The Wahkiakum County Fair starts today

WETNESS--As this week begins, we are seeing some dampness in West Valley, which is one of those "good/bad" things, depending on what you had planned. For many, the rain means an automatic watering of our lawns and flowers without doing it by hand, and the fact that our forests and surrounding areas got a drink and may have helped with the fire danger, well, that's always appreciated. If you had an outdoor event planned, it probably wasn't too welcomed and if you were still dealing with putting in your hay, well, the rain was truly not welcomed at all! However, as Monday arrived, we were back to sunshine so let's hope this trend continues through the week!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Aug. 16-21 are Kathleen Morgain, Shannon Britt, Ricky Montgomery Jr., Steve McClain, Jessica Schiek, Chip Perkins, Krista Blix McGuire, Tyna Zink, Toni Sue Ostling, Vivian Olsen, Kody Vik, Addy Hauff, Danny Tomlinson, Deanna Dachtler, Vicki Gregory, John Gustafson and Margie Wagner Pedersen.

Belated birthday wishes go out to Sally Palmer, Jim Almer, Darlene Balch and Jana Jacob. Hope you had wonderful birthdays this past week!

Those celebrating anniversaries this coming week are Ty and Kendra Finkas, Russ and Kathy Durrah and Bryce and Caitlin Heiner. Enjoy those special days everybody!

FAIR TIME IS NOW--It's time for the Wahkiakum County Fair! Today, Thursday the 15th, is the first day and the fair continues until Saturday night. Needless to say, we hope you got all your exhibits taken to the fair on time and we wish you good luck on bringing home those blue ribbons and possibly some of the bigger, special ribbons as well. We hope you're planning on heading this way today and supporting our local fair and all the various booths which are selling everything from burgers to elephant ears and many trinkets as well as an array of aritsan crafts.

You may not have heard the Nash Brothers play music, but they've been at the Duck Inn before and will be again this Saturday night, but they'll also be at the fair, so come on down and hear some great country/country rock music. Also coming back "home" to entertain you is Layton Elliott, so check your fair books and find out when they'll be on stage.

All horse lovers need to be sure and check out the action in the Silver Buckle Series at the fair on Saturday, so good luck to all the riders!

WHS 59'ers REUNION--The Wahkiakum High School Class of 1959 will hold their class reunion this weekend. Meet with your fellow classmates at the fairgrounds for lunch, or if you can't make that, they hope you'll be meet them for dinner at the Duck Inn on the evening of the 17th.

FREE MOVIE--Free movie and popcorn at the Community Center in Cathlamet Friday at 7 p.m. The movie being shown is an adult, historical drama. The center is located at 101 Main Street.

CLASS OF 1969--This past Saturday, Aug. 10, it was a really nice day in Skamokawa, and so the class members of WA-KI-HI who gathered to celebrate their 50 year reunion at Danny Silverman's, really had a pleasant day to get together. One of Danny's big green houses made for a good spot to set up things, so that worked out pretty slick. Not only did some members enjoy this reunion because it was their 50th, but Jim Almer was celebrating his birthday that day and other classmate, Rick Nelson was celebrating his 45th anniversary with wife, Mary Ann, so it was definitely a day of celebration.

RETIRING--If there's ever a person who deserves to retire, it's Cindy Seaberg Faubion, as she has just been an "angel of mercy" for years and years, and her ready smile and professional expertise is truly going to be missed by all those whose lives she has impacted over the years. When she worked at our local doctors' office, we all wanted Cindy to give us our shots or draw our blood, as she just made it seem easy and painless and we wished everyone had her skill with a needle. She has been given awards and gone on to do even bigger things in her life after she left here and so it's only fair that after 46 years, she finally gets to take a break! From her many hours in our local office, to her many hours as a volunteer on ambulance calls, to her work at St. John's Hospital, to her hours on the road and to taking calls from those of us who needed her help on special occasions, she has truly been a godsend to thousands of people. So, we certainly want to send hearty "Congratulations" to Cindy for all her hard work, dedication and sacrific over all these years. Here's to no more early morning drives into Longview anymore Cindy .; enjoy your much deserved time off!

THINKING OF THEM--As I type this, Steve Rabelos, Don Wright and Robert Fritzie could certainly use your positive thoughts, good vibes and/or prayers. We'll also be thinking of their families, as it's tough to watch those we love have to deal with serious medical issues.

We're also thinking of Vicki Luce who was involved in a vehicle accident on Puget Island last week, along with another person. With a fairly serious pelvis injury, she's going to be laid up for awhile. If you'd like to send her a card send it to: P.O. Box 10, Cathlamet, WA 98612.

We understand that Dave Heiner had to be admitted to the hosptial once again and with all of Dave's health issues the past few years, this is just one more set back for him and wife, Rhonda, to be dealing with, so we hope the doctors are quick to find the cause of this latest issue and get him back home again.

Adding to our list of folks we are thinking of is Keith Lawrence, a fellow 67'er, who was taken to the hospital with chest pains in the wee hours of Monday morning according to wife, Karen. It appeared they would be doing some surgery on Keith, but unfortunately they had to move him to another hospital, due to no cardiologist available at that time in Longview, so that was a bummer, but once moved, they got him right into surgery to have a stint put in him and he came through that with flying color. Here's to continued healing Keith!

CONDOLENCES--We'd like to send our sympathies to Brian O'Connor who just recently lost his sister, Suzie, and we know how tough losing one's siblings are so we send him and the rest of his family, our deepest sympathies. Sadly she passed away on Aug. 9 after losing her battle to breast cancer. Brian feels her death is a reminder to all to have regular breast exams so in case of a positive diagnosis, one could get the needed treatment early, so that the chances of survival would be greatly improved. Definitely a good reminder to us all.

CRAZY TRIP--It's been a crazy time for my cousin, Donna Healy Palmer and her son, Larri, as the two recently took a trip to Spain and boy, have they ever had adventures .; and not all of them particularly good ones, albeit not totally disastrous either. At any rate, you may have heard about the big computer glitch with British Airways and how they could not let more flights in or out of certain areas for hours on end, and unfortunately, the cousins were right in the midst of that. Layovers, extra costs, car rentals cancellations (due to not picking it up on time, but hey, the planes weren't moving!), to having all their luggage go "somewhere" besides with them, to traveling for hours to go and get it and more hours to get to their next destination, resulting in losing a couple of days of the trip to these travel inconveniences! But, if you know my cousin Donna, you will realize that she is probably the easiest person in the world to get along with and nothing really phases her, so with a constant smile on her face, they continued on with their "once in a lifetime" trip and have enjoyed wonderful sites and foods along the way.

ENJOYING THEMSELVES--David and Connie Shrum are a couple of recently retired folks and while it's something new to get used to, the couple have certainly enjoyed doing some traveling now that they are free of work responsibilities. The couple joined a lot of other family members in Idaho where they all got together for a big family gathering, and with sunshine, plenty of good food and conversation, they had a wonderful time.

CHANGE OF PLANS--In an earlier article, I mentioned that a new group was being formed to help rescue animals around here, as there truly is a need. Sadly, it seems that the person in charge has not only left town but may have done all this in order to get sympathy from well meaning locals and even taken advantage of them. So, those who are truly interested in helping animals, are forming another group and would like anyone who was duped by this other person, to contact authorities and report it as they already have and the more info/complaints gathered against her, the better. In the meantime, I'll let you know when the new group actually gets off the ground, but for now, they have begun a new/temporary Facebook page called, "Cathlamet Animal Rescue Group."

STILL TRASHING--Sadly, our recycle bins by the Skamokawa Fire Hall have once again been filled with garbage! It is so unbelievable that people do not understand that by doing this, those of us who truly do want to make a difference and actually recycle the things we use in a responsible way, will wind up losing this convenient spot if those who fill it with trash, continue to do so! Of course, I'm guessing they don't care, as they just want to rid themselves of their garbage, which can be taken just up the road to the dump on Thursdays and Saturdays at a very minimal cost. If you see someone doing this, please get a license plate and report them immediately! We're getting more and more requests for cameras to get put up in that location and it's sounding better all the time.

SURPRISE OUTING--Suzy Ekstrom was definitely feeling loved and pampered after a surprise day outing that was planned by her soon to be sister-in-law, Tessa Sechler, that actually took in the day and the evening hours! First of all, the gals got to be all pampered at the spa with nails being done up all real nice, and then it was time to join some more friends and enjoy some tea and lunch at a place called, "The Georgian," which truly looked amazing. Then the group got to hop aboard a boat where they cruised out on Lake Union, which was super fun for the gals. After that it was time to do a little wining and dining in the evening hours, so it was a complete day of fun for everyone! Needless to say, Suzy was thrilled to be treated so special as her days of being single will soon come to end and she'll be a newlywed before she knows it!