Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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I love the Olympics, and have been spending all my spare time (and quite a bit that wasn’t spare) watching them on television. But I must confess that the athletes are a mystery to me. I want to know where that drive comes from. I don’t have the drive to walk to the end of the driveway and back. I frequently am heard to say that one of my siblings is missing the “consequence” gene; that the idea that “if I do this, then that will happen” is missing. I appear to be missing tha...
Before I write another word, I want to thank everyone who reads this weekly diatribe and is kind enough to comment on it. I especially want to thank the neighbor who called and offered to provide me with the nutritional product that she uses. I also want to thank the friend who braved First Avenue traffic to ask if I was all right, after a particularly depressed-sounding column. I am OK. Mostly. I want to thank the people who have offered to and actually have commuted to...
This week my brain has been more like “Wheel of Fortune” than a pinball machine. The wheel spins ‘round and ‘round and stops on an idea, but before I can get a firm enough grasp on it to actually squeeze a column out of it, the wheel is spinning again. A few weeks ago, I addressed some problems I was having with my sciatic nerve, which was causing quite a bit of pain, as well as numbness and weakness in my right leg. The last time I had sciatic issues, I went with traditi...
A break in the Odessa Drug burglary case, which has been ongoing since last spring, has led to the arrest of two suspects and the search for at least one more. According to Kelly Watkins of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office, the department recently received information that, when taken together with the video from the store’s security camera as well as various interviews, creates a “pretty tight case.” Watkins confirmed that the two men arrested Saturday were Josh Granchi...
After 25 years of sorting and distributing the U.S. Mail in the town of Marlin, Leah Correia will be free to do as she wishes every day between 9 and 1:30. Correia, the daughter of Ed and Elva Batterman, was raised and educated in Wilson Creek, where she graduated from high school in 1968. Correia did not work for the postal service prior to being hired as postmaster. She was interviewed for the position in 1987, and was “hired right off the street” to manage the Marlin post o...
Today I’m rethinking my position on illegal immigration. Some undocumented aliens have set up housekeeping in my front yard. They’re not unattractive, until they open their mouths. They certainly don’t speak English. And they talk A LOT. LOUDLY. Their conversation always sounds urgent, unlike the measured, almost sweet cadence of their northern cousins. They’re driving me crazy. Or at least they will unless I find some way to live with them. Because, you see, I realize...
At Monday night’s Town Council meeting, Mayor Doug Plinski administered the oath of office to Odessa’s new Chief of Police, Helen Coubra, who comes to the town from the Wahkiakum County Sheriff’s office, where she served as Deputy Sheriff. Once she had taken her oath, Coubra administered the Police Officer’s oath to Bryce Peterson, then gave a brief summary of her law enforcement career. Coubra began her law enforcement career in 1986, and said that her first signifi...
A wonderful person passed away recently, and I feel compelled to remark upon it. Not only because this particular person is now gone, but because, with her, a bit more of a particular ethos, one that we see too little of today, died as well. I don’t remember the particular circumstances of the conversation, but something this woman said to me several years ago, when she was already in her eighties, has stuck with me. And not always in a comfortable way. She told me that she h...
I’ve always been attracted to the concept of self-sufficiency. I think that’s the underlying reason my garden is stupidly huge. Somewhere deep inside is the soul of my one of my forebears who were, according to my parents, ants instead of grasshoppers. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out Aesop’s fable. I used to think I had been born in the wrong century. Whenever modern life got too complex, I would retreat in my imagination to the late 1800s, about the time...
The morning of March 5 seemed like any morning. It was a Monday, and as usual, I was moving too slowly to accomplish everything I wanted to do before leaving for work. I intended to chain the dogs that day, as a part of my (renewed daily but rarely acted upon) intent to stop their wandering. But the clip was rusted shut. “I’ll fix that when I get home,” I told myself. The dogs were kind of subdued that morning, and I was sure they weren’t going anywhere. I haven’t seen them...
Recently I’ve had a look at another world. It’s a world that many people already inhabit. The world of infirmity. We all know people who live in that world. Some are in a constant state of pain. Some teeter on the edge between being able to move and not. Some live under the burden of incurable and/or terminal illness. I’m not even close to any of those situations and yet here I am, complaining again! Please don’t be offended when I tell you that I don’t like this world and...
I have a new standard I’m planning to use in this year’s election. I’m not voting for any parrots. I don’t care what political party a candidate belongs to. If, when speechifying, a candidate repeats, word for word, a statement that I’ve already heard from another politician, they will lose my vote automatically. I want candidates who are capable of speaking (not to mention thinking) for themselves, and don’t just spout a party line that has been written for them by someone...
It’s the same old song. “Second verse same as the first; a little bit louder and a little bit worse!” I had to shop for bigger clothes last week, because I have regained all but 2 of the 20 pounds I lost last year. And still I don’t stop eating as if all food may vanish from the planet tomorrow. My feet hurt. My right knee seems to have decided to punish me for all the years of abuse. My cholesterol just topped out at 234. It’s hard to get moving. It’s hard to keep moving...
Over 20 years ago, in 1989 to be exact, a movie titled “Do the Right Thing” was released. There was quite a bit of controversy surrounding it at the time. Directed by Spike Lee, it was a social statement about racial tension. That’s really all I remember about the movie itself. What has stuck with me for all these years is the title. It’s a phrase I use a lot to try to improve my decision-making. Doing the right thing is often not readily discernible. In fact, sometim...
I was listening to a radio piece about bird watching the other day. The reporter was talking about how all the newest gadgetry had changed what used to be a fairly humble pastime into a competitive high-tech sport. I’ve always imagined real bird watchers as bespectacled, mild-mannered people with extremely powerful binoculars slung around their necks and field guides in their hands. Or pockets. But, apparently, the species has evolved. Cell phones, GPS positioning, h...
I have dreams, you know. Not dreams of the future or what I would like to accomplish. Night-time dreams. When I was a kid, we were frequently entertained at the breakfast table by my father’s descriptions of the previous night’s dreams. They were always colorful, detailed and fantastic. Well, I seem to have inherited my father’s dreams. The other night I dreamed I was visiting the family farm in the company of my older sister. We discovered a stray cat in the front yard,...
Spring Fling is over, and most residents of Odessa can heave a sigh of relief. Preliminary reports from various organizers indicate that the event was a success here in Odessa, and the first coordinated effort with the neighboring town of Harrington brought additional visitors to both communities. Quilt Show Quilt Show co-chair Laura Estes reported that the show drew 283 visitors this year, up 31 from 2011. She added that she personally spoke to people from Arlington, Yakima,...
I’ve been reading again. I can imagine some of you thinking, “Oh, no!” But that won’t stop me. A little background on my reading may be in order. My mother was an elementary school teacher who believed that the ability to read was the key to everything. Success, happiness, everything. And her children learned to read. The books I favored as a child featured animals and heroic children. Sometimes children and heroic animals. I would lose myself in the stories, and frequen...
The Odessa Chamber of Commerce heard a report from Julie Henry, Regional Sales Manager for NoaNet at its regular bimonthly, meeting April 24. Henry provided a brief overview of the non-profit company, which was formed 12 years ago in response to a need for increased internet availability in rural communities throughout Washington. NoaNet was formed when 13 public utility districts banded together to bring broadband to un- and under-served communities. As previously reported...
I love the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and watch it whenever I find it on the TV. As long as my husband is out of the house. One wedding and one funeral were on my schedule this past weekend, and it got me thinking, about families, friends, life . . . you know, the whole ball of wax. My youngest niece got married Friday. It’s a good thing. I think. She’s only nineteen, which seems impossibly young to me. She’s also, how do you say it nicely . . . pregnant. I have been...
The action west of Odessa was just a bit different this past weekend, as compared to two weeks ago, when thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts encamped at the corner of Irby Road and Highway 28. It wasn’t just improved weather – no rain, mostly sunny skies and only a slight breeze, that made the difference. The events of April 14 and 15 were smaller, quieter, and had an entirely different fragrance. Draft horse and mule enthusiasts convened at Keith Schafer’s farm about 5 miles...
We all know that person. Sometimes we are that person. He or she is the one who always sees things in the black and white of an old photograph negative. And usually they see the dark side. They are the person I frequently try to avoid, as encounters tend to be unpleasant. I always come away from conversations with this person feeling as though I’m not good enough. And it tends to be the kind of not good enough that doesn’t inspire me to be better. It tends to be the kind of...
This is awful! I got on the scale this morning, and have gained back all but 7 of the 20 pounds I lost since last May. I’m disgusted. I’m ashamed. I’m hungry. I’m sure I should be mad. I should be motivated. I should be determined. I should be able to just stop this madness. So why don’t I? I imagine there are thin people who are reading this and thinking, “Good grief! Here she goes again!” Believe me, I’m thinking the same thing. Part of me believes that those thin people can...
I’ve been thinking about what I would want people to say about me at my funeral three years from now. Don’t start celebrating prematurely – I’m not dying, at least as far as I know. No, this is an exercise from a book called “Managing Your Mind, The Mental Fitness Guide,” by Gillian Butler, PhD and Tony Hope, MD. I think the theory is that if you want people to say something nice about you when you die, you need at least three years to set them up for it. I picked the book up...
Here I go again. I wasn’t able to go to the Chamber Banquet Saturday. I can pretty much guarantee that no one would have wanted me there. I was assured by my spouse that it was a wonderful event; that the food was excellent and the program was entertaining. I still feel guilty, because I was supposed to be there. Fortunately, my very good friends Clark and Charlene Kagele were willing to change their weekend plans at the last minute so that Clark could fill in for me as M...
