Skamokawa News

WET AND WETTER. We had a fairly damp and nasty Saturday but nothing like what hit up north; the Sound area people were rescuing decorations, flags, and anything else that wasn’t nailed down so at least we didn’t lose power or have any more than short bursts of wind and rain out here in West Valley. With the entire week looking wet, we may need waders or a boat to get around with the King Tides and added rain. Folks in low-lying areas, like Swedetown and over in the Grays River, Rosburg area were experiencing road closures due to water over the roadways. Being prepared with extra food and other emergency supplies is a must around here and with winter beginning this weekend, it’s necessary to get stocked up. Our Wahkiakum County Emergency Services organization, as well as many other agencies that deal with emergencies and disasters, all have lists of things you need to have on hand should you need to shelter in place for a while. SPECIAL DAYS. Those celebrating birthdays this coming week from Dec. 19 through Dec. 26 are Garrett McClain, Fritz Carmine, Hilary Price, Sunnie Beard, Alysha Gibson, Gwen Gorley, Stephanie Vossen, Lauren Elfers, Alayna Davis, Jared Vik, Brittany Vik, Chris Johnson, Patrick Olson, John Hoven Jr., Kole Langston, Emmaly Hendrickson, Frank Farnham, Libby Thomas Ravander, Nancy Bielman, Shelby Mace, Tyler Gorley, Don Seaberg, Traci Williams, Michele Smith, Arve Ronninghaug, Barbara Moore Johnson, Sherry Stewart, Emma Pedersen, Ron Clement, Toby Bell and MacKenzie Wilder. Happy Anniversary wishes go out to Roger and JoAnn Reed and Armando and Christie Andreas-Donias; here’s to happy celebrations for all of you this coming week!

NEW SCHEDULE. Due to the new owners of The Astorian closing their printing operations, The Eagle paper will be delivered on Fridays now, truly a blow to us and to all who work at that facility. The move to have all printing done in Lakewood, WA affects all those who need printing and have enjoyed the proximity. A change like this affects those of us who live in the country and already must go further to get things done and now it’s even further away. Please be sure to submit all events and notices of fundraisers earlier so that you can be sure to give people enough notice to get a good turnout. It’s always annoying to hear about something the day before so please plan early and advertise early, about three weeks prior, so that people can put it on their calendars!

EARLY GATHERING. When you have a big family and they live “here and there”, it’s often hard to get together during the holidays. Some of us are getting a whole lot older and aren’t as eager travelers during the holidays as we used to be, with inclement weather keeping us home. So, over time, we’ve watched our big family gatherings be replaced by just a few of us meeting up when we could. My early Christmas gathering took place this past Saturday when my oldest son, Pete Sechler, brought his daughter Tessa and her soon-to-be husband, Bobby Graham down from Seattle. I picked up my daughter, Lisa, from Toutle and then we all met up for a meal. We had a great time chatting away, catching up, and enjoying some delicious food. After quite some time, we took advantage of the break in the rain and headed to the parking lot where we exchanged gifts. I’m so happy we were able to get together even for a short while as these holidays almost always mean trying to be in ten different places all at once. For me, I’ve had to narrow things down a lot, so oftentimes it’s short visits like this rather than the grand, huge gatherings that we used to have. Luckily, we had all gotten together this summer, so that was like early Christmas to me! I have to say, I experienced some horrible driving conditions on the way home and I was more than happy to get back home in one piece.

SHOEBOXES OF JOY. Don’t forget that the group is gathering things to deliver shoeboxes of items and will be out and about doing that this week. Here’s hoping you were able to drop off items in the donation boxes that were around the area or maybe make a cash deposit at the Bank of the Pacific.

COUNTDOWN IS ON. By the time you read this, there will be just a few days until Christmas, and I hope you’ve gotten your decorating done, your presents wrapped, and your holiday meal all planned so that you’re ready for Christmas. I still think it got here extra quick this year and my wish for this coming year is that it slows down a little so I can catch up. Enjoy your family gatherings, everybody, Merry Christmas!

EARLY DEADLINES. We have to have any column/news/ads in by this Friday, Dec. 20 for next week’s column so that will be a short one for me. If you’ve got something that needs saying in my column, call me ASAP or call The Eagle office with all other news or ads. Things can get kind of confusing when we’re writing so far in advance so I apologize for skipping over anything I should have mentioned!