Crab & Oyster Feed at Norse Hall on Saturday

IT'S WHITE--It depended on where you live as to how much snow you got this past Friday night and weekend, as some had half a foot or more, while some had a few inches, and some were saying they had just a "skiff" of snow and some had absolutely nothing, how lucky for them! With the snow adding up quickly in West Valley on Friday evening, the beauty of it was quickly fading when the heavy clumps started falling off the trees and onto power lines, which then slapped together and caused an outage. Freezing temperatures and outages are not a good combination, so I was happy that the PUD crew was able to get out here in just a short time and got things up and running again! I am sure we are all hoping that our snowy weather is gone soon so we can take advantage of all the events and important meetings coming up.

BIG DAY--Most of you are reading this on Thursday, Feb. 14 and we know what day that is: Valentine's Day of course! I do hope you'll have a wonderful day with special treats from your local store and flowers from your local florist and/or dinner at your favorite local restaurant. I certainly hope that we don't get a lot more snow so that it makes that "special day" a traveling nightmare instead. No matter what you do, or what the weather does, we wish you a "Happy Valentine's Day" today!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Feb. 14-20 are Mac Johnson, Connie Shrum, John Thompson, Vickie Reid, Chuck Parker, Dale Strueby, Chuck Parker, Terry Neilson, Diane Garrett, Jade Mahitka, Melody Brown, Angela Stensland, Sara Buennagel, Sherry McCormack, Derek Phipps, Angel Thompson, Milli Elven, Alex Vegvary, Selah Hoven, Logan Blain, Morgan Spieth, Blake Hess, Kris Baldwin, Mackenzie Pedersen and 67'er Pam Lazor. Belated birthday wishes to Mike Rust who recently turned 30.

Those celebrating anniversaries this week are Mr. and Mrs. Jerry DeBriae, David and Julie Black, Christie and Ray Davis, Steve and Stephanie Leitz and Mr. and Mrs. Dale Strueby. Enjoy your special days everybody!

THIS SATURDAY--All of you ticket holders for the annual Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerece Crab and Oyster Feed at the Norse Hall, had best be getting those appetites ready, as this Saturday, Feb. 16, is the big day! Be sure to come at the assigned time, as there are three different time slots and I hear they are pretty much full, so don't goof up and miss your spot at the table. Be sure to bring your own shuckers and crab cracking tools.Enjoy everybody! Be sure to bring a few extra bucks with you so you can buy some tickets for the wide array of raffle items, and good luck.

PORT 2 MEETING--Don't forget, all of you in Port District #2 are urged to attend the monthly meeting with the Port Commissioners this coming Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 5:30 p.m., at the Skamokawa United Methodist Church. This is the time to voice your opinion on whether you'd like to merge, or not merge, with Port District # 1, which controls the Elochoman Marina in Cathlamet.

NEXT SATURDAY--The Wahkiakum Fair Foundation will hold a live auction and dinner at the Wahkiakum Co. Fairgrounds, so head to the Youth Building and help support them on Feb. 23. I'm told by Lore Twiet that the preview of auction items and dinner will begin at 3 p.m., with the auction to begin at 4 p.m. Monies raised from this dinner/auction will go towards the support of the 2019 Challenge of Champions Bull Riding event that takes place in the arena at the fairgrounds. I'm told that the fair board applied for and received a grant for the purchase of more bleachers, so there will be ample seating for the big bull riding event that will take place on July 19. Mark that date on your calendars now so you don't miss it; everybody had a great time last year!

FEATURED ARTIST--For the next couple of months, our own local artist, Becky Ledtke, will be featured at the Tsuga Gallery with her wonderful stone jewelry creations. Unfortunately, the big "featured artist" night on Feb. 8, complete with music and other goodies, had to be cancelled due to the snow. However, you can still see all her work at the gallery so go on in and check it out.

Don't forget, you can come to the Pie and Cake Social at Tsuga Gallery on Feb. 22 from 1 to 4, and browse through the paintings, carvings and such, along with checking out Becky's creations, so it's a "win-win" day for sure!

GREAT TIME--Pete Sechler and his three sons, Kyle, Blake and Luke, met with nephew/cousin, Austin Good recently, in Park City, Utah, where they had a great time skiing, gabbing and checking out the sites. One of the things they discovered was an "Escape Room" which is all the rage these days, so the five of them were pumped to solve all the riddles, clues and puzzles "at the buzzer" and did indeed get to escape from the game room! Sounds a bit intense to me, but they all seemed to have a lot of fun doing it as well as enjoying zipping down the ski slopes at break neck speeds and chowing down at the favorite pizza places. Austin has recently moved to Utah for work, so when his uncle and cousins were coming to the area, it was a great opportunity to catch up with them and share some fun with family members.

AT LAST--This past week, a few members of the Class of 1967 came together and a had a bit of lunch and then took their long awaited Class picture up to Wahkiakum High School. Just a few years late! Nobody knows for sure why some classes were missing, and many weren't even aware that some were. George Borg said that "way back when," Bruno Studios used to take all the pictures and the large, framed class pictures that were hung in the hallways at the school, were actually done for free as a gift by the owner at that time. I'm pretty sure the class thought this would get done for them too, but it never did. At any rate, fast forward a lot of years, and a few questions directed toward the high school staff members and we found out that the class would have to contact the new studio in charge, Bell Studios, and pay to have this work done. So, it was decided that the Class of ' 67 would raise the money to have the class picture made up. I made a call out to classmates via this column/newspaper and on Facebook and via Email and ta-da, the class came through with the funding. A big Thank-You goes out to Elaine Rolf for taking the school annual to Bell Studios so they could scan the senior pictures, and then rounding up the frame that they required, plus managing the needed funds and bringing the finished picture down so that it could be taken to the office at WA-KI-HI. The framed class photo now goes before a board for approval and will hopefully be hanging in the hallway of our old alma mater real soon!

ANOTHER LOSS-- I heard from Bernice Tover Ellison in Seattle recently, and she gave me the sad news that her son, Glenn has passed away. He was her last remaining son and was just 65. Bernice just turned 93, and is still driving and selling Avon. Services will be held in Seattle on Feb. 23 at 1 p.m., at the Ballard First Lutheran Church on the corner of 65th and 20th. Our sincerest sympathies to Bernice and other members of the family, which has links to my own as my Aunt Bella Pedersen was married to Erling Ellison.

Also, our sympathies to the family of Katherine (Katie) Holland Harris, who passed away recently and was born in Cathlamet to Ole and Borghild Holland and was a WA-KI-HI graduate. Some of her family members currently live in our area. Her brothers were Gordon Holland and the late Max and Raymond Holland, and she had two sisters, June and Phyllis. She and her late husband, Frank, raised six children together. Her funeral Mass will take place on Feb. 15 at the Rose Catholic Church in Longview at 11 a.m.

SAD SITUATION--The confiscation of many animals due to neglect over on Puget Island recently has certainly been upsetting. It's always tough to see animals suffer and it's even harder when you realize that they were suffering even longer, while weeks went by as evidence was being compiled in order to prosecute the person responsible. I certainly wish there was a speedier way to deal with this sort of situation.

ANOTHER LESSON--Every time we have a weather event, it's another opportunity to see how prepared we were for it. So, how did you manage the snow, power outages, school closures, etc., that may have occurred where you were? I hope you all came through this with flying colors, but with stores getting slammed with folks waiting until the very last minute to get things, well, they need to realize that in many cases, there will be no warning, and no time to get to the store, so one should have all the supplies you need or want, on hand. Thus, the reason for Emergency Management people telling us to have two weeks worth of groceries and survival supplies on hand at all times. We all like fresh stuff, but that may not be possible, so instead of having real milk we might have to settle for powdered or canned, and so on, so we need to plan accordingly. It's not always easy to have everything we might need, but having some things is better than sitting back and having nothing.