News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Imagine this. You come home from work late at night; you go out to the garage to feed the cats like you always do. Cats are acting kind of skittish as you move to the garage. Then you find out why, a juvenile cougar with a mouthful of porcupine quills is waiting for his meal too. That’s what local hot rodder Steve Knighten found a few weeks ago. His cats are still afraid to go to the garage. I have also heard from other locals of seeing large coyotes, packs of dogs, and cougars all in town. Hunt... Full story
One day about a year ago, my daughter and I were in a pool at a hotel. While swimming, I overheard a mother tell her son not to put his head under the hot tub. “It’s bad for you, sweetie,” she told him. I chuckled, remembering hearing something similar when I was a child. But now that I’m a grown up, I disregard such a statement as myth. It may be slightly gross to put your head under the water in a shared hot tub, but truly bad for you? The mother’s casual insistence made me wonder. How much of... Full story
With the holidays in the past, it seems that the darkest, coldest days of the year are upon us. But any student will tell you that with the advent of the second semester of school, it is just a quick downhill slide toward summer. For high school students, especially those who are just about to graduate, there might be a level of anxiety that comes along with this rapid approach to the end of school. What will you do after school? Some of you, undoubtedly, will be looking for work to fill those l... Full story
Sports has been a major part of my life as long as I can remember. My first memory of sports is playing Little League Baseball. My first team was Birds’ Auto Body. Back then, instead of a tee, your coach pitched underhand to you. Bob Riley was our coach then, and we had an undefeated season. I remember Rob Williams, Shawn Garvin, John Kelly, and Willie Moore being on the team. The hook was set and I played many more years of baseball after that. Basketball, football, volleyball and softball w... Full story
Reviewing data sets for December 2011 and 2012 shows we were a bit warmer and wetter. Our low for December 2012 was 21.9°F compared to 2011, which was 16.4°F. That’s a 5.5 degree difference. The all-time low temperature for December was a minus 16°F in 1968, while the mean low is 29.6°F. Precipitation shows a difference of 1.63 inches. We measured 2.12 inches for 2012, while in 2011 we received only 0.49 inches. Snow accumulation for December 2012 was 6.4 inches and in 2011 just 1.3 inches. For... Full story
Someone once told me that the first five years of a child’s life are remarkable in their ability for rapid change. Every few months bring about a new life stage that changes how a child sees his or her world and interacts with it. As my daughter moves through these stages, I have had to change with her. And change, as always, is challenging. My daughter is now almost 4, and for some time we have been moving out of the moment-by-moment living that is the life of a toddler. At that stage, I f... Full story
It’s a typical practice around the new year to examine the year we are leaving behind. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to examine any personal gains or losses, or to assess a resolution made at this time last year. Sometimes, it’s interesting to wonder what, if anything, from this year was truly memorable. Did anything happen that will live in your mind, or the mind of the country, for years to come? Earlier this year, I wrote a column about the coincidental fact that both the Oreo cookie and the G... Full story
Last week in Connecticut, our country had another major tragedy. This time a sick young man walked into an elementary school and killed kindergartners and some staff. Pure, unblemished faces of the young meeting the violence of our new society head on, in an act that is incomprehensible by most. We have not learned a lot (by the time I started writing this) about the details, but we do know that it is obvious. The staff there gave their lives protecting kids. If this had not happened, more... Full story
Our snowfall certainly wasn’t anything to get too thrilled about. Over a two-day period, the Dec. 10-11, we got 1.9 inches of snowfall here at the home weather station. That’s slightly more than the November mean of 1.4 inches. Mean precipitation for November is 1.25 inches, while we recorded a meager half inch here at home. For the year, we are well above our average precipitation of 10.50 inches, currently at 13.56 inches here at home. We had a November mean temperature at 40.9°F, below the... Full story
This year, in the midst of a typically festive holiday season, is what many have considered to be a very auspicious date. December 21, 2012 does not simply signify the winter solstice, but also a very important calendar day in the ancient culture of the Mayans. I’m referring, of course, to what many in popular media have referred to as Doomsday, the Apocalypse, or simply, the End of the World. A chuckle or two at this thought is not completely out of line. Imagining the end of the world o... Full story
Saturday morning Karrie, Nicollette and I got up and went to the Christmas Bazaar at Center School. It was a great time. We visited with friends we had not seen in months. We also purchased a few goodies and treasures we found there. I was also reminded of years ago, going to this same event. It seemed bigger then or maybe it was because I was smaller. The painted walnut tree ornaments are still there. I remember as a kid we always got one or two of those to hang on the tree. As a matter of fact... Full story
After having been in Grand Coulee for almost two years now, one of the biggest changes that I am still trying to adapt to is an unexpected one. It’s not the distance to the nearest big box store or mall, nor is it the weather or the size of the community. Somewhat surprisingly, it’s the fact that I cannot put out my recycling with the trash. For much of my youth, many might have labeled me an environmentalist. When I was in high school I organized a grass roots campaign, if it could even be cal... Full story
In 1621 the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians celebrated a successful first harvest. The meal consisted of deer, corn, shellfish, and roasted meats. They played games, sang and danced. In 1846 a columnist campaigned for a national holiday; she incorrectly labeled the first feast of 1621 as a Thanksgiving meal. It wasn’t till 1863 that Abraham Lincoln declared that there be two national Thanksgivings, one in August and one in November. We were to give thanks for general blessings in our l... Full story
If the presence of snow indicates winter’s arrival along with less daylight, I’d say winter is here. So far, here at the home weather station, we’ve had 1.9 inches of snow with rapid melt-off. We’ve had three days of low temperatures below the freeze level, too. The coldest being 21.6°F. More of those to come, I’m sure. Here’s a tip of the hat to winter. November can be cold and the records show that in 1985 we had a -10°F. Our mean temperature is 37.5°F. Mean precipitation is 1.25 inches an... Full story
As we’ve settled into the school year, our house, like houses across America, has settled into a routine. Certain days call for certain activities, and many hours of each day fall into expected patterns. One of the first things that my daughter will ask in the mornings is, “Mommy, what are we doing today?” She’s always happiest when it is a day that she knows what to expect. Children take their cues on what to expect from their lives from their parents. But it is not just our job to demonst... Full story
OK, I know some of you don’t want to hear this but Christmas is right around the corner. So time to start on the Christmas Lists and pull out the decorations. Start checking the lights now, replace the bulbs early this year. Make your holiday plans: Are we staying home or are we loading up and headed to Grandma’s house in (insert town here)? Is this the year to get the cards out on time, or do we wait and send them Christmas Eve? House cleaning, and more house cleaning, rearrange the rooms so th... Full story
My 3-year-old daughter recently declared that she had a favorite song. The use of the term “favorite” made me sit up and listen. Although she had been displaying preferences since birth, this was her first declaration of a “favorite” anything. I find the idea fun, even if I have to listen to the “Wheels on the Bus” every time I get in the car. As I watch my daughter jump head first into defining what she likes and dislikes into favorites and aversions, I know that she is, at the core, defin... Full story
Well, yesterday our boy became a man. His 18th birthday and an adult by society standards. Although he has acted and been pretty responsible during the last few years, I can remember when I came into his life. He wasn’t quite a year old yet, and he was chubby cheeked and had more hair than I. Happy is the word I would use; he was a happy baby, even though he was sick a lot. Severe asthma when your a lil’ guy and trying to see the world isn’t fun. I think the first time I knew I loved this kid w... Full story
Like many children who grew up in the suburbs of America, I had a typical, and rather uninvolved, relationship with the food I ate. I was an athlete and had healthy parents, so tried to be thoughtful, but I spent very little time wondering where the food we bought in the grocery store came from and what, if anything other than satisfying my hunger, my food was doing to my body When I moved to a small college town in Oregon for graduate school, I got in the habit of going down to the farmer’s mar... Full story
The start of October has been really pleasant fall weather. It really is a nice treat. Our first recorded low back in the 30°F range occurred on Oct. 4. The last 30°F range low was way back on May 12. We are still dry -- way too dry, frankly -- and we are all reminded of that fact with the recent wildfires that have occurred around our region. Excluding the 0.01 inch of rain on Sept. 8 here at the home weather station, we haven’t seen any rain since July 20 -- that’s 80 days as of this writi... Full story
Homecoming week for LRHS was fun to be a part of and it showed me spirit is alive and well. The halls of LR were decorated with different genres of music. Rap, country, techno and rock boomed in the halls of Raider Country. During the week, if you ventured in you might have spotted a Jeff Foxworthy type redneck, a hurricane victim or a wave of Raider Pride. The end of the week concludes in a powder puff football game and a boys’ volleyball match. All classes versus classes. I know that f... Full story
A couple of weeks ago, a rather notorious mother in New York, Lenore Skenazy, started an after-school program for children. This is the same mother who, a few years ago, let her then 9-year-old son ride the New York City subway on his own, with nothing but a map and fare money. Her new after-school program is an eight-week course costing $350 per child. All that is on the schedule? Free play in a playground in Central Park with the promise of absolutely no adult supervision. In fact, Skenazy... Full story
This last weekend I got to go to Airways Heights and watch my nephew Zack score two touchdowns running like Russel Wilson and throw another TD through the air. So proud. He looked calm, cool and collected as he performed like a superstar; not only on offense but on defense as well. It made me think of the fundamentals that we teach our kids at an early age. Not just the art of winning and doing it with style (no touchdown dances here,) just a flick of the football to the ref and high fives on... Full story
There is, perhaps, nothing so steady, predictable, and at times frightening in life as the continuity of the calendar. No matter what is happening in your life or the world, tomorrow will bring a new day. And every year, it will bring with it another birthday. Around this time every year, without fail, I celebrate a birthday. A worthy cause for celebration, birthdays are an important ritual. It is a yearly acknowledgment to yourself and the people in your life that this day is a good one, a day... Full story
Back in the early 1990s, I was sent to the Chelan area for a large fire that was burning. Deano McPherson, Flint Bjorson and I took a structure truck over there as part of a “structure protection strike team.” One day we were set up in the Navarre Coulee and were told the fire was coming but it would be hours. Our main objectives were to protect the homes we could and to not let the fire cross the highway. We spread out our trucks at the different residences there and started our wait. The hou... Full story