This has really been a summer to remember. Hardly any rain, not too terribly hot, even though it has been pretty muggy. Actually I miss the rain and the green. So much of our grass and vegetation is turning that dead brown color that I hated in California.

News from Naselle

The 2013-2014 school year is officially underway. Kids are back in class, football and volleyball are the sports to follow, and an early morning chill will be in the air soon.

Sports calendar for this week includes: Friday, the 6th-football at Rainier at 7 p.m .; Monday, the 9th-volleyball with Ilwaco in Naselle at 5:45 p.m .; Tuesday, the 10th-cross country in Naselle at 4 p.m. Go Comets!

The Comet Booster Club will meet on Tuesday, the 10th at 5:30 p.m.

Take a few minutes of your time to help someone else in need during the blood drive at the Valley Bible Church today, September 5th. Local student, Grace Zimmerman has organized this event as part of her senior project and she hopes to make this an ongoing event throughout the year. Grace wants to encourage everyone to donate to the blood drive as our area is low on supplies and there always seems to be a need. Think about the fact that someday it could be you or your loved one who would benefit from this act of generosity.

You can call Grace to make an appointment at 360 465-2165 or go on line to redcrossblood.org and use sponsor code: valleybiblechurch to make an appointment. Help save a life today.

Westend news

The Grays River Habitat Enhancement District will hold its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Grays River Valley Center at Johnson Park. These meetings are open to the public and landowners are encouraged to attend.

On Saturday, the Grays River United Methodist Church is holding a Free Family Fun Day from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the church grounds on Highway 4 in Grays River.

Everyone is welcome. Bring the whole family and join in the games, snacks, a barbecue with s’mores, and singing around the campfire. The kids will be able to make pine cone bird feeders, have their faces painted, learn crafts, and participate in an egg hunt. There will also be a special visit by a local donkey. Good fun for everyone.

This is another open invitation for a relaxed afternoon with local friends and neighbors. Ramona Collver is hostessing a PartyLite Candle party for anyone interested in attending. Please join us in the cafeteria of the Grays River Valley Center at Johnson Park on Saturday, September 7 at 1 p.m. Sounds like a good opportunity to get in some early holiday shopping as well. This is not a Johnson Park function, but simply an informal way to meet and visit with your neighbors.

Ramona and her husband, Randy, are relatively new to the area, they are retired librarians (at least they thought they were) and are currently heading up the moving process of the Grays River Valley Library to the other end of the building of the old Rosburg School. This new location was the original library when the school was opened 75 years ago. The adjoining room (currently the sewing room) will house the computer center and the movie screen for our Free Friday Night movies. I want to personally thank them for all their energy, passion and hard work on this project and for all their volunteer hours Randy has been the driving force, along with county Commissioner Mike Backman, in getting Lower Columbia College to invest in bringing online college courses to our Community Computer Center as well as new computers for that purpose.

Speaking of the library, we appreciate your generosity when you wish to donate books, but at the moment, we need to have advance notice from you, if you wish to make a donation. We have no extra storage space for more books, so we would like you to check with Randy and Ramona or me before dropping off anything for the library. Please don’t just leave them on the steps at the building. We would hate to have them get wet or be damaged. The library number is 465-2310, and if no one is available you can leave a message and we will get back to you right away. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Don’t forget that the Grays River Valley Library and Community Computer Center will be closed until September 16. The Free Friday Night movie will also be on hiatus until that date so we can move the screen and sound system.

If you are interested in volunteering for a few hours to help us out with this huge undertaking, please feel free to call me, Randy and Ramona Collver or Penny Gregory. We would certainly appreciate any assistance you can provide.

When all is said and done, we will have moved the library, the computer center, the sewing room and the activity center where the card group, art group and yoga groups meet, freeing up that original room for the new Genesis Dance Studio classes. The sewing center and other groups will now meet in what was the old library and computer center with a dividing wall separating the two areas. It was quite an undertaking but well worth it to utilize the different areas better for you. Feel free to come and take a look and/or lend a hand.

Tickets are now available for the 2nd Annual Oktoberfest Dinner in the Grays River Valley Center at Johnson Park, which will be held on Saturday, October 12. The menu will include Steve Ramsay’s delicious authentic sauerbraten with all the trimmings. Make your plans now, and purchase your tickets in advance for $10 each as there are a limited number of tickets being sold for the dinner. No tickets will be sold at the door. Proceeds from this event will be used for operating expenses and other projects at the park and center.

The beautiful hand made quilt on display at the center will be raffled off at the event as well as other raffle items. Tickets can be purchased from Steve and Linda Ramsay, Randy and Ramona Collver, Trudy Fredrickson, Penny Gregory, Tim Virkkala or in the library. Dinner tickets are $10.00 and raffle tickets are $1.00 each.

Another fun event coming up is the annual Covered Bridge Dinner. Where else can you eat a delicious meal consisting of local fare, with live music and be served by local youth at a sit down dinner inside the beautifully lighted Covered Bridge in Grays River? This year’s event will take place on October 5, culminating the weekend of Columbia River Country Days in Wahkiakum County. For more information on this county wide celebration, e-mail: wchamber@cni.net or call 360 795-3278.

In Grays River, David Hammonds is looking forward to a week long visit from his son, Davy from Alaska, here for the weekend wedding of his daughter, Clarissa who lives in Longview. In a few more weeks he will also welcome his daughter, Claudette and her husband, Soc Kreuzenstein, for a visit. They are also from Alaska.

Happy Birthday to the following celebrants this week: Bud Strange, Skyler York, Greg Friddle, Josiah Liberatore, Tom Zimmerman, Joseph Leamy, Whitney Cooper, Doug Sandell, Norilyn Pakenen, Abbie Smith, Eddie Mennen, Travis Adair, Jack Gilbert, Susan Chapman, Jeff Bjornsgard, Doug Condon, Collette Beaulaurier, Justin Finley, Teresa Trimble, Amanda Dotson, Jason Gardner, Joanna Fauver, Bill Wuorinen, Darlene Ammer and Bekah Wirkkala. Wishing each of you a wonderful day.

Happy Anniversary to Art and Vivian Busse, Steve and Roxy Forbes, Scott and Colleen Smith, Ted and Sally Swanson, Craig and Shawn Costello, Dennis and Kerry York and Bill and Diane Pratt. Wishing you many more celebrations together. Note: If you wish to have your anniversary mentioned in my column, please make sure that your last name is printed in the Naselle Booster Calendar as that is where I take my information from, for the most part.

An extra special Happy Birthday to Penny Gregory who will celebrate her special day this weekend. Please take a day off, and do something for you. Enjoy an exceptionally wonderful day, eat, drink and be merry. You are a very special friend and I appreciate you very much. Thanks for all your hard work and efforts, as well, at the Grays River Valley Center and Johnson Park. Without you, and a few others, the center wouldn’t be as usable to the community as it is and will be. Thank you and Happy Birthday, my friend.

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of my husband’s stroke. He has shown his perseverance, ambition, determination and stubbornness over the past months and is now walking with a cane, no more wheelchair, regaining movement in his right hand and arm, and continuing to progress. Speech remains the most difficult part of his recovery, but we are also working on that. He no longer takes any prescription medicine, nothing at all, only two natural supplements and a baby aspirin, and he receives a hyperbaric oxygen treatment about once a week. His blood pressure is better than most men 20 or 30 years younger than he. That’s pretty amazing, for the doctor who examined him a year ago told me she didn’t see any hope for recovery. I told her, “You don’t know my husband.” I was right.