organizations pushed for at least three days of emergency food and supplies, but now it's encouraging everyone to have at least five days of supplies. One never knows how big of a weather event it could be, or how wide spread, so it makes sense to have more things on hand, than less. Emergency crews cannot reach everyone at once and so to expect instant fixes in water or electricity supplies, is just not realistic if there is a county wide disaster. So, prepare for the worst and hope for the best!

There are a few things that you might not think about when preparing your list of food items to have on hand. One thing you should think about is if we had an earthquake, what would happen to all your homemade canned foods, which are in jars. Recently a lady was boasting about how much she had on hand, but after an earthquake hit and she did a check in her safe place for emergency food supplies, she'd found her jars had come off the shelves and most of it had been destroyed. So, if you're counting on having food in an emergency and they are in glass jars, you need to build a type of shelving that would prevent jars from smacking against each other and/or falling off of shelves. Have you ever seen those holiday boxes with the dividers in them for glass bulbs? Well, those sorts of containers would be a great place for putting those glass canned food jars!

Food items to think about to have on hand, would be dried fruit, granola/protein bars, trail mix, sports drinks, canned juices, canned soups that are ready to eat, chili, crackers of various kinds, peanut butter, canned fruit & veggies, canned fish (tuna) and meat (chicken or Spam), non-perishable milk, baby formula and food if you have children, although adults could eat it too if need be, and then a couple of things you might not have thought of, like multi-vitamins to help keep you boosted up, and some spices, like salt and pepper, that could make a plain meal just a little more bearable. A big deal to have on hand is water, as you'll need it to keep hydrated and for sanitary reasons. With that in mind, a porta-potty and toilet paper and feminine products would be good to have on hand as well.

We often take for granted all the things we use and need on a daily basis, but once you have no access to it, you'll wish you'd have stocked up and have had it on hand. Now is the time to take steps to be as prepared as possible. Good luck on those emergency kits and let's hope we never have to use them!