Welcome to new mail carrier, Shelby Hoiland

SOME GOOD/SOME BAD--Thank goodness we had a nice day on Saturday after some morning clouds, as it made the Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt a big hit, and all the doings at the Wahkiakum County Fairgrounds were much more enjoyable as well. With my weather app saying snow was due, I was a bit shocked, but by golly, many areas wound up with white on Monday morning; yikes! Let's hope that's the end of the winter weather. For now, it sounds like we are going to have a pretty soggy week ahead.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from April 5-11 are Janet Bryan, Charles Buennagel, Kylie Thacker, Tim Parker, Wendy Westover, Janna Doumit, Trygve Gilbertson, Chris Doumit, Sara Havens Brown, Judy Wilde, Michaela Phillips, Whitley Wirkkala, Pat Dennis, Sylvia Blix Link, Patricia Shane Ballard and 67'er Keith Lawrence.

Belated birthday wishes to Donna McKie, who turned 92 this past week. She is the mother of our former classmate, Sharon, and the wife of the late Ernie McKie, who took our boys to State back in 1964 and brought home the First in State trophy! Also, a belated birthday wish goes out to John Ackerman, who turned 80 this past week, so we hope you both had wonderful birthdays.

Those celebrating anniversaries this coming week are Mr. and Mrs. Terry Bonny and Mr. and Mrs. Don Wages. Enjoy your special days everybody!

MOVIE NIGHT--Once again, it's Free Movie Night at the Community Center in Cathlamet this Friday, April 6, at 7 p.m., so you're invited to join them for the movie and the free popcorn. If you're not into popcorn, feel free to bring your own snacks. They are showing an adult drama this week, so keep that in mind. As always, all children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

GRANGE MEETING CHANGE--Due to the rental of the Skamokawa Grange Hall this week, the usual meeting time was changed, so the General Membership meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 10 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Everyone is encouraged to attend.

MUSEUM--The Wahkiakum County Historical Society, which operates the museum in Cathlamet, is in desperate need of more volunteers. The museum is slated to open the first weekend in May, and need people to man the museum on weekends from 1 to 4 p.m. They would appreciate any and all volunteers for this task. If they can't get anybody, it is possible that they will have to close, and we'd certainly not like that to happen. The three hours on a Saturday or a Sunday, isn't a real long commitment and you'd be surprised how much you'll learn while you're there.

Also, they are holding a clean up day prior to the May 5th opening, so if you can use a duster or a broom, please head down to the museum at 65 River Street on April 25, a Wednesday, where they will meet to do some cleaning at 1 p.m.

Remember, the museum has recently changed their mailing address to the above address, so any donations should be sent to it, rather than the former post office box that they had. Questions? Call 360-849-4353.

FOS--Everyone is invited to come and see the latest exhibit by the Friends of Skamokawa, "Creative Wood Designs Exhibit" beginning April 13 at the Redmen Hall/Central School in the River Life Interpretive Center on the second floor of the building, which will run until April 29, Thursday through Sunday 12 to 4 p.m. There will be an artist reception held on April 14 at 1 p.m., which will include some refreshments, as well as some antique items on loan from the Cowlitz Museum for you to check out. For more information, contact the FOS Event Co-ordinator, Pam Emery at 360-218-6504. If you're a wood worker and would like to have your works included in this exhibit, contact Pam right away!

FLEA MARKET--The monthly Flea Market will take place on April 14 at the Wahkiakum County Fairgrounds, so whether you'd like to set up your own table, which costs $10, or just browse all those other folks' tables, be sure to be there early for the good stuff. It is open from 9 to 3 on the second Saturday of each month.

BINGO--Also on that same day, but in the evening hours, you can head to the Norse Hall on Puget Island where the members of the Sons of Norway will hold their monthly bingo games. The doors open at 5:30 and the games begin at 6. Here's to you, being one of the lucky cash winners!

WELCOME--We'd like to welcome our new mail carrier, Shelby Hoiland to our area, as she's taking the place of long time mail carrier, Sharyl Iblings. Sharyl has been a great mail carrier and we will miss her after having her stop by our house for the past 28 years! Where has the time gone? We truly hope that Shelby enjoys this new demanding job, and will be with us for many years to come!

Kudos also to Lisa Mooers for exploring into our mail carrier past and putting together such a great article about our dedicated mail carriers in this area.

CONGRATULATIONS--Luke Sechler wound up being the recipient of an award at Ballard High School this past week and his parents, Pete and Katie Sechler, are truly proud of him; as is this Grandma! Every quarter, students are recognized as a "Student of the Quarter" for being a student who represents the positive, academic, activities, athletics, citzenship and other fine qualities of a student who attends their high school. An award ceremony was held at the school this past Friday morning to celebrate this achievment and we're happy this young scholar is leaving high school and going into WSU on a high note. "Congrats, Luke!"

SAD TIMES--We send our deepest sympathies to the family of Veronica Swift Gilbertson, who left this world all too early at the age of just 46. She leaves behind her husband, Rex and daughter, Brittany and son, Rafael, besides a lot of family members on the Swift side of her family. Her services will be held April 14 at 2 p.m., at Dowling Funeral Home on Broadway Street in Cathlamet.

This Saturday, at 11 a.m., there will be services held at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church on Puget Island for Verena Nepsund, who we all called Frana, who passed away last month on March 15 at the age of 94. We send our condolences to her daughter, Julie and son, Larry as well as her entire family, which also includes my great nephew, her grandson, Sean Pedersen.

COMING UP--The annual 4-H Great White Tail Run will be held Saturday, May 18 beginning at 10 a.m. Now is the time to register, which you can do either on their website or find a form at various businesses around town or go to the Extension Office in Cathlamet and they can help you out. Let's hope we have more sun than rain by the time this event takes place.

HOW WAS YOUR EASTER?--I trust you had a nice Easter in spite of the rain we had here. I saw various photos of great dinners, and wonderful egg hunts with the Kuljis family and their East Valley friends and family, and also those who were traveling here and there for that special holiday weekend. Some of those traveling away from home were the Pete Sechler family and some of the Nollan family and friends as well, as they enjoyed an entire weekend at White Pass where they had great ski conditions and some even tried cross-country skiing for the first time. Down here, we didn't do much, as my "go out" plans came to a halt when I wound up with a stomach bug and was just a couch potato the entire time! Here's hoping my next Easter will be a bit more enjoyable!

OUT OF THE PAST--This week back in 1948, the first day was pretty nice but after that, it was pretty much cold and wet, and yes, it was even so snowy in the hills around Cathlamet, that Crown Z was shut down. It was that very same day that the PUD went on strike! It was time for "Congratulations" as for the first time ever, the postal inspector found the post office in Altoona in abolsute perfect condition and gave the Postmaster there a rating of 100 percent! It is a rating that is rarely given out and the first time the Altoona office was given this honor. The postmaster working there at that time was Mrs. Vern Larson, or Eileen Burkebile Larson, who was a Wahkiakum High School graduate! That week, Ralph Pedersen turned 12 years old while his cousin, Patsy turned 19. His cousin, Gene Healy went over to his house on Puget Island to spend the night with him as there was no school the following day. The Everests gave their grandson a cowboy shirt for his birthday. Being the Pocohontas club was getting ready for the big district meeting, it was time for everybody to head to Ruby Hanigan's to make "favors" for the occasion. As always, they had a great time visiting while they saw to the task at hand.

This week back in 1958, the week began with really nice weather, followed by a couple of wet days, before ending with a couple more nice, "beautiful-lovely" days! On one of those nice days, Grandma Elsie headed to Astoria with Mayme Johnson, who was taking her brother down there, which meant a ride on the Megler Ferry. On the way back, they headed down to Seaview and Long Beach where they visited Mayme's sisters, Dorothy and Betty. On their way home, they opted to stop at Naselle and enjoy the new restaurant there, but it had been a long day so they were both quite tired when they arrived home at almost 8 p.m! A couple of days later, both of the Everests went with Mayme J. to Woodland to try out the Paradise Inn after church. Beings they were down that way, they went to check out the Swift Creek Dam project and even traveled a little farther than that, so once again, it was late getting home and all were tired. Grandpa Everest headed back out to the Andy Fudge's farm where he was taking care of their cows and after a trip out there with Mrs. Kapron, Grandma Everest thought he was turning into quite the cowboy! That week the state fisheries announced that the smelt totals from the Cowlitz River dippers, were over a million and a half pounds and was the biggest run they'd seen in 10 years. With so many smelt, the price for the fish dipped down to three cents a pound and even two cents in some places. The personal use dippers could dip from eight o'clock in the morning on Saturdays until eight a.m., the following Thursday, and each dipper could get a daily limit of 20 pounds. On April 11, Cork and Teed Prestegard were home from the service, and it was a special day as they had not seen each other for three years! The twin boys' parents, Archie and Ethel Prestegard of Puget Island, would be celebrating their 23rd birthdays the following Monday. All this according to my Grandma Elsie Everest's diaries.