The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

NICE EASTER--In spite of Easter falling in March this year, and our March weather not really known for being all that great, it just so happened that this year, the Easter weekend was absolutely gorgeous and in some places, sent new records for their temperatures clear into the 80's! I saw lots of pink skin as everyone was sporting shorts and sleeveless tops and soaking up those rays, while they mowed lawns, washed cars or went fishing on the river. It was truly an awesome few days!

As of Monday evening however, I felt the light rain begin and as I finish this up on Tuesday morning, it is a little wet outside and we've got a lot of clouds hanging around out there, so while there's a chance of some sun breaks they say, it looks like our warm, dry streak is over. I just hope they return soon as the grass and the weeds seem to be in constant need of cutting and pulling right now and I'm a fair weather gardener!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from April 4-10 are Janet Bryan, Tim Parker, Wendy Westover, Patrick Thacker, Debbie Cutbirth, Michaela Phillips, Pat Dennis, Janna Doumit, Kylie Moore, Patti Phillips, Marissa Longtain, Leanndra Aragon, Whitley Wirkkala, Judy Wilde, David McNally, Charles Buennagel, Ralph Pedersen and Pat Shane Ballard; a big happy birthday to you all!

Celebrating their anniversaries this week are Mr and Mrs. Cliff Garrison, Mr. and Mrs. George Bates, Mr. and Mrs. Don Wages, Mr. and Mrs. Terry Bonny and Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Pedersen; may you all have truly special anniversary celebrations!

THIS SATURDAY--Don't forget the Watercolor Workshop at the Tsuga Gallery this Saturday, April 6, as those who signed up for it need to be there from 9:30 to 4:30 and will have an hour long lunch break. This workshop is being led by Carol Boudreau; the fee is $70 and is due at the time of registration. Call 795-0725 to inquire whether there are still openings left or not.

REDMEN HALL--There are some wonderful items at the Redmen Hall for sale and you can enjoy the view from there during their current Friday to Sunday openings from noon to 4 p.m. They will also be having a new exhibit as of April 20, which will be the artworks of Janet Cimino who began the Tsuga Gallery in Cathlamet. That will be an interesting array for you to view in a couple of weeks.

If you find yourself with a few hours to spare, they could use an extra docent or two right now, so why not volunteer to help out? Call them at 795-3007. They are also looking for items for their auction that will be coming up the second Saturday evening in September, so please let them know if you'd like to donate something.

FAIR THEME--The new theme for this year's fair is "Treasures Shown, Made at Home," which was submitted by Becky Ledtke. Congratulations to her for having the winning theme, which was chosen from several entries submitted to the fair board. We can all get busy making those "treasures" and getting ready to show them at the Wahkiakum County Fair which is slated to open August 15 and end August 17. Don't forget the fair dance on Friday night of the fair over at the Skamokawa Grange hall; should be a lot of fun once again!

Featured this year in the Fair Premium Book, will be long time participant and hard worker, Carol Ervest from the west side of KM, so we congratulate her, as Carol is one of those dedicated people that the fair truly needs, and deserves to be recognized for her years of work there.

GRANGE CONTESTS--It's not only grangers that can put items in the State Grange contests, it's everybody, so I do hope you'll be making a few things, and submitting them for the contests that will be happening next month. All the judging and things will take place in Long Beach but we'll have a date for picking things up locally at the Skamokawa Grange, so you can drop them off then. More about the particulars next week.

GRANGE MEETING--Just a reminder to all Skamokawa Grange members, that our next meeting will be held on April 8, with a potluck at 6:30 p.m. and meeting at 7 p.m., which will include our welcoming ceremony for our new members.

FOLLIES--Our next meeting for those who would like to be in the Follies this year will be on April 20. This is only about 9 1/2 weeks out from the show dates, which are June 28, 29 and 30, so we need all the kids and adults who would like to perform in one way or another, to show up at the Skamokawa Grange Hall at 3 p.m. If you can't attend but want to be in the show, please give Sunrise Fletcher a call at 795-8770. We are often in need of people to be fill-ins with small parts, so if you're sort of shy, you don't have to worry about a ton of lines to learn or being out front. You can sing along with a group or play a background part, so please join us. We need bodies!

BINGO--Don't forget to head to the Norse Hall on April 13 as they will be playing bingo for cash prizes, so be sure to check them out on Puget Island that Saturday evening.

PROUD DAD--Ronald Rust Sr. is a proud Dad these days, as his son, David, has recently passed all the required tests and is now a Journeyman Carpenter. David's wife and three children celebrated the occasion with a nice big cake and lots of smiles and hugs. Congratulations to David!

ALL MOVED--If you haven't been to Skamokawa Vista Park recently, you might want to take a trip down here and check out the new office. Janet Bryan and helpers have the old office all cleaned out and so the little green building that was prior to the entry gate and was also the former library, is no longer in use as the park office. The new office is now located to the right after you enter the park and is much handier for people to get to, and it makes it better for the park manager to keep any eye on things at the park now that it is centrally located.

ILLEGAL DIPPERS?--I'm guessing that we had a couple of exceptions from the "no dipping smelt" restrictions that are in place right now, as I spotted oodles of Bald Eagles lining the Skamokawa Creek area recently. They were awesome to watch as they swooped from the trees and dipped their fill of the silvery little fish and many people pulled over by the rock pit entryway to check them out and take their pictures; always an awesome sight to see so many eagles in one spot. They certainly make fishing look effortless!

BIG WINNER--Hats off to Duck Inn owner, Logan Britt, as he was the big winner of the "Hook the Hawg" salmon derby that was held last weekend in Cathlamet. His first place win gave him the choice between a beautiful fishing rod or some cash, and he opted for the cash, so congratulations to Logan on landing that awesome salmon and nice prize to boot!

TEA TIME--The Fifth annual Traditional English Tea will be held at St. James Family Center April 20 from noon to 3:30 p.m. Tickets for this event are $12 each with two seatings; one at noon and one at 2 p.m. There will be a silent auction and a plant sale as well. Reservations and advance tickets are recommended, so call 795-8612 for all the information regarding this event. All proceeds go to help the center.

CHICKEN DINNER--It won't be long and the annual chicken dinner at the Rosburg Hall will be taking place, so we hope you'll keep Sunday, April 21 in mind and head to the hall to enjoy this delicious chicken dinner being served from 11:30 to 2 that day. This is a full meal deal with all the trimmings and dessert too, with proceeds going to maintain the hall.

GET WELL--We hope that Kathy Peek gets to feeling better, as she's been feeling under the weather lately, and we want to send some "hope you're better soon" wishes to Pam Priestly who suffered a back injury recently as well. Seems the allergy season is upon us and there are lots of clogged up folks lately who are dealing with a lot of sinus issues, which includes some nasty earaches, so we send you get well wishes also.

I certainly appreciate all the well wishes I received after my encounter with a deer recently. It's always the next day or two that one feels the aches and pains and finds the bruises after such an experience, so the broken veins in my hand and sore back were definitely felt, but considering everything, I'm doing fine. Thanks again for all those nice folks who offered their help and sent their regrets over my misfortune. Considering that I talked to a lady who had only been driving Ocean Beach Highway for less than a year, and had already had to deal with a deer encounter, I feel pretty lucky that I managed to avoid one for 48 years! I just hope it's another 48 before it happens again! Thanks again everybody.