Wahkiakum County Fair is fast approaching

STILL TOASTY--As I begin to write this column, it’s still in the mid-80s but we may see temps in the 70s during the week before heading right back up come the weekend, so I hope all you sun lovers are enjoying this dry spell. A few days ago, they were predicting a bit of rainfall for this week, but beings that seems to have changed, I hope everyone is very careful with all their heat sources right now as we certainly don’t need to be dealing with an out of control wildfire in our area. Here’s to man and beast staying safe and hydrated and away from long exposure to the sun, which can turn deadly before you know it.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from August 4-10 are Austin Smith, Cassi Luthi, Brian McClain, Treasure Collupy, Marsha Helms, Jenny Benfit, Heidi Beyer, Monte Robinson, John L. McClain, Joe Florek Jr., Kyle Cothren, Amy Gorley, Mike Backman, Olaf T. Thomason Jr., Marjorie Williams, Lisa Watkins, Keil Parker, Wendy Blix, Lorraine Lechner, Fred Johnson, Jana Jacob, Jason Blain, Jenny Pedersen, Ashley Abel, Paydn K. Pedersen/Freeman, Jeff Nicol, Sally Palmer and 67ers Marnee Davis, Martin Ostervold and Judy Lindwall Bergman. Here’s to everyone having fabulous birthday celebrations this coming week!

Those celebrating anniversaries this week are Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Baldwin, Bruce and Linda McClain, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hoven, Cody and Merissa Olsen, Steve and Janna Doumit, Mark and Tina Schubert, Gary and Lori Hamp and Doug and Sunny Manary; enjoy!

REPEAT REMINDERS--Beings I’ve mentioned these things several times, I’ll just give brief reminders of some weekly events: Thursday breakfast and gatherings are still going on here at the Skamokawa Grange from 10 to noon–donations appreciated but not required; the Hope Center serves lunches at noon in Cathlamet on Thursdays with a $4 donation asked but not required and on Fridays, there is the Farmer’s Market at the Elochoman Sl. Marina from 3 to 6, with lots of vendors with an array of local items for sale.

ALL ABOUT THE FAIR--Our county fair is fast approaching and if you’d like to be a vendor, contact the fair office at 360-795-3480 and leave a message. Also, if you’d like to volunteer to help out in some capacity, that would be awesome, as there’s always a lot to do and right now, help is needed prior to the fair opening (Aug. 15 – 17) in the T-building so please think of helping out there if you can. Again, call the office or contact Martie Vavoudis at mudwoman@live.com. It’s hard to believe that opening day of the fair will be in just two weeks: Aug. 18-20, so get those entries ready to turn in and here’s hoping you win a blue ribbon or two! Remember, all items have specified days and times to be turned in so check out that fair book and be sure to follow the rules and have your things all ready to be brought in on those specific days.

JUNIOR FAIR PRINCE--Speaking of the fair, you may have heard that young Devin Helms is trying to raise a whole lot of money to help out our Wahkiakum County Fair and to help him out, our local eatery, The Duck Inn, will host a Spaghetti feed to help him reach his goal. On Monday, Aug. 8, you can enjoy a Spaghetti Feed for just $10 or pay $15 and get a fair pass included. Besides the dinner, there’s going to be Big Bass Bingo Night with cards from $2-5. The dinner will be served from 5 to 6:30 with the bingo beginning about 6 and lasting until about 9 p.m. with lots of great cash prize giveaways! To top it all off, there will be raffle tickets and a Silent Auction Cash Event. Be sure to call 360-795-6055 to get those reservations made ahead of time so you’ll have a place to sit! Let’s help Devin go from a Prince to a King. Go, Devin!

BLOOD MOBILE--Just a quick reminder to add August 29 to your calendar of things going on, as the Blood Mobile will be at the Norse Hall that day on the lower level of the hall. Hours have yet to be determined but I’ll let you know when I find out what they are. With the need for blood donations always so high, your help in becoming a donor would really be appreciated.

SUPPLIES ALWAYS NEEDED--Every year there is a school supply donation drop off spot somewhere in the area, so if you happen to see a great deal on papers, pens, pencils, etc., and you’ve got a few bucks to spare, why not pick those up and donate them? While I don’t have an exact place or places just yet, I’ll let you know when they get that figured out, or you can always take them up to the school once they open.

NOW IS THE TIME--Speaking about rounding up donations, remember, there will be another batch of shoeboxes that will need to be wrapped and filled with items for men and women this Christmas, so with time flying by, now is a good time to think about how you can fill up a gift box as well and grab an item or two while you’re thinking about it. Remember, a nice scarf, hat, gloves. deck of cards, word puzzle books, perfumes or soaps or anything else that maybe a person would love to receive on Christmas Day who might not otherwise get a gift. Give the gift of giving; it will make you feel good!

SYMPATHIES--We’d like to offer our sympathies to the family of Johnny Jones who passed away this past weekend here in Skamokawa, which includes the family of Jason Rainey, who were cousins of the deceased. Sincerest condolences to all his friends as well.

GOOD THOUGHTS NEEDED--I heard from a cousin recently, Kim Thompson, and she said her brother Kerry was in a bad accident in Oregon recently, and he’s got some serious injuries and could really use some good thoughts, positive vibes or prayers while he undergoes some surgeries to mend his broken body. To top it all off, their great nephew, who was just two years old, took a horrible fall which has put him in ICU and may have some brain damage, so we are just devastated to learn of these tragic events & ask for healing for them both.

NASTY FALL--Karen Lawrence is commiserating at home after a nasty fall she took after stepping in a “chuck hole” which left her with a spiral fracture of her left ankle and well, as you can imagine, it was a very painful injury. Considering this happened on a rare day off and out of town, only made matters worse, if that was possible. Karen is the wife of one of our former local guys, a WHS graduate and classmate to those graduating in 1967, so we wish Keith Lawrence a whole lot of stamina as he tends to his wife's needs during this time. It’s tough enough getting ourselves around at our age, let alone having to help someone else too! Our sincerest “Get Well” wishes go out to Karen, who is finding out that houses with stairs are not our friends at times like these; something to think about if you’re shopping for a new home!

TELEPHONE WOES--Many of us were once again dealing with some telephone outages this weekend and beings it would be working one minute and not the next, it could be fairly confusing for those trying to figure out just how far and wide the outage was. One person would say they were out but a neighbor would say theirs was ok but if you picked it up that very minute, well, odds are, anyone in the area who was saying they had no service, meant the others were experiencing the same thing; very annoying. Outage reports could be called in, if you had a cell phone to do that, as emails weren’t going anywhere it seemed and the “we’re aware of the problem and we’re working on the problem” was pretty much the standard response if you got ahold of someone. I was happy that by Sunday evening things seemed to be working out, but by the time you read this, who knows? Are we ever going to get refunds for all of our “no service” days? Good luck with that!

OUT OF THE PAST--This week back in 1952, the extreme hot days were winding down and were much nicer with cool breezes in the evening hours but there was still no logging going on. By August 7, it actually got cold enough to have a fire in the oil stoves and there was some misty days as well! That week Carol Everest Pedersen returned home from Alaska and rounded up her four kids from all the various places where they had stayed while she was away fishing with her husband. Mary Lang had a bad day that week as she had a bit of a car accident when her vehicle went out of control on the wet roads and struck another car. One evening all the ladies were headed to the Pocahontis lodge and while there, celebrated Mary Mason's birthday. The next evening, those who belonged to the Rebekahs met and had a nice time. They were planning on having a candy sale to help pay for a “fracture table” that had recently been installed at the Cowlitz General Hospital in Longview. On top of that, they were planning to have a “fish pond” at the Wahkiakum Co. Fair, which was going to be held Sept. 5 and 6 that year. They were looking for anything to “fish” for and it didn’t have to be new, so old knickknacks, costume jewelry or whatever anyone could think of to bring was just fine. That day, the town learned that Dr. Leonard Measor died in Everett of a heart attack. He had been a dentist in Cathlamet for many years, and was survived by his widow, the former Mrs. Ann Pallant, who was an office nurse working for Dr. H. D. Fritz. All this according to my Grandma Elsie Everest's 1952 diary.