NICE START--As this third week in September begins, it’s a pretty nice day and looks to be until the end of the week when we could possibly get a shower. Last Friday saw a pretty substantial “shower” for a much longer period of time than was expected, but most of us in West Valley were certainly not complaining because we sure needed it. I understand that many folks in the area stayed dry but we certainly didn’t in my neck of the woods and that was fine by me. Actually, it was a good reminder of all the things that still need to be done while it’s dry as I don’t think many of us are ready for any long term nasty weather just yet.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Sept. 22-28 are Shona Heywood, Rownen Vegvary, Michael Zurick, Matthew Keilwitz, Sam Longtain, Monte Longtain, Ty Norris, Art Hedman, Shelby Robinson, Bobby Bergseng, Tammy Johnson, Brett Havens, Michael Danker, Leah Clark, Damien Deaton, Julia Ann Wright, Marie West, Cherish Petrenchak, Monica Wiedmann, Dean Wesner, Michael Apperson, Dan Turner, Shawn Jacob, Barbara Shaver, Edith Erickson, Linda Newton, Sue Kuller, Laura Norris, Karla Kyle, Lori Kyle, Isabella Maccione, Larri Palmer and his grandson, one year old Atlas Palmer, who get to share their birthdays!

Those celebrating anniversaries this coming week are Tom and Tami Bosch, Matt and Marsha Helms, Mr. and Mrs. John Burdick, Mr. and Mrs. John Hoven, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Doumit and Larry and Linda (Palmer) Spieth. May all of your birthday and anniversary celebrations bring you joy and happiness and memories to last a lifetime!

Remember, if you need to edit your birthday or anniversary listings on the Lions Club Calendar or make any new additions, please contact them right away; Renee Robert: 360-849-4003.

COMING SOON--Here’s hoping you’ve been doing some local shopping and hopefully putting together a great gift basket to donate to the Friends of Skamokawa annual fundraising event, an online auction, that will take place this year from Oct. 8-22 from and to 6 p.m., each date. You can bring your items to the hall on weekends but beings the weekends are going by pretty fast, you may want to do that real soon. You can always call the hall at 360-795-3007 or contact an FOS member, like Pam Emery. Don’t forget, you’ll be able to take a first hand, sneak peek at everything that will be in the auction by going to the hall on Oct. 7 from 5 to 7 p.m.

You can also do a little pre-holiday shopping for your loved ones while at the hall, as there are many local items for sale as well as some great books about our area and by local authors, too. There are only 14 Fridays left before Christmas! Of course, you could wait until the annual Holiday Bazaar, which is held right after Thanksgiving.

MUSEUM STILL OPEN--The WCHS has announced that they will keep the museum open for the month of October, which has five weekends in it, so before the winter closure takes place, won’t you stop by and help support one of our local treasures? Hours of operation will be from 1 to 4 on Saturdays and Sundays. They hope to see you there! If you’re new to town, the museum is located behind Cathlamet's Main Street, next to the PUD at 65 River Street. If you’d like to make a donation, that address is the one to use as well. As always, they’d love to have more members and more volunteers!

FAMILY GATHERING--The Fred Chamberlains were finally able to get together after a couple year hiatus in order to keep up the tradition of a big family reunion, so the 50 plus family members had a great two day visit in mid-August at the home of Dennis Chamberlain. Locals Bill, Brandon and Debbie Chamberlain headed east of Vancouver to chat with family members there. Former locals, Jim and Karen (Chamberlain) Blain and many of their family members were also there.

Since that time, Edith Chamberlain Erikson took a tumble and wound up having to have some surgery, so we want to send our get well wishes to her as falls are no fun anytime, but when you’re up in your 90s, they are even less fun!

MULES--The Mule varsity team will play at Ocosta this Friday evening, Sept. 23 but they will be back home the following Friday, Sept. 30 and will play against Adna. We wish them all the best and we hope their games are injury free as well. Their games begin at 7 p.m. The JV team will play at Adna October 3 and will play Oct. 17 at Kalama; games are at 6 p.m.

The Mule volleyball team will have three games away, starting this evening, Sept. 22 in Napavine and then Kalama on Sept. 27 and Onalaska Sept. 29. We wish them all the best.

STILL OLD SCHOOL--There are so many things going on these days which either want meetings or monies via the internet and I’m sorry to say, I’m still “out of the loop” when it comes to that sort of thing. I’m just not ready to do everything online! The automated world we live in is not to my liking and I find my patience tested all too often these days with the “Push 1 for this and Push 2 for that” routine. Currently I’m not sure whether to pray for more wisdom, or patience, or understanding or maybe all three as I truly don’t get it half the time!

OUT OF THE PAST--On Friday, September 24 in the year 1948, there was a special dedication at the football field in Cathlamet during the intermission of their game against Castle Rock. This dedication was for the new scoreboard which, with all its new electrical innovations, was one of just two of its kind, so it was truly special to have something like that in Cathlamet. This special gift was given to the school by Mrs. Mary Ann Risk, who gave it to them as a memorial for her son, George Risk. Sadly, George and eight other baseball players for the Spokane Indians, lost their lives in a tragic accident when the bus they were traveling in plunged off the road while traveling over Snoqualmie Pass a couple of years earlier. The high school band played the music for the dedication, led by E. L. Gadbois, who was the bandleader at the time.

In 1951, it was hot and smoky with fires everywhere. This had been the worst dry summer since 1929 so when it rained on September 24, people were shouting “Oh Happy Day.” The first football game of the year against the Kelso varsity team wound up being a tie; zero to zero. However, Ralph Pedersen got sent in several times, so his family was pretty proud. This according to my Grandma Elsie Everest's diaries.