Frozen berry sale will take place

STILL DRY--While Germany, Belgium and other countries are getting hammered by massive amounts of rain, and even our southern states are getting wet, most of us around our area are staying pretty doggone dry. Some areas got some slight mist, but for the most part, dry is the word for the month and it looks to stay that way until this month is over and even into the next one, so please continue to be vigilant when it comes to fire or anything that could accidently start one. I hope you're able to sufficiently keep yourselves and your animals hydrated, as it's a critical part of our, and their, survival. If you're able, I hope you can set out some buckets of water for the deer wandering through or a bird bath for our feathered friends, as everyone seems to be needing an extra drink about now.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from July 29-August 4 are Levi Helms, Ebby Blouin, Robert Meyer Jr., Austin Smith, Kamie Helms, Tyler Burdick, Heather Kehrli, Jackie Lea, Nichole Most, David Black, Brantley Elliott, Colt Moonen, Sheran Parker, Steve Havens, Sandi Hendrickson, Fred Hoven, Cassi Luthi, Tabitha Anderson, Zak Everman, Betty Huber, Jennifer Norris, Jennifer Blain Cochran, Hannah Davison, and 67'ers Nancy Jacobson Brady, Judy Lindwall Bergman, L.L, Kay Pedersen Chamberlain, Marnee Ostervold Davis and Martin Ostervold.

Belated birthday wishes go out to Naomi Meyer and Ellyse Brewster.

Those celebrating anniversaries this coming week are Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Baldwin, Mr. and Mrs. Kyle Hurley, Mr. and Mrs. Greg Kandoll, Mr. and Mrs. James Julien, Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Cothren, Mr. and Mrs. Ian Rutledge, Mr. and Mrs. Brandon Metcalf, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Behrens, Mr. and Mrs. Karl Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Luke Thomason, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hoven and Mr. and Mrs. Bill Chamberlain. Here's to terrific celebrations for everyone having a special day this coming week!

WHS 1961 REUNION/QUICK REMINDER--I got a call from Jim Rodal and he wanted me to remind all the members of the Class of 1961, that if they plan to attend the big, super special, upcoming 60th class reunion, that they need to RSVP by August 1! At this point, the fastest way to let somebody know that they are coming is to call Ron Shuley at 760-895-0220, or you could email him at: ronshuley@yahoo.com but at this point, a phone call might be better. This will be a catered event, which is why they need to know ahead of time as to how many people are coming. This reunion will take place at Ron's house: 1802 24th Avenue in Longview on Sept. 15 from 1 to 5. They hope all of you classmates "in the know" will spread the word so that as many classmates as possible find out about this reunion, and contact Ron ASAP!

FROZEN BERRIES--The Wahkiakum Lions Club will hold their frozen berry sales afterall, but unfortunately, due to berry loss because of the extreme heat, they will only be able to offer Strawberries ($30) and Blueberries ($27). These are quick frozen berries that come in 10 lb. containers and are great to have on hand for all your baking or jam making needs. There are order forms around town and in the paper, but if you don't see any, call 360-849-4003 or 360-795-3337 to place your order, and these must be paid for in advance. They must be ordered no later than August 23, so you can be ready for pick up on August 28 at 10 a.m. You will have three places to choose from where you can pick them up, so please specify whether you'd like to pick them up at the Wahkiakum High School parking lot or the Skamokawa Grange Hall parking lot or at the Rosburg Store parking lot. If you fail to pick up your berries, they will not be held for you but they will be donated to charity, so they won't go to waste. Here's hoping you'll order your berries today and help support our local Lions Club.

GRG SPELLING BEE--The Wahkiakum County Fair is coming soon, and in case you hadn't heard about this event before now, members of the Grays River Grange would like me to remind all you youngsters of their annual Spelling Bee Contest that they hold at the fair each year. This is being co-sponsored by the Skamokawa Grange, as well as Rayonier Timberlands. They will hold this event at the Skamokawa Grange Hall, which is adjacent to the fairgrounds, on the last day of the fair, Saturday the 21st, at 1 p.m. Pearl Blackburn sent these links to me, as the study spelling lists are available at the graysrivergrange.org website:http://graysrivergrange.org/?p=825 or you can email them at grange@wwest.net or you can call 360-214-9079.

Remember, there are cash prizes involved for the top three places, as prizes are: $25, $50 and $75 for the top three spots in the two categories: Children going into grades 3, 4 and 5 and those going into grades 6, 7 and 8, so it's time to study up on those spelling words! They hope to see you there.

FAIR PRINCESSES--Speaking of the fair, the three fair princesses, Madison Meyer, Ka'vi Keller and Helen Lewis are now out and about and raising money in various ways, like bake sales, as well as selling fair passes and raffle tickets for a great overnight trip to Chinook Winds, so we hope you'll support them. The goal is that by doing this, they can become Queen of this year's Wahkiakum County Fair running Aug. 19-21. A big thank-you goes out to these girls for doing this and keeping this tradition alive as we celebrate our 113th fair this year!

If you're new here, it's easy to find, as you'll turn onto East Valley Road off of SR 4 right by the Central School/Redmen Hall building, which is located across the street from the Skamokawa Resort/Store at milepost 29, and then the fair will be off to your left, you just can't miss it!

MUSEUM--Have you been down to our local museum in Cathlamet since it reopened? I hope you'll take advantage of the weekend openings between now and the end of September, as with time going by so quickly, you're going to run out of weekends before you know it! The volunteer staff will welcome you between 1 and 4 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday during these upcoming couple of months.

I was happy to have some time to be "hostess" this past Saturday and it was great to see visitors and locals alike come in and enjoy the exhibits. It was really nice to see the new display cases, with all the different array of historic things in them, along with the new lighting that's been installed. The amount of work needed to get the cases to the museum, painted, glass installed and all of the exhibits in the old cabinets packed up and moved and then put back in their new places, were huge undertakings by a very small group of volunteers and they really don't get enough praise for all the work they do. So, a huge thank you goes to the very dedicated and hard working members: Frans Eykel, Larry Hendricksen, Linda Wright and Kari Kandoll. The amount of time they have spent at the museum and the work they have done is truly admirable and I hope we can find some more folks like them so they could give these folks a little break!

If you'd like to become a member of the Wahkiakum County Historical Society, you'd be more than welcome to join them and if you'd like to volunteer some time to be a host/hostess, that would be awesome as without them it's hard to keep the doors open, and of course, if you'd like to make a donation to the museum, that would be terrific as well. You could send that to WCHS, 65 River Street, Cathlamet, WA 98612.

CONGRATULATIONS--I wanted to give a big Congratulations shout out to grandson, Blake Sechler, who was able to finish his four years of college with a degree in Business Management, in spite of working full time, the Covid pandemic and making plans for his upcoming wedding! Needless to say, his parents, Pete and Katie Sechler, are very proud of Blake for persevering through all these tough times and reaching his goal of graduating from college before his wedding. This also means that Blake is the third one of their kids to graduate from Washington State University and so their "Wazzu Dad" is happy to have another Cougar in the family! We are all very proud of Blake's recent accomplishments, which just goes to show that if you set some goals for yourself and you put your mind and your hard work ethic into gear, you can make it happen, so way to go Blake; great job!

SAD NEWS--This Monday morning brought some sad news, as we learned that Sharrel Thompson Mooers, wife of Maurice (Maury) Mooers, had passed away. She had just turned 79 on July 13. We want to send our deepest and sincerest condolences to Maury, to whom she has been married to since June 30, 1973, and their son and family, as well as to the rest of the members of their family. Details regarding any services were not available to me at this time.

OUT OF THE PAST--This week back in 1946, the first day was nice but there was rain by the evening. However, the rest of the week was dry with the heat cranking up on August 3. Most were happier to see the following day show up with temperatures a little more comfortable and accompanied by a very nice cool breeze. Avis Walker, a family member of the Everest/Walker household, left for Minnesota that week. That evening, Mary Anne Risk and Jean French invited Elsie Everest out to dinner with them and the ladies had a very nice evening out. On the last day of July, Wanda Flanders Quigley had a baby boy and the Nogi Fritzies welcomed a baby boy into their family as well. The big news in Cathlamet that week was that Frank Miller sold the garage to a Petroleum Company. The Grange ladies were busy serving for Phyllis Foster who was running as the Queen candidate for the fair that year. Mary Anne Risk won the cake being given away that day. George Walker, brother of Elsie Everest, came by and spent the night at the Everest home. He'd come to watch the group that was practicing with the horses for the fair and 10 year old Ralph Pedersen rode with them for the very first time. All this according to my Grandma Elsie Everest's diary.