Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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I recently had a discussion (some might say an argument) with a transplant to our community. The discussion opened with a disparaging remark (not one made by me) about the lack of availability of apparently anything this person wanted (ranging from fresh vegetables at a local restaurant to a pair of socks) in Odessa. Well, duh. I’m really sorry, but if you choose (and I can’t emphasize that word enough) to move to a town of 900 that is 40 miles from a settlement of any siz...
I am, at worst, somewhat neurotic. At best, I’m conflicted. Sometimes I can’t believe how much time (and energy) I spend just trying to decide what’s important to me. There’s the (for want of a better term) American in me. She’s the one who thinks that because it’s there, it must be good, and it’s there just for me. Never mind that Americans are the 5 percent of the world’s population that consumes 25% of the available energy. She’s the one who wants to step up to the plate an...
I suspect that I’m not the only person who hides secrets from the past right where they belong – in the past. My secrets range from slightly embarrassing (no, I’m not going to tell you) to humiliating (still not going to tell you) all the way to downright shameful (absolutely not!) I’ve discovered, though, that secrets just don’t want to stay where I put them. Even though I’m still not going to tell you, they bubble to the surface of my consciousness on a fairly regular bas...
It’s February, just in case you hadn’t noticed. For a short month, February has a lot of activity crammed into the calendar. Groundhog Day, my birthday, the Super Bowl, Boy Scout Day, Valentine’s Day, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, George Washington’s birthday and that melding of both, Presidents’ Day. February also has the honor of being American Heart Month, Black History Month, National Children’s Dental Health Month and National Pet Dental Health Month (!). Not to mention Che...
As previously reported in The Odessa Record, Odessa’s town council was informed at their December 12 meeting of cutbacks to the senior meals program. Since 2008 meals have been provided three days per week at Old Town Hall. Beginning in January, these meals have been reduced to two days a week. The senior meals program is administered by Okanogan County Transportation and Nutrition (OCTN), which is a private non-profit company that provides nutritionally balanced meals t...
Saturday was my birthday. I’ve officially reached the point where I no longer wish to acknowledge birthdays, but am forced to by friends and family. Thank you very much. I’ve been trying to convince myself that I’m still middle-aged, but I’ll have to live to 116 for that to be true. And to be honest, I don’t want to go there. So now I’m just trying to convince myself that over the hill means I’m on the sunny side of the slope. Not the slippery side. Birthdays are not just...
I’m going to change my name to “Turnip,” as in “you can’t get blood from a turnip.” Last week I actually remembered that there was an opportunity to give blood here in Odessa. I was a regular donor when I lived in Portland, and was one unit short of 10 gallons at the time I moved here. Then I took a break. I was dimly aware that the mobile donation van came to Odessa, but didn’t really think about donating here. The break lasted several years. In fact, I didn’t get ba...
As I was meeting with Town Marshal Mike Wren early Tuesday afternoon to review the week’s incident reports, a residential burglary was taking place on North Division Street. In broad daylight. At least two and possibly three people in a small gray extended-cab pickup pulled up to a residence. A neighbor saw two people removing items from the house. He didn’t call 9-1-1. He didn’t get a license number. He didn’t get a close enough look at the vehicle to provide make or model....
At the request of residents of the 100 block of East Fourth Avenue, the town council considered, discussed and then passed ordinance #648, which would amend existing ordinance #562, pertaining to parking in the residential area adjacent to the high school. Mayor Doug Plinski reported that efforts to encourage students to voluntarily restrict parking on the south side of 4th avenue between 1st and 2nd streets had been unsuccessful thus far. According to Public Works Director...
It was a magical Monday this week. It was 3 degrees in Irbydale when I got up. Brrr! The car didn’t want to start, and once it did, it complained. Ten minutes of warming up barely made it better. Going up the Irby hill, all I could think about was that the thermometer in the car said that it had made it all the way up to 8. Then I crested the hill and entered fairyland instead of the cold gray desert. Every sagebrush, grass and weed was wearing diamonds. Big ones. I don’t thi...
Numerous studies have shown that our balance becomes impaired as we age. Numerous other studies have shown that regular exercise can help us maintain our balance, and even improve it. This week we’re going to exercise. To begin, stand up (if you can) and stretch. Reach for the stars, one arm at a time. Lean first to the left, then the right. Or vice versa. Wriggle your fingers and tilt your head one way, then the other. Great. Now, find a piece of paper and a pencil. First, d...
“I’d go back in a heartbeat,” says Don Strebeck of his recent trip to Germany. Strebeck was the recipient of a trip awarded to Odessa Trading Company in a 2011 sales contest. He left November 11 to fly from Spokane to Minneapolis, then to Amsterdam and Hanover, and returned to Portland November 18. Strebeck was one of 28 trip winners and 13 corporate CaseIH VIPs who were flown into Hanover, Germany, to attend Agritechnica, Europe’s largest agricultural equipment exhibit...
Happy New Year. Have we all turned over a new leaf? Or are we still trying to get a few more uses out of that old one? There are lots of pitfalls out there for those of us who are prone to believing that we can change our selves or our behavior just because of a date on the calendar. I know this, because I spend more time in the pits than I do out of them. Sometimes its easier to just stay in the pit because climbing out is so difficult. And unrewarding, because it seems...
It’s that time of year again. Resolution time. I should probably just save myself time (and self-recrimination) by resolving not to make resolutions, but I don’t seem to be able to help myself. A new year just seems like the perfect time to work on perfecting myself. Now, before you get excited, I am aware that perfection is unattainable. Mostly I just want to be a better person. I would really like to be less judgemental of others, and maybe even a bit less judgemental of mys...
Now here’s a Christmas story for you. Just this past weekend, an elderly Odessa resident answered the phone to find a Canadian police sergeant on the other end of the line. He told her that her grandson had been picked up and was in jail. The story was that the grandson and two friends had been on their way to a funeral in Canada when they were stopped for a traffic violation. The caller went on to say that drugs were found in the car, although none of them apparently b...
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat . . . And so am I. It’s odd. Not that I’m gaining weight during what has, relatively recently, become a season of excess. Excess blessed by retailers, Wall Street, the government, the media, and perhaps most of all –China. Now, I frequently say that “everything to excess” is my personal motto. I’ve lived in that mode for a long time, regardless of employment or income. But always lingering in the corner of my mind is that little...
I don’t know about you, but I know that I have more questions than answers. And the questions I have are persistent and demanding. Things like, “Are men born knowing how to spit?” “How many roads must a man walk down?” “How much fossil fuel can we take out of the earth before everything falls in?” “Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket?” And one that’s been bugging me for several years, “Who defines the American dream?” Marriage to a politically active pers...
I’m declaring our first community Thanksgiving a success. Nearly thirty people (of the 36 who had RSVP’d – more on that later) attended, and there was probably enough food for twice that many. I still haven’t figured out how all the leftover pie disappeared. I was positive that I put some in my car, but upon unpacking everything at home – no pie. Just as well. At any rate, everyone who attended was amazed at how beautiful the freshly-refinished dining hall floor in Old Town Ha...
Some of you may have seen the ad in last week’s paper for a community Thanksgiving dinner at Old Town Hall. That’s my cell phone number on the ad. When I lived in Portland, a little over three hours from my family in Bickleton, I frequently had to work the Friday and sometimes the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I love my family, but six and a half hours in a car in one day just isn’t my idea of anything to be thankful for. Then I discovered Thanksgiving dinner at my churc...
Friday night’s Tingstad and Rumbel concert at the Harrington Opera House drew a very good crowd, but the crowd was nothing to compare with the quality of the performance. Polished, professional and yet comfortable, Nancy Rumbel and Eric Tingstad, a Seattle-based duo, provided a selection of acoustic music. Unusual treatments of well-known songs such as “Summertime,” “Over the Rainbow” and “Crying” were mixed with original compositions. Tingstad, an accomplished guitarist, pl...
Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. I was telling everyone (and I mean everyone) that I was on a quest to be healthy by the time I’m sixty. Good thing I’m only 57. Actually, I have managed to lose 22 pounds so far. Only a few more to go. I sort of went off the rails in October. I can’t blame it on the Halloween candy, although it did play a prominent role. Once again, I got too busy. Too busy to plan meals, too busy to write down what I had eaten, too busy to exercise, just too darn...
A few months ago, I decided to let most of my magazine subscriptions lapse. I was getting about six different quilter’s magazines, which I love but seem to be unable to recycle. The hallway closet in my house is half full of back issues that I still believe I’ll get around to one of these days. When those magazines arrive, I sit down and thumb through them to see what catches my eye. Then I put them down somewhere, thinking that I’ll get back to them. Sadly, the only time...
Odessa Trading Company has been informed that it is the top sales dealer in CaseIH’s Western Region for 2011, and one of the top 28 CaseIH dealers in North America for the year. In January, the company was entered in a national sales competition, according to OTC general manager H.P. Carstensen. The dealership was competing in a field of 657 dealerships across nine regions. There were to be 28 winners; the top selling dealers of pre-sold orders for new equipment. Each w...
Gosh. It’s the end of October. The presidential election isn’t until November of next year, and I’m already sick of it. And that’s not all I’m sick of. I’m really tired of what they’re calling debate. When I was in high school, I was on the debate team. I don’t know why. I hated debate. Come to think of it, I still do. But I learned a lot from the standards we were held to. I think the candidates could learn a lot, too. First, of course, we didn’t get to choose our topics...
I went to Portland last week for a machine quilters’ exposition. For those of you who don’t know, I lived in Portland for over 20 years. I loved it. It was a city of small neighborhoods that gave the feeling of a series of communities linked together. It was easy to cross the line from one community to another and still feel as though you could be a small town girl. I haven’t lived in Portland for 10 years, and haven’t visited in several. A lot has changed. On some streets...
