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

DRY BEGINNING--As this week begins, we are seeing some sunshine after a cloudy start so that’s a welcome sight. We had a decent day on Saturday as well, so a weekend of dryness was very pleasant indeed. While we are going to have several nice days this week, it looks like those nice days will bring about freezing temperatures in the late night hours, so I hope you haven’t gotten too gung-ho with all your plantings. Once those dry days get over, the forecasters are saying we are in for a weekend and more of rain, so while we’ll be warmer, we’ll certainly not be drier, so we’re still in that “boot & umbrella” mode it seems!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from March 10-16 are Jami Rainey, Quin Bassi Sr., Mark Whitaker, Azery Gribskov, Gretchen Mahitka, Lucy Bosch, Mike Scott, Teah McNally, Rhiannon McNally, Tracy Tomlinson, Mary Thomas, Milt Doumit, Steve Grant, Linda Barth, Karen Lawrence, Elizabeth Norris, Dwight Blackshear, Brandy Britt, Grace Helms-Lampitt, John Vik, Carson Cothren, Kristie Williams, Terry Goble, Kelly Zink, Paul Ehrensberger, Amy Bernard and Gene Healy.

Happy Anniversary wishes this coming week go out to Tracy Carroll and Serene Snow, Ray and Terri Slape and Jake and Hayden Schillios. May all of you have wonderful celebrations this coming week!

SATURDAY MEETING PIFA--This Saturday morning, March 12 at 10 a.m., members of the Puget Island Fire Auxiliary will meet and they invite everyone in Wahkiakum County, to stop by. They are doing this so folks can come and hear what they are doing, and what we can all be doing, to help support our volunteer fire departments district wide, so they hope you’ll come by the Puget Island Fire Department located along SR 409 this Saturday morning. You can contact Sherrill (360-951-3985) or Liz (360-200-2247) for more info.

FLEA MARKET--This Saturday, March 12 is the big flea market at the Wahkiakum County Fairgrounds in Skamokawa. Come on down between 9 a.m. & 3 p.m., and check out all these great sales in the Youth building and help support our fair, which really needs our help it seems. If you’d like to rent a table to sell your things, contact 360-795-3480.

We can only hope we have somebody with deep pockets to help keep our fair going, as it’s really a vital part of our community. With several recent and major improvements to the fairgrounds, like a new ramp/entrance to the T-building and new doors on the main food booth, it would really be a shame to let that all go to waste. The 4-H kids also depend on it as they use this fair as a stepping stone for their projects at the State level, so please help keep this long standing tradition alive.

GRANGE SALE--While you’re down this way, the Skamokawa Grange #425 is also having a sale in their hall at 18 Fairgrounds Road. They hope to get a new heating system put in the hall and so once again, your support would be most welcomed. If you’d like to help out but are unable to come to the Grange for this sale, you can always donate to them via a check and mail to: P.O. Box 123, Skamokawa, WA 98647.

NORSE HALL BINGO--It’s bingo time at the Norse Hall this Saturday night, so members of the Sons of Norway would love to see you there. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. and games start at 6 p.m. If you’re new to the area, the hall is located on Puget Island north of the Puget Island Fire Department, at 444 SR 409.

GREEN DAY--March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day. I’m told everybody is Irish on St. Paddy’s Day, so celebrate away! Whether you are staying home or going out, I trust you’re having a fun day, so bring on the shamrocks and the green beer and may the luck of the Irish be yours that day!

LOOKING AHEAD--It’s never too early to start advertising events, or anything else for that matter, so I want to be sure and mention the June 4 event, which is the Third Annual “Cruzin to the Fair” Car and Tractor Show. Brian McClain says he will set up a website for this with all the info, so be watching for that and once I know about it, I will let you know as well. He is trying to get anybody with a tractor, antique, vintage or otherwise, to come on down and take part in this event; all are welcome. This is the first Saturday in June, so be sure to mark that down on your calendars and we will hope it’s a nice one and that they get a lot of participation. The judging is going to begin at 9 a.m. that day, so you’ll need to be here early to get all set up. If you see Brian, you can always ask him if there are more details but this is just a “heads up” for now.

GET WELL--Without naming names, I want to give a shout out to all those who are currently under the weather, as I know several who are battling various health issues and could really use some “Get Well” wishes about now. Whether you are dealing with some minor issues or some more serious ones, I do hope you’ll be feeling better soon; you know who you are!

PREPARED?--We always talk about getting ready for bad weather and maybe having to deal with flooding and washed out roads and such, but what happens when it’s the other extreme, hot and dry? It’s hard to believe in this “land of green” that we would have to worry about that sort of thing, but this year, it seems the Pacific Northwest is short on rainfall and the eastern parts of our two major green states, Washington and Oregon, may be in for a real tough time. However, that’s not to say that we won’t find ourselves in a pickle here as well, as it’s happened before.

In the past, folks on city systems have been told they can’t wash their cars or water their lawns or gardens and they need to wash only full loads of clothes and try to do that at night, etc. For those folks who are on their own water systems, be in streams, creeks or wells, they know all too well what that means, and it’s never real pleasant, but self-imposed rationing is a must. Like not flushing the toilet every time or taking that nice long shower every morning!

So, if you’re new here, what will you do if it’s too hot this summer and your water source starts drying up? If you have a lot of animals that need water, what’s your alternate plan to provide for them? Again, each area and each system and each user is different but don’t be caught unprepared. No matter your water source, it has its limits and you will not realize how much water you use until the faucet runs dry!

Then there’s the fire danger. You shouldn’t have to be told about the precautions you need to take to help prevent starting a fire that could wipe out your home or your neighborhood. While we may welcome summer, it too has its down side. Be prepared!

OUT OF THE PAST--This week back in 1942, the week began with a real nice day and it coincided with Elsie Everest’s day off so she was happy about that. The following days were not so nice however with March 13 bringing such bad weather that the men in camp (loggers) had to stop work as the hail and rain and super strong winds made for very unsafe conditions. It was on that nasty day that Margaret Hollar started to train as an operator down at the telephone office and Grandma Elsie was pleased with her progress. On March 14 the skies cleared up from the nastiness the day before and it was really nice. After more than eight weeks in the hospital, Peder Pedersen was finally able to come home that day to Puget Island, so it was a very happy day for the Jonas Pedersen family. His sister, Grace Pedersen Moore had been able to work at the hospital taking care of him. Her husband, Delbert (Deb) Moore came down from their home up north for a visit that week. At the end of the week, the Everest family was celebrating the birthdays of Barbara Walker and Gene Healy. It was war time, and that week the powers that be opted to change their policy of saying which vessels were sunk; no names, just how many. There were 13 allied ships lost in the battle of Java; sad times. All this according to my Grandma Elsie Everest's diary.