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

STORMY--As I begin this column, it’s blowing like crazy and I am just hoping I can finish this up without any power outages ruining my plans! During the night, it was definitely a time of noise as I could hear the tree branches crashing down in the woods behind me and I was hoping it would settle down before something landed where I didn’t want it to; so far, so good! It appears our weather is supposed to be a bit drier by the time you read this on Thursday, so that will be nice. On the flip side it will also be a bit colder, with temps in the 30s, so enjoy your dry time with a nice heavy coat on if you go outside!

EARLIER DEADLINES--You may have noticed that the deadlines for submitting things for this paper have been moved up to 5 p.m. on Monday, instead of Tuesday at noon, so please contact your columnist, reporter or the head of this paper as early as possible in order to get it printed.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Jan. 19-25, are Bruce McClain, Theresa Kuljis, Sharon Schmitz, Shanna Havens, Sharon Buennagel, Trinity Thompson, Lori Wika, Christopher Danker, Bailey Danker, Teagan Miller, Annie Watters, Brando Burdick, Bill Olsen, Baylee Olsen, Jessie Fritzie Collins, Wayne Cochran, Kyli Prestegard, Koda J. Clark, Shayna Hendrickson, LeeAnn Bonds, Jolene Wright, Leslie Sullivan, Jody Baccellieri, Shirley May Toney and Reese Brown.

Those celebrating anniversaries are Jai and Martin Snow and Michael and Nikki Danker. May all of you have wonderful celebrations this coming week!

REMINDER--The Skamokawa Grange is open every Thursday morning from 10 to noon for a free community breakfast and they’d love to see your smiling faces! You can bring your own favorite mug and a treat to share with others, and of course, a donation would be welcome to offset the costs and help out the Grange, but is not necessary in order to join your friends and neighbors.

THIS SATURDAY--If you’ve got tickets to the crab feed at the fairgrounds in Skamokawa, don’t forget to bring your own utensils and your special garlic butter to dip them in as well. Just a hint: I bring some of those disposable vinyl gloves so my hands don’t get so yucky and I like a little extra salt and pepper on things, so I bring my own. Anyway, here’s to all of you having a good time at this first feed put on by the fair board!

MUSIC THIS SUNDAY--It’s January Open Mic time at the Skamokawa Grange Hall (18 Fairgrounds Road) this Sunday, Jan. 22 and will take place from 4 p.m., to whenever the group opts to stop! Sign-up is at 3:45 and then all the fun starts at 4 with a jam session at the very end. All are invited to come and listen even if you can’t play or sing. Here’s to some good Vibes this coming Sunday! Donations to the Grange are most welcome.

LAST SATURDAY--The Skamokawa Grange Hall will host the first “Bigfoot Boogie” dance session on Jan. 28 from 3 to 4:30 p.m., so we hope you’ll be able to make time for that. Remember, there is a small fee involved for this, which was mentioned in my column last week. Contact Aurora or Ed del Val at 971-678-4748 if you have further questions. This will take place on the last Saturday of each month through May.

This is also the date for the Crab and Oyster Feed at the Rosburg Hall so all ticket holders will be hoping that there are no slides to block the east-enders way there or any snow or ice or flooding, etc., which will deter those who want to enjoy a wonderful dinner and good time that evening. It seems we have had all of the above at one time or another!

VALENTINE’S SPECIAL--I hope you’ll be making reservations at our local eatery here in Skamokawa when they opt to celebrate Valentine’s Day, as not only will you get a special dinner, but you’ll also get a chance to win a diamond necklace! Beings I was the lucky winner of one of these necklaces one year, I can tell you, it’s really an extra special treat to round out the “love” holiday. More on what’s on the menu coming soon.

SPECIAL TREAT--When you see a fancy red car with the license plate that says “Robin 1,” you know who’s showing up; yep, Magnum! That’s who former resident Sharon Buennagel got to see at her work place in Hawaii as the stars of the hit show were there filming an episode for their upcoming season, and Sharon just happened to be able to catch all the action from the sidelines. How cool is that?! Needless to say, I was a wee bit jealous, as stars Jay Hernandez (Magnum) and his side kick, Perdita Weeks (Juliet Higgins) are a couple of cuties! Their new season begins next month, Sunday, Feb. 19 and we’ll be watching to see if we can’t spot Sharon’s view while she’s at work!

SAID GOODBYE--I got to the Skamokawa Post Office just in time to say goodbye to Pearl Blackburn, who has left her spot here to be a little closer to home, as she’ll now be working in Rosburg. While we will miss seeing her here, I’m sure she’ll be very happy to be there and not have to deal with a long drive and all the weather conditions and challenges that our KM Mountain can bring. It seems the gal that was at the Rosburg post office will now be working closer to where she lives as well, so that’s a win-win for those gals. I understand we’ve got several applicants for the job here so I’m anxious to meet our newest postal worker and I hope we’ll all cut them some slack as they break into their new position!

SYMPATHIES--We have just had so many losses lately and it’s certainly been a sad time for many of our local residents. We learned this past weekend that our Sheriff, Mark Howie, lost his father and best friend, Gordon H. Howie and so we send our deepest sympathies to him and his family at this very sad time.

As if Mark wasn’t already dealing with enough, we understand that he will soon be having some heart surgery and we wish him the very best as he heads to the hospital and hope his recovery is a speedy one.

OUT OF THE PAST--I was asked to bring this back, so here goes:

Seventy-five years ago, in January of 1948, the year started out with rain, wind and cold and the first week was pretty miserable. The second week started out cold and clear but then the hail and the wind and misery started all over again. Thankfully the third week began clear and cold and so the break from the rain was welcome. The Cathlamet basketball team hosted Castle Rock during that time and it was quite the thriller of a game with Cathlamet coming out on top with a score of 41 to 39!

On Jan. 8, there was much excitement about town as during the stormy weather, multiple log booms owned by Crown Zellerbach broke loose and were jammed up against the Puget Island bridge. Many in town watched from the bridge and the nearby banks of the river as multiple tugs rounded up the logs before they could do serious damage to the bridge.

On Jan. 9, the Riverview Rebekahs, Lodge No. 293, held their installation of officers. Those assigned the official posts were Marie Irving as the Noble Grand, Lillie Wright was Vice Grand, Bertha Ackermann as Recording Secretary, Rosemary Kinnison as Financial Secretary and Treasurer was Katie Lund. Others with posts were Florence West, Nevada Shamley, Alma Faubion, Mildred Johnson, Effie Wright, Ellen Foster, Donna Waltz, Elva Mast and Rosemary Faubion. A special pin was given to the outgoing Noble Grand, Elva Olmstead.

On Jan. 19, at the Wallula Council No. 45, the Pocahontas Installation was held at the Red Men Hall that evening and the following officers were elected: Elsie Everest was Prophetess, Lelia Bunn was Pocahontas, Mary Mason as Winona, Bertha Shuster as Keeper of Records, Mary Ann Risk as First Scout, Mary Irving as Second Scout, Odessa Osborne as First Runner, Ellen Foster as First Warrior, Minnie Tobin as Second Runner, Ruth Hanigan as Third Runner, Nevada Shamley as Fourth Runner, Katie Lund as Keeper of the Forest, Elizabeth Hendrix as Keeper of the Wampum and Jane Akers as Guard of the Teepee. After the lodge session and installation, all the ladies met at the home of Elsie Everest for refreshments.

On January 23, George Everest, eldest son of Ralph and Elsie Everest, turned 33 years old. Unfortunately the Everests could not celebrate with him as they, along with his sister Marian (Mrs. Leon Healy) were in Seattle where Jean Walker Shane (Elsie's sister) had been taken to the hospital in serious condition. On January 25, their youngest son, Ralph Marshall Everest Jr. turned 22.

All this according to my grandma Elsie Everest's diary.