BACK TO DRIPPY--This past weekend saw some damp times and some dry times, but it was mostly damp on Saturday. Thankfully it was much drier on Sunday but there were still plenty of clouds about and some areas did get a few more showers and some had more fog, so it really depended on where you were. Looks like the upcoming weekend may be on the damp side, but I'll take that over ice and snow any day!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from November 14-20 are Rory Heywood, Tanner Collupy, Zachary Stewart, Layton Elliott, Roberta Trotter, Pat Ohrberg, Virgil Cothren, Ashley Helms, Shaunna Eaton, Rick Wika, Hap Anderson, Joh Strueby, Misty Holland, Brandi Seaberg, Dean Seaberg, Samantha Havens, Heidi Souvenir, Jim Price, Linda Ashe, Larry Holland, Jessica Wright, Susan Prestegard, Katie Watson, Jody Kephart, Kylian Cochran, LuAnn Davison, Erik Pedersen and RT Miller.

Those celebrating anniversaries this week are Roy and Cathy LaBerge, Mr. and Mrs. Danny Ashe, Ryan and Lisa Nortrup, Carl and Ruth Linquist and Jim and Karen Blain. May you all have wonderful celebrations this coming week!

MOVIE TIME--On Firday, Nov. 15, there will be another free movie shown at the Community Center in Cathlamet, which is always held at 7 p.m., and includes free popcorn. The movie this week is a comedy/drama that is rated R for adults.

LASAGNA DINNER--The Wahkiakum Fair Foundation is holding a fund raiser this Sunday, Nov. 17, at the Wah. Co. Fairgrounds in the Youth Building, so come and enjoy a break from cooking and doing the dishes and enjoy some lasagna! Lore Twiet tells me they'll be serving this meal from 1-5 p.m., so without a whole lot of other things going on this weekend, (for a change), it's hoped you can come down and support the fair by having Sunday dinner out! This is a "by donation" dinner, so here's hoping they raise lots of money!

NEXT WEEKEND--A quick reminder that next week will be a little busier, as there's going to be Turkey Bingo at the fairgrounds on Friday evening, Nov. 22 and you could win your Thanksgiving dinner there! Then there's going to be the big Country Holiday Bazaar at St. James Family Center in Cathlamet on Saturday, Nov. 23. The latter has booths of goods for sale, a bunch of baskets that you can buy tickets for and hopefully win, and there will be lunch items for sale and a "store" for the kids to shop in, and much more, so it's a wonderful place to shop. Both of these are fun to go to and benefit their respective programs, so here's hoping you get to go to both!

ORDER NOW--Also, I'm reminding those who want some lefse or other Scandinavian goodies/cookies made for them for the holidays, to contact the gals at the Norse Hall and they can get that order taken. Call Jan at 360-431-1705 or Susan Brown at 360-849-4476 and place your order right away!

CHANGES--We have had many changes to our Skamokawa post office in recent years, along with a lot of changes in Cathlamet too, and another is soon to come. You may already know that Lindsey found another job out of the area, so I understand we will be getting someone new behind the counter here before long, but some training will have to be done first, and that takes awhile to do, so we'll be watching for a new "permanent" face soon. We'll introduce you when that time comes.

In the meantime, we want to say welcome to the new Postmaster in Cathlamet, whose name is Michael Wonderly. He has been a very busy man and has had four of these postmaster positions before, so he knows what he's doing. In his career, he has at times, been in charge of managing over 80 other post offices, so I'm sure that he's going to love coming to this area where he's not going to have nearly as much to manage after all those other posts. So, we just want to say "Welcome to Wahkiakum County, Mr. Wonderly" and we hope that he's going to just love his new postal position in this area!

SAD NEWS--Like many others this last Sunday, we were saddened by the news that Kerrie McNally had finally lost her battle with cancer. This much loved mother, wife, friend and talented musician, had been battling two kinds of cancer for a year, and while she fought a good fight, her body finally succumbed to the ravages of this horrible disease. Our deepest sympathies go out to her husband, Brad and all her kids and other family members as I know they are just devastated. While she is gone, her memory will live on in the hearts of those who loved her and in her music as well. Her services will be held at the Skamokawa United Methodist Church this Saturday at 2 p.m. RIP Kerrie; you are now pain free and singing with the angels.

MORE SAD NEWS--We were saddened to hear of the recent passing of Dan Wilson, whose services were held this past Saturday at the Skamokawa United Methodist Church. Once again, another good person has left this world all too early and he will truly be missed by his family and all who knew him. Our sincerest sympathies to his wife, Joyce, son Todd, daughter Rondee and the rest of the members of their individual families.

ANOTHER LOSS--My sister-in-law, Carolyn Madsen Pedersen, lost her last surviving sibling and only brother just recently and his services were held this past Saturday. Kenneth Madsen had known many people in his life, from the square dancing friends he'd made, to all those he'd built something for, as he was an avid builder and to all those that he touched with his kind and humorous ways as he preached on Sunday mornings when he was a pastor. The chapel was packed and so was the overflow room, and it was quite evident that he was a man who would be missed dearly. Sadly, he too had been suffering as of late, so his family was at peace with his passing and made sure they had a service that celebrated his life in the way he would have wanted, with humor. His nephew, Ty Finkas, started the service with a "God meets Forest Gump" joke and ended the service with a slide show of pictures set to the song, " Oh Lord, It's Hard to be Humble" and I'm quite sure Kenny would have approved! We offer our deepest sympathies to his wife, Donna and their children Becky, Jennifer, Brenda and Cory and their families.

SAID GOODBYE--Another person who passed away earlier and had a service this past Saturday, Nov. 9, was Patti Wiley. Her services were held at the Valley Bible Church in Rosburg. While I have not seen her in a long time, she had always been super sweet to me and we send our sympathies to her family and friends. With these last three services being held in Longview, Skamokawa and Rosburg on the same day, one just couldn't be everywhere at the same time.

HAPPY ENDING--After such somber news, I do want to end this column on a happier note, as we have had some good news this weekend. In the sports world, our Lady Mules volleyball team will be headed to state, so that's awesome for them; congratulations! For our state, all the UW Husky fans were celebrating a couple of wins and for those soccer fans, the Sounders won a championship game as well, so those folks are really pumped up. To top it off, the Seattle Seahawks, who went up against the unbeaten San Francisco Forty-Niners, were definitely the underdogs, but instead, put on one of the most thrilling games that Monday night football has had in years, and wound up beating them in overtime! Wow, what a wild game. I have to tell you, after the dismal performance of their kicker at times, I was not exactly sure that field goal was possible, but, hooray, he did it! Way to come through Meyers! So, if you're a Seahawk fan who was at the game, like Dave and Rhonda Heiner, you definitely got your money's worth!

CONGRATS--The last bit of good news comes from former resident, Brittney Robbins Haddix, as she just announced that she and her military husband, Jesse, will be adding another member to their family in June. Baby number two will be joining big brother, Declan back in New York, and I'm betting their Grandma Gina Robbins will be making some traveling plans soon. Congrats, everybody! We all love some happy news.