Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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Just a few minutes ago, I was more than halfway through a column about my birthday. I paused to read it through, just to make sure it made sense, when I realized I was WHINING. Ouch. I decided I don’t need to do that anymore. Instead, let’s talk about technology. I have some fairly strong Luddite leanings, but am basically too lazy to actually act on them. It’s one thing to despise technology, and quite another to live without it. So I have a smart phone. One of the reasons I...
There’s that song again. My unwanted, inadvertent, unloved theme song. “I’m just a girl who cain’t say no . . .” Well, wait a minute now. Yes, I can. Or is that “cain?” I do. Say no, that is. I’m saying no to the voice that says I’m crazy to try to continue Odessa’s tradition of having a quilt shop. I’m saying no to the voice that says Old Town Hall is past redemption, or that its future is unalterably linked to the success of existing organizations. I’m saying no to the...
Lately I’ve been thinking about what advice the old me (that is, the me I am today) would give the young me. The first thing that popped into my head was, “Don’t wear shoes that hurt your feet.” Right after that came, “Don’t wear shoes that make you walk funny.” And right after that came, “Why would I listen to the old me when I wouldn’t listen to my parents?” I’ll admit, I have an obsession with shoes. So did my mother. It may be because, shaped the way I am, the only clothe...
Personally, I blame it all on Walt Disney. Seriously. Before Walt came along, fairy tales tended to be not just cautionary, but downright terrifying. I’m pretty sure that prior to being introduced to the happy-ever-after brand of storytelling perfected by those at the Disney company, I was too scared to do anything wrong. After all, being baked in someone’s oven or eaten by a wolf didn’t sound particularly pleasant. Then here came Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinde...
When I lived in Portland, I had (what I considered to be) a glorious garden. My house, which was quite small, sat on a standard city lot. In the eight years I lived there, I dug out most of the lawn and planted things that bloom. I planted heirloom roses, daylilies, bearded iris, crocus, tulips, daffodils and peonies. I planted daphne, heather and creeping phlox in the rock garden, along with basket of gold and clove pinks. Delphinium, coreopsis and echinacea bloomed all...
Wow! It's a whole new year! Again. Well, it's not actually a whole new year as I'm writing this, since my deadline is Monday, but I'm projecting a bit here, trying to sound like the me I think I'll be on Thursday, when you might be reading this. That's right. I'll still be me. When I was a very young person, and even a not-so-young person, I still believed that if I tried hard enough, I could reinvent myself on an annual basis. I don't believe those things anymore. It's not...
You must be stunned. I know I am. This week I wanted to write some humorous thoughts about how a family Christmas can go awry. But history intervened. It was bad enough to see news coverage of a multiple shooting incident at Clackamas Town Center, one of my favorite shopping destinations when I lived in Portland, and where I very nearly took a job. I could picture that scene, because I’ve been there. That incident hit close to home. Friday, I was at home all day, doing l...
I’ve always been one of those annoying Christmas people. You know, when you’re feeling all growly and grumpy, they’re the ones almost skipping down the sidewalk. They have a goofy smile on their face, and if you’re close enough, you can hear the Christmas carols they’re humming. I used to love finishing up my shopping on Christmas Eve. I loved hanging out with all the other desperate people at the mall, trying to find the least embarrassing gift for that last hard-to-s...
I am so incredibly brilliant. I’ve been driving my latest automobile for two years now, and just discovered not only that it has fog lights, but that I’ve been driving with them ON for two years. My apologies to everyone. I know how annoying that can be. It just illustrates that my approach to new equipment may not be the best. I just hop in and start using whatever it is, figuring that the manual is only for when you run into problems, like setting the clock twice a yea...
There’s nothing like a little validation to make you feel good. I felt really good last Thursday, when one of the guests at the community Thanksgiving dinner turned to me and said, "This is the best Thanksgiving ever!" That’s what I was hoping for. We had approximately 50 people come to dinner. Most brought food to contribute to the meal. But everyone brought something. A sense of community. The turkeys turned out well (if I do say so myself.) A communication error on my par...
I feel funny today. By that, I actually mean that I don’t feel funny today. I can’t think of a single entertaining thing to say. It’s possible that a serious over-commitment of time on my part has something to do with it. Can you hear my theme song playing quietly in the background yet? Oh, yes, there it is, “I’m just a girl who can’t say no . . .” Of course I can. I just don’t want to. I apparently get some kind of sick satisfaction from being overwhelmed with responsibi...
At the November 13 town council meeting, Odessa’s town council gave unanimous approval for the formation of a committee to determine the future of Old Town Hall. The group will be headed by Lise Ott, who hopes that community interest in the project will be significant and ongoing. The initial phase of the project will be exploratory, and will include field trips to other historic sites around the area which have either been renovated, restored or repurposed successfully, or a...
Thank God. I mean that most sincerely, and it’s an appropriate sentiment to be sandwiched between Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving. I’m actually grateful more often than that, usually every day, but I am compelled to share my joy that the blankety-blank elections are over. No more phone calls from Mitt, Newt, state or national parties. No more hiding from the incessant political talk shows on TV. Or at least that’s what I thought. I appear to be something of an innocent in thes...
I know this will come as a huge surprise to most of you. I have a character flaw. “Only one?” (I can hear you, you know.) Only one that I’m willing to talk about today. We’ll save the others for another time. Or other times, as it will probably take several. This particular character flaw became apparent (again) Sunday night, as we were participating in our annual pumpkin-carving party at a friend’s house. (We started this tradition years ago and have maintained it through s...
I just returned from several days in Portland, where the weather was wonderful – two days of glorious fall sun and color, and two days of precious, beautiful rain. I loved it. It was interesting. And you know they say that “may you live in interesting times” is an ancient Chinese curse. Mind you, there is apparently no proof that the supposed curse originated in China. I just can’t help wondering what the story is behind each and every vignette I observe when I’m out and a...
I know most of you already think I’m a little over the edge. You’d be right. And now I’ve gone completely off the map of good decision making. I have a puppy. OH MY GOSH HE’S THE CUTEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!! That’s why I have a puppy. This was possibly one of the most impulsive things I’ve ever done. I saw a flyer on the door of the drugstore advertising puppies for sale, and I walked into my husband’s office and picked up the phone.Well, not immediately. I did talk to the h...
I don’t know how I managed to reach this advanced age believing I had to do it all. Or that I could do it all. I’ve never been able to decide if it’s an inherited trait or something I learned (or didn’t) along the way. What I do know, and have already announced to all and sundry, is that I must give up my beloved pumpkin patch. It’s so easy, in January when the world is dark and bleak, to allow myself to be seduced by seed catalog pictures of cheerful orange orbs. It’s easy...
I have news for you, people! Mitt Romney is not going to single-handedly restore the American economy. Neither is Barack Obama. Or any other politician, economist, businessman, corporation or political party. No, I’m afraid that what it all comes down to is us. We the people. I’ve been convinced for some time now that our system is broken. “Broken” might not be the right word, though. “Corrupt” might be more accurate. We the people have allowed our voice to be, if not silence...
Deutschesfest is over for another year, and it seemed to be a good one, thanks to a lot of small town heroes. Our little four-day extravaganza does not just happen spontaneously, as everyone who has ever been involved already knows. I try to make sure to remember just how much work goes into making Fest happen, both on the scene and behind it. Because I (try to) play in the Oom Pas and Mas, I am frequently on the scene. I wear my dirndls and have a smile on my face, and am...
Odessa has another new off-main-street business just beginning to take off. The Gathering House Retreats LLC is designed for "small group retreats, quilt show weekends, quilters, scrap bookers, beaders, crafters, knitters and others to gather and spend time with friends while working on projects or just a good visit," according to flyers produced by owner Jan Hinton of Odessa. Hinton, who is originally from Garfield, Wash. and her husband Dan, raised in Southern Idaho, have...
Sustained winds of 22 - 25 miles per hour Monday took what is now called the Apache Pass fire from about 200 acres Sunday evening to more than 18,000 as of Tuesday morning. Extremely dry conditions in the scablands contributed to the blaze. All available firefighters from the Odessa area responded to the blaze, which at its closest point to Odessa was burning Monday afternoon about 12 miles north of Odessa, just north of Eagle Springs Road. Crews from Wilbur, Creston,...
You may not have noticed this. I like words. Actually, I love words. I love searching for, and especially finding, that exact word that can make my meaning clear. Clear to me, anyway. Everyone else, not so much. Lately, I’ve been thinking about words to live by. “Could,” “should,” “can’t” and “won’t” are just a tiny part of that particular lexicon. “Could” is such a hopeful word. When I was young, I could be anything I wanted. I could grow up to be a forest ranger or an arche...
Tuesday morning, Frank and Marcus Horak opened for business as usual. Just not in the usual place. In just a little over two months, the brothers have purchased the old VFW building, remodeled it and moved their entire Odessa Auto Parts inventory from their former location on West First Ave. According to the brothers, the whole idea began around July 1, when they made an offer on the VFW building. The purchase was finalized at the beginning of August, and the real work began....
I’ve been thinking about the founding fathers quite a bit lately. It seems to me that some of us practically worship those men, without really understanding them. Before I go any farther with this line of thought, I need to say that I find the founding fathers to be a pretty impressive bunch of guys. But they weren’t gods, or even demi-gods. I think that we like to cherry-pick from among all of the things they believed, wrote or said until we find those things that justify wha...
A group of Odessa residents, including Chamber of Commerce president Marlon Schafer and Paul Hopp, are hoping to raise interest for the refurbishment and reinstallation of the historic town clock, which has graced at least two buildings in town until its retirement. The clock, which is over six feet tall from base to cap, was originally, according to Hopp, hung on the front of the Thiel Block, outside what is now Iverson Law Office. The filled-in holes from that installation...
